Spiritual Warfare

Tragically, during the last century there has been very little teaching in the Church about the basics of spiritual warfare.  We are told that we have weapons not carnal but powerful.  But, we are never told what they are or how to use them.  Obviously this is not a place where we can deal with them in depth.  However, a fundamental function of the Body of Christ in the Earth is to tear down the works of satan.  Most commonly those works are the satanic strongholds that have been established in the lives of people around us.  Here let us look at some very general precepts of our spiritual warfare and weaponry:

1.      Understanding the spiritual roots of an ongoing issue;

2.      Distinguishing among the areas of the soul;

3.      Winning on both levels of spiritual warfare.

Understanding the spiritual roots of an ongoing issue

Often we do not prevail in spiritual warfare because we do not recognize the nature of our enemy.  Demons, if that is what we are actually fighting against, are easily tossed out.  However, we have no power to force a man to change his own choices.  So if the issue is one of dealing with the man’s soul, there is no one to throw out.  In the same manner, often symptoms that are identical in appearance result from completely different causes.  The normal grief process, for example, has at least four symptoms: a) anger; b) depression; c) guilt; and, d) sadness.   Each of which are normal and healthy in any person going through grief.  However, these same symptoms might result from various forms of rebellion against the will of God and/or from the actions of various demons.  But, without revelation by the Holy Spirit one often will not know with which problem one is dealing. 

Distinguishing among the areas of the soul

People can become prisoners based on strongholds rooted in various areas of the soul.  Some are based in unbelief about some aspect of the nature and character of God.  For example, the man who believes that God is angry may be ensnared by demons of rejection, fear of rejection, abandonment and fear of abandonment.  The stronghold is rooted in the lie he has believed.

In the same way some are based on a person’s beliefs about other people.  Thus, the man who believes that other people have wronged him and cannot be forgiven until they have repented and apologized may be ensnared by the demons who received permission to torment him because of his unforgiveness. 

Two levels of spiritual warfare both of which are needed

We often find people who are quite skilled at teaching others coping mechanisms which seem to deal with the root problems but in fact just mask the symptoms.  The symptoms, the character flaws that have resulted from a demonized life, must at some point be dealt with, of course.  But, the thousands of self help books are actually destructive if the underlying spiritual issues remain.  Such help is little more than a demon exchange program.  One gets rid of socially unacceptable demons in favor of a more restrictive group which are much more difficult to remove.

Conversely, if we deal with the spiritual issues, we can throw out the demons.  But, if we have not also dealt with the need to clean up his character, the the person will remain vulnerable to the return of the demons with even more demons coming too.

Virtually all human anger is rooted in fears.  Most frequently fears of attacks on our internal sense of self worth.  These attacks produce fears that we will be: Devalued; Disregarded; Unimportant; Guilty; Rejected; Powerless; Unlovable; or, Unfit to be With.   So, for example, we can give people all sorts of anger management tools.  Thus, they will become nicer people to live with during normal times.  But, when they are put under enough pressure and attacked, the underlying rage will pop back to the surface like a nuclear blast because, the fear at the root of the anger has never been addressed.   

Conversely, given that all fear is cast out by the perfect love of God, we can impart to the victim the love of the Father.  At this point the fears will lose their toxic power and will begin to leave.  But, the person has lived a life of anger for so long that he/she is addicted to the adrenalin rush that anger produces.  Anger is the only tool he/she ever learned to use to defend his/her own rightful life boundaries.  Thus, the underlying root of the anger will have been dissipated.  But, in the person’s day to day life situations there will have been little outward change.  The usual result is that the enemy uses the outward behavior problems to convince the victim that God is a liar and does not really love in a way that changes anything.  So, the victim is victimized again.

Our warfare weaponry must therefore be designed to function on both levels.  First we must cut off the spiritual roots.  Second, we must disciple the person through the process of having his/her character rebuilt.

Love to all,

Stuart

Do All Things Really Work for Good ?

