Last month as I was working on my blog, I began praying about whether or not I should just repost this blog or add to it. So I began to look back over the past eight months and the BEAUTIFUL MESS I had become. To be honest with you I never imagined the things that God would teach me. If you remember, I was coping with being betrayed by some of my friends. I had become somewhat BITTER, my trust in people was GONE, my heart was broken and my faith was shaken. So now let's look back at what started this eight months ago and how Satan had almost CAPTURED ME.
REPOST?
While I was working on my last blog, I saw the video footage of the rescued Chilean miners. Perhaps like me you were intrigued by the drama and the miracle of the moment. What intrigued me the most was a comment made by one of the first miners rescued. He said, " while we were in the cave the devil was with us and so was God and they fought, but God won! Isn't that a classic sermon and promise? The apostle John tells us in the book of Revelation, "I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a White horse. And He who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and makes war... then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and His army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf. With these signs he deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."
The Bible is clear there is no question if God will WIN OR LOSE, the devil is the LOSER. It is a war that has been going on since before the Fall in the garden, Jesus fought it in the garden of Gethsemane. But the battle belongs to the Lord. THE WAR between the GOOD AND BAD, HEAVEN AND EARTH is spiritual warfare and no one is exempt form it. It is what this, this and next few blogs will be about, what spiritual warfare is, what it is for and how to prepare for it. Pastor Allen we talked about doing a men's retreat on this material almost three years ago. Randy sometimes a man smoking a cigar is just a man smoking a cigar. But sometimes he is a terrorist waiting for the right time to light a fuse.
THE WAR?
For those of you who know me or are on my Facebook page, you know that a couple of weeks back I went to visit my mentor and his wife in north Georgia. I didn't go just to look at the leaves, while I was there I got a lot of advice from him and his wife that has helped me get some answers to why I'm STRUGGLIIN' with trust and faith. Paul that is why God gave me you and Vicki, I LOVE YOU. My mentor told me, "You are like me and you can be too trusting. But these days you can't expect people to keep what you tell them between you and them without telling them not to tell ANYBODY, NEVER TAKE FRIENDSHIP PERSONAL. Because they are HUMAN too. Don't beat yourself up if they can't be trusted, that's their problem. But remember we must forgive 7x70 and TRUST IN I AM. You have to realize who or what is working through them." I told him I was having a hard time just getting to the 21st time, much less getting 40 DEEP. Robert Brault once said, "If you can't forgive and forget, pick one." Sometimes either one can be difficult, especially when you are hurting and that door of hurt and pain swings both ways. A recent study by the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows men take broken relationships harder than women. Maybe this is because this is how God wired men, to be the protectors and not hurters!
In his book Pure Eyes, author and xxxchurch.com founder Craig Gross writes, "moving towards real relationships with individuals will come with its own set of challenges and expectations. Attending to and fixing broken relationships will take courage and honesty. But there is nothing to fear. If certain people aren't willing or capable of accepting you the way you are, it's not your fault. Work to repair those relationships with honesty and, if needed professional guidance from a counselor, therapist or pastor. If repairing relationships in an open, honest context proves too difficult, maybe it's time to find new relationships. Don't be too hard on yourself, Jesus isn't." After my accident twelve tears ago, I had a talk with the pastor who baptized me when I was fifteen about how my old friends from college might act towards me now that I marched to the beat of a DIFFERENT DRUM and how I felt like I DON'T BELONG. His advice to me was, "being a Christian doesn't mean being a doormat and letting people walk all over you. Sometimes you've got to fight FIRE WITH FIRE. That's why we have been given the the grace card, because life is too short to always be trying to live up to someone else's expectations, even God doesn't expect us to always get it right, Jesus accepts our flawz. As long as we are giving it our best.
