Jesus died and rose again and that ended the war. There is no more battle for sin or evil, Jesus' death has ended all that. Satan is no longer a real threat, it's been dealt with, we can just sit back let Jesus deal with everything. As long as we go to church and try to do good, we are good Christians. Is this truth? Is this the life God is asking from us? I think not.
I've heard it said that satan's best trick was to convince the world he didn't exist, that may be so, but Christians know he exists. The best trick that satan ever pulled was even more cunning that that. It was to convince God's warriors that there was nothing to fight, that he was not a threat, that it was merely people choosing evil that causes the world's heartaches. Who causes that evil though? There is a war going on, and that war is all around us and we are the one's God calls to fight, we are God's front line and He is our Commander. Don't get me wrong, we can't do anything on our power, but Christ has given us Power in His spirit, that we can use to fight, and we are called to fight:
Mark 16:17
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
2 Corinthians 10
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
Ephesians 6
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
"After you have done everything"... God is not saying, "hey wait around for me and i will fix everything", he is saying, "go and fight!" He is calling us to be his warriors, his right hand men, assaulting the very gates of hell. Satan doesn't want us fighting against him, so he convinces us this isn't the case, there isn't anything to fight, so we go around our lives completely unaware of the larger struggle going on.
This isn't a part time job. You don't go around casting out demons on the weekend and then worry about your regular life on the weekdays. This reminds me of a scene in 300. Leonidas has just marched off to make war on Xerxes, and the arcadians come to join up. Leonidas asks various arcadian volunteers what their profession is, one says potter, one says blacksmith, etc. Leonidas then asks what the spartans profession was, to which they replied "Hooah" which loosely translates to some form of death-bringing.
These two groups provide us with an excellent view of two types of Christians. The arcadians are people who have been led to believe there is no war, or if there is it's only minor battles here and there. They have a real life and fight on the side. The spartans however, understand that only by completely devoting themselves to readying themselves for war will they be victorious. They are warriors and have a real life on the side. This is what God calls us to be. We are warriors for His Kingdom first and foremost and this life is a trivial thing. It's an illusion. It's not real.
"The truth is you were born into bondage, into a prison you can't taste, smell or touch, a prison for your mind. and as long at the Matrix exists the human race will never be free."
~ Morpheus (The Matrix)
Another movie example, the human race is imprisoned, and most of them don't even know it. There are other humans who know the truth, the truth that their oppressors would have kept hidden from the rest of the population. This small group of humans fight to free other humans, and to fight the real evil going on. Sound familiar? As soon as neo (which is his real name, given to Him when he is freed) wakes up from being released from sin.. *cough* i mean the matrix, morpheus says to him "welcome to the real world" - welcome Neo, to what is really going on, welcome to the war.
Welcome Christian brother or sister, welcome to the real world, welcome to the war.
Showing posts with label christianity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christianity. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
There is more going on in our lives than is immediately obvious. There is another layer of warfare going on below the surface that most people are unaware of. This is the battle for our heart that is fought between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell everyday. Satan hates God, and will do anything to get at Him, and the only way he can do that is to destroy us, who have been made in His image. So Satan lures us away from God to hurt Him. He does this by tempting us to sin, and then flooding us with every evil desire as soon as we give Him an in.
The good news is that we are sons of Christ. We share in the body of Christ, and as such are given the same power over demons that He had.
Matthew 26:53 "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
We have this same power, we have the power to send 72,000 angels rushing at the devils attacks, all we have to do is call on them. They are waiting in heaven for the signal. We don't have to put up with the crap satan tries to throw at us, we can call in an air strike and kick him right in his face. The devil fears the Power we have in Christ, through the blood that he shed for us on the cross:
Acts 19
"13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding."
We are in that same list as Jesus and Paul, we have that same Power. The demon who overpowered 7 men would run away screaming like a little girl from us.
Romans 8
"31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Just remember the next time someone does something crappy to you, it does you no good to get angry at them. We all know whose fault it really is, so send 72,000 angels knocking at his door ;)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
There is more going on in our lives than is immediately obvious. There is another layer of warfare going on below the surface that most people are unaware of. This is the battle for our heart that is fought between the forces of heaven and the forces of hell everyday. Satan hates God, and will do anything to get at Him, and the only way he can do that is to destroy us, who have been made in His image. So Satan lures us away from God to hurt Him. He does this by tempting us to sin, and then flooding us with every evil desire as soon as we give Him an in.
The good news is that we are sons of Christ. We share in the body of Christ, and as such are given the same power over demons that He had.
Matthew 26:53 "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
We have this same power, we have the power to send 72,000 angels rushing at the devils attacks, all we have to do is call on them. They are waiting in heaven for the signal. We don't have to put up with the crap satan tries to throw at us, we can call in an air strike and kick him right in his face. The devil fears the Power we have in Christ, through the blood that he shed for us on the cross:
Acts 19
"13Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." 14Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15(One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding."
We are in that same list as Jesus and Paul, we have that same Power. The demon who overpowered 7 men would run away screaming like a little girl from us.
Romans 8
"31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
Just remember the next time someone does something crappy to you, it does you no good to get angry at them. We all know whose fault it really is, so send 72,000 angels knocking at his door ;)
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