Spiritual Warfare - IX

We briefly defined prayer as an opening of heart, a giving and taking of what is on those hearts, between God and man. It is in prayer that the real-time interaction of relationship takes place. Here, people agree and align their hearts with God.

 

I think prayer takes place in numerous places, outside of church and the prayer closet. Prayer at all times and in every situation is urged. Such prayer is probably physically impossible. But a heart focused toward God, expressing itself in coherent words and thoughts, and in incoherent emotions, can, and probably does, happen more often than we are aware of. And God responds more often than we are aware of.

 

Prayer is a way we can influence event and situations beyond our immediate surroundings and abilities. We can participate in God’s mission by agreeing with God’s work in people’s lives. We can counteract the devil’s work by seeking and being alert to God’s responses. We can affirm and declare as true, what we know is right, in agreement with God’s truth and God’s will.

 

This is prayer. And it ought to be practiced at all times, in all occasions and events. God’s truth, Spirit and love should be expressed in everything.

Spiritual Warfare - VIII

When this area is usually discussed, there is one main "item" that is usually included. I mention it this way, because I am wondering if Paul intended it to be included ... or is he changing subjects? What makes me wonder is that Paul stops using the figurative language that he was using to discuss the other items. He speaks about this item plainly.

It's not that this is is not important or relevant. It is both.

The item is prayer. Prayer is commonly defined as "communicating with God." A person opens his heart to God. He tells God what he wants, what he thinks and what he feels. He explains his perspective. He enlists God's cooperation.

Prayer is the arena where a person agrees with God. He learns what God wants. He aligns his life and direction with God's. Which means people need to be able to receive from God.

Spiritual Warfare - VII

When Satan lies to you, attempts to convince you that you have no worth, or that you are a hopeless sinner, remember the truth of God. Remember God’s love, God’s power over Satan and power over sin. Remember God’s Spirit in your life marking you as a member of God’s family.

Remember your standing in God. You have entered into a love relationship with god, based on the death of Jesus. And if it seems like you are far from God, remember he is not far from you. It is a relationship he chose with you.

Remember the peace God established with you. He has called you. He began the relationship with you, so now you are no longer his enemy.

Remember that although the penalty for sin has been paid, we are still living in the midst of sin. Sin has not been totally eradicated. We are in process.

Remember God’s command. Remember God’s promises. Remember God’s declarations. Act on them. Practice them.

Spiritual Warfare - VI

We cannot remove the penalty for sin. We cannot negate the power and effects of sin. Only God can do these things. It is the power of God's Spirit in individuals, in societies and in cultures that create transformation.

And it is God's Word that expresses the means and results of that transformation. God's Word is compared to a sharp sword, cutting through all that opposes it. The Spirit uses God's Word - his commands, promises and declarations - to cut through opposition. It also defines how God's kingdom is composed and built.

These are the two entities that God uses to build his kingdom: his Spirit and his Word. We talked about vital truth is. God's Word is an expression of God's perspective on truth. God's kingdom will be created in agreement with God's Word
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This is why we should know God's Word. This is why we need to practice it and obey it. A life of obedience  counteracts the schemes of the evil one, because it lives in agreement with God's kingdom. It loosens Satan's hold in our lives. It strengthens God's flow through us.

Spiritual Warfare - V

Salvation is, of course, the process of being rescued or delivered. In the teachings of Jesus, there if, in fact, three salvations, although, we generally focus on one. The first is being saved from the penalty of sin. The second is being saved from the power and effects of sin in this life. The third is being saved from the power and effects of sin for all time. The theological words for these processes are respectively: justification, sanctification, and glorification.

 

Each of the processes follows the order given above. A person will never need to “clean up their act” in order to be justified. A person will always be going to through the power and effects of sin in this life. Defeating sin for all time will only come at the end.

 

Some people become concerned that the process of justification will be reversed because they continue to experience the process of sanctification, and the process is unsuccessful. In other words, “God is going to get mad at me, because I keep falling into sin. He is going to revoke his justification, if I don’t stop falling into ‘ABC.’”

 

There are several false assumptions here. One, “ABC” is somehow a worse sin than all the others. Condemnation before God’s law comes from breaking God’s law … any part of God’s law. People especially think about this concerning certain addictive or sexual sins. Sins is sin. God does not tolerate any wrong doing. God condemns all wrong doing.

