SPIRITUAL WARFARE PART 3

FEAR/WORRY ARE TWO OF SATAN'S MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPONS AGAINST BELIEVERS

      FEAR VS TRUST

 KEEP IN MIND THAT FEAR AND TRUST RUN PARALLEL TO EACH OTHER

LET'S CONSIDER THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF FEAR AND TRUST BY LOOKING AT MATTHEW 8:23-27 AND MARK 4:35-41


"JESUS INSTRUCTED HIS DISCIPLES TO CROSS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA OF GALILEE...NOW WHEN HE GOT INTO THE BOAT, HIS DISCIPLES FOLLOWED HIM AND SUDDENLY A GREAT TEMPEST AROSE ON THE SEA SO THAT THE BOAT WAS COVERED WITH THE WAVES. BUT HE WAS ASLEEP. THEN HIS DISCIPLES CAME TO HIM, SAYING 'LORD, SAVE US!  WE ARE PERISHING!' BUT HE SAID TO THEM; 'WHY ARE YOU FEARING O YOU OF LITTLE FAITH?' THEN HE AROSE AND REBUKED THE WIND AND THE SEA, AND THERE WAS A GREAT CALM."

HIS DISCIPLES WHO WERE IN THE VERY PRESENCE OF THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE FEARED FOR THEIR LIVES. SADLY, THEY REALLY DIDN'T KNOW JUST WHO THIS JESUS WAS.....BUT THEN THEY SAW HIM IN ACTION, FOR HE TOOK HIS AUTHORITY AND SPOKE AGAINST THE 'TEMPEST' WHO HAD TO OBEY HIS COMMAND, AS SATAN HAS TO OBEY OUR COMMAND UTTERED IN THAT NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES, JESUS THE CHRIST...FOR IF JESUS ABIDES IN US AND THOSE OF US WHO ARE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE EMPOWERED TO COMMAND THE STORMS IN OUR LIVES AS WELL.."PEACE BE STILL!"  YES, WE CAN...LET ME SHARE A PERSONAL TESTIMONY CONCERNING OUR AUTHORITY AS SPIRIT-FILL BELIEVERS.


 SEVERAL YEARS AGO, MY WIFE AND I WERE VISITING OUR DAUGHTER AND FAMILY IN KANSAS CITY, KS.  IT WAS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON AND IT BECAME USUALLY DARK.  ALL OF A SUDDEN THERE WAS A NEWS FLASH ON THE TELEVISION ANNOUNCING THAT FIVE TORNADOES WERE HEADED OUR WAY! OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS AN ATTENTION GETTER! SINCE IT WAS GETTING CLOSE TO DINNER TIME, OUR SON-IN-LAW HAD ORDERED "TAKE OUT" AND ASKED ME WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT OUR GOING TO PICK IT UP!  I WAS SURPRISED BY HIS QUESTION, THINKING "THERE IS NO WAY WE NEED TO VENTURE OUT! THEN I HEARD MYSELF DECLARING "YES, LET'S GO FOR IT"
WE HEADED OUT AND NOT LONG INTO THE TRIP, I SAID TO MY SON-IN-LAW, "THIS IS GOING TO SOUND VERY STRANGE TO YOU, BUT I AM GOING TO PRAY AGAINST THESE FIVE TORNADOES HEADING STRAIGHT FOR US.AND I AM GOING TO USE A WORD IN MY PRAYER THAT I VERY SELDOM USE AND THAT IS 'DISSIPATE"! I TOOK A FEW MINUTES TO SHARE THE STORY ABOUT JESUS IN THE BOAT AND SPEAKING "PEACE BE STILL" TO THE STORM, AND THE STORM CEASED! I PRAYED THE PRAYER, WE CONTINUED ON,  ARRIVING AT THE RESTAURANT AND WENT IN TO THE BAR AREA  WHERE THE "TAKE OUT" WAS.....AS WE WALKED IN, THERE WERE SEVERAL TV MONITORS PLAYING AND WE SAW/HEARD A METEOROLOGIST DECLARING:" FOLKS, WE DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS, BUT THE FIVE TORNADOES HAVE DISSIPATED!"

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT BLOG.....

