Warfare Spirituality part 6

Warfare Spirituality part 6

Warfare Spirituality: After discussing the 1^st two battlefronts, we will now consider what the Scriptures teach concerning the Enemy of our soul, Satan and his demons (fallen angels)

Warfare with the Devil and His Angels

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:10-13

1. The Nature and Work of Satan

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Zechariah 3:1-2
 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.
 For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Luke 4:1-13
 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!
 You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. Isaiah 14:12-13
 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3
 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" Jude 1:9

 

·        Names That Reveal His Position and Power

ü  The ruler of this world (John 12:31; 16:11)-He is the prince of the world system.

ü  The prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2)-His forces surround the earth.

ü  The god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4)-He influences the changing philosophies and politics of this planet.

ü  The ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15)-He leads a host of demonic forces.

ü  Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12; cf. 2 Corinthians 11:14)-He was a light bearer in his original state, and since his fall, he disguises himself as an angel of light.

ü  The serpent of old (Revelation 12:9)-He has been at work since the beginning of human history.

ü  The great dragon (Revelation 12:3-4,7,9)-He is a fierce and destructive enemy.

·        Names That Reveal His Practices

ü  Satan, or adversary (Zechariah 3:1; Luke 22:3; 1 Peter 5:8)-He is a relentless opponent of believers.

ü  Devil, or slanderer (Luke 4:2; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:9)-He works to defame God and His children.

ü  The evil one (John 17:15; 1 John 5:18)-He is completely corrupt.

ü  The destroyer (Revelation 9:11)-He seeks to destroy physical and spiritual life.

ü  The tempter (Matthew 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5)-He entices people to do evil.

ü  The accuser (Revelation 12:10)-He accuses us before God and works to make us condemn ourselves.

ü  The deceiver (Revelation 12:9; 20:3)-He promotes false philosophies and spiritual counterfeits.

ü  A murderer (John 8:44)-He seeks the death of his victims.

ü  A liar, and the father of lies (John 8:44)-His promises and enticements are false.

Claiming All That Is Ours in Christ by AW Tozer

Claiming All That Is Ours in Christ by AW Tozer

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3
Those spiritual blessings in heavenly places which are ours in Christ may be divided into three classes: The first is those which come to us immediately upon our believing unto salvation, such as forgiveness, justification, regeneration, sonship to God and baptism into the Body of Christ. In Christ we possess these even before we know that they are ours, such knowledge coming to us later through the study of the Holy Scriptures. The second class is those riches which are ours by inheritance but which we cannot enjoy in actuality until our Lord returns. These include ultimate mental and moral perfection, the glorification of our bodies, the completion of the restoration of the divine image in our redeemed personalities and the admission into the very presence of God to experience forever the Beatific Vision. These treasures are as surely ours as if we possessed them now, but it would be useless for us to pray for them while we journey here below. God has made it very clear that they are reserved for the time of the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:18-25). The third class of blessing consists of spiritual treasures which are ours by blood atonement but which will not come to us unless we make a determined effort to possess them. These are deliverance from the sins of the flesh, victory over self, the constant flow of the Holy Spirit through our personalities, fruitfulness in Christian service, awareness of the presence of God, growth in grace, an increasing consciousness of union with God and an unbroken spirit of worship. These do not come to us automatically nor must we wait to claim them at the day of Christ's coming. They are to us what the Promised Land was to Israel, to be entered into as our faith and courage mount.

What immense spiritual wealth is ours in Christ! Some to experience today and some tomorrow. Some which is ours because of spiritual birth as a child of God. Some to be experienced only by deliberate faith appropriation.

Warfare Spirituality part 5

Warfare Spirituality part 5

Now after dealing with the flesh there is Warfare With the World

The word “world” used in the New Testament is Kosmos = World

 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:19
 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

People are the object of God’s Love, this is why He sent Jesus.  So most of the time “world” does not refer to people per say, though they are in the system of the “world.”

 

The “World” that comes against us is the Organized System of Temporal Values that Oppose God 

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. Ephesians 2:1-3
 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:16
 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19

It is true that worldliness comes through people. But as we will see next time that’s not where the battle rages for us as followers of Jesus.