 

People talk about all sorts of addictions nowadays. Alcohol, drugs, sex, and gambling are the most common. But addictions also include: aspirin, adrenaline, attention, work, hoarding, food, shopping, television, video games, and money. Evidently, if something exists, people can get addicted to it.

 

The truth is, there is only one addiction. People are addicted to sin. And they will continue to be addicted to sin until Jesus returns. If we are not addicted to one thing, we will be addicted to another. If we are not addicted to opium, then maybe it’s adrenalin or endorphins.

 

Two, God is somehow surprised or unable to deal with all this sin. God has a solution for sin. It is called “grace.”

 

Let’s not be mistaken. I am not saying we should ignore sin, or not be serious about sin. I am saying we should be more serious about the gospel and grace.

 

Understanding and living in our salvation is a defense against the devil. He wants us to view God as a harsh judge. He want us to live in fear. He wants us to focus on ourselves as failures, and our inability to live right, instead of God, others and God’s grace, given to live right lives.

 

Sanctification is a process that will take all our lives. And at the end of our lives, we will still have not made it. But God continues to work with us. God continues to be active in our lives. If God is still active, still encouraging right behavior of any sort, then God is still encouraged with us. God still believes we will make progress. God believes in us. And we should believe in, what God believes.

Spiritual Warfare - IV

We have truth: the nature of God, the nature of the world, the nature of people, what pleases God and what displeases God. We have specific truth about how we are positioned in God and how we are status in God’s family. But truth needs activation. And faith is the activator.

 

It is our choices that demonstrate what we believe in – whether truth or lies – and give power to what we believe in. If someone walks into a dark room, and he wants light, he shows his belief by wiggling a small piece of plastic by the door. This wiggling releases power and light into the room.

 

So, we need to learn to activate the power of the truth. To activate truth a person needs to be reminded of it. So, a person needs to be familiar with it. That’s why continuous reading and memorization are effective helps.

 

Once, reminded, a person should act on the truth. This could mean taking a specific course of action. It could mean a simple affirmation and confirmation of the truth in your heart. It could mean – to make the truth more real, more definite – making a verbal, out loud proclamation of truth.

 

Activating truth will always require a realization of truth and an acting on the truth.

Spiritual Warfare - III

Another weapon God gives to counteract the devil's schemes is the gospel of peace. Scripture says we live in emnity with God. It is the gospel which provides the basis for restoration and reconciliation. It provides a path for peace. We have peace with God through the gospel.

What Satan wants is for us to walk in fear and guilt. Fear of God's displeasure and condemnation, and guilt over our failures. If our focus is on God's wrath and our failures, we will never step out in love and faith. The peace of God gives us a firm foundation to stand and move from.

The basis of peace is a true knowledge of the gospel. Wth that, we can approach God with peace in our hearts. We can take risks. We can get our eyes off ourselves and onto people who need God's love.

We could take this a step further and take this true understanding of God's path to peace and restoration, and bring it to others. What Satan hates most is an increase of God's kingdom. Loving people demonstrates God's nature; proclaiming the gospel with a subsequent faith response by someone who was listening is an actual claiming of Satan's territory.

Abraham

There is a story in the Bible about Abraham. God chose Abraham to be the founder of several different nations, including Israel. But his wife could not bear children. God promised him a son; and when Abraham was old, he fulfilled that promise.

Isaac was the apple of his parent's eye and evidently, owned too much of their hearts. So, God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice as a test. And amazingly, Abraham acted in obedience. He took Isaac and was prepared to kill and burn him. At the moment when Abraham was ready to kill Isaac, God stopped him and provided a ram instead.

Many people consider this story a picture of what God intended to do through Jesus. While they were going to the place of sacrifice, Isaac asked about the fact that there was no lamb. Abraham said, "God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering."

And God does. God gives a substitute for Isaac, because Abraham was willing to trust God. And it is the same with each person. If we will trust God, he will send the Lamb of God (Jesus) to save us from death.

Spiritual Warfare - II

Satan attacked the first people with lies. What God commanded them was not true. God's word was not trustworthy. God is not trustworthy.

Of course, the first people acted on these lies, and the world's DNA was infected by what the Bible calls "sin." There is now in man a tendency to move away from God. The God-man relationship is broken. The man-man relationship is broken. Man's relationship with himself is broken. His tendency is to choose directions, actions and attitudes that damages himself.