These thoughts were originally expressed in the Kingdom Village Group on Facebook:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

=== A Few Key Points
1. All things can be read very expansively, as in all things means everything with no exceptions. In the context of the passage, however, I think it is important to note that the writer (Holy Spirit through Paul) is specifically making reference to the things which we suffer when he says all things.

2. The description of who are the beneficiaries of this verse is "those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." I believe it is important for us to note that this group includes at a minimum every child of God whether his time on Earth is past, present, or future. The reason this is important lies in this. What is good for the whole Family of God might well not be pleasant for individual members.

Consider by analogy a Company of soldiers assigned to capture and take control of a particular hill. When the Company Commander reports to Headquarters "Mission Accomplished" he may also be reporting 4 men killed in action and 7 men wounded. Now the battle for the hill was horrific for those men killed and wounded and for their families back home. Nevertheless, the victory was good for those in the Army and in the Nation -- a victory was won. In the same manner, throughout the history of the Church, we see some of our brothers and sisters have made the ultimate sacrifice for their faith and for the work of the Father. It truly did not look pleasant to them at the time. But, for "those" in the whole family of God, their suffering and sacrifices are being worked toward good.

3. Finally, I think it is important to note that it is God who is doing the work. Some manuscripts and translations contain the generic and passive "are being worked" rather than the more forceful "God works". In either version, however, we know that it is God who is sovereign over every detail and working.

When Deep in a Hole -- Stop Digging

“My Grace is sufficient for you.”  Jesus treats all of Father’s Sons with basic equality.  So that statement to the great apostle Paul, the chief of sinners, is also applicable to you and me.  His grace is sufficient for us.

So, what difference does this make?  Sure, we all like to receive grace.  But, why did Jesus make this commitment to us?  What does this word sufficient mean for us?  Why did He not just say, “I will give you grace.”?

The sufficiency of His grace is important because we all need to know we are not going to run out of grace just before we get to the end of the race.  Why would we continue if we thought that we were going to run with all our strength but just before the finish line we would fall into a hole from which there was no escape?  It is really important to us that Jesus is in this relationship all the way.  His grace is sufficient to keep us safe to the end.

Now, that aspect of the sufficiency of His grace is very important.  Because it is true we can be certain that we will not accidentally lose our adoption papers.  We will continue through the entire eternal realm to be sons of the Most High.  Moreover, there is another more subtle aspect to this sufficiency of grace that many people have never noticed.  Let me illustrate with an incident I wish was hypothetical instead of historic. 

One day I was in the midst of a disagreement with my wife.   As we talked our words became more and more intense.  Suddenly, she decided she did not like this conversation.  So, she quit talking with me.  She gave me the “silent treatment”.  I felt disrespected.  I felt rejected.  I blew up in a rage of anger.  I said very hurtful things to her as I left slamming the door behind me.  I was wrong.  I forgot I was loved.  I sinned against her and against God.  After a while I cooled off and had to admit to myself that I was wrong; that I had sinned.  Fortunately, I am married to a very gracious lady.  When I asked her to, she quickly forgave me.

Ah but, now I had to be confronted by my Heavenly Father.  When He asked me about the fact that I had deeply hurt the child of God He had entrusted to my care, I was required to confess I sinned, I failed, I broke the covenant of trust He had made with me.  When I confessed, He was faithful; He had already forgiven me.  But, He wanted to also wash me from all the unrighteousness of what was in me.  He wanted me not only forgiven but also clean and changed so I would not simply repeat the performance.  I hope it has not happened with you.  But, with me, there were lots of times I wanted to be forgiven but I did not really want to be cleaned.  The scrub brushes rub me raw.  They strip away things I have grown comfortable holding as my own.

