Tag: Be Aware of Spiritual Warfare

Matthew 7:21-23

[21]  Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ [23] And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

For the first time in my life, I had to sleep in a room without full blinds. And weirdly enough, I struggled. I struggled to sleep. I struggled to stay asleep. I felt uneasy. My peace was shaken. It was a rough night all because there was a decent sized hole in my blind. Then something hit me, this is a physical example of spiritual matters.

See, I felt unsafe because I could see out and anybody could see in. Even though the window was still there and the blinds only block what can be seen, I was unsettled. I had a trust in something false. Something not firm. Whether the blinds were there or not anyone or anything could break through that window. But because I could see that physical barrier (though flimsy and helpless to save me) it gave me a false sense of security. This is like us today.

Today, in the Church, we have a false sense of security. We think that because we go to church on Sundays, pray before we eat and before bed that we are safe. All we’re doing is putting our trust in flimsy blinds. We have an appearance of godliness. An appearance of salvation, but the substance isn’t there. The full armor is lacking. We have to put our flesh into subjection. We have to build up our spirit man so that we might be able to worship God in spirit and in Truth. So that we might not put our hope, faith, trust into weak armor but we can stand firm on the Rock. On Christ Jesus, and our relationship with Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and  Replace The Blinds.

[10] Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, [11] in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. ~ 2 Corinthians 2:10-11^NIV

Oftentimes, when you’re close to a breakthrough or you’re right by the entrance to the next level or season God has for you, the Devil will come in to try to disrupt your life. He’ll attack anything and everything he can. Your job. Your church attendance. Your worship time. Your family. Your finances. Anything he can get his hands on. Anything he can use to keep you from growing, from moving forward, he will use.

So, we have to be on our guard. We have to encourage ourselves in the LORD. We have to be sure that we don’t allow the enemy to take away what the LORD has for us.

Dear LORD, thank You for giving me another day. Thank You that You work on me night and day. That You never just throw me aside and say You give up, but You keep working on me. You keep molding and remolding. LORD, please open my eyes to the works of the enemy. Help me to see the Devil’s schemes trying to destroy my life. Give me discernment that I might not be destroyed by the attacks, but that I might recognize them and know how to defeat them and defend myself. Teach me to watch and pray that I might not fall into temptation, but that I might overcome all the temptation sent my way. Help me to overcome and walk into the promises You have for me. In Jesus’ name, I pray,

[11] And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. ~ Genesis 1:11

When God spoke to create, He was specific and intentional with His speech. He made it clear so that nothing could be taken out of context or misunderstood. He over-explained “fruit trees bringing forth fruit that is from its seed and kind.” When we speak, we have to be intentional with our words. We have to speak intentionally and pray intentionally. God created almost every single thing just by speaking. Therefore, words are powerful.

When we pray, are we praying specifics or generalities? When we ask God for something, are we specific in our prayers or are we more general? LORD bless me. What do you mean by that? What do you want the LORD to do for you? How do you want Him to bless you? When we pray, we often times don’t see results because our prayers are too vague. Too general. If we want to see our prayers being answered and God moving in our lives, we have to be more specific and intentional with our prayers. We have to put more effort and thought into our prayers.

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving and patient God. That You don’t just write me off when I mess up, but that You show me and guide me to the Truth. LORD, please help me to become specific in my prayers. Teach me  how to pray prayers that will move You on my behalf, oh LORD God. Give me the words that I might get Your attention. Help me to not just be general in my prayers but to pray bold, specific, intentional prayers that moves You, oh LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why were you looking for Me? Did you not know that I must be in My Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ And they did not understand the saying that He spoke to them. ⁵¹ And He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And His mother treasured up all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. ~ Luke 2:48-52

This is a part of the Christmas story that we don’t usually associate with Christmas. At the tender age of 12, Jesus was fully aware of His responsibilities and His calling. But it was not just downloaded to Him; He had to seek, He had to ask, and He had to study for Himself.

On this occasion, Jesus and His family had gone down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover. After the feast was over, His parents and the rest of the family packed up and headed back home, but Jesus stayed behind and went to the temple to find the most knowledgeable teachers of the Scriptures. For three days, He sat with them, listening, asking questions, and learning. Jesus was listening, learning, and developing His faith. The learned men were amazed at His understanding of Scripture and His answers to their questions.

But you might think, well, this isn’t about Christmas at all. Oh, but it is. What we must take away from this is, Jesus, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, had to learn Scripture, had to ask questions, and to seek God, and develop His faith. How much more do we? Jesus never stopped being God; He merely set aside His divine prerogative and emptied Himself so that He might fill Himself again, as we must do.

The beauty of this is, the LORD Jesus came as a human baby 2,000 years ago, born in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn, born an ordinary child so that we too can seek God for ourselves. That is the Christmas story: A Savior who is Christ the LORD has been born in Bethlehem to reconcile man back to our Heavenly Father.

Now we have the privilege, the authority, and the power to seek an all-loving, Almighty God. For without Jesus’ birth as a mere human on that first Christmas morning, we would be lost forever, and unable to find God. But Jesus, our Savior, did come and did show us the way to the Father, because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Now, because of Jesus, we can increase in wisdom and in favor with our Heavenly Father.