The cure is to choose to go away from, counter to this tendecy. THe first step is to declare the truth, because the devil's first step was to lie.

Satan will lie to us, just as he lied to the first people.  It is the lie in our thoughts that will move us to make wrong decisions. Remembering and declaring truth will cancel the wrong thoughts.

Satan's lies will not always be obvious. It can be difficult to recognize the lie amid all the claims of "pleasure", "peace" and "profit." It can be difficult to recognize the lie among all the attempts to obscure it -- "old fashioned", "narrow-minded" and "judgmental." (Especially when the family of God underlines and highlights the lies with their own practices.) These are only a few of his lies to persudae us to follow his other lies. And if he succeeds in getting us to believe one of his lies, we will hear it again and again.

We need to live by the truth. To live by the truth, we need to know the truth. So, it is important to be engaged with God in the scriptures. It is important to obey God in making disciples. It is important to persist. Even if we succeed obeying God only once in a million times, God will take any step of obedience, of faith, and treat it like "bread and fish." (A reference to the story about Jesus feeding at least 5000 people with one person's lunch.)

THe Body of Christ - IV

SInce, we are all parts of the whole, we will all advance together, and we will all retreat together. When a church planting movement sweeps across a tribal groupin India, churches popping up in unprecedented rates, salvations  so fast it takes your breath away, we are all part of that. We can all rejoice. We can all pray for a continuing, a growing and a spreading.

But we do not seem to take this connectedness seriously, especially in the west, especially in America. In those places, the church has uncovered the opposite, but in some ways, an equally wonderful truth. Which is -- there is an unlimited potential in the individual. Especially if he walks in love and the Holy Spirit.

Metaphors break down eventually. It can be seen most clearly in the stories of individuals for whom the truth og God has become most real: Jesus, Paul, Hudson Taylor, Charles finney, Charles Wesley, to name a few. These men took two extra steps to obey God, and God's Spirit moved in a tidal wave across the landscape.

But such individuals are rare. So God put us into teams, with steps of obedience creating a synergy. Teams are almost more powerful than the afore mentioned spiritual giants. Egos need humility, which can result from mutual submission. Unity must be maintained. The simple mixing of people into a powerful team is a miracle in the current age of "me first", "you're worth it" and "do your own thing."

But to go one step further, the growth of the Body requires the health of the whole Body. People charge on to achieve personal growth. But we are losing something if we do not go together. To grow more completely in the things of God, we need to go together, in order to grow together. We probably cannot go with 50 people. But we do need a team that provides all the necessary things for life and growth.

We are designed by God for health, growth and reproduction. We have discussed the necessary ingredients for these things. Here is another -- one another.

Spiritual Warfare, Not Necessarily Nuclear War

Paul encourages us to use all the tools  at our disposal, because Satan has developed strategies against us. The purpose of Satan's strategies is to take glory from God and to make our lives miserable. People were designed to live in joy and peace; if Satan can get us to live without joy and without peace, he has succeeded. MIsery per se is not really necessary. He has moved us away from our design; he has stolen glory from God.

MAny people reguard Sata's plots as actual attempts by Satan to harm us, our family, our friends, or our property. I certainly do not mean to say that if Satan can do any of these things, he will not. What I am saying is that for far too many of us, he does not need to. All he needs to do is whisper about some problem, some worry, some concern, and our minds filter it through a non-God grid. And we roll it around in our brains. It is not prayed over. It is not considered in the light of what scripture says. It is certainly not regarded in a way the brings purification of our hearts and minds -- as scripture promises that any trial will.nor is it regarded in the light of God's mission.

Rarely are any of these things done. And when we fail to shine God's light on circumstances, Satan wins.

The Body of Christ - III

Since, we are parts of a whole, all the parts need to work together. Hands and eyes need to be coordinated. Feet need to find a rhythm, or most certainly, the nose will complain loudly. Even the invisible kidney must do its part ... or the whole will come crashing down.

The health, growth and ability to reproduce of the body is based on the ability of each part to perform its function. It is the same with the Body of Christ. In most churches, a minority - which includes the leadership - does all the work of the church. And it specifically states in Scripture that the leadership's responsibility is to teach and empower the other members of the Body to serve God, to build the church and build God's kingdom.

