Spiritual Warfare – It’s Real.

I haven’t written here in so long, I almost feel awkward about it – like I should reintroduce myself to my blog, maybe give it a one-armed hug. But it would look and feel pretty silly to hug my computer, no matter how many arms I use.

Since my last post, much has changed. I was on the verge of starting a new job, and while I loved that position, I recently left it to work for a church.  Not because it was this wonderful “upwardly mobile career move,” but because I was working to be obedient to God.  I knew that this  was exactly where God wanted me to be. I knew it, but still prayed for confirmation multiple times.  And each time I got that confirmation.

So when I started to feel like I was under a spiritual attack, I didn’t really believe it.  “How could I be under attack right now!? I am being obedient. I am doing the “right thing,” and I am behaving myself.”

And all that was true. I was doing all that. But I did not stop to consider how I had let my personal and meaningful relationship with Christ become background noise.  I was going to church, serving, loving on others, praying (albeit mechanically).  And now I was even working for a church. But I had gotten so distracted by what I “should be doing” and “following the rules” that I stopped spending time each day caught up in worship, or just talking to God, or listening for and to Him.  I stopped treating it as a relationship, and fell into the “religious trap.” I stopped reading my bible, and seriously slacked off on journaling. I became complacent. All of a sudden I was so worried about how my new boss and everyone else saw me that I stopped worrying about walking with Christ.   I let my guard down, not for very long, but it didn’t take long for the enemy to jump in and start to hack away at me.

The enemy is sneaky. He uses the very gifts God gives us to work against us; to break us. He used my tender heart to distract me with negative and sinful things. He used my desire and love of taking care of others to allow me to think it was okay to neglect myself and my own relationships. He used my intense spirit to allow me to feel beat down, broken, and wasted. The very things God was using to bless me, and others through me, were the very things the enemy was using to try to destroy me.

Sunday night, after a very emotional couple of days (weeks? months?), I sat in my room and opened my bible. I didn’t follow a reading plan, or any steps, or any particular order, I just opened it and started praying and reading. I prayed for peace, clarity, wisdom, and discernment. I prayed for guidance, and for protection. I prayed that He would, once again, lift me out of this pit. This dark, hopeless, helpless pit that I had allowed myself to sink into. I prayed that God would intervene, because failing was not an option. I was working for Him now. I could not fail.

I turned on some worship music, and I sang at the top of my lungs, not caring that my whole family most definitely could hear me. And then I went to sleep. Monday morning I woke up, and for the first time in nearly a year, I had peace. I had clarity. I knew what I needed to do, and how to do it. I knew that even if the worst thing that could happen did happen, it would be ok. Because I belong to Him.

We all are under attack at one point or another. The enemy loves to knock us down. He loves to get us off track. To think about ourselves, our feelings, our desires, temporary things that usually aren’t good for anyone. Chances are, if you are a follower of Christ, you know exactly what I am talking about.

If this is you, or has been you, check out this article : 8 Signs Your Under Spiritual Attack and How to Win the Battle.
It is definitely not comprehensive, but it is a good, easy, simple read. I also suggest  looking up and praying over the 31 scriptures I have added below.

Don’t lose heart, Dear Friends. Remember that the enemy has already lost. God has, is, and will always win.  The enemy can torment us and tear us down. But he cannot win.

Love,

MP

 

1. “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

2. “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

3. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We 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.” 2 Cor. 10:3-5

4. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” 1 Pet. 5:8-9

5. “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.” Is. 54:17

6. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore 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.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Eph. 6:11-17

7. “In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Rom. 8:37

8. “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:57

9. “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 4:6

10. “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”2 Thess. 3:3

11. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Luke 10:19

12. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

13. “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.”Matt. 18:18-19

14. “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.” Deut. 28:7

15. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

16. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Cor. 10:13

17.  “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

18. “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12:21

19. “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Rev.12:11

20. “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Tim. 6:12

21. “,,,On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”Matt. 16:18

22. “…the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” 1 John 3:8

23. “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Is. 40:31

24. “One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.” Josh. 23:10

25. “Do not fear them, for the Lord your God is the one fighting for you.” Deut. 3:22

26. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Rom. 8:31

27. “Through You we will push back our adversaries, through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.” Ps. 44:5

28. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Josh. 1:9

29. “For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.” Ps. 18:39

30. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart…” Ps. 91:1-4

31. “This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chron. 20:15

Love & Respect

Source: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/love-and-respect 

 

Scripture teaches us that Christians should honor or respect all men (1 Peter 2:17). Every human being bears the image of God, and so, of course, we are called on to respect and honor that. And of course, Scripture also teaches us to love our neighbor (Leviticus 19:18), and Jesus in his famous story makes the point that our neighbor is whatever person God has placed right in front of us (Luke 10:29–37). So all Christians are to love everyone, and all Christians should honor everyone. That is the baseline.