                                      TO GOD BE THE GLORY, HONOR AND PRAISE                                                                             


                                    

SPIRITUAL WARFARE PART 2



 

 

 

ONE OF SATAN'S MOST EFFECTIVE TOOLS IN THE LIFE OF A BELIEVER IS

 

FEAR

 

 WHERE DOES FEAR COME FROM?  IT IS A SPIRIT FROM THE PIT OF HELL SENT  OUT TO HARASS THE SAINTS!  AND IT SPAWNS WORRY, PANIC, DISPAIR, AND ANXIETY, AMONG OTHER THINGS, WHICH RESULTS IN OUR MINDS BEING CLUTTERED WITH VAIN IMAGINATIONS MOVING US INTO THE FLESH REALM WHICH THEN DRAWS OUR FOCUS QUICKLY AWAY FROM THE LORD AND WE MOVE FROM TRUSTING THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, RESULTING IN  SATAN DECLARES: "GOT CHA!".

 

THUS WE HAVE ALLOWED THE ENEMY TO STEAL OUR PEACE , OUR JOY , AND OUR STILLNESS! 

 

WHAT DOES THAT WONDERFUL PRAISE SONG DECLARE: "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD, BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.....".  AND WHY DOES THE LORD WANT US TO "BE STILL"? HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY HEAR THAT "STILL SMALL VOICE" SAYING TO US: "YOUR EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD BEHIND YOU SAYING,'THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT,' WHENEVER YOU TURN TO THE RIGHT HAND OR WHENEVER YOU TURN TO THE LEFT.'"

 

AND WHAT DID MOSES TELL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN EXODUS 14:13,14 AS THEY WERE FLEEING FROM EGYPT?   "AND MOSES SAID TO THE PEOPLE, 'DO NOT BE AFRAID. STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, WHICH HE WILL ACCOMPLISH FOR YOU TODAY.....THE LORD WILL FIGHT FOR YOU, AND YOU SHALL HOLD YOUR PEACE." WERE THEY IN A STATE OF FEAR....ABSOLUTELY!  BUT GOD WAS WITH THEM ALL THROUGH IT ALL AND THEY INDEED

EXPERIENCED THE "SALVATION"(BEING SET FREE FROM....) OF THEIR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY...EL SHADDAI.

 

 MY WIFE AND I DURING THE CONSTUCTION OF THIS BLOG (AND SHOULD WE HAVE BEEN SURPRISED?), WERE IMMERSED IN  A VERY SERIOUS SATANIC ATTACK THAT WAS ATTEMPTING TO BRING FEAR UPON US AND WE HAD TO BATTLE THAT "SPIRIT OF FEAR" THAT SO WANTED  US TO TAKE OUR EYES OFF OUR TRIUNE GOD! 

WE KNOW THAT WE ARE TO FIGHT VAIN IMAGINATIONS (FOR THE BATTLE IS IN THE MIND) AND "TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST. " ( 2 COR. 10:5)  THANKFULLY, HE WALKED WITH US THROUGH THE NIGHT AND THE NEXT MORNING WE SAW VICTORY! PRAISE GOD...HE WAS FAITHFUL AND TRUST WORTHY THROUGH IT ALL!  AND WHAT DID WE LEARN THROUGH THIS...TO FOCUS ON OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY AND  "CASTE ALL OUR CARES UPON HIM FOR HE CARES FOR YOU".... BEING ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING" (1 PETER 5:7) AND TO BRING QUICKLY TO MIND NOT TO LOOK AT THINGS SEEN, BUT THINGS HOPED FOR.  WE ALSO TOOK OUR ASSURANCE AS TO WHAT IS WRITTEN IN ROMANS 8: 34b,37 "....JESUS IS EVEN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHO ALSO MAKES INTERCESSION FOR US" AND BECAUSE THEY ARE, VERSE 37: "YET IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US!"

 

                               SPIRITUAL WARFARE PART 3 WILL COVER:

 

                  WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES TELL US CONCERNING FEAR?

 

 2 TIMOTHY 1:7 " FOR GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US A SPIRIT OF FEAR; BUT OF POWER,

AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND."

 

MY PRAYER FOR YOU IS THAT YOU WILL HAVE "EYES TO SEE, EARS TO HEAR, AND A HEART TO RECEIVE" (ISAIAH 6:10) THAT WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT IS REVEALING TO YOU IN THESE BLOGS.

 

                                                         TO GOD BE THE GLORY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

              

                                                                          PART 1

 

FIRST AND FOREMOST- DO YOU KNOW JUST WHO YOU ARE WARRING AGAINST?

  

SO WHO IS OUR ENEMY?