To start the cleansing process, Father would ask me why I acted like I did.  Frankly, most of the time, I hid from the cleansing.  I, like Adam, would say, “God it was the woman you gave me. “  Father always responded to that by acknowledging that as long as I said it was her fault, there was nothing in me that I would let Him cleanse.  So, before long, I would be back having repeated the same sin -- usually worse than the time before.  Again, Father would seek to cleanse me.  Sadly, often, again I blamed the woman.  After several times of this, Father pointed out that He had told me to present that woman to myself as one who is blameless.  Oh, nuts, if I could not blame her who could I blame? 

After I grasped that concept, I became more honest with Father and said, “It was my fault.  I take all the blame.  It is not her fault.  Even if it looks like her fault that is only because I have failed to wash her with the water of the Word so it remains mine."  When I had a firm grasp of this concept, I became a truly miserable man.  Every repeated failure simply became more proof of what a miserable failure as a husband and father I was.  I was ready to just quit.  The more I tried the more I failed.  The more I failed the more the enemy kept piling the accusations upon me.  The more He accused me, the more I agreed with him.  I really became a self-hating miserable man.  I was a miserable man on the inside and a miserable person for my family to endure.  I was in a deep hole and digging furiously.

When I eventually slowed down my digging long enough to hear the quiet voice of Jesus over the screaming of the enemy’s accusations, I heard Him say to me again, “My grace is sufficient for you.”  It sure did not feel sufficient.  But, that is what He said.  Now, faith comes by hearing Him who is the Word of God.  So, armed with that tiny seed of faith, the next time I went before the Father to be cleansed I told Him the truth.  Father, it is not my fault I failed.  Jesus promised me sufficient grace.  I did not have enough grace to act right.  It is Jesus fault, not mine.  At that point, Jesus spoke up.  He said, “Father that is right put all of Stuart’s sin and unrighteousness on my account.  Wow, the weight came off of me.  The hole of accusations got filled in by His grace and I was back to being able to stand in my armor.  I was not yet made able to act righteously, but, I was clean and the enemy could not beat me up.

It was only after I allowed Jesus to accept the blame Jesus died to claim, that I could get out of the hole.  Only then could I see the Truth with which He wanted to equip me.  Only then could I once again have self control.  This is why it is so important that you genuinely hear Him.  His grace is sufficient for you, too.

Oh God, Its Monday !

Oh God, Its Monday !  I have heard that exclamation many times.  But rarely do I hear: Thank God its Monday !

Thank God its Friday ! This is so popular that a marketing genius has named his chain of bars/restaurants after the well known acronym TGIF.  To hear the exclamation is a routine weekly occurence.  It has become an accepted greeting weekly on Friday mornings at the office and seems almost universally to be accepted as normal.  The responses to the greetings are almost always ones of agreement.

So why do most of us bounce along from week to week ?  Exclamations of Thank God its Friday followed in 72 short hours with Oh God its Monday; usually muttered under the breath.  This seems obvious and well understood does it not ?  Friday starts the weekend when we are free to have fun, to get drunk, and party down.  Friday starts the times of recreation.  Friday starts the time when I can do whatever I want to do.  I am in charge now and no one can tell me what to do.  I have saved my entertainment money for the weekend and no one will stand in my way as I go out to have fun.  When I want to sleep in, no alarm needs to waken me.  When I want to stay out late on Friday and Saturday, I do not fear the requirements of getting up in the morning.  Ah, whoopee, I think I am free. TGIF. Thank God it is Friday.

For some of the more religious folks, it is still a heart felt Thank God its Friday.  Friday night is family night or date night. Come Saturday I am free to do the work of the Lord instead of having to earn money.  And Sunday, ah Sunday, the Lord's day, the day when I can go to church and get my weekly emotional fix so I feel clean again before I have to go out into "the World" on Monday morning. 

Ah, but this God we weekly give thanks to one day and moan to three days later, what is His perspective of these things.  Does God favor Fridays or Sundays over Mondays ?  {As an aside, it is interesting to note that we have named each day of the week after some demonic false god.}  Well, let's look at that for a few  moments.

