2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
Up to now most of what I've written about spiritual warfare has been about the part of it that we can perceive. However, there is an unseen part of which we are only given glimpses in the Scriptures, that we can't perceive. Nevertheless, it is going on just as what we see is. DN 10: 11-14 is said by the angel Gabriel to Daniel after Daniel had been in mournful, intercessory prayer for himself and the Jewish people for 21 days. You will remember that Daniel and the other Jews were in captivity at the time. "Then he [Gabriel] said to me [Daniel], 'God loves you. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.' When he had said this, I stood up, still trembling. Then he said, 'Daniel, do not be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia. I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future. This is a vision about the future.'" This is important to us, because we learn about the archangel, Michael, who is the guardian angel of Israel. It also shows us that although Gabriel is the chief messenger angel of God, he also has to engage in spiritual warfare. We learn that angel's help each other in fighting for God's causes, just as we should.
Knowing God's will is crucial to doing a good job fighting spiritual warfare. That's why I'm led to spend time with you looking at examples from the Scriptures of front-line battles mentioned in them. For example, God's will regarding the practice of magic was made clear in the story of what happened to Solomon toward the end of his life and reign over Israel. 1 K 11: 1-4, "Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides the daughter of the king of Egypt, he married Hittite women and women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon. He married them even though the Lord had commanded the Israelites not to intermarry with these people, because they would cause the Israelites to give their loyalty to other gods. Solomon married seven hundred princesses and also had three hundred concubines. They made him turn away from God, and by the time he was old they had led him into the worship of foreign gods. He was not faithful to the Lord his God, as his father David had been." As time went on, one of his officials, Jeroboam son of Nabat, turned against King Solomon. Solomon had been adding to the eastern territory of Israel and had put Jeroboam in charge of forced labor in the territory of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. One day Jeroboam encountered the prophet, Ahijah from Shiloh on the open road. Ahijah took off a new robe he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 1K 11: 31-33, "He said to Jeroboam, 'Take ten pieces for yourself, because the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, 'I am going to take the kingdom away from Solomon and I will give you ten tribes. Solomon will keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be My own from the whole land of Israel. I am going to do this because Solomon has rejected Me and has worshipped foreign gods: Astarte, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of Ammon. Solomon has disobeyed Me; he has done wrong and has not kept My laws and commands as his father David did.'" We know from 1 K 11: 35-37, that our faithful Lord kept the Davidic covenant, but eventually made Jeroboam the king of Israel after Solomon's death. It was Jeroboam, who was king of Israel at the time it was divided into two kingdoms (Israel in the north with its capital at Samaria and Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem). It was to be this way until the time God allowed Israel to be captured by the Assyrians in 722 BC and Judah to be captured by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
The religions of the Egyptians, the people of Sidon, the Moabites, and the Ammonites were full of magic and the occult. They also worshipped multiple gods, none of which had anything to do with the one and only true God, Jehovah. None of these gods had any real power, but the people who worshipped them were foolishly deceived by the devil-that very same devil who was cast out of heaven with his evil angels and motivated the evil prince of Persia with whom Michael and Gabriel fought in the Daniel citation above. This gives us some insight into the unseen warfare that goes on behind that which we see. It still goes on today, which is why we need more than ever to use the discernment in recognizing it that we get from reading the Scriptures daily and remaining in daily two-way communication with God through prayer.
PRAYER: O Lord, you gave King David a special trust in You that he shared with us in PS 21: 7-9, "The king trusts in the Lord Almighty; and because of the Lord's constant love he will always be secure. The kings will capture all his enemies; he will capture everyone who hates him. He will destroy them like a blazing fire when He appears." Later in PS 28: 8-9, David reminds us of why we can take comfort when we are faithful to You. "The Lord protect His people; He defends and saves His chosen king. Save your people, Lord, and bless those who are Yours. Be their Shepherd, and take care of them forever." You have sent us Your Son to be our Shepherd and let us know in JN 10: 14-15 the extent to which He was willing to go to see to our protection. "I am the good Shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know My sheep and they know Me. And I am willing to die for them." Today's message reminds us of how necessary it is for us to remain obedient, faithful, and trusting in You and Your word. The consequences for not doing this are unacceptable to us and to You. That is because You love us so much and sacrificed Your Son on the cross so that we could be saved and join You in Your work. That is why You give us understanding of Your word through the Holy Spirit. We stand before You today to confess our sins, and in humility, offer You our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, faithfulness, glory, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. Thanks so much for giving us the comfort in battle that we don't deserve. In Christ's name, amen.
The war for people's souls on the part of Satan and his followers is escalating as the end times approach. We are given an amazing amount of information on the Evil One as "combat intelligence" to prepare us for victory in the battle against him in Christ's name. Tomorrow, we will look at instructions that Christ gave Paul at the time of the latter's conversion, advice that is also meant for us. If space permits, we will also look at things for which we should be praying to be prepared for spiritual warfare. Nothing like this preparation would be possible if our Abba didn't love us to the extent that He does. He loves us enough to guide and protect us as we go into battle, and He assures us that with faithful trust and obedience, we will win. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn