I have returned to a devotional book reflecting on the writings of early church fathers and monks. Spiritual giants. It is a slow walk because every paragraph, at times, causes me to stop and catch my spiritual breath. Continue reading “The constant battle of faith”
Tag: spiritual warfare
The real war
The real war needs to be full in our minds: Continue reading “The real war”
Spiritual leprosy
Prayerlessness in the body of Christ is akin to leprosy. I learned some things about leprosy from Paul Brand, a surgeon to lepers. He says that in leprosy the nerves stop functioning properly, no longer sending signals of pain to the brain. Lepers will begin to lose fingers and toes in accidents because they cannot feel pain when they are hurting themselves.
Drawing a spiritual analogy from that, when the church does not feel pain with other suffering believers, it indicates the presence of “spiritual leprosy.” The church’s nerves are dead. What happens next is the church begins to lose body members. — Bob Sorge, Secrets of the Secret Place
Intercession is key. We must be people of the presence. We must have our lives in tune with the Spirit so we don’t lose sight of those around us. Allow 2017 to become a renewed call to prayer. A renewed call to walk with God. A renewed call to his presence.
Do NOT Quit
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. (Dan. 10:12-13)
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
Too many prayers are abandoned far too quickly. We do not know the war that may be going on in spiritual places where if we would just stay at it, victory would come.
The enemy has a vested interest in keeping you from prayer. He battles with discouragement, weakness, fatigue, doubt, and so much more. Anything to keep you from prayer.
Do NOT quit. One more day. One more hour. You do NOT know… but if you quit, the results may be far too predictable: the answers may not come and the enemy robs the desire of prayer from yet another believer.
Persist in prayer. Heaven hears.
Through the battle into abundance
Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle. (Psalm 144:1)
There always battles the Lord will take us through. We are never going to be “battle free” in some sense as we walk in this life. That does not mean exhaustion or weariness.
But if we understand the training of the Lord we can move from a mentality of “battle weary” to “battle tested“.
The periods of testing are necessary. The promises the Lord gives are powerful. The enemy wants those promises undelivered so he battles. Often we may not understand that, so when the promises don’t seem to come, we ask God why he didn’t come through.
Battles are present because there is an enemy bent on stealing the promises. If we will understand the war and get into the battle we will find the place of abundance. David comes through this battle into that place of provision:
12 Then our sons in their youth
will be like well-nurtured plants,
and our daughters will be like pillars
carved to adorn a palace.
13 Our barns will be filled
with every kind of provision.
David also knew that didn’t mean he would be “battle free” for the rest of his life. He just knew what it was to be battle tested.
This is a crucial weekend for me and our church. We have a time of worship and intercession Sunday night and in my spirit is a sense of “labor and delivery.” We are needing a final “push” so to speak to see some battles won. It is a testing time. Our hands are ready. We need that final movement of prayer to bring in the answers of abundance.
Lord, let me know the toughness of battle. Remind us that all that has come before has prepared us for this moment. All that we will see in battle will also test us and ready us for all that is ahead. Let us be warriors in your Kingdom. Amen.
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 water when the sea was calm. The miracles, the victories, come out of the storm.
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 thankful for not only mighty men, but mighty WOMEN I have around me. We are going through a huge transition as a church. We are selling our current property and looking for new locations. We are preparing to change up everything we do about ministry, AND we are gearing up to set up a coffee shop.
I have a staff of women and a board with men and women on it. I have mighty men AND women. I am so thankful.
My wife is incredible. She is a mighty woman of prayer, of faith, of care… looking to see what God is up to and believing for incredible things.
I am thankful for the incredible warriors God has put around me. They are tenacious and full of faith. It has blessed my life beyond measure.
