Spiritual Warfare

I was reading 'Spiritual Warfare" by Dr. Stephen Jones.

On location 247 he says 'The only reason God gave Israel a physical sword to establish
that first "Kingdom of God' was because the people had rejected the Sword of the Spirit
at Mt. Sinai"

I asked the Father f this was true. The thought that came to me was 'you change enemies to
friends by establishing the Kingdom'. And then, 'you can't leave people in the same
condition you find them; do spiritual warfare"

Our Troubled Life, Part 3

Once we have accepted the reality of our broken life in this broken world and have discontinued trying to make it into something it will never be, we can then be about the business of allowing the Father to form us into a vessel fit for His use.

We begin to feel hopeful that now we have turned our back on 'worldly' things we can make progress in our spiritual endeavors. If we have not already, we begin to press in to the life of 'church' - joining ministries, attending classes, maybe even starting a ministry of our own.

All appears well at first. We begin to have a certain level of influence in the body of Christ and are seen as a faithful, committed one that can be looked to as an example of what the church should be.
Sooner, or even years later, the hamster wheel of activity and the plate juggling begin to take its toll.
Possibly the community we are involved in seems to have a revolving door where members are present for a while but then go on their way, never seeming to exhibit the same level of commitment that we are laying forth. Or maybe it is a ministry where there are many committed but the constant in fighting and vying for preeminence has left you drained and feeling like you're the only one wanting to follow the Lord.

Welcome to the newest phase of the journey.
Trying to make a life by walking according to the traditions of religion will present a whole new type of wilderness to navigate.

As we meditate on the state we are in, we begin to see the reality that the people IN the church are the same as those OUTSIDE the church. Covetousness, envy, murder (backbiting), adultery (both with the heart and physically), discontent, depression, unbridled anger, theft, disrespect and on and on,  are realities in the institutional expression of the body of Christ. We have left, or so we believe, the worldly pull of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life only to be confronted with it among the Body. And not just in 'them', we see it in our self!

How can this be? We desire the good thing  - a life set apart for the Master's use;, a life of fellowship with other like minded believers yet we find the same fleshly desires motivating us (and many of those around us) even though we have joined ourselves in a committed way to the Body.

The realization begins to dawn:
there is something more to our life than what the world presents,
but also
there is something more to grabbing hold of life than even what our physical church membership (even if that involves taking a role of leadership) has to offer.

Our Troubled Life, Part 2

So this troubled life is our earthly inheritance because of the the way we allow the
flesh to rule over us unstead of being dependent on the Father and seeking to follow
His way for us.

Once our eyes are open to the brokenness of this world - and really receive that brokenness
as being OUR brokenness, not the other person's reality; not having thoughts of 'I'm going to be
different' 'things in this life will work for me if I just ____';

Once we understand the truth that there is NO hope in making this life into our own personal
paradise ("if I get enough money, get the right guy/girl, get an education, live in this place....");

Once we have come to see that regardless of all our 'long range' plans, manipulations, posturing,
trying to setup everything 'just so';

Once we believe the scriptures that say (paraphrases):

"no man consigned to war entangles himself with the affairs of civilian life";
"set your affections of things above, not on things on the earth";
 'friendship with the world is enmity with God'
"there is no good thing in my flesh"
etc...

THEN, can the Father begin putting us through our paces and start teaching us His ways for now we
can more readily receive the things of Him. We will have nothing to turn back to now that the
reality of the brokenness of this life (our life) has become so apparent. We will WANT to press in because
we see there is no other option. Who would  we go to, what other path would we take? The only truth is to press into the things of the Father, even though, as we begin to see, that way will actually begin to produce a new variety of pain for us.

Our Troubled Life part 1

The importance of dying to self can not be overstated.

When we watch the news and see the constant stream of death and mayhem that man perpetuates on man;

when we witness friends and family crushed by the sins of OTHERS and, of course, their own sins;

when even creation itself has been turned into something that works against mankind and takes part in
his destruction;

what more do we need to convince us that there is no good thing in the flesh?

But yet;

we continue to justify ourselves;

we point fingers at everyone else;

we feel victimized and unfairly treated;

and continue to blindly (or even knowingly) 'make provision' for our flesh.

The Lord tells us that the corruption that is in the world is through lust (2 Peter 1:4)

Lust is a by-product of the flesh.

The flesh must be crucified.

Yahshua's death is our death if we receive it and allows us to die to our old, flesh man.

If we receive what Jesus did, then we must mortify our members here on earth and present ourselves unto the Lord for His use;  service unto Him, worship unto Him.

We no longer will be attempting to build OUR own thing here in this temporary realm but will be invested in
the spiritual kingdom which now is not, but soon will be, manifested for all to see. And those who have lived in the reality of the 'invisible' kingdom, will in no wise be made ashamed when their hope is finally realized under the manifest presence of this world's true king, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Yahshua HaMashiach

We must ever be mindful that much of the misery that's being produced around us is because of US! The rest coming from the Evil One warring against the Father's creation.