Which reminds me of a former co-worker, I'll call her Cheryl. When I first went back to work after my accident Cheryl was in a season of waiting for her husband. And boy did she want one. One day she approached me excited about a "great Godly man" she had met. They dated for almost a year and I began to joke about the "wedding date." Cheryl would laugh and reply, "we'll see." About six months later I got the Wedding invite. I didn't see Cheryl for a week while she was on her honeymoon. But when I did, words could not describe the glow on her face. About a month passed and I began to miss Cheryl. When I saw her next the glow was gone and her face was full of regret. Cheryl approached me and said, " Martin, you were right. LIFE is short and the devil is a KILLA. I wish I would have listened to you." It turns out Cheryl's husband had gotten killed by a drunk driver on his way home from work one night. Cheryl continued, "all that time I had the man of my dreams in my life and I wasted it. I only had him as my husband for a month." Another Robert Brault quote I like is, "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." Life passes by in a blink, we need to live HERE IN THIS MOMENT. Like a brother told me, "enjoy the journey." Or as Robert Brault once said, "Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life- and it was you. It is not too late to find that person again."
Which brings me back to a talk I had with my mentor's wife after church. My mentor had shared with her my distrust and PAIN and she said, "Martin the devil is mean. If he can't bring you down with any of the old ways, he will find new ways to attack you. That's his job. He will use your friends, your spouse and even the church to discourage you." I know this may come as a surprise to some of you, but the devil is alive and well in the church. King Solomon puts it this way in the book of Proverbs, "a lizard can be caught with a hand, yet it is found in the King's palaces." The apostle Paul warned the church in Galatia, "this matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves." We'll talk more about slaves later in this blog, but right now we need to talk more about the devil being in the church and why. Maybe you are like me and the devil isn't attacking you through your old VICES whether it is alcohol, a NARCOTIC, or some PRETTY PRETTY. He will GET AT U any way he can. Through your spouse, your fiances, your health, Satan doesn't discriminate. A recent report says teen superstar Demi Lovato has checked into rehab for common teen issues. Her fame, success, looks, talent nor money could shield her from an attack of the devil. He doesn't want you to succeed, he wants to SHUT US DOWN.
As I began to write this blog it seemed like whatever could go wrong happened, first my CD/DVD burner went out on my computer. After I fixed that, it seemed like I'd kept running into closed doors trying to get another job. Then as a sat down to begin writing this blog, my speech dictation program would not work. On top of all this, I lost both my patience and my temper and ended up making a friend that I care about even madder at me. I started beating myself up because I thought I had learned my lesson, how could I DO IT AGAIN(we'll talk more about my temper later!) The apostle John tells us that Jesus said, "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have a NEW LIFE and have it to the full." I began to feel like I was going under, I felt like I needed to be put in QUARANTINE because of MY DISEASE. The weekend after I got back from North Georgia I still felt so overcome that I was ready to give up. After praying, I felt led to return to the place of my spiritual REBIRTHING, my place of shalom.
So I went back for some quiet time with God. Afterwords I did something that I hadn't done in years. I felt led to walk up and down the old street I used to go partying and clubbing on. But as I passed each club or bar, I sensed God say, "I helped you when this battle or that battle." Then I had no desire to go in any of them. It was like God was reminding me of all the victories He had given me. And He didn't stop there, while driving home I came to the intersection that I had my near-death accident at. I noticed that the bank at the intersection had changed its name for the second time since my accident. Yet, I am still alive and kicking. I had most of the neurology department at the Medical College of Georgia tell me I would never walk again, but God won that battle. Charles F. Kettering once said, "Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down."
Or how about the Chinese proverb by Confucius, "It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said, "Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody." It's been said, "When the world says, "Give up,"hope whispers, 'Try it one more time." So from time to time I may get knocked down in life, but the Bible tells me, I AM STRONGER ON MY KNEES and the apostle Paul tells us in his first letter to the church in Corinth, "no temptation has overtaken you except what is common to all of us. God is faithful; He will not allow you to be tempted by MORE THAN YOU CAN BEAR." To my friends, family or anyone who thought that I'M GONE. DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME, because I am taking my STAND and I am going to FIGHT FOR MY BLESSING. Because THE GOD IN ME has shown me I am a SURVIVOR and I'm over my SORROW, I GET UP and I'm right here! I will make it, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU! I refuse to be denied the promise given to me by the prophet Jeremiah, " for I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I know that God is allowing this to bring out the BEST OF ME.