Obviously, the leaders should obey in all areas too. But they should still teach the rest of the Body how to obey God in all areas too. They should proclaim the gospel, and they should teach the body how to effectively proclaim the gospel. They should physically serve, and they should teach the Body how to physically serve. They should love, and they should teach the Body how to love. They should pray, and they should teach the Body how to pray. They should teach the Body how to complete all areas of obedience, and they should teach the Body how to teach others how to complete all areas of obedience.

The Body of Christ - II

Another thing the body metaphor should teach us is that we are parts of the whole. This had so many applications, it is mind-boggling.

The church is made up of many parts. Those parts are people. And those parts – young, old, male, female, every tribe, every language – are the body of Christ. There is no group, no sub-group, no individual person that can be written off, excluded or disregarded.

When I was younger, I sprained an ankle. More recently, I have suffered a bout of gout. Both caused quite a bit of pain in the affected limb. I couldn’t walk correctly. Opening and moving through doors was a problem. One part of my body was affected, and it had a ripple effect throughout my whole body.

I had kidney stones. A kidney is internal, and unseen. It goes about its job without fanfare, praise of even, awareness on the part of the rest of the body. But when the stone moves, the kidney becomes center stage. It calls the shots for the entire body.

If one part of the Body does not function fully, wholly, in joy, in love, in the Holy spirit, the body cannot work well.

If a person puts sugar in the gas tank of a car, if a person eats a McDonalds-only diet, if a person is surrounded by pain, ugliness and neglect, these engines – the car the human body and the human spirit – will not function, or will function very poorly.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A church is only as strong as its weakest part.

In the US, we tend to judge the strength of a church by its size, by the charismatic qualities of its leaders, and by its well-oiled ministry machinery. We ought to be looking for the least fruitful, least mature, least popular among the church members. We ought to look at their lives in the midst of the Body, and in the midst of society.

The Body of Christ

Anyone who know anything about the Bible knows Paul's metaphor for the church. He calls it the body of Christ.

A metaphor is a way of comparing two unlike things with the intention that the comparison helps us understand something better. This metaphor should probably teach us several things.

One of the things is that the church is the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today. When Jesus lived in the world, wherever he went , he brought love, truth, healing, forgiveness, acceptance, conviction, change and newness. As his hands and feet, we need to go to the places he went. We need to do the things he did. We need to have the same effects he had.

The Gospel

God's plan is to fix everything! When God created the world, it was perfect. The relationship between God and man was perfect. The relationship between people was perfect. Nature was perfect. The minds and bodies of people were perfect.

The first people made wrong decision, and the corrupting influence, which Christians call "sin," was released into the world. The relationship between God and man was corrupted. The relationship between people was corrupted. Nature was corrupted. Minds and bodies were corrupted.

When people think of the gospel today, they focus primarily on bringing man into right relationship with God. Part of this focus could be man's ego-centric nature. And this is true. People do filter all phenomena through the lens of self. The main question they ask themselves is, "How does this affect me?"

Part of this focus is equally the prominence God gives people in his story. The Bible says that God gave rule of the world to people. God gave people the pivotal decision of walking with him and bringing life into the world, or walking away from him and bringing death and corrpuption into the world. And now, if we choose to walk with God, God's spiritual DNA is injected into people, and God's people are injected into the world. And through God's people, God's DNA is injected into the world and counteracts the corruption of sin.

Man's relationship wi5h God may not be all the story, but it is a central part of the story. Man becomes the conveyor of God's restoration given to the world through Jesus.

It is  like man introduced a "sickness" into the world. This virus infected and damaged everything. So, God introduced an "anti-sickness" named Jesus to infect everything again, but to restore everything that was damaged by the first "sickness." And human beings are carriers of this "counter-sickness."

Live in Joy -XVII

I have completed looking up all the places where joy is mentioned in the Old Testament. And it continues as we have already observed: joy is generated by living in relationship with God and living in agreement with his design.

However, I found myself asking the question, "Why is joy important?" We saw when we began this exercise, that joy is part of the picture of man living in holiness. Joy is a natural result of man living in relationship with God and a natural result of a life of obedience. Joy was a daily component of Jesus' life, because he lived closest to God and was the most obedient person whoever lived.

We tentatively defined joy as an attitude of positive enthusiasm or passion toward life.

I recently finished a book called "Born to Run." The basic premise of the book is that human beings were designed for long distance running. (We are also designed to seek out greater efficiency. That's why people seek ways to avoid running.) The author presented information from science and anthropology to illustrate the theme. Interwoven with the rational "proofs" were stories from primitive tribes famous for running, and stories from the world of ultra-marathons, that is, races of 50 to 100 miles.