 

 

TRAGICALLY, SO MANY HAVE NO IDEA WHO THEIR ENEMY IS!  CONSIDER THIS....IT HAS BEEN DECLARED THAT THERE ARE THREE ENEMIES. HOWEVER, THERE IS A 4TH:

 

                                                                *  SATAN

                                                             

                                                                *  THE WORLD

                                                            

                                                                *  THE FLESH AND THE........

 

                                                                *   THE church - NOTICE THE LOWER CASE

 LETTERS...THIS IS MAN'S CHURCH. NOT GOD'S CHURCH!  THERE IS MARKED

 DIFFERENCE....MORE ON THIS LATER.

 

                                                                *  SATAN

 

THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE BLOGS, WILL REMEMBER THE BLOG DEALING WITH SATAN, THE TEMPTER WHICH LISTS JUST WHO IS HE AND WHAT HE HAS TO OFFER....  THAT WAS THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS BLOG.

 

IT IS WRITTEN IN THE SCRIPTURES: "YOU ARE EITHER OF GOD YOUR FATHER, OR OF THE DEVIL WHO IS YOUR FATHER." (JOHN 8:42-47 AND LUKE 11:23) 

 

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR FATHER IS? HAVE YOU HEARD THE LORD JESUS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART AS IT IS WRITTEN IN REVELATION 3: 20 "BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK.  IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, 'I WILL COME IN AND DINE WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME."  ALSO IN JOHN 3:3, JESUS SAYS TO NICODEMUS CONCERNING BECOMING A CHILD OF THE LIVING GOD AND INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF GOD: "MOST ASSUREDLY, I SAY TO YOU, UNLESS ONE IS BORN AGAIN (FROM ABOVE) HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD".  NICODEMUS, ONE OF THE PHARISEES, QUESTIONS HIM FURTHER, SINCE THIS HAS NOT BEEN REVEALED TO HIM AND AGAIN JESUS RESPONDS: "MOST ASSURDEDLY, I SAY TO YOU, UNLESS ONE IS BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINDOM OF GOD, AND VERSE 6: "THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE FLESH IS FLESH, AND THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT, IS SPIRIT."

 

THUS, WE ARE AT WAR, AND AGAIN CONCERNING WHO THE ENEMY IS, IT IS WRITTEN: "FOR WE DO NOT WRESTLE AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES , AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS AGE, AGAINST SPIRITUAL HOSTS OF WICKNESS IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES."

 

                                          

                                       

SO OFTEN CHRISTIANS FORGET THAT MAN IS NOT THE ENEMY, BUT SATAN AND HIS COHORTS...THUS WE ENTER INTO SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND NOT AGAINST MAN...FOR IT IS SATAN AND HIS MINIONS THAT WE MUST FIGHT...CONSIDER WHAT IS WRITTEN IN MATTHEW 11:12: "AND FROM THE DAYS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST UNTIL NOW THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN SUFFERS VIOLENCE AND THE VIOLENT TAKE IT (THE FOUL SPIRIT WORLD) BY FORCE."

IT IS HERE WHERE MANY WOULD DECLARE: "OF COURSE WE ARE

FIGHTING AGAINST MAN..JUST LOOK AT THE WARS OVER THE CENTURIES...AND WHO IS INVOLVED IN THE  FIGHTING....TO THE EYE, MAN AGAINST MAN!  THE RESPONSE TO SUCH A DECLARATION IS: "AND WHO TRULY IS THE INSTIGATOR OF THESE WARS....SATAN AND HIS FORCES MAN!" THIS IS NOT GOD'S BEST FOR THE MAN HE CREATED INITIALLY, THEN COMES SATAN BANISHED FROM HEAVEN AND SENT TO EARTH "SEEKING WHOM HE CAN KILL AND DESTROY!."

 DO NOT DISPAIR AND DECLARE "WOE IS ME!"  GOD ALMIGHTY HAS EMPOWERED HIS SPIRIT FILLED SAINTS WITH STRATEGIES FOR RESISTING AND DEFEATING SATAN....REMEMBER, "YOU ARE OF GOD, LITTLE CHILDREN AND HAVE OVERCOME THEM (SPIRIT OF THE ANTICHRIST), BECAUSE HE WHO IS IN YOU IS GREATER THAN HE WHO IS IN THE WORLD." ( 1 JOHN 4:4)

STAND BY FOR PART 2 IN THE DAYS TO COME..."PRAYING YOU HAVE EYES TO SEE, EARS TO HEAR, AND A HEART TO RECEIVE" WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS SPEAKING TO YOU THROUGH THESE BLOGS.....

                                                          


 

  



GO DEEP IN YOUR WALK WITH THE LORD