 

Worldliness can be both Internal and External

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
 Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!  It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.  And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."  Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.  If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."  But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD."
 Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.  "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." Joshua 24:14-23
 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17
 What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;  those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep;  those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4

 

Worldliness is not “I don’t drink dance or chew, or go with girl’s that do” but rather the very “spirit of the age” that attacks from the inside and looks to attach on the inside.  The warfare from the world come at us primarily come though: IDEAS & IMAGES.  This is why advertisers spend BIG bucks to get their message across—because it works.  That’s why we must be careful what we put before our eyes and ears.  IDEAS & IMAGES (they can be good or bad) seek to form strongholds in the believer’s life.  We must take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

Ever wonder why Bible Believing Christians can come up with IDEAS that are contrary to Scripture?  It is because these IDEAS and IMAGES have a greater place in our hearts than the Word of God (Romans 12:1-2).

Every Christian in every age has had to battle the “spirit of that age” and it is at the very point of compromise (in that day, whatever the day or issue) that the believer has been overcome in that particular area.

May God help us with His Word, may we help ourselves by taking every though captive, before the thought takes us captive – it is either one or the other, not both

Purpose: by TA Sparks

Purpose: by TA Sparks

May He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. (Hebrews 13:21 NLT)

So long as we are in line with God’s purpose His work can go on in us. What matters is not first of all our activity. God is more concerned with what is done in us than what we do for Him. He often reaches His end with us much better when we are in a state of inactivity than in times of much work. The hand of the Potter was upon Moses when he was in the wilderness where he could not do much. During forty years he was just looking after a few sheep. That is not very grand. No doubt he wondered sometimes to what purpose he was there, whether his life had any value. But principalities and powers saw something and wondered at God’s wisdom. God knew how to equip this man, how to get His way in that life. That is true in the case of many a servant of God. God is working for good, He is shaping His vessel. There is wisdom in all His dealings with us. But we have to see to it that we have no plans or personal ambitions of our own. The clay has to be completely in His hands. If we are really here for God, we can be assured that He will reach His end, that He may work out His purpose in us. And there we shall find strength.

Are you sure you are in the great purpose of God? Everybody has some part in it. Paul, when speaking of the church, illustrates it thus: “that all the body is fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies.” No part of the body is without function. Each and every one has to be in God’s purpose. Some parts may be very small, they nevertheless are equally important. We have to remember that God has called us for a purpose which will be realized as we abandon ourselves to Him. Whatever it may be to which He has called us, let us be ready and do it. A Holy Spirit possessed life is always marked by purpose. Nothing can be lost in such a life; let us not believe in mere generalities. That is not good enough. There is something far more definite in God’s thoughts for our lives. Let us abandon all personal desires, and be filled with the Spirit of urgency – “straight away.” Those who know that they are called of God, and who definitely recognize the purpose of their life, will be wholly given up to it. Such no longer have any interest for the things of this earth. They have no time to lose. They must buy up their time.

 

Strong But Not Beautiful by AW Tozer

Strong But Not Beautiful by AW Tozer

Psalm 5:11  But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Perhaps the most serious charge that can be brought against modern Christians is that we are not sufficiently in love with Christ. The Christ of Fundamentalism is strong but hardly beautiful. It is rarely that we find anyone aglow with personal love for Christ. I trust it is not uncharitable to say that in my opinion a great deal of praise in conservative circles is perfunctory and forced, where it is not downright insincere.

Many of our popular songs and choruses in praise of Christ are hollow and unconvincing. Some are even shocking in their amorous endearments, and strike a reverent soul as being a kind of flattery offered to One with whom neither composer nor singer is acquainted. The whole thing is in the mood of the love ditty, the only difference being the substitution of the name of Christ for that of the earthly lover.

How different and how utterly wonderful are the emotions aroused by a true and Spirit-incited love for Christ. Such a love may rise to a degree of adoration almost beyond the power of the heart to endure, yet at the same time it will be serious, elevated, chaste and reverent.

Christ can never be known without a sense of awe and fear accompanying the knowledge. He is the fairest among ten thousand, but He is also the Lord high and mighty. He is a meek and lowly in heart, but He is also Lord and Christ who will surely come to be the Judge of all men. No one who knows Him intimately can ever be flippant in His presence.

The love of Christ both wounds and heals, it fascinates and frightens, it kills and makes alive, it draws and repulses, it sobers and enraptures. There can be nothing more terrible or more wonderful than to be stricken with love for Christ so deeply that the whole being goes out in a pained adoration of His person, an adoration that disturbs and disconcerts while it purges and satisfies and relaxes the deep inner heart.