When we reason that whatever we (i.e., our flesh) desires is what will make us happy and is the wisest choice (Eve) we are cooperating with Satan in bringing destruction to ourselves and to others. We somehow fool ourselves to think that we won't be like the 'other' poor sap that just didn't play his
cards right or was 'unlucky'.

 We disregard or are oblivious to or believe we will be an
exception to, the iron clad reality of WHAT WE SOW WE WILL REAP. God is NOT going
to be mocked. There are NO loopholes in this life that will prevent us from eating the fruit of our
doings.

We can say it was a mistake, we didn't know better, someone tricked us, we
thought this was the best way, it was the only way that made 'sense', everyone else does
 it this way, or whatever we want to say.

The reality is that we ALL are constantly eating from the tree we shouldn't be eating from
and are reaping the results in our bodies, our relationships and our circumstances.
Our ONLY hope is in Christ.

Dealing with People,Problems, 3

So in thinking about those situations I see as problems, the thought came to me that I and everyone else, believer or otherwise, are constantly flowing in the lust of our flesh, lust of our eyes and the pride of life.

I had to ponder this a moment as at first it seemed like too much of a blanket statement - EVERYONE!?
ALL THE TIME!?

The verse came to mind about how the corruption that we see in the world is through lust. Everything is decaying because of the curse which came because of the lust.

It would seem, whether we like it or not, we are constantly being motivated by one of the lusts, our minds are being led in the direction of one of the lusts, our emotions are in an uproar because of one of the lusts, and we are suffering consequences we don't like because of one of the lusts.

These are where my (our) problems are coming from.

We are in such a far greater predicament than what we realize - but for Jesus.

Thank God the Father for our Hope! We can NOT save ourselves! The rabbit hole truly is too deep, and
we are too blinded, self-deceived to be of benefit to our self or anyone else. Thank God for Jesus!

Thank you Lord for allowing us to be accepted in the Beloved. Thank you for His redemption. Thank you for working all things after Your Own counsel. I am very grateful. Help me to yield to your wisdom and love.

Dealing with People,Problems, 2

As I thought about how I am in the same boat as others when it comes to being displeased with others' actions and disgruntled regarding my situations, I began to think on Yahshua and I asked 'how did You respond to people not meeting Your expectations?" How did You respond to disappointing situations?"

I can't say that I could think of anything that showed that Yahshua was ever disappointed or displeased with anyone or disgruntled with any aspect of His life!

He WAS angry at the stubbornness of the religious leaders that kept the people from really seeing who the Father was. But His 'righteous' anger, as bible teachers like to describe it, didn't really have to do with Him or how anyone was treating Him - which is exactly opposite of how WE are. We are desperate to make sure no one takes advantage of us, discomforts us, does things we don't like etc.

It would seem that the difference between me and Him is that He knew He was on a mission to fulfill the Father's commandment. Even though I know that Christ is in me, and that I am to allow His life to flow through me for the continuance of the Father's purposes, too often I fall back onto my flesh and the patterns of my old nature.

So, in dealing with people in general, I need to allow them to live unto the Lord (or unto themselves as the case may be) as they see fit. If they are not in an obvious sin, then, as Yahshua told Peter, 'what is it to you, you follow me.'  And as Paul said, 'every man will bear his own burden' and  Yashua again, 'wisdom is justified by her children' ; i.e. the results will bear witness as to whether the actions were wise or not.

HOWEVER, in dealing with the brethren in particular, I DO need to bear their burdens with them,  I DO need to gently instruct those who are in opposition to the truth, lest God grant them repentance to receive the truth.

Dealing with People, Problems

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the hearts. Prov. 21:2

All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Prov. 16:2 

I was thinking unto the Lord about how easy it is for me to see where 'others' are falling short in their walk before the Lord. However, as has been my manner through what I believe is the instruction of the Lord, , I turned the light back onto myself to see where and how I am doing the same things that I notice in others.

As I was lying there thinking about how people are not seeing the error of their ways, I begin to have the
thought that it is very difficult to know your own shortcomings. We are blind to our faults and even if we have some indication of our ways, we justify ourselves. This is a work of our flesh (encouraged by the evil on and the world), this blindness, this justification.

So as I was thinking about the various dilemmas others are finding themselves in, I begin to ask the Lord
to forgive ME and help ME to see my error so I can be pleasing to Him. I used their situations as object lessons on how to begin to find my way out of my own delusions, after the manner of Proverbs,

I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction...Prov. 24:30-32

The problems that seem to plague people that came to mind pertained to 1). our relationships with others and 2). our desires.

We become angry, bitter, depressed, vengeful and whatever other negative emotion applies when people aren't being/doing what we want. We feel kindly affectioned towards those who please us.

We feel blessed and favoured when we get what we want and when things go our way. Not so, if the opposite is true.

To be continued...