What Is Spiritual Warfare?

Spiritually speaking, there’s an unseen world that our human eyes can’t see. In this unseen world, there’s a battle taking place that was instigated by our spiritual enemy, Satan. He’s also referred to as the devil, the evil one, and the thief among other names.

Every plan of attack and activity from Satan begins with a lie. That’s his ammunition against every Christ follower. If he can get us to believe a lie, that’s the beginning of our deception. That’s why we must know, live, stand on, and share God’s truth.

We must understand that Satan isn’t omnipresent. There are eight billion people in the world and our good, amazing, God is with each and every one of us. But satan isn’t. Yes, there are other evil spirits and forces at work, but he’s unable to be everywhere all the time. So, don’t give him too much credit.

If we choose to follow Christ, we’re engaged in spiritual warfare. Why? Because Satan hates that we’re followers of Christ so he’ll do whatever he can to trip us up. And while Satan has some power, he isn’t all-powerful like our great God, in fact, he’s on a short rope and actually the Bible tells us he has to ask permission from God to do anything.

God is both encouraging and hard to hear, isn’t he? If God is 100% sovereign, why does He allow Satan to cause problems! This is where our faith must engage. We’ll never grasp why God hasn’t sent Satan to his eternal home of torment, but Revelation 20:10 tells us that’s exactly what will happen to him one day.

Our spiritual enemy would love nothing more if we focus on the imperfections of others and forget that he’s even there. It’s a huge part of his strategy to lead us to think the person who offended us on the highway or the family member who treated us poorly is the enemy. Or any of this evil in the world is a persons fault. It isn’t it’s him.

Just because our spiritual enemy is constantly looking for ways to ruin our lives doesn’t mean we have to live in defeat. The one who resides in us far greater than the one who sets out to destroy us. We have some tools that we can use to protect ourselves so that we don’t fall into the traps he sets for us.

Fear is a huge trap Satan sets for us. Especially into today’s society. If he can cripple us with fear. It turns into a disastrous situation.

Satan only comes to steal, kill and destroy us. And it seems like he’s doing in the world today.

Throughout the Bible it speaks of the remnant of the church.

God’s remnant are those who acknowledge God in all their ways, even when their ways sometimes do not please God. They are the ones who always confess their sins to God while believing He is always faithful and just to forgive them of their sins and to cleanse them all righteousness.

God’s remnant are those who stand on God’s word and not on the word of man, politicians, the media. They believe God’s Word is true today, yesterday and forever. Political correctness is not part of their character.

Without this remnant we will not survive what Satan is doing in the world day.

God remnant is still alive today. Are you part of God’s Remnant?

Jesus Heals

After completing His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus came down from the mountain and a leper approached, asking to be made clean. -Matthew 8:1-4- Under the laws of the time, touching this man would have meant defilement, ceremonial uncleanliness, which required ritual purification to regain one’s place in Jewish society. Physical contact wasn’t even necessary, yet Jesus chose to touch the leper anyway, not only to heal him, but also to make him clean.

Though we may not have this man’s disease, each of us approaches God as if we’re leprous, with a sick heart in need of healing. What a joy to know that His presence and His touch cleanses, restores, and sets us free.

The leper bowed before the Lord, saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” -Matthew 8: 2- Jesus stretched out His hand towards the leper and healed him. In the same way, Jesus extends His healing hands out to touch your life today. Whether it’s a physical ailment that needs healing, a relationship that needs reconciling, or a situation that needs restoring, Jesus extends His hand out to you and invites you to receive His touch.

I have to admit I never would have ever thought this was possible. But I’ve seen it in my own life, as well as others. With God all things are possible.

As you read this, do you find it easy to receive His healing hand? Are you confident that because you are in Jesus, you are worthy of God’s receiving touch! Your answer to these questions will determine how confident and comfortable you are, drawing near with your hurts, hang-ups and brokenness, and asking the great physician for His healing touch.

Today let’s remind ourselves that Jesus came to cleanse us from the disease of sin, and the brokenness in our lives. He came for you, and He came for me. Let’s renew our trust in Jesus, and remind ourselves where we have forgotten that Jesus is willing and ready, to heal our hearts, and immediately our lives will be changed.

Learning To Have Poor Eye Sight

In Genesis 27, it describes the scene where Isaac, the father, is blessing his sons. He wants to bless Esau, but Jacob comes to him in disguise and Isaac ends up blessing him because he has poor eye sight. Because of that he would bless Jacob. Now if he had good eye sight he had seen Jacob for what he was he would not have given him that blessing.

So there’s a key; in order to bless the people in your life that many would have a hard time with, you have to learn how to have “poor eye sight.” You look at them and you see all their faults, and you can’t forgive them, you can’t bless them. But, you know what? If you’re to bless them, you have to have faith not to see, but to seethe blood of Jesus.

God has chosen not to see your sins in the blood of Messiah. The eyes of your heart need poor vision so that you will see only the face of God and you will be a blessing because you are not only blessed by what you see- but by what you don’t

Develop poor eye sight for the faults, shortcomings, weakness, and sins of others.

When Jesus Says Come

A clear path in life is very rare. Problems abound. So often, if we had it our way, we would navigate our own route, bypassed the bends and backroads of life, and seek a direct, quick path to our plans.

But straight routes are rarely part of God’s navigational system in life. God’s way is often an unfamiliar path, requiring all of our faith. Think about Peter in Matthew 14 22-34. He and some of Jesus’s disciples had spent the evening with Jesus, healing miraculously feeding a crowd of over 5,000. As the disciples traveled home across the lake, a sudden storm stirred up. As the vessel (boat) struggled against the waves, the looked up and saw Jesus walking toward them on the surface of the water.

Peter called out, asking Jesus to identify Himself, and then Peter would draw near and walk on the water. Peter’s testimony of faith wasn’t simply in his feet strolling on top of the waves, but in his acceptance of an invitation to join Jesus on an unconventional path. At that moment, Peter didn’t walk on Galilee’s shallow waters where his feet could catch the shores of security. Rather, Jesus invited Peter to walk in the deep and join him there. Today that is Jesus’s invitation to us as well.

The road to Jesus often leads us on a confusing, faith ridden, meandering route on the waves of life. Rarely is it the simple path we might choose. But, just as Jesus calmed His disciples with the comfort of His presence that night, He does the same for us: Don’t be afraid, take courage, “ I am He.” Therefore, we can rest in the assurance that the one who leads our lives will never lead us where His presence won’t meet us.

When we’re tempted to rush toward plans we long to see established, when we are eager to bypass God’s unexpected routes, may we choose to quiet our fears, and press into the leaning of God, who heals our fears and holds us in the palm of His hands.

Signs You’re Emotionally Exhausted

Everyone goes through times where their emotional tanks are empty even the great hero’s of the Bible.

Consider the experience of Elijah, one of the most important prophets in the history of Israel. After a highlight in his ministry he went toe to toe with a pagan prophet and won, then he got a death threat from the queen and began a downward spiral of emotional exhaustion.

First Kings 19:3-4 describes what Elijah did next.

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He want to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and left his servant there. Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord, ‘he said.’ ‘Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

Elijah’s experience gives us 10 indications of emotional exhaustion. Keep your eyes open for these issues in your own life and the lives of people around you.

10 signs of emotional exhaustion from this part of Elijah’s life

  • Fear creeps into your life.
  • You find yourself running away from things.
  • You back out of relationships.
  • You make foolish decisions impulsively.
  • You push yourself past your physical limits.
  • Your work seems pointless.
  • You complain that you want to quit and give up.
  • You feel isolated and attacked.
  • You compare yourself to others and feel bad about yourself.
  • You think death might bring you relief.

If you see some of these characteristics in you life right now, your most likely emotionally exhausted or experiencing burnout. You may even be depressed.

Every day in society I see this in people, due to the coronavirus and having no control over what’s happening in the world today. modern society makes it easy for us get burned out.

But there is hope if we draw closer to God.

There are times in our lives we all feel emotionally exhausted. Jesus says to rest in the Lord.

David’s Prayer For Help

From one season to another, we often return to past pain and disappointments. We can blow them up and magnify them so they seem bigger than they really are. This causes us to wallow in self-pity, become stuck where we are, and cause us to doubt that there’s any hope for the future.

Feeling self-pity can be a subtle issue to detect in ourselves. It is usually attached to a hurt in our heart that needs to be tenderly touched and addressed. If we do not let the Spirit take hold of this area of our lives, we choke our relationship with God.

In Psalm 142:1-7 we see David as an example of how we can resist this in our lives, and handle our past pains with healthy processing and emotion. David was experiencing complete rejection from his own family. The man he looked up to, King Saul, was jealous of Him. Yet he openly and honestly poured out his heart and his raw emotions before God. It feels like a sad and lonely experience for David. No one would blame him for falling into the self-pity pit.

But instead David decided to reach out to God in prayer. He chose proximity over distance, and said to God that He was his for refuge and that was all he ever needed. -Psalm 142:5- David drew near and declared his comfort, provision and strength in God rather rather than In himself.

With everything David went through he consistently poured out his raw emotions before God, and sought an eternal perspective. What ever you face, whatever you are going through, take some time to invite God into your situation, and surrender to His plans and purposes. As we do so, we will experience God’s total peace foster our hearts in His presence, and process our feelings as we give them over to Him first. This is where self-pity releases it’s hold on our lives, as we take hold of God’s unending care and concern for our lives.

So give yourself and your fears fully to God today.

Comfort Zone: A Beautiful Place, But Nothing Ever Grows There

Our Comfort zones. This phrase can be used to described in many areas of our lives, both personally and professionally. It is a place where we are, well, and comfortable. What happens when you get out of your comfort zone?

By attempting something that is outside of your comfort zone, you are able to grow and, most, importantly, learn. Learn that you are a capable human being, learn that mistakes happen, learn that you are courageous.

I learned how this process works with my son. My 16-year old and went to work as a dishwasher at a nearby restaurant after school. He wanted to save for a car. With in a few weeks he was complaining, mostly because he was missing his friends and his video games and wanted to quit his job. But it stuck with it and in a few months he became a chef helper. I could see the anxiety left and he began to smile again. It turned out that my son loved to cook but. He would have never knew he enjoyed cooking so much.

If you stick it out, there can be great things awaiting you.

I’ve also seen adults going back to school to further their careers. Your ever to old to learn new things. People find themselves questioning their decision after a few weeks or months into the new commitment. It’s uncomfortable. It’s new, and it’s not their comfort zone.

What At First Glance Appears To Be “Not For You” May Turn Out To Be The Best Thing You’ve Done

Since I’ve became a Volunteer and Writer, to get out of my comfort zone. I never considered I would enjoy either task I’m doing so much. I have learned so much about myself or the people I am blessed to help. But, most importantly I am still learning the mistakes are not always a bad thing, as long as I learn from them.

“Move Out Of Your Comfort Zone, you can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.- Brain Tracy

If you’re considering trying something new, either personally or professionally, I urge you to overcome your fear, remind yourself that you are capable, and don’t just step buy jump out of your comfort zone.