In the church today we have an EPIC lack of recognition of the spiritual warfare (Eph 6:12) constantly raging around us for the minds, hearts and ultimately, the souls of people & their families. But you likely will NEVER hear about this in most seeker churches as it would cause too many waves in their “Matrix”. Content to only focus on “the positive”, most of these places “Wrestle…NOT.” Jesus is only King or Lord over that in our heart which we have surrendered to HIM. Unsurrendered areas are easy pickins for the enemy.People with unhealed wounds, bitterness, offenses & wrong beliefs are susceptible to pick up more of these from others at critical junctures in their lives.Angels know that the earth is under the rule of the evil one but because of Jesus Christ, any and all that turn to Jesus are freed of this power. Jude 1:9 (ESV) But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” The reason this happened was because at that time satan was the undisputed ruler of earth. Are you so naive to think the enemy isn’t contending also for you and your family! Have you surrendered everything to HIM? A classic Twilight Zone TV episode called “The Hunt” tells a story of a dead man, wandering down eternity road with his dog. It takes awhile for him to even discover he is dead! Then he runs into a slick-talking “angel of light” attempting to get him to come on in to Heaven! But his dog smells something rotten and it just doesn’t feel right so he goes wild,barking. The man leaves and says,” if my dog is not welcome there, I’m not going in,either”. Later on he runs into a loving angel who invites him into heaven,but the man says.”if this is heaven,who was that other fella?” The angel answers: The birth of Jesus Christ we celebrate at Christmas is GOD sending HIS secret weapon to earth to wrest that authority over people on earth from satan’s grip. “To save us all from satan’s power when we have gone astray.” The wrath of satan against man is seen in the reason Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt with 2 yr old Jesus and stayed nearly 3 ½ years! It was to avoid Herod’s demonic slaughter of ALL 2 years & under males in the region. Only demons inspire such evil! Martin Luther’s hymn “A Mighty Fortress” says, “For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.” The enemy wants to steal and kill what is yours! Most times he begins by attempting to deceive you about God’s intent towards you by dropping thoughts and suggestions in your mind in interpreting circumstances in your life through a wrong lens or filter with a goal of turning your heart away from God. Then he feeds you thoughts and if you agree with them, he will feed you more,till he builds a fortified castle ,a stronghold that turns the direction of your heart. It is with the heart man believes,so an all out assault upon our hearts, the center of our being occurs. The result is we become loveless,cold,hard and distant. The pride within us allows a home for such deception and in time our faith in God is more like a distant logic and skepticism has overtaken our arrogant mind. Guarding the heart is essential especially at critical times or traumatic moments in our life. Jesus said “my Kingdom is NOT of this world” and we are to pray for “His will to be done on earth,as it is in heaven” Why? because it regularly isn’t done due to this spiritual warfare. With all the evil done in the world, can anyone rationally believe that our God, who is love, sends bad things gleefully? If people aren’t being contended for, they might have already been taken captive,whether they recognize it or not. The nature of deception is that no one ever knows when they are deceived until it is too late and the damage is done. This war is real and believers MUST win and can WIN! BUT first they must see it and recognize it as such. No longer can we interpret things with whatever pops in our mind! We must ask the Lord to open our eyes (2 Kings 6:17) to see what is actually happening,not what the familiar spirits who narrate the details of our life say to our dull untrained minds, scarred by situations! Hurt people become people who hurt people! And the more expansive a network of relationships they have, the more damage they can cause. The devil can unknowingly use us to cause people to stumble if we don’t guard our heart ! Lord, open our eyes!
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AuthorPastor Marc Lawson Archives
July 2018
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AboutThere are 168 hours in every week. The 166 Factor is the answer to the question: "Who are you the OTHER 166 hours a week when you are NOT in church?" Join the community here as we will be discussing this and other topics related to Reformation in the Church, The End of Church (As We Know It) & The 166 Lifestyle.
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