At one point, one of the characters realizes the spiritual aspect of running. Successful, excellent running is based on joyfully embracing it. Joy motivates its pursuit. Joy motivates continuing with or without outside reward.

Motivation is pivotal in any endeavor. Without improvement or any other reward, it is only an internal heart motivation that urges a person to continue a difficult course of action.

And pursuing holiness in a corrupt world can never achieve any real success. There can be improvement, even significant improvement, but never real mastery. Joy becomes an important motivation towards pursuing holiness, as well as an indicator of success - as it is a "natural" result of living in agreement with God. Joy can be part of creating an upward spiral by motivating greater obedience.

Living in Joy - XVI

I am still poking around different portions that mention joy. At the moment, I have not been seeing anything new.

There does seem to be two primary bases for joy. One is our relationship with God. Two is acting in agreement with our God-designed natures.

Relationship, as we tend to use the word and concept today, is defined rather simply. It involves talking and hanging out. Relationships go far beyond that. It involves actions  for and against, offense and forgiveness, judgment, restoration, comfort, presence,and yes communication of all sorts: teaching, explaining, joking, consoling, reproving, warning, etc.

One of the reasons God gives commands is so we know how to live. Obedience to these commands does not follow some arbitrary group of rules. The command follow a design. They either make life more efficient, effective and full, or they enhance our relationships with God and people. That's why the Bible speaks so much about obedience.

And mission is another part of design. It is also part of relationship. Working as a team to achieve an over-arching goal builds relationships. It builds a common mind-set. And in the case of people teaming up with God, it develops God's mind-set in people.

Revival

While I was driving to work, I began to consider my latest batch of Bible passages about joy. This batch is from a list of proverbs in the Bible. This thinking led to a chain of thoughts.

1. The proverbs associated with joy seem to be taken up with living out God’s design for man. In other words, joy comes when a person has thoughts, attitudes, words and actions that agree with the life God intended man to live. The basic name the Bible gives to this pattern of living is “holiness.” When people live in a holy manner, they have joy and people around them have joy. Family life works better. Cities work better. Individuals work better.

2. Of course, I am reminded about the current reality. One does not have to listen to the news too long to realize that people are not living in a holy pattern, in a way that God would prefer we do not live. And if people are not living in a holy way, they are not experiencing too much joy.

3. So, what can be done to turn the situation around? We are designed to live a life of joy. We are not living in joy because we do not live in agreement with our design. We could move toward holy living. But people cannot live in holiness. History teaches that time and again.

4. One way that holiness has been “imposed” on people is when they are overwhelmed with the presence of God. (Imposed is an incorrect word. Imposed denotes coercion. And people cannot be coerced to welcome the presence of God. Unless one says that they imposed God’s presence on themselves.) This type of implanting of holiness has been referred to in history as a “revival.” God makes himself know in a community, and people’s hearts, attitudes and life change. America has undergone several revivals. China has undergone some too. Individuals change; and good sweeps across society.

I guess the only sure way for good to sweep away evil is for the world to undergo revival.

Live in Joy - XV

Now that Thanksgiving is over, maybe we can get a little regular again ... until Christmas anyway.

I am still wandering around the songs and poems I mentioned in my last entry. Thus far, it is more of the same. Joy comes from being connected to God. Joy come from being in agreement with what God says.

There was one poem where the writer was remembering the bad things he had done in his life. According to the Bible, everyone does bad things, everyone is condemned for them, and everyone can be saved from condemnation through Jesus' work on the cross and their trust in that work.

The writer says at one point, "Give me back my joy." It is obvious from the rest of the poem that he is depressed and miserable from these reflections. So, what was it that disrupted his joy? It seems as though he knew his connection to God had gotten polluted.

Live in Joy - XIV

There is a part of the bible that is a collection of poems and songs. I have not gone through all of them, concerning the references to joy, but there are a couple of themes, so far.

Awareness of God's presence is a common theme. Realizing his nearness and how he is active on behalf of people bring joy. Seeing, hearing and walking with God are obviously different than relating with people. We connect with God by focusing our hearts.

Another means of knowing and understanding god comes from read and meditating on the Scripture. But knowing is not enough. People are designed to live in agreement with Scripture, Obedience brings joy. Joy because people are flowing with their design.