2002-01-01
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
I am led to continue discussing how we can recognize spiritual warfare. The first two messages in this series have been about how we were chosen before the Creation to come to faith. There are many citations in the Bible that support this notion, for example, COL 1: 15-20, 1 PET 1: 20-21, JN 15: 16, 1 PET 2: 9, COL 3: 12, and the others I've written about. These tell us that God knew we would need to be saved and that we would have to endure spiritual warfare as a part of the sanctification process. Remember that sanctification is God's method of perfecting us so that we can answer Christ with a resounding, "yes!" and respond to the sound of the last trumpet calling us to a meeting in the air with Him [1 THESS 4: 13-17]. God knows that we need to have enough information about spiritual warfare and how He has equipped us to battle through it to follow His command to endure in our faith. We must understand that He never commands us to do anything that He has not equipped us to do. That is why He inspired Paul to tell us in 1 COR 10: 13, "Every test that you have experience is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so proved you with a way out." Endure in faith and the following process takes place: RO 5: 1-5, "Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has brought us by faith into this experience of God's grace, in which we how live. And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God's glory! We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance brings God's approval, and His approval creates hope. This hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, Who is God's gift to us."
Having all that in mind, we now must look at what are Satan's arrows. If we were to carefully read the second three chapters of Ephesians, we could see a real how-to on living a life "in Christ." That's not the only place in the Scriptures where such information can be found. I plan to discuss some of these things in more detail later in our series. However, my reason for mentioning them here is that the list I'm about to write of Satan's arrows are the opposite of the things we find in the last three chapters of Ephesians and elsewhere in the Bible on how to live a life "in Christ." The bottom line is that Satan and God prescribe opposite sets of values and practices. For now, let's see Satan's list. Satan takes pleasure when we think ungodly, unclean thoughts. In the face of Paul's writing that the Body of Christ needs to be unified and edified, we honor Satan when we give into to temptation to do the opposite. Satan loves it when we put human agendas in front of God's and squabble amongst ourselves on how our congregations should be run. He is thrilled when a church splits due to political wrangling and when Christ isn't in leadership there. When blasphemy against God is committed, Satan is delighted. That's why he has sent out so many false prophets to confuse people about God's will for them. When we give in to worldly temptations like materialism, sexual immorality, greed, or substance abuse that goes unchecked, Satan chalks up another victory. One of his favorite arrows is making us believe that we should never take responsibility for our own actions and should always rationalize sin. When we feel worthless, abandoned, and alone, Satan thinks he is winning the game. Unchecked depression is a favorite arrow is his. Bitterness and jealousy, especially the kind that disrupts relationships, coveting, and envy brings the Evil One pleasure. He adores grudge-holding, ideas of suicide, rude and cruel use of our tongues, injustice, refusal to confess sin, pride, seeking of revenge, breaking confidences, rejection and opposition of others trying to be faithful, mental illness that plagues its victims and resists treatment, feelings of worthlessness, engaging in the occult, sorcery, magic, and necromancy (the calling up of the spirits of the dead),and any other evil a person can conjure up.
The list is pretty frightening isn't it? There are lots more arrows, and the truth is that people who do not allow the Lord to be the Leader in their lives are capable of even worse things than what I have listed. I know that because I lost a portion of my family in the Holocaust, for example. However, just because this list exists, we do not need to feel hopeless or unable to fight to victory over Satan and his cohorts. We have the Scriptures to give us God's teachings, the Holy Spirit to give us discernment and guide us in our battle, and we have an open channel with God for good, two-way communication in prayer. Yes, we can send him "knee-mail" and hear Him speak to us any time of the day or night. RO 8: 1, "There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus," is a wonderful reminder of His love for us and motivation not to give in to the adversary. We should never lose sight of that.
PRAYER: O Lord, because of Adam's original sin, we were born to sin. But, in Your wisdom, You have provided a way out of sin's power over us by the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross. You have called us to faith from before we were born, and we stand up to answer Your precious invitation with a resounding, "yes!" To perfect us so that we can enjoy eternal life of joy, peace, and deeply abiding friendship with You in heaven, we must go through the process of sanctification. That includes being exposed to all manner of suffering and temptation from the adversary. However, You do not allow this to go on without first equipping us to endure in our faith and giving us the tools we will need to fight this spiritual warfare to victory in Jesus Christ. We dedicate ourselves to being faithful, trusting, daily connected to You, and diligent about enduring in these things. Our pledge includes remaining in Your word, opening ourselves to hearing You speak to us and obedient in following Your commands. We promise to listen for Your words at all times. We trust that the tools You have given us to wage this battle will bring us to victory over Satan and the spiritual death he so badly wants for us. We offer You eternal gratitude for sending us the Holy Spirit as our Counselor and Encourager in this war. We thank You for giving us a way to recognize Satan's arrows, and pledge to fight against every one of them. Last, but never least, we offer You praise for the consistent messages You give us and for the love You shower each of us with as we go forward as Your soldiers in Christ. In His name, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow's message will be about standing firm in the Lord. I guess that God would make our way to eternal life easier than it is, if He had the choice. But our sin gets in the way of that, which is a good reason to for us to stop sinning. Since we have to endure spiritual warfare, it certainly is comforting to know that He has prepared us to do it and win. What solace it brings to know that He loves us enough to invite us to come to faith and endure in it, because he wants us at His side for eternity. That, Dear Ones, is matchless love, and it is ours to have. We are truly a blessed people when we are living a life "in Christ." Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn