The
spirit of antichrist has been working in the world since before the
Flood of Noah, even till today.( 1 John 2:18, 22, 1 John 4:1-6, 2 John7 KJV)
It has one job. To create the Anti-Christ system in preparation for the appearance of Satan's messiah, the Anti-Christ in these last days
When
you see in the Bible the world being taken over by evil before the Flood of Noah. That was the
spirit of antichrist. When you see Nimrod building the Tower of Babel
and uniting the world against God. That was the spirit of antichrist.
When
you look at history and see all the world conquerors. That's the spirit
of antichrist. When you see the idol of Daniel, showing the kingdoms of
history. That is the spirit of antichrist.
When you see the 20th
century and the struggles between capitalism and communism and fascism
for global control, and control of the mind. That is the spirit of
antichrist.
As you see the uniting of the world through torment and destruction, and fear. That is the spirit of antichrist.
The
word antichrist, does not mean against Christ. It means "instead of"
Christ. It's job is to unite the world under the Anti-Christ, and get
them to worship, another god. That god being Satan who desires to be the
most high.
The spirit of antichrist does not care about our
politics. It uses all sides to push its agenda. It works through
individuals, groups, religions and governments to gain more control and
build the infrastructure for the Beast system.
There are humans
who rule this world, and have submitted to the antichrist spirit and
other demonic forces. These humans from top to bottom are deceived
slaves.
Even good Christian people can and are used by this spirit to help push the agenda.
The
Holy Spirit and God's Word, helps us to fight these things if we are
Saved and Spirit led. Remember, Satan can quote scripture and use it to
oppress people. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us into all Truth. It
is the power of the Holy Spirit that quickens, the Sword of the Spirit.
We
are called to fight the good fight of faith against the enemy in all
its forms. But, we know we have already won, and the final victory must
be Christ's.
When they say Christ has come, do not be deceived, you will know when your Lord comes.
When they say you are an extremist. Rejoice for so persecuted they the prophets before you.
When they threaten you, and strip everything from you, and beat on the door to come in, fear not for He is with you.
Remember, all these things must happen but the end is not yet.....for He is coming...quickly.
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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”—Heb. 11:1
Translation: Faith is made up of hope for things we do not see and have never seen, but have evidence for.
If we rightly divide this verse we first need to understand what “Hope” is.
Hope is not a “Gee I sure hope so.”
No, it’s “more like “My only hope”. It’s like a life preserver or
like a harness that a steel worker wears when he is on a high rise and
needs a safety line to prevent falling.
We hope for things we have never seen, but have been given evidence of.
We have never seen God. We have never seen heaven or hell.
But, things have happened in our lives that have given us evidence of the reality of these things.
We have seen God move in our lives and answer prayer. We have seen
people get healed of disease. We have seen blessings come to us and to
others. We have seen the beauty of nature and the signs it holds. We
have felt God in our spirit, comforting us.
This evidence is our lifeline to God. God provides this evidence so
that our lifeline will be stronger and cause us to reach out to Him more
and trust Him more. God Himself is our lifeline and He provides faith
for it.
He gives us faith at birth, and He builds our faith to believe in
Jesus Christ and put our faith and trust in Him. Then, He continues
throughout our life to build our faith. If we know Him.
Hebrews chapter 11 is called the faith chapter of the Bible. This is where we can get a definition of what faith is.
The very first thing it mentions is having faith in God’s creation.
Belief that God created all things out of nothing, simply by speaking it
into existence.
We believe in creation because God told us in His Word that this is
what happened. So, by faith we believe His Word. Our belief in His Word
makes us righteous. Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him for
righteousness. When we are told of Jesus Christ, we have the chance to
believe or not. If we believe, then we are believing the Word of God,
and we put our faith in Jesus Christ and we are declared righteous.
Jesus is the living Word of God. (Romans 4:3 Rom. 3:22)
God washes us and places us in Christ. This is what happened to all
the Old Testament saints. They believed God and God declared them
righteous and placed them in Christ. Just like us.
Remember God is not bound by time or place. God is not filled with
doubt. He knows for a fact that His plans will succeed. So, when an Old
Testament saint died, having never known Jesus, God places them in
Christ because they believed God’s Word.
So, if that saint was alive to today, and heard a sermon on Jesus.
This saint would have accepted Him. I know this might not be liked by
some believers, but every person who has ever been saved has been saved
by grace, through faith. Not by works. They did the works because they
believed the Word God gave them.
Grace comes from God and we see evidence, then choose to put our faith in Him at His Word.
Obedience or works are nothing without faith.
They are just rule keeping or going through the motions.
There are some things we cannot do without faith first. Like
Confessing Jesus is the Lord, or believing He came in the flesh. (1 Cor.
12:3, 1 John 4:1-3 )
Like Abel sacrificing the first of his flock, as a picture of the
future sacrifice of Christ. That’s what ALL sacrifices are. (Heb 11)
He did this because He received a Word from God, or believed the Word of God given to Him from Adam.
He then became a picture of Jesus, when he was killed by His brother
because of envy. Like Christ was killed by His brethren for envy. (Gen.
chapter 4, Matt. 27:18)
And they were sent to wander the earth.
We see that Enoch walked with God. He had a relationship with him,
just like we are called to have a relationship. But, it started by first
seeing evidence of God from God, or it came from a Word given from God
by someone else. Perhaps from Seth, or from Adam himself. (Gen. 5:22-24)
Remember Adam often walked with God in the cool of the day.
Do you see that our faith leads us to know God and walk with Him. it
leads us to seek Him and turn to Him and let Him direct our paths.
It’s a relationship not rule keeping. No one is saved by keeping the
law. We are saved by knowing Him. By confessing Jesus is the Lord and
having a relationship with Him by faith. (Rom. 3:20-31)
Noah built an Ark. Because He believed the Word given to Him and he
acted upon it. Who in their right mind would build an ark in the front
yard?
Our faith might lead us to do crazy things. It might lead us to look
strange or be persecuted. But, it might also lead to the saving of our
family, friends and world.
We see that Abraham believed the Word God gave Him, and he was made
righteous. He went unto a land that was not his own and trusted God. He
trusted God even though Abraham never saw the promise fulfilled.
There are things we are trusting God for. And we might never see it
fulfilled, until we stand with him on that day in glory. When we cross
into Paradise to be with Him, and we see the new heaven and new Earth to
come.
We seek a city, a country, a future place with God called Home. For this place is not our home.
Sara believed that God would give her a child in her old age. Even
through her doubt, God provided. Despite her laughter the promise came
and she was written in this book. Because God’s promises are not based
upon our faith, and obedience. But, on His might, grace, and goodness.
He does it. Not us. (Gen. 18)
Our faith often leads us to reject things in this life, knowing God has a better plan.
Like Moses who chose to reject the high living of Pharaoh and suffer
with His own people. Because He knew that he would be the Deliverer and
knew that Christ would deliver us all. (the book of Exodus, Acts Chapter
7, Hebrews 11:26)
All of the Old Testament saints teach us that God gives us a Word, and by faith we believe that Word and follow Him.
Jesus is that Word. And when we turn to Him by Faith, He saves us and
directs our paths through His Holy Spirit and the relationship we have
with Him.
Even through persecutions and a tough life we keep turning to Him and calling out to Him in faith trusting His Word.
And even if we do not see the promises fulfilled in this life, we know that there is a better day.
So, since we are surrounded by the great saints of old and the lives
they lived we can turn to Jesus and trust Him through faith like they
did. Setting down our burdens and letting Him wash away our sin. So, we
can be free to live the life with him that he called us to live. (Heb.
12:1)
Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He wrote it, and will bring it to pass in our lives. Not by our works but His.
And it was a joy to Him to endure the suffering and shame of the
cross for us. Then sit down at the right hand of God in power. (Heb.
12:2)
Through faith we are saved and our faith grows as God builds it
through our relationship. And every bad thing we face, and every good
thing we receive, all works together to build our faith as we turn to
Him and trust Him.
And His promises will come.
They come today. They come in the future. And they come forever.
Trust Him.
-----
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
“Seek ye first my kingdom and my righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”–Matt. 6:33
When we read scripture we need to “Rightly divide” it. (2 Timothy 2:15)
What does that mean?
Well, every word in scripture has meaning. They can often be linked
to other parts of scripture. When we want to understand or define
something, we need to use scripture to do it.
So, what does it mean to “Seek ye first my kingdom”?
It means to put the building of God’s kingdom first in your life. So,
how does that look? Well, it means that spreading the Gospel is the most
important thing to you. (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18)
You tell people about Jesus personally on a one to one basis. You
tell people about Him publicly; and you support ministries and
missionaries that actively spread the Gospel. You have a desire for
people to get saved, and you step out in faith, to let the Spirit work
through you in doing that work.
On top of that, we support and participate in Kingdom building
activities, such as loving people, healing people, helping people,
protecting people, growing people, serving people and feeding people.
All of this is done in His name, and with an eye toward Kingdom
building. Not being fake, or having an ulterior motive; but being real
in our purposes. We want people to realize that there is a God who loves
them and wants them saved, and that process starts now in this world.
Now when I say this, it makes it seem like I’m saying that you need
to become a preacher, or go door to door, or become a missionary. I’m
not saying that. God has given each of us different personalities,
different gifts, and different callings on our lives. Build your
relationship with God, and step out to do the small things and you’ll be
shown by Him what directions to take. But, be real. You don’t have to
take mission trips, or go to seminary. But, when a friend or neighbor
falls on tough times are you there? Do you tell them about Jesus? Do you
exercise your gifts at work? Not being preachy or holier than thou, but
someone that is approachable, helpful, and keeps a confidence?
We do this out of our salvation. We do not do it to be saved, but
because we want to tell people the great things God has done for us.
What is “My Righteousness”? We are made righteous,
because we believe God. We believe what He has told us in His Word. We
believe what He has spoken to us in our hearts; and we believe He has
called us. We believe what He tells us about Jesus Christ, being the
Lord, and we confess Him as our Lord. We agree with God that we are
sinners and need Him.
We believe our personal relationship with Him; and the great things
He has done in our lives. This causes us to live rightly as He grows us.
We study and live by His Word. We seek to grow our faith and our
relationship with Him. Not obeying rules, but growth through faith and
relationship. Seeking His righteousness, is to seek the relationship
with Him, and we grow in faith and spirit through it and Him. We cannot
be righteous without Him, and faith in His Word. (Rom. 4:3, Rom.
10:9-10)
“And all these things shall be added unto you.” What
things? The things we need, and even in many ways the true desires of
our hearts. God knows what all humans really need and want. He also
knows us personally. He is more than happy to provide these things. But,
always remember that our spiritual condition, our relationship with
Him, and His kingdom are paramount. Sometimes that will lead to great
hardship.
God is not shocked when you desire success or abundance or any of
“these things”. But, as we seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness; our
desire for, and our definition of “These Things” starts to change. We
become humble. We become meek, like a wild horse broken and trained for
battle. We become less needy, because we have all in Him. We succeed,
but our success is not apart from Him. He is always at the forefront of
our minds and what we do.
Now when I say that, I’m not saying we don’t sin. I’m not saying we
don’t forget God. I’m saying that He is a constant fixture in our lives,
and grows in it. It’s a growth in Him. If you’re not experiencing this,
ask God to give you more of Himself and He will.
John tells us that we will sin and fail, but we turn to God and ask
Him to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (Unbelief) and He will. Then,
when we are washed we are as though we never sinned. god remembers it no
more. (1 John 1:8-10, 1 John 3:9)
Terrible things happen in this life and in this world. But, even in
the midst of these situations or places. “Seek ye first my Kingdom, and
my righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” is a
promise. It might not manifest the same in everybody or in every
situation. You might even be miserable for a while as He works things
out in your life. To be honest, there are believers who died serving
Him, and being in Him, long before any of “these things” manifested in
their lives. But, I can promise you they have “these things” today with
Him. I can also bet that the families they left behind were blessed. God
is just. He pays His workers.
But, like most of God’s promises it requires faith to get started. Do
you trust Him? Step out and start doing the little things and begin to
grow. He will lead you and guide you; just go. He will move. It doesn’t
matter where you are. Seek His kingdom and His righteousness. Do it from
a pure heart, wholeheartedly. If you can’t, then ask Him to give you a
clean heart, and help you to be pure in your motivations toward Him and
others.
Then watch your views of what “these things” are change and turn to
what He wants you to view them as. Your relationship is with Him; no one
else. We answer to Him. Build His kingdom, and He will build yours.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from
Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has
written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ a collection of dystopian short stories.“The Future is Coming” and his latest book “The Latter Days‘ is a book on Bible Prophecy and avoiding the deceptions to come.
Jesus tells us a story about a young man who left home and went to make a name for himself. (Luke 15:11-32)
It could be a kid going to college with his parents credit card.
Or a kid chasing a dream with his fathers support and blessing.
We know this guy. We have seen him or her in our families or neighbors. We have seen them in ourselves.
We are free. We don’t have to answer to anyone.
We are trying to make it. We are chasing a dream or forced to take care of ourselves.
But we get pulled off the path.
Like the man in Jesus’ story.
He started riotous living. He started making friends in low places.
He was meeting all the best guys or best girls. He was getting drunk and
using drugs of all kinds. He was down at the club, or local bar. He
woke up next to all kinds of people.
And all the dreams died.
We’ve been there, or seen people there. We can smell the smells,
taste the tastes and hear the sound of the music thumping. We’ve done
the beer runs, and smoked the things that make us wanna go get some
more.
They are living for the party. Living for friends. Maybe living the
dream. But, it’s not the real dream. It’s not real hopes and dreams.
Jesus says that trouble comes. A famine in the land.
And trouble always comes. The party always ends.
It could be an accident that causes it. Maybe a divorce or break up. The loss of income and friends. Illness.
But, the party ends.
This causes us to get desperate. These times of trouble can lead us
to draw more into the party life, trying to hold on. Drinking and
drugging more to try to numb the fear and pain. Chasing things that is
not good for us. Trusting people we should not trust. Waking up in
places we do not want to wake up in. As our friends abandon us.
And we break. We have no choice. We are ruined.
Jesus said, the man went and got the worst job possible. The lowest of the low, just to keep himself from starving.
But, even that wasn’t working. He wanted to eat the pigs food.
We might end up homeless, digging in the dumpsters. We might even
consider a life of crime. Stealing, selling drugs, stripping and
prostitution to survive.
We hit rock bottom. We are as low as we think we can go.
Do not be deceived. There are always worst things that can happen. Rock bottom has a basement.
Jesus said, that the man woke up. He was willing to be a slave in His fathers house.
How desperate are you? Are you desperate enough to turn to God and
say “I can’t do it! I don’t know what to do! But, I need you! Do
whatever you want but please save me and help me.”
Are you so desperate to be free from your troubles and addictions and
life, that you just give it all to God, and even if He kills you or
throws you in prison or cripples you, it’s ok.
How desperate are you?
Jesus said the man went to see his father. He was desperate. He had ruined his life and was not worthy for anything good.
But, the father saw his child a long way off, and ran to him. And hugged him and held him.
That’s God.
He sees our broken and desperate heart, long before we even get to
Him. And He comes running. He comes running to save us and help us.
He wraps His arms around us and makes us His child. He brings us a robe and a ring and we are with the father forever.
And our life changes. We see things happening. Good or bad, but it’s
ok because the Father is with us. He shakes it out and gives us hope. He
grows our faith as we draw closer to Him. And we see him move. And more
faith grows.
The dreams come back to life and we see them growing in Him. We see
good things coming into our life, and it comes even more abundantly.
God himself is working in our life and everything is fine.
He blesses us where we are because we are His. We are His child and we turn to Him and know Him.
And He always comes running when we turn to Him. He always moves to
help us, even when we can’t see it. He is working and it will work out.
He is with us.
I often run into Christians who speak of the devil as though he is
powerless and weak. That he is a defeated foe and not a real enemy.
It’s almost like they haven’t actually read the Bible.
Yes, Christ defeated Satan on the cross.
Yes, God is in complete control.
But, no where in the scriptures have I found instructions for us to ignore the enemy. or act like he has no power.
As a matter of fact the Apostle Peter says, “Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
A lion will roar, and it will cause the herd to flee. This gives the
lion a chance to devour the young, weak and infirm. We have the power
through faith to resist. But, it is an obvious affliction on those who
are attacked.
It’s not something to be ignored, or belittled.