Father, thank You for the gift of life through Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank You for salvation and for loving me, and thank You for the privilege to know You as Father, in Jesus’ Name, amen.

One of the most well-known Christmas songs of all time is Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Every time I hear it, one line really sticks out to me:

Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow

The original version of this song, according to songwriter Hugh Martin, was actually “If the Lord allows,” but he later changed it to “If the fates allow.” Take a guess why. To remove the religious reference. Apparently, this change was reportedly made to align with the secular tone of the song’s release, although Martin claimed in a 2002 interview that the original version included the religious line and that it was purged for commercial reasons. I really want you to think about this for a second, people are offended by “if the LORD allows” but are perfectly fine with “if the fates allow.” The fates mentioned in these lyrics are the Fates of the ancient Greeks.

So, they have no desire to have religion pushed down their throat while wholeheartedly embracing a religion. See, the Fates of ancient Greece were three sister goddesses (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) who literally personified destiny and control the lives of mortals. They were believed to spin, measure, and cut the thread of every mortal’s life thus determining their fate from birth to death.

So, in reality, people have no problem with religion, they have a problem with Jesus. Therefore, they have a problem with Christianity, just as Jesus warned the world would. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Without Christ there would be no Christmas, so don’t give into the false statements that religion is offensive. The world doesn’t have a problem with religion. It has a problem with Light because it wants to dwell in darkness. This Christmas embrace the origin of Christmas, the birth of Christ. The birth of our LORD and Savior who came to redeem the whole world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Embrace Our Christian Religion.

³⁶ And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ~ Isaiah 37:36

Israel was taken captive by Assyria under King Sennacherib. They had lost their stronghold of Samaria to the point that every last Israelite had been removed and people from the different nations King Sennacherib had conquered were moved in. And now the Kingdom of Judah was almost taken. They had lost many, if not the majority of, their cities. All that was left to conquer the nation of Judah was their capital, Jerusalem. And it was surrounded on every side. No way in, and no way out.

It had come to an end. Or so it seemed. Then, in desperation, King Sennacherib sought the LORD with all that was within him. That’s when God moved on their behalf. Literally. God Himself came to fight on behalf of Judah. In one night, the Angel of the LORD, Jesus, went into the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night.

This event, in my opinion, is by far the best example of “⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9) it puts it into action and it plays out before our very eyes.

It may seem as if all is lost. As if it’s the end. You’re blocked in on every side. No escape. But if you cry out to God, He will fight for you. He didn’t send a random angel or even Michael, the archangel, to their rescue. He Himself got off of His throne and fought for the people of Judah. Just as He fought for them, He will fight for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Tear Your Clothes.

Luke 6:45 ESV

[45] The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Have you ever noticed yourself sometimes waking up with a song stuck in your head almost like you’re waking up singing it? Now what about a worship song? Sometimes it’s songs you haven’t even listened to in years but it’s just playing through your head as you wake up as if you had been listening to it nonstop. I believe these moments are your spirit at work when your body is asleep.

See, we are told to build up our spirit man and crucify our flesh. In fact, Jesus says that it is out of the abundance of our hearts that the mouth speaks. Our subconscious would have the same source. Our spirit would have the same source. So, when our heart is full of Christ and we have our eyes set on Him, our spirit man works in our defense even when our mind doesn’t know what’s happening because it is asleep.

It becomes like the watchmen of old. Sounding the alarm. Fighting off the enemy as we sleep. Defending our mind and keeping it safe from evil thoughts and dreams meant to tempt, correct, anger, and/or terrorize us. So, build up your spirit man. Build up your Spiritual defense.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Build A Spirit of Defense.

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field…

Our LORD Jesus explained this parable to His disciples. He said that the Sower who sowed the good seed in His field is Himself, Jesus, the Son of Man, and the field is the world.

The good seed is us Christians, the Church, which He called the sons of the kingdom. And the weeds are the sons of the evil one. The atheist. The haters. The one who has despised and rejected Christ. And the enemy is that old devil himself, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

Dark is the night when the moon is in its new stage, and the clouds blot out the light of the stars. But the darker the night, the brighter the flame of a candle will glow. It can be seen for miles.

Jesus said that we, His followers, are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). We are to light the darkness around us with the saving knowledge of the light of our LORD Jesus Christ. Yes, many will be offended. Many will refuse to hear. Many will say, “We don’t need to hear that right now!” or, “We don’t need to be reminded of repentance!” or “Leave us alone!”

Indeed, the night is getting darker. But where darkness abounds, the light will much more abound if we Christians will only let it so shine.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Your Light Abound.

⁵ And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? ⁸ I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” ~ Luke 11:5-10

It’s the three-strand cord explained in obscurity. So, I will decipher it for you. Now, the friend asks his friend for a very specific number of loaves – three… to be sure.

Jesus said that the friend will not get out of his bed to give him what he asks for because he is his friend… but because of his incessant asking and his continual knocking, he will give him all that he needs – this friend is super persistent.

Now imagine, if the friend had let his head drop, his shoulders slump, and had turned around and walked away. He would have been out of luck. He would have left there empty-handed.

And I’m very much afraid that that is what happens to a whole lot of us Christians. We don’t persistently knock. We won’t continually ask. We fail to consistently seek.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek Consistently.