Maybe like me you're thinking, I AM SO SICK of this race to the clouds(we'll talk more about races and running later.) My little brother recently finished his second tour of duty in Afghanistan and there is no guarantee that he won't have to go back. As long as there is a war going on in Afghanistan, there will be battles to be fought. When we accepted Jesus, we enlisted in the Red ink army and there will be times when we get WOUNDED and HURT, it is INEVITABLE. I recently caught up with an old girlfriend from high school whom I did not have a Godly relationship with. Suddenly I found myself facing my favorite disease again, my skin had become my own worst enemy and I thought, "God, you already helped me win this fight with my flesh and I am a SLAVE TO YOU. The apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the church in Philippi, "watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we serve God by His Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh... but whatever we're gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ..... I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but NOT MY OWN that which is through faith in Christ--- the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of TRUE FAITH. I want to know Christ-- yes, to the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like Him in His death."
If we are following Jesus, we must follow Him to the cross, this is the dying daily part of serving Jesus and it is hard. There is no "if you want me too" in a Army! Besides John tells us in his Revelation that we will all be casting crowns at the foot of Jesus! John also tells us in his letter to the gentile readers that Jesus said, "this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.' From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. 'You do not want to leave me too, do you?' Jesus asked the twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord to who would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the holy one of God." Yet the apostle Luke tells us that Jesus told Peter, "Simon, Simon. Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have returned back, strengthen your brothers. But Peter replied, 'Lord, I am ready to follow you to prison and to death." So who are you following? Take me to your leader. I know who I'm following, my leader keeps getting up like Rocky. I'm gonna shake it off.
In his book Dug Down Deep, Joshua Harris writes, "until the final day, until we're changed and freed forever from our struggle against sin, we have to deal with ongoing presence and influence of sin-- what theologians call "indwelling" or "remaining" sin. Indwelling sin refers to the fact that even as Christians we can still be enticed and tempted by our old desires, but the Bible often refers to as 'the flesh.' The apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Galatia, 'for the desires of the flesh are contrary to the Spirit, and the desire of the Spirit are contrary to the flesh, for those are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.' And in a letter to the church in Rome he wrote, 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Harris goes on in a series of cartoons depicting our flesh as a monster that is constantly after us. Sadly, a lot of times for me the struggle is OUTTA BODY and in my head.
In their book Deadly Viper(character assassins) Mike foster and Jud Wilhite explain that, "the assassin of AMPED emotions lurks in mundane moments of everyday life. We all have countless opportunities to completely transcend our normal selves and operate out of really unhealthy emotional places. We can instantly become Jihadists and make some extremely toxic leadership decisions. amped emotions can seep into our soul and affect our decision-making, character, and how we engage with others. Maybe bitterness or jealousy or resentment is consuming you. Anyone can get an emotional overload and then lash out. At a moment's notice you turn to the dark side and become your own worst enemy. Let's face it. The assassin of amped Emotions takes pleasure in taking you down. Here are his tactics; he wants you going nuts over petty and insignificant things. He wants you to embarrass yourself in front of your friends, coworkers, family and associates. He wants you to act out and go postal. Your emotional outbursts have the power to do a hit job on your reputation and severely undermine your ability to gain and retain the respect of others. This assassin wants you to feel threatened, insecure, and to be overly focused on your shortcomings. When this happens, he controls you and the timing of your ultimate downfall. Take Lisa Nowak, the jilted NASA astronaut who drove eighteen hours in her car across state lines to confront her former boyfriend's current flame-- in a diaper! She was so amped up on revenge she wasn't going to let a little poo-poo slow her down... One interesting study shows that the angrier we become, the more certain we are about our judgments. When we are angry, we " know" we are right. And that's a huge potential leadership fault, considering how emotions can MESS up our ability to think rationally."
In his book Trusting God(even when life hurts) Jerry Bridges explains, "there is no indication that God ever explained to Job the reasons for all of his terrible sufferings. As readers, we are taken behind the scenes to observe the spiritual warfare between God and Satan, but as far as we can tell from Scripture, God never told Job about that. The fact is, God does not really tell us, even in Scripture, why He allowed Satan to so afflict Job as He did. On the basis of the truth of Romans 8;28 we must conclude that God had a much higher purpose in allowing Satan's onslaughts against Job then merely using Job as pawn in a "wager " between Himself and Satan. Satan's part in the drama seems to slip into oblivion. He is never again mentioned after his two challenges to God in Job 1-2. The story does not conclude with a conversation between God and Satan in which God claims "victory" over Satan. Rather, the story concludes with a conversation between God and Job and would show Job acknowledges that through his trials he has come into the new and deeper relationship with God. He said, 'my ears have heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.' We may conclude that this deeper relationship was one of the results God had in mind all along." Abigail Adams once said, "these are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of the pacific state that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties ." God wasn't just a spectator watching in the BACKGROUND. He was with Job all along, HE IS WITH YOU and me in every struggle we face in such a time. The apostle Paul put it this way in his letter to the church in Rome, "for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
In his book Stealth Attack, Ray Pritchard writes, "this is one of those times when the chapter title is important. 'War in heavenly places not only describes this chapter; it also tells us what Daniel 10 is all about. This often overlooked chapter reveals a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. It tells of angels and demons locked in a kind of MORTAL KOMBAT somewhere between heaven and earth. This is like Star Wars; except this isn't science fiction. It's real. In order to get the proper perspective, consider these words by Welsh pastor Geoff Thomas; 'wherever there is a flock of Christians there are wolves that want to destroy them. Whenever the church advances dark principalities are at work. Whenever the Lord makes an entrance into the realm of darkness, the empire of Satan always strikes back.' Daniel 10 helps us understand why we encounter delays and difficulties in our service for Christ. It especially helps us understand why our prayers are sometimes hindered and delayed for long seasons, sometimes for many years. Daniel 10 introduces us to the final vision of the book. Chapter 10 is the prologue, Chapter 11 is the vision itself, and shut 12 gives us the aftermath and it closes the book. Daniel received the revelation of the future that involves 1 his people, the nation of Israel, 2 the last days, and a great war. Daniel 11 contains an amazing revelation of Israel's history, culminating in the rise of the Antichrist in the final days before the return of Christ. This revelation of the great war that would involve Israel evidently sent Daniel into morning. For three weeks he fasted and prayed, eating no food, drinking no wine, and using no lotions. At the end of three weeks he was standing by the Tigris River when he saw a most amazing thing: 'I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in Linen, with the belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, His arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.'The experience is too much for Daniel and he passed out on the ground. Later a hand touched him and bid him to stand up. I believe the hand belonged not to Jesus but an angel sent by Him. The angel told Daniel that his prayer had been heard the moment he began praying at the start of his 21 day fast. Why, then, had the answer taken so long to arrive? The angel's explanation is MIND BLOWING. He said that he had been hindered by demonic opposition between heaven and earth. This must be some kind of demonic force assigned by Satan to serve in the court of the Persian king. Evidently his job was to hinder God's work and to discourage God's people in Persia. He must've been a strong demon, because all by himself he stopped the angel cold for 21 days. Then Michael intervened, and the Angel is able to complete his mission. This tells us that the angel has left his warfare to come to Daniel and will soon be resuming the heavenly battle. If this sounds like a little too much to take, consider the familiar words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus, '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. This verse is specially helpful on several levels. First reminds us that our battle is not against other humans. Sometimes we focus on abortionists, and doubtless politicians, corrupt business leaders, and the drug dealers as if they were the source of our problems. Yet those people are unwitting dupes of powerful spiritual forces that they know nothing about. They are morally culpable for their choices, yet they are also in the service of evil beings who influenced them in ways they do not realize. Second, this verse teaches us that there are various kinds of demonic powers. There are "rulers," "authorities," "powers of this dark world, "and "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. It's not clear how we should differentiate between them. Perhaps it's enough to know that just as there are diverse types of angels, demons are also organized and serve different purposes in Satan's service." Which sounds a lot like what my mentor and I talked about earlier on this blog. This spiritual warfare isn't some war that is being fought on foreign soil or in some far-off mythical never NEVERLAND, Pritchard continues, "Daniel 10 tells us that behind the movement of men and nations, unseen spiritual forces are at work."
It's being fought in marriages all over the world. It's being fought in churches in this town. Sweetie, it's being fought between me and you. Sometimes I feel like I have demons ALL AROUND ME. By now you may be feeling overcome also. But remember it is always darkest BEFORE THE MORNING and like the pastor told me earlier, " Christians aren't called to be doormats."
TRAINING?
Have NO FEAR, the disciples in the early church faced the same trials and temptations as us and they were able to as the apostle Paul said in his letter to the church in Philippi, "He who has began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." I HOPE THEY AINT LYIN'! Seriously, it's time to man up and tell God, " I trust in you." So get ready to fight. Prichard continues, "finally, the apostle Paul encourages us in his letter to the church in Ephesus to, "put on the full armor of God." Our Godly character(or lack of it) actually does make a day-to-day difference. Not only for us but also in the great struggle between good and evil. We are all foot soldiers in a vast invisible war that stretches across the cosmos." Starting now, we begin a new DIE-IT and we GOTTA RUN and SWEAT IT OUT, it's all part of basic training in the Army. So go ahead and put a helmet on, because this is SPIRITUAL WARFARE!
FINALLY?
As we FINALLY end this series on Spiritual warfare, let's look at few perspectives I've personally learned throughout this series. First and foremost, I learned that the armor of God isn't to be treated like riot gear and only put on moments before we think we will go into battle. On the contrary, we need it daily. God has given us all we need to have victory in this life and to make sure that the devil can't get with you. For us not to use it would be DUM DUM! As Christians, Jesus never told us to play it safe and sit in the security of buildings or our homes or bank accounts. No, He told us to GO TELL THE WORLD. Go to the nations, the good and bad. Matthew tells us that as Jesus sent out the first twelve disciples He warned them, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves." Later Luke explains Jesus told more disciples, "Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road." Jesus told his disciples to go and take nothing with them(not even money) and don't waste time talking.
As I prepared this blog, I heard a message by Bill Purvis on how God uses symbols of His creation to teach us about spiritual things. Purvis explained, "the most dangerous creature in spiritual matters, isn't a snake, but wolves." Over and over in the Old Testament when the prophets talked about the wickedness of the PEOPLE OF GOD, they are described as Wolves( Eze 22:27, Hab 1:8, Zep 3:3.) Purvis explained, "wolves feed off of regurgitated food and they run in packs." They are takers of what they haven't worked for. They attack weaker animals(i.e. sheep.)They will even attack each other if one wolf enters another's territory. In the very first book of the New Testament, Matthew tells us that Jesus warned His disciples, "watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you recognize them.... Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus by their fruit you will recognize them. Christian writer Hugh Poland explains, "I'm no botanist, but in lay terms, what's going on inside the tree determines what gets produced outside the tree. Fig trees have figgy stuff going on inside of them, so they produce figs. They don't produce olives or oranges. Ditto the grapevines. It's impossible to grow figs on a grapevine, because grapevines have grapey stuff going on inside of them."
Jesus' half-brother James explains it this way, "People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so can blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring." Please understand I am not implying that Christians are perfect. But that we can't keep walking in darkness once we have come into THE LIGHT.
I share this because in the last few weeks I had another good friend in the faith hurt me. To be honest, I thought it was the final blow and I felt, "IT'S OVER NOW." I was ready to give up. Then I remembered that the Gospel tells us to PUT YOUR LOVE GLASSES ON and forgive. To be completely honest, even after this series FORGIVENESS isn't any easier to give. Which leads me to the most shocking and frightening perspective that I learned in his series. My greatest enemy in spiritual warfare isn't Satan or his attacks on me by other Christians. My greatest enemy is me. And my fiercest battles come from within me. As the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do, I do. And if I do what I no longer want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do-- this I keep on doing."
Before you start rattling off the lists of things you've stopped doing since your salvation, let me go ahead and share the deadliest sins aren't the ones that are the most obvious. Maybe that is why Jesus asked God to, "forgive them, for they know not what they do." I wonder how often we don't know what we do?
The seven deadly sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin. The currently recognized version of the list is usually given as wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Of course, you can see the effects of gluttony, wrath and lust immediately. But the sins of pride, sloth(laziness,) envy and greed aren't always as obvious as we think. And if we aren't careful they can be the LIGHTER FLUID that will BURN THIS HOUSE DOWN. Envy(jealousy) is a desire to have a quality, possession, or other attribute belonging to (someone else.) It's a tactic of the devil to make us feel insecure about ourselves and distract us from God's plan. It starts in our heart and quickly gets in our head. Michael, don't give the enemy your lunch, brother.
Let me go ahead and explain, lust isn't just a sexual sin. Aristotle's criterion for lust was excessive love of others or things, which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary. In Dante's "Inferno", unforgiven souls of the sin of lust are blown about in restless hurricane-like winds symbolic of their own lack of self control to their lustful passions in earthly life. John Pipper explains, "The only possible attitude toward out-of-control desire is a declaration of all-out war. In his book Radical David Platt explains, we all have blind spots-- areas of our lives that need to be uncovered. So we can see correctly and adjust our lives accordingly. But they are hard to identify... I can think of at least one glaring blind spot an American Christian history. Slavery. How could Christians who supposedly believed in the Gospel so easily rationalize enslavement of other human beings?... This frightens me. Good intentions, regular worship, and even study of the Bible do not prevent blindness in us. Part of our sinful nature instinctively chooses to see what we want to see and to ignore what we want to ignore. I can live my Christian life and even lead the church while unknowingly overlooking evil. If I am going to address urgent spiritual need by sharing the gospel of Christ or the building up the body of Christ around the world, then I cannot overlook dire physical needs in the process. Not only do they exist, God takes very seriously how I respond to them. The book of Proverbs warns about curses that come upon those who ignore the poor." Let me go ahead and make this clear that I am not endorsing a salvation by works faith. Please don't get my words TWISTED. I am simply implying that if we are going to impact this world for God, THA CHURCH must REVERSE it's way of thinking. Platt puts it this way, "clearly, God does not demand or expect us to meet every need. But the logic that says, 'I can't do everything, so don't do anything,' is straight from hell." I'll go ahead and point out that this is being a sloth, its being lukewarm at best.
In fact, according to Matthew just before Jesus sent the 12 out amongst the wolves. Matthew tells us, "Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed, helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field." The work we are called to do isn't just taking the Gospel to the nations, we are to take Jesus to the nations, right? That means we must do what Jesus did. Actually, the apostle John tells us that Jesus told His disciples just before He was crucified, "very truly I tell you, all who have faith in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." So we will do everything Jesus did and more. I'm not talking about miracles or speaking in tongues, which tend to glorify ourselves more than God. I'm talking about having compassion and giving, even to the point of giving our lives.