But when we come down to the particular relationship of husbands to wives, and wives to husbands, Scripture gives us an important, additional emphasis. Husbands are told specifically to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). Wives are told specifically to respect their husbands as the church does Christ (Ephesians 5:33).

There are three things that we can take away from this. The lessons are not limited to three, but we should make a point of grasping at least these three things.

1. We are called to love and respect.

“A woman loved by her husband will grow in loveliness. A man respected by his wife will become more respectable.”

First, the commands are directed to our respective and relative weaknesses. We are told to do things that we might not do unless we were told. For example, children are told to obey their parents because it is easy for children not to do so (Ephesians 6:1). In the same way, husbands are told to love their wives because it is easy for husbands not to do so. Wives are told to honor their husbands because it is easy for wives not to do so. We are called to do things that might not occur to us. If we were all doing these things naturally, why bring it up?

Women are better at loving than men are. Men do well at respecting. C.S. Lewis once observed that women think of love as taking trouble for others — which is much closer to a scriptural agape love than what men naturally do. Men tend to think of love as not giving trouble to others.

So men must be called to sacrifice for their wives, to take trouble for them, as Christ gave himself for the church. Women must be urged to respect their husbands. A woman can naturally love a man she does not honor or respect very much, and this is something that Paul would identify as a trouble. How many times have we heard a terrible story about a girl returning to her abusive boyfriend because she “loves him,” even though he treats her like dirt? But if we asked her if she respects him, she would reply, “Are you kidding? Him?” And men must be called to give themselves away for their wives. This is what a wedding means.

2. Men run on respect, women on love.

Second, the command reveals something about the needs of the recipient. In other words, if the Bible said that shepherds should feed the sheep, a reasonable inference would be that sheep need food. When husbands are told to love their wives, we can infer from this that wives need to be loved. When wives are told to respect their husbands, we can infer from this that husbands need to be respected. Think of it as two kinds of cars that run on different kinds of fuel — diesel and regular, say. Men run on respect, and wives run on love.

“Fill your spouse’s tank. Men run on respect. Women live on love.”

In saying this, remember that we are talking about emphasis. On a basic level, everyone needs to be loved and everyone needs to be respected. But when Scripture singles out husbands and wives living together, the men are told to love and the women are told to respect. Flip this around, and you see that men should remember that their wives need to be loved, and their wives should remember that their husbands need to be respected.

Remembering this keeps us from giving what we would like to be getting. George Bernard Shaw once observed that we should not do unto others as we would have them do unto us — their tastes may not be the same as ours. I once knew a husband who got his wife a nice shotgun for Christmas. She was a shrewd Christian woman, and so the following Christmas, she got him a nice string of pearls. And as she told my wife, “they were very nice pearls.”

Often when a marriage is in a tough spot, both spouses tend to give what they feel they need — love and respect, respectively. Wives reach out to their husbands with love, when respect is what would really help. Husbands can back away, thinking of this as a form of respect, “giving space,” when what they need to do is close in with love.

3. Both are powerful to produce change.

But third — here is where it gets glorious — love and respect are both potent. The Bible teaches that this kind of love is efficacious. This kind of respect is powerful. This sort of love bestows loveliness. This kind of respect bestows respectability.

“Men tend to think of love as not giving trouble to others, but women think of love as taking trouble for others.”

Husbands cannot duplicate the love of Christ, which efficaciously made his bride lovely. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But while we cannot duplicate this kind of love, husbands are told to imitate it. And in imitating it, we see some of the comparable effects. A woman who is loved by her husband is a woman who will grow in loveliness. He washes her with the water of the word (Ephesians 5:26). The entire passage assumes that this kind of love bestows loveliness. And the same kind of potency can be found in a godly woman’s respect. Peter tells us that reverent and chaste behavior can break down a man’s disobedient spirit (1 Peter 3:1–2).

So then, men and women should love and respect each other. They should do so with all their hearts. But when they are concentrating on their marriages, the men should lean into love. The women should lean into respect. The results can be astonishing.