Apprentice 2 Jesus

spiritual warfare

  • Spiritual power

    I am meditating through the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4 again. I am continually challenged with the thought of Jesus being full of the Spirit, then led BY the Spirit into spiritual battle. We pray for spiritual power, but we don’t want the battles. Miracles don’t happen in calm times. Jesus didn’t walk on… Read more

  • David’s Mighty Men

    I am prayerfully walking through 2 Samuel now as I look at spiritual warfare. In Chapter 23 there is the story of David’s mighty men. Amazing heroes who would go the distance for David. They caught his heart, loved him, and would battle anyone anywhere on his behalf. I think of that and am deeply… Read more

  • David and Goliath

    “Kids stories” are the best stories. I can remember them. The details may get more full as we grow older, but if I heard a Bible story as a kid, I can remember the basics. David and Goliath is such a main stay. And then to have it told in King James English… even better.… Read more

  • Training our hands for war

    Praise be to the Lord my Rock,     who trains my hands for war,     my fingers for battle. (Ps. 144:1) We don’t like talk of “war,” but war is what we get when we come into true Kingdom allegiance. When we make the declaration in our lives that Jesus IS Lord, that means all other things are NOT… Read more

  • Prayers of the Day

    Prayer for Mission Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and… Read more

  • Even the enemy makes tactical errors

    We have spent the past week in a new level of intercessory prayer, and it is a call to an ongoing battle. A missionary friend was struck down by an illness last Monday and was in a coma most of the week. Doctors scrambled to diagnose the issue, but an ever widening circle of friends… Read more

  • Do I irritate the enemy?

    We are good at irritating each other. Liberals irritating conservatives, both Christian and political… and the return fire is done with equal zest. But how about the REAL enemy? He doesn’t mind if we think he doesn’t exist and we want to go with the mantra, “Evil is the absence of someone doing good.” As… Read more

  • I am the immigrant

    The increase in violence against Christians in Pakistan and Kenya are times to be reminded in my own life that I am the immigrant. I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and that will call on allegiances the U.S. can never get from me. May my allegiance to the Kingdom of God grow… Read more

  • The place of battle: taking on the enemy

    I am working my way through the work of Evagrius called Praktikos. It’s been too long since I’ve read this marvelous work on the contemplative life. Evagrius is intense when it comes to spiritual warfare. When you are tempted do not fall immediately to prayer. First utter some angry words against against the one who afflicts… Read more

  • Snatching Defeat Away from the Jaws of Victory

    The compelling truth of Israel’s story in the Old Testament is it hits so close to home in our own lives. It is the story, too often, of making bold promises to God, then turning right around and finding a way to mess it up. Numbers 9-11 are key examples of the attitude we often… Read more