The greatest universal reason for favoring Fridays over Mondays seems to be that work starts on Mondays and recreation starts on Fridays.  But, the strange thing about this -- God already gave us a gift that we can take pleasure in all our work.  I have never found a parallel gift cited that gives us pleasure in all our recreation.  Indeed, if the resulting hang-overs, auto accidents, and sun burns are indicators, there seems to be a high correlation between many people's recreation and genuinely painful experiences.  From an historic perspective, men seemed to actually like their work so much that God had to instruct them to take a day of rest.  It was not until quite a long-time after the labor unions started organizing and forming voting blocks to influence the government regulators that we started having two and three day weekends.  It is a simple observation that the most productive and successful people in our society almost all work at least a six day work-week and the less religious among them work seven days.  Not because they have to, but because the enjoy it.

Ah, but the enemy of our souls, with support from some very manipulative people, has managed to indoctrinate most of our society with a false idea.  Most folks believe that work is painful and bad and recreation time is pleasant and good.  Why has this been done ?  Well, if you are convinced that all work is unpleasant and painful, then it is much easier to keep you doing a job you do not like which God never intended you to do.  And, if you believe that all recreation is supposed to be fun, then you are quickly convinced to go out and waste countless dollars on recreation in the false hope that it will make you feel better.  Have you ever noticed that there are plenty of successful businesses standing by to rake in the money you are spending in your chase to have fun?

But, if we do not have the weekends when would we go to church ?  When would we do the work of the Lord ?  First, if you have been called by God, if you are one of the called out ones, then you are the Church.  How can you go to church if you are the Church.  Paul writes about what to do when you come together.  But, there is no suggestion that when you come together is to be weekly at some auditorium.  Indeed, there is ample basis to believe that coming together has to do with getting connected and working together.  That can happen at the end of an aisle in Walmart, or standing at the next machine in a factory, even better than it can happen in an auditorium.  When the writer of Hebrews says, "Do not forsake assembling..."  The language has to do with getting structural pieces connected properly.  It does not have to do with getting them all into one room.  Moreover, there is no scriptural basis for you doing the work of the Lord on the weekends but not while you are "at work".  Why would any one accept being stuck in a job that was not doing the work of the Lord ?  So the religious propaganda not withstanding, why would any Godly person favor weekends over week days?

The Book indicates that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning, including Monday mornings.  This is the day the Lord has made.  Now we need to decide.  Do we choose to grump and moan, "Oh God, its Monday."  Or do we choose to rejoice and be glad in it.

Oh God, thank you that my name is in the Lamb's Book of Life.  Whoopee,  I am yours still today.

Learning from the Cats

This morning I was up a bit early and the cats came looking for me to see if I had any food for them.  Alas, they were disappointed.  A little while later I was in the kitchen putting on the first pot of coffee.  Ah, said the cats, Meow Meow, meaning food !   Alas, they were disappointed again. After the coffee brewed, I thought that since it was Saturday morning we might all like a bit of bacon.  So I put it in the skillet over a medium heat. The cats came a running. The smell was making them nearly frantic.  MEOW Meow meow, paws on my leg, tails tangled around my ankles, meaning Food NOW !   Alas, they were disappointed one more time.  I came into check the computer to find all the latest from the east coast Facebookers.  I read lots of interesting status statements, responded to a few messages, and quietly sipped that first cup of coffee, aaahhhh, sigh.  The cats, as is their custom, ignored me. And, time escaped me.

After a bit, as I was revelling in the love of the family of God around the world, I was rudely jerked back to here and now by the loud MEOW, MEOW, MEOW ! !  But this time, I glanced at the clock; I arose from my chair; I went to the kitchen; and, I gave the cats their food.  Why this time?  Because it was 9:00 AM, the cats feeding time.

