Can you hear the door being broken down and the
inhabitants of the house being in grave danger? Listen and you hear the door
come off its hinges and the safety of the home being breached. It has been
invaded by intruders looking to do harm to those who live there. As they force
their way in they are surely armed and they come ready for battle. Fear is in
the air and the family runs for cover. The head of the household emerges with a
gun and he is ready to defend his family!
Once he fires and then twice. He fires again and again
and yet without any success. The intruders keep coming. He empties both his
guns and yet it has no affect. The entire house has been overrun and all are in
great peril. You see, these intruders are evil spirits which cannot be stopped
by guns. In fact, many times guns are their specialty. They enter the home and
steal the souls of men and women, boys and girls. They seek spiritual plunder
and are quite comfortable seeing people brandish earthly weapons.
And while believers wring their hands over losing
their guns, these spirits continue their pillage. But what can stop these
spiritual criminals? Much prayer, much Word, and much more prayer. But since
these weapons get scant attention as compared to the earthly variety, the
intruders soon set up camp within the home and listen to those within shout and
yell and complain about earthly issues. Oh the chairs and televisions and beds
and carpets and bank accounts are all still safe. And no one has a mark on
their body. The guns have warded off any and all who would try and gain
entrance.
But all the while the sacred vessels of the Temple
have been stolen and the spiritual commitment of the household has been
ransacked. And all this has taken place while the guardians of the home stood
guard with guns drawn. The flesh is safe but the souls are now collateral
damage.
*******************
The family is being systematically dismantled. Not because of gay marriage, but because our children have been corrupted by the cares of this world and the influence of demonic spirits. They grow up and are either spiritually ambivilent, or even worse antagonistic against the things of Christ. Divorce is rampant in the church. Adultery is now the norm. Addiction to pornography is alive and well. Drinking, drugs, filthy entertainment, hatred, and all kinds of spiritual disobedience has infiltrated the home, and yet we are more concerned with retaining our guns than we are setting up a hedge of protection through prayer and fasting.This is the situation we are now in, and the fruits of it are our rewards. But at least we will have our guns.
WOW! It is hard to write silence. The effect one feels after reading this post. So this is all I'm going to write because I am still...... Oh Wow
ReplyDeleteCherie c.
Another "look in the mirror moment" but at the same time it's a reflection that needs to be examined, again and again. Our war IS with the spiritual and we are too consumed with what our eyes see and are blind and dumb to the thieves who are destroying our lives and those of our family. For Satan does roam the earth looking to destroy, steal and kill. (Isn't that what intruders/thieves do?) A necessary reminder we must stand in the gap at all times and that job is not ever "finished" just as their spiritual attacks won't ever cease.
ReplyDeleteHow poignant : To stop and think of how much we are willing to fight and protest to keep guns - but how much fighting and protesting (ie warfare) is being done to protect ourselves and family from Satan's thieves truly destroying our family??
With all the world events happening today, I have fallen into an over-consumption of keeping up with things and it has "robbed" me of devotion time. It feels important, but I can see where it only adds anxiety and stress. Time to regain that time and if anyone (ahem, um, myself...) needed a *focus* for prayer and fasting -- Ephesians 6:11-18 is a really, really good place to start.
Time to get serious about what REALLY matters and let the "cares (ie distractions) of this world" fall to the side.
Into the battlefield~
ANM
The sad reality is theirs is a deception, their bulletproofness!
ReplyDeleteClearly we are taught our enemy has been stripped of the armor they relied upon!
We now fight a naked foe!
Consider Jesus' teaching and Paul's:
Luke 11:21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe;
22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.
23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Here we see Jesus teach us He has taken away the enemy's armor!
Now consider this taught by Paul:
Colossians 2:13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities[fn] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.[fn]
Here is the Greek word for "disarmed":
Transliteration: apekdyomai
Pronunciation: äp-ek-dü'-o-mī
Part of Speech: verb
Root Word (Etymology): middle voice from G575 and G1562
Outline of Biblical Usage:
1) wholly put off from one's self
a) denoting separation from what is put off
2) wholly to strip off for one's self (for one's own advantage)
3) despoil, disarm
When General McArthur met the surrendering Japanese military officials on the deck of the battleship he made each of them stand publicly as they were each stripped of their badges of authority signifying to the world they were the defeated party surrendering all their authority to the victors!
In the case of Christ we are taught this is part of what He did to our enemies subjecting them to the Eternal God! Also when Christ disarmed the enemy taking away their armor from them he was doing two additional things. One He was redeeming His Elect from wrath; and two making propitiation for our sins restoring His Elect back to the True and eternal fellowship and communion Adam lost!
Now here's what we get to do through Christ because these things Christ did on our behalf:
Ephesians 3:6 This mystery is[fn] that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power.
8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in[fn] God who created all things,
10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
Thumbs Up Brother Michael!
ReplyDeleteyour sister in Christ Jesus
Cherie c.