Warning, this post is not for the faint of heart. If Spiritual warfare is something that frightens you, then read on dear reader; this is for you.
This topic of warfare has been repeatedly pressed into the forefront of my mind over the past several days. Satan is attacking and I know its because God is on the move. When there is major revival going on among Christ's church, you know satan is going to fight back- but JESUS is THE KING OF THIS EARTH! In fact, just writing this blog is giving me butterflies, but I press on because I know Jesus wants to reach some of you through this. Listen up, He has something to say- and I'm praying as I type that He fully conveys His message and my flesh doesn't stand in His way.
Warfare comes in many different forms. We do battle in our minds everyday-taking captive every ungodly thought and banishing it from our minds (2 Cor. 10:5). There is oppression of our Spirit that feels as if all hope is lost, and its usually accompanied anxiety dread and fear. Another tricky form of spiritual warfare is numbness and complacency.- it keeps us lukewarm, knowing about Christ and doing nothing, NOTHING.- Revelation 3:15 cries, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!" Finally, there are also physical events that can be only described as wholly unrighteous attacks of warfare. But take heart- we have all been there and God has been faithful to bring each and every one of us out of these times of oppression. He fights for us!
Psalms 55:18 states, "He ransoms me UNHARMED from the battle waged against me, even though many oppress me."
Yes, there is a battle raging in the heavenlies around all of us, but Jesus didn't come for nothing! He came to rescue us all from satan, and from sin, and bring us into the perfect peace of salvation with HIM. When- not if, but WHEN- we are attacked stop and praise Jesus, because it means you're doing something right. You're furthering God's kingdom in some way and satan wants it to stop- but press on! We have no need to fear in 2 Chronicles 20:15 and 17
"Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's......You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you." Though the context of this passage relates to the people of Judah and Jerusalem- I honestly feel that it perfectly applies to spiritual warfare- and I will explain further. You see, we cant see this battle, but God can. He knows every move the enemy makes- He's the ultimate war general because He knows every move and every trick the enemy will try. Nothing escapes Him. The battle is in the palm of His hands. The battle is HIS. All we need is to stand firm and take our positions as His army, on our knees.
Yep, I said it- ON OUR KNEES. This may feel like an elementary teaching- but we're going to talk about it, prayer. James 5:16 says that "the Prayer of the righteous is, powerful and effective." Prayer is our weapon of choice. In 2 Corinthians 10: 4 "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they (prayer) have divine power to demolish strongholds." That is our position: smack dab on our knees in prayer.- God is listening, and He's ready for you to sound the battle cry, because when you do- He will go to war, commanding His angels to surround you and fight to the finish! 1 Peter 3:12 states "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." Membership of God's Kingdom has its benefits, we're on the winning side of this battle and God is against those who do evil. The Greek word for evil in this passage is "kakos," meaning specifically in 1 Peter "those who do evil, cause damage and harm." - aka. they're on God's hit list. As soon as we sound the alarm of prayer- they're toast, seriously.
Ephesians 6:10 commands us to "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 power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This is God's draft for us to go to war. In this world, it is important to seek Christ daily asking for discernment to identify the devil's many schemes so that we may pray in power. In Colossians 4:2 Paul urges us to "devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Key words: being watchful.- We much be on our guard against the devil's schemes, and when we recognize them, we have to hit our knees.
A song called "I Put on Christ" by Laura Hackett states these words that pray over and over again: "Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil land. The battle is raging, The devil is raging, I don’t want to be sleeping, While the battle is raging, For my spirit is willing, But my flesh gets tempted, Rise up, my soul, and start praying, ‘Cause I don’t want to be defenseless.
I don’t fight as one who beats the air, Give me eyes to see and ears to hear, I put on Christ, make no provision for my flesh, Put on the whole armor of God, Leave no open door to darkness, And I take the scroll, I eat the scroll, I open up my mouth and speak forth Your word, And I take the sword of the Spirit, Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for battle, who trains my hands for war."
- look it up on itunes.
To encourage you farther, let me tell you of a hardcore, real life, RECENT story of God listening to the prayers of the righteous, breaking down strongholds, and banishing evil.
**Ok serious warning, this story contains hard and real life situations that are not suitable for children. Just in case there are any children reading this!
Topic: Sexual Slavery.
"Belgrade is an infamous stop on the new middle passage.-the new middle passage, is somewhere between where a girl is first lured and where she will be sold for sex night after night, its usually the slave auction. Here is where the slave-trader meets slave-buyer and decide together the worth of their human cargo; the buyers then transport the women to a sex-market. Thousands of women from Eastern Europe and Western ex-soviet states have stories that start when they are whisked away across the majestic Danube river and into the dark underworld of Belgrade to be traded to a slave buyer. But Belgrade is more than a trading post. Belgrade is the breaking grounds."
-side note, I'm apart of a group called Exodus Cry (http://www.exoduscry.com)that prays for the ending of sexual slavery. The spiritual warfare that goes on around this is intense. Ok now the recent breaking news.
"03/12/2010
BELGRADE, Serbia -- The interior ministry announced on Thursday (March 11th) the arrest of Milivoje Zarubica-Puja, the notorious "Balkan king of human trafficking". Zarubica-Puja, 45, was detained in a village near the town of Kursumlija, in southern Serbia, carrying fake ID documents. Zarubica-Puja was initially arrested in December 1999, during a police operation in Resnik, where 46 girls about to be trafficked illegally were found and about 180,000 Deutsch marks were confiscated. Several charges were filed against him in that case, including human trafficking, and he was sentenced to four years in prison. He failed to appear for sentencing and has been wanted ever since."
You need only to pray and Christ will break down strongholds, cast out evil and wage Holy war on satan.
Romans 6:19 says, "Be excellent at what is good be innocent of evil and the God of peace will soon crush satan underneath your feet." He will crush satan, but He wants to use our feet to do it.
Free up your feet and get down on your knees,
Kate
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