As they devoured their food, the Spirit spoke to me.  He reminded me.  It was not because I dislike the cats that I did not respond to their earlier cries.  It was not because I could not hear their plaintiff Meow Meow.  It was not because I did not have compassion for them, that I did not comply with their requests.  It was simply because it was not yet the proper time.  So also it is with us.  We get ourselves all worked up.  We pray and pray.  We listen to all manner of accusations about ourselves, explaining God's lack of response as because of our sinful undeserving nature.  We spew all manner of accusations against God, judging Him as unfair, unloving, and deaf.  But, all along God already had our provision in hand and prepared for us.  It simply was not yet time.

Knowing the will of God is a relatively simple matter.  Every child of God can hear His Father's voice.  That is how the child was called into adoption.  Indeed, if we will allow our minds to be renewed we will become experts able to test and prove His perfect will. The much more challenging matter for us, as for the cats, is understanding the timing of the Master.  Jesus is the Master of time, never its victim.  He created time for us to enhance our abilities to accept what He did for us and understand our identities as sons of God.  Because we choose to make our existance about what is going on in the time and space around us (instead of making it about the eternal realm), we often feel that we are the victims of time; always feel we are slaves of time, and never feel we are able to master it.

But, Father wants us to learn to live in the eternal realm.  There everything takes place in the eternal now.  In that realm there is neither here or there, but, all is in the eternal presence of God.  In that realm we hear, understand and do the will of our Father. In the eternal realm, the sequence of events is not determined by clocks and calendars.  Rather it is determined by the character of God.  His ways are higher than our ways so we can not so fully know His character so as to know the timing of every event of the universe.  But, in our more limited individual worlds, we can know enough of His character so we can understand all that we need to know about His timing.  His character in this more limited sense is defined by the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5).  "... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."  How then does this mini-description of God's character help us to determine the proper sequences to apply in the eternal realm ?  When we know God's will, understanding and walking in His character will bring us into His timing. 

Let me illustrate this by an example from my own life: 

Not long ago, a couple whom I love were going through a very, very, difficult time financially.  As I prayed for them, Father told me to send them some money.  They had not asked me, neither directly nor by subtle indicators; their trust was in the Lord.  But, Papa said; so I knew with certainty it was His will.  Ah, but, if I send too early, the lessons God is teaching them will not be learned.  If I send too late, they will be unable to get the things they need when they need them. Knowing it was his will to send it, I now needed to know when to send it.  Here is the application of the fruit test.  

Can I send it now in love ? 

Can I send it now with joy and not disrupting their joy ?

Can I send it now in peace and not disrupting their peace ?

Can I send it now with patience ?

Can I send it now with kindness ?

Can I send it now as an expression of goodness ?

Can I send it now with faithfulness especially faithfulness to the details of what Father has told me ?

Can I send it now with gentleness ? and,

Can I send it now while under self-control not under some compulsion and not out of control ?

When I could answer all these questions yes, it was time to send the money.  So, I did.

Need a Little Motivation

We often have false expectations of Father God.  Many of us were trained as children to think of Him like a wise but very stern King sitting on His throne.  One who dispenses severe punishment for our every wrong and tells us we were only doing what was expected of us when we do something great.  But mostly one who is distant and not really paying much attention unless we really pray diligently.

All these expectations leave us feeling vaguely guilty of we are not sure what and fearful of how He is going to discipline us next.  Indeed, most of us have been told that every great sermon points out more clearly the things we should be doing and leaves us feeling more guilty and more fearful of failure because we are convinced that we can never really measure up.

But, the Book teaches us that God is love and perfect love casts out all fear.  So the Father NEVER motivates His adopted children with fear.

And, the Book teaches us that there is no condemnation for us in Christ Jesus.  So Father NEVER motivates His adopted children with guilt.

And, the Book teaches us that God is steady and reliable and will never ever leave us.  So Father NEVER treats His adopted children with benign neglect ignoring them.  Indeed He has chosen to have His Spirit take up residence within us gently prompting and cueing us moment by moment through every day of our lives in Him.

So then how are Father's adopted children motivated ?

Father loves us.  Yes, He loves each of us individually and personally.  And He loves all of us corporately.  He absolutely loves us.