Wrong Choices May Imperil Our Freedom by AW Tozer

Wrong Choices May Imperil Our Freedom by AW Tozer

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:1

There is always danger that a free nation may imperil its freedom by a series of small choices destructive of that freedom. The liberty the fathers won in blood the sons may toss away in prodigality and debilitating pleasures. Any nation which for an extended period puts pleasure before liberty is likely to lose the liberty it misused.

In the realm of religion right choices are critically important. If we Protestant Christians would retain our freedom we dare not abuse it, and it is always to abuse freedom when we choose the easy way rather than the harder but better way. The casual indifference with which millions of Protestants view their God-blessed religious liberty is ominous. Being let go they go on weekends to the lakes and mountains and beaches to play shuffleboard, fish and sun bathe. They go where their heart is and come back to the praying company only when the bad weather drives them in. Let this continue long enough and evangelical Protestantism will be ripe for a take-over by Rome.

The Christian gospel is a message of freedom through grace and we must stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. But what shall we do with our freedom? The Apostle Paul grieved that some of the believers of his day took advantage of their freedom and indulged the flesh in the name of Christian liberty. They threw off discipline, scorned obedience and made gods of their own bellies. It is not difficult to decide which company such as these belonged to. They revealed it by the company they kept.

Our choices reveal what kind of persons we are, but there is another side to the coin. We may by our choices also determine what kind of persons we will become. We humans are not only in a state of being, we are in a state of becoming; we are on a slow spiral moving gradually up or down. Here we move not singly but in companies, and we are drawn to these companies by the attraction of similarity.

I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and we are able to think of what we will instead of what we must, what do we think of then?

The answer to these questions may tell us more about ourselves than we can comfortably accept. But we had better face up to things. We haven't too much time at the most.

 

The Father of the Family by T. Austin-Sparks

The Father of the Family by T. Austin-Sparks

God is acting in this dispensation to get a family, and God's present dispensational activity is not going to be defeated by death, and He is not going to be cheated of it by death. He will get a family, and will cheat death of that family. It is not God, Infinite and Mighty, as such, it is the Father; and it is a deathless family that He is after. This family is never divided by death, this family is never broken into by death, this family knows no such thing as bereavement by death, this family will never lose a child by death. Of course, as the family, when we enter into the appreciation of that, that is our comfort: that in this family we do not lose anyone. Death may touch things here, but the spiritual family is no more separated in the spiritual reality and in the eternal oneness of the Father's house, than they would be if they were still here. It is the natural, human side of us that suffers the loss and knows all that pain. But what is the comfort of the believer? We sorrow not as those who have no hope. What is our hope? Because we have a Father Who has got a family that can never be broken up by death and never lose a member by death. Our hope is that the whole family will be together with not one missing. The hope is that we have not lost any. Ours it is to be together forever. "The whole family in heaven and on earth...". That is a part of the meaning of Fatherhood, and that is what the Father is doing in this dispensation; getting that kind of family.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" (chapter 15). The two go together all the time. This says another thing. It is a figurative way of presenting the great spiritual truths of the family. This says simply that the Father is concerned over the service of His family. Chapter 15 is concerned with the service of believers: fruit-bearing. That is the life of service. Do not let us stereotype it; do not put service into a water-tight compartment and think of service as being ministers or missionaries in that official designation. It may take various forms and be through different channels, but service is the expression of the life of the Father, it is answering to the Father's desires.

"My Father is the husbandman". In order to get fruit He takes a certain course. There is fruit, but He sees that by adopting a certain method He can get more fruit, and He is concerned with that particular branch that it should be developed to its fullest possible fruitfulness. So He adopts a certain method: "Whom the Lord loves He chastens" is the word in the Hebrew letter which expresses this. "No chastening for the present seems joyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness". The Father prunes and chastens, in order to develop fruitfulness to its fullest measure. "I am the vine and my Father is the husbandman", and as such He is concerned with one thing, and that is the fullest measure of fruit.

Do we relate pruning and chastening to God, or to the Father? It makes a good deal of difference. The mentality of "God" is sometimes severe. We can never have a severe mentality in the right atmosphere of "the Father". All these things have to be brought into that realm; the Lord's dealings with us now are the dealings of the Father and are along the family line. That is what is happening in this dispensation.