For centuries there has been a controversy over who crucified Jesus. I'm here to tell you it wasn't the Romans or the Jews. Nor was it you or I, Jesus crucified Jesus. I mean really, who can kill God? John even tells us that Jesus declared, "just as my Father knows Me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep... the reason my Father loves Me is that I lay down My life--- only to take it up again . But I lay it down of My own accord." ARE YOU READY to follow our Lord? For all you husbands reading this, let me go ahead and remind you that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, "husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." Your position is not about Lordship over her, but loving her and that means serving her. Dale Carnegie says,"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged." I was taught years ago through men's ministry that marriage is two people dying at the same time which gives life to something new. Sound familiar?
according to John's letter to the church,"this is, how we know what love is. "For God so loved the world. That He gave( sacrificed) His only begotten Son....." So you see, love is so much more than just a word we rattle off because we feel warm and fuzzy inside. Love is an action shown by giving.
At this point, let's discuss greed. like lust and gluttony, it is a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. Notice how these three focus and center around what we want and us. Selfish, isn't it? St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that greed was "a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things." In the scope of eternity these things become a nuisance and can hinder us from accomplishing kingdom business.
In Dante's Purgatory, the penitents were bound and laid face down on the ground for having concentrated too much on earthly thoughts. "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal or treason, especially for personal gain, for example through bribery. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery or MANIPULATION of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed. Such misdeeds can include simony, where one profits from soliciting goods within the actual confines of a church. As defined outside of Christian writings, greed is an inordinate desire to acquire or possess more than one needs, especially with respect to material wealth. So greed is about much more than just pursuing money and things. It's about keeping it for ourselves. How much stuff is ENOUGH? What ever happened to the Christian belief that GOD IS ENOUGH? Better yet, Matthew tells us that Jesus asked, "what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" THE CHOICE IS YOURS.
Platt continues, "the lesson I learned is that the war against materialism in our hearts is exactly that: a war. If we have savings, where's the line between responsible saving(which the Bible certainly advocates) and irresponsible hording(which the Bible clearly condemns?)" The Christian missionary Jim Elliot, who inspired the movie The End of the Spear wisely said, "he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." The world tells us, " we can have our cake and eat it too. But the Gospel says, "whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." According to Jesus , "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it." The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galicia, "I have been CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." As John Piper boldly professes, "there is a war going on. All talk of a Christian's right to live 'luxuriously' as a child of the King' in this atmosphere sounds hollow -- especially since the King Himself is stripped for battle."
Which is why Platt explains in Radical, "the apostle Paul tells Timothy to command the rich 'to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share(1 Timothy 6.) This Paul says is the key to being free from the deadly nature of wealth and possessions. Give. Give generously, abundantly and sacrificially. Give because Christ is in you. Give because your heart has been captured by the Savior, who has produced in you 'overflowing joy,' well up in rich generosity." According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus clearly stated" "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and LOVE the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Christians can not STRADDLE THE FENCE. And here's where another blind spot develops. Pride, we take pride in our homes, cars, careers, even our families, anything that God has "blessed" us with. The best way for me to explain this is quote David Platt, "the goal of the American dream is to make much of a us, the goal of the Gospel is to make much of God."
As I write this one of the deadliest sins is KNOCKIN' AT MY DOOR, I am struggling with swallowing my pride and returning to a factory job. Because after all, God has gifted me with both a passion for Him and writing. I can do great things for God through my writing, right? Why would He send me back to working in a factory? What do we find in the middle of pride? A big fat I. At this point in my life, I am TIRED OF THE STRUGGLE and wondering when it will all be over with. However the SPIRIT OF GOD in me tells me. don't give up, keep your eye on the prize, for BETTER OR WORSE. As the apostle Paul encouraged Timothy, in his second letter to his protégé Paul penned, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." You see, after we have finished this race called life. THAT'LL BE THE DAY our battle ends, and we say our last goodbye. In case you're wondering, why keep fighting. Let me explain. The reason why is, it is for our best. In the Jewish custom of offering sacrifices to God, animals offered as sacrifices had to have all the nasty, smelly stinking insides cut out before they could be offered as pure and acceptable sacrifices to God. No wonder when God begins to change us, He starts from the inside out. I'll explain this more in another blog or book, rather. And so this ends this series on spiritual warfare.