Because He first loves us, we begin to love.  Some of us seem to take a very long time getting our heads out of our self-centeredness that the world taught us.  But, we will drink in His unfailing, unflinching, steady, continuous LOVE for us.  Then we will begin to love.  The more deeply we drink in His love, the more we love.

As we begin to recognize that in His love for us Father provided for our total and complete forgiveness by allowing Jesus to pay the penalty for every bit of our sin, -- Yes all of it; past, present, and future sins. Then we begin to love more and more because He who has been forgiven much loves much.  And, Jesus, the one who died in our place, becomes a special focal point for our love.

Jesus teaches us that the result of loving Him is that we do the things He wants us to do.  Do not confuse that.  What we do is never the measure of how much we love.  Rather, the transition of what we are doing from self-centered to God centered is the result of our loving Him.  The more we drink in Father's love the more we are empowered to love Jesus and the more we are transformed by our relationship with Him.

So when you, like all the rest of us, find that you are not doing all the things you would like to do for Jesus, do not make the mistake of focussing on your behavior.  Get your focus off yourself and your false feelings of guilt.  Turn instead to focus on how much Father has forgiven you and how deeply He loves you.  Drink deeply of His love.  Revel and wallow in His love.  Snuggle up to Papa and let Him love you even more.  Feel Father's enjoyment of you, His delight in you, and His approval of you. 

Yes, He actually likes you.

Tired?

It occurs to me that Paul may have been writing to himself as much as to the Galatians when he wrote:
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

When we get tired of putting up with the stuff people throw at us; when we are worn down by the constant accusations thrown at us by the enemy; when we are just plain exhausted by lack of sleep;  These are the times to make a decision to "not become weary in doing good".

But, this is not the whole story.
We must become equally willing to hear Father say "Do nothing.  Go and rest." as we are willing to hear him say "Go feed the poor" or "Go teach in Africa"  or  "Read your Bible" or Pray."

It is time for the people of God to learn we must repent from the dead works we have decided to do and limit ourselves to doing what Father requests.  We must repent from striving to take care of every person and every need.  No leader suffers burn-out from doing the works of God.  He gets burned by doing the dead works of his own choosing.

The tragic result lies not in our weariness.  It lies in the truth that when we do not limit ourselves to doing what Father says, we fill our time with fruitless stuff.  Those dead works gradually consume more and more of us.  Before very long we simply do not have enough left in ourselves to do the works of God.  We have spent ourselves on our own dead works.

As I have often quipped, a very important part of my ministry is sitting in my recliner reading a novel.  When Father has not given me tasks to do or words to say, I need to sit down and shut up.

Please, enter into the Father's rest.  There you will watch real works of God.

Need a Job ?

Folks I know have told me they do not like reading the Book of Job (The one just before Psalms).  But, I have been reading it together with my beloved Joy in the mornings.  But I am finding the read fascinating.

In context remember that scholars universally agree that this is the oldest writing contained in the Bible.  It was written long before the writings of Moses (The Torah, the first 5 books) were known to mankind.

Nevertheless, the revelations contained there are indeed timeless.  Consider the dialogue between Job and his three "friends".  Even the quickest scan makes apparent that the man of God is being repeatedly attacked by men who want to change him by convincing him that God is displeased with him.  This ubiquitous conflict continues as a major tool of preachers today who seek to manipulate the congregants through fear or guilt.

Consider his exclamation in Chapter 19. Here at the very deepest part of his painful trials he explains to his "friends":

25"As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
And at the last He will take His stand on the earth.
26"Even after my skin is destroyed,
Yet from my flesh I shall see God;
27Whom I myself shall behold,
And whom my eyes will see and not another.

I know many wealthy comfortable "Christians" today who could not and would not make such a statement.

Or consider his commitment in 13:15:

 ¹⁵ Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
       I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Do you also tire of folks who are God's men as long as things are going well; but when things get rough they turn to the ways of their flesh to find comfort.

Try a read through Job soon and see how awesome our God has been known to be through out the ages past.