We are told in the book of Jude to not be foolish in how we speak of
Satan, the fallen angels and spiritual forces. They have power and
authority. (Jude)
Paul says That we are not to be ignorant of the enemy. (2 Corinthians 2:11)
So, we need to know what we are facing. Not to treat the enemy as if
he is nothing or ignore him, but to face the enemy properly.
We are called to resist. But, how can you resist if you do not know anything about the enemy? (1 Peter 5:8-9, James 4:7)
So, let’s do a quick overview of the enemy.
It is believed that Satan fell through pride because he wants to be God. (Isa. 14:12-15)
At some point after his fall, he used a Serpent to deceive Eve, and get Adam to fall. (Gen.3)
Adam had dominion of the Earth. But, when he fell Satan took that
dominion. That is how he became the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4)
There’s a lot more to this story, but it could lead to an entire book.
So, Satan has authority in this world.
Paul plainly states it. All the Apostles state it.
When a person is born into the world they are born in a right
standing with God. They are subject to death, but not hell. Until they
commit the first sin, knowing it’s a sin. Then, they are subject to
hell, just like all humans.
It is also at this time that the person becomes a slave to Satan.
They are his children. They are his slaves to various degrees.
(Ephesians 2:2)
Here’s where some Christians will jump up and say “Yeah but he is defeated! God is in control!”
Yes, Jesus defeated the enemy on the cross. And there will be a future victory as well. (Gen. 3, Luke 10:18, Revelation)
This means that when Jesus died and rose, He defeated Satan. He set
the prisoners free. ALL the prisoners or slaves under Satan’s control
are free. But, only a few will hear the call and turn to Jesus to obtain
it.
Saints are free from the control of Satan. We are saved and cannot
lose it. But, as the Bible warns we can open doors and let the enemy
back into our lives again. We can fall under that power. Take addictions
as an example. (Matt. 12:43-45)
We can also still be impacted by Satan working through other people or nature.
All of this is plainly taught by the scriptures.
But, there will still be those who say “Yeah but God is in control!”
He certainly is.
Nothing can happen to us that God has not allowed.
We see this both in the book of Job, and when Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to sift him as wheat. (Luke 22:31-33)
Why? Why does God allow the devil access to us?
It seems that Satan has some kind of legal authority to ask, and
expect an answer. We can speculate on why this is. But, we do not fully
understand how things work in the spirit realms.
What we can say is that we have faith and power in Jesus Christ to
resist the enemy. We have access to the King in prayer. We have God’s
Word and promises we can stand on. We also have a relationship with God.
We know Him. We know His character, and the Holy spirit dwells in us.
So, we know that God is always good. He seeks good always. He loves
us and wants us with Him. So, no matter what happens, He is on our side,
and we can use it to grow closer to God, and grow in faith. We can turn
evil around for good.
But, how can you do that if you do not recognize evil? If you ignore
the fact that we have an enemy, how can you stand against him or turn
his attacks around for good? (Rom. 12:21, 2 Cor. 10:1-6)
If you feel that everything comes from God, then how can you call anything “Evil”?
Does God do evil?
Of course not, but He does allow things to happen. It’s our job to
have faith in Him and turn to Him. Then turn the evil for good. We use
it to save people or help people.
The scriptures tell us that the enemy possesses power. So, let’s do a
list of what this power is. And I am in know way stating that this is
everything. But, starting from the beginning of the Bible and going
through we see that the enemy has the power to…
Deceive people who are walking with God and know Him, if they are not
careful. If they doubt God’s Word, and Goodness. He can use our loved
ones to get us to turn from God. He can use nature as a cover for his
activities. We see this in Adam and Eve.
We can see in the book of Job, that Satan and his angels go about the
Earth. We see that He has the power to cause a tornado to kill people.
He can get humans to rob and kill others. He has the power to cause
disease. He has the power to get our loved ones to turn against us. He
also has the power to kill. (God would not let Him kill Job.)
The book of Job shows us that no matter what happens God is with us and we are to stay with Him. Trusting Him and His Goodness.
But, we see here that Satan is the prince of the power of the air.
He apparently has power to control the weather. Which explains why we
see ancient people all over the world making human sacrifices of babies
to gods, so they can have good weather for crops, and fertility. We see
the destruction weather and climate can cause.
He uses humans to kill, steal and destroy, obviously. How does this
control occur? It’s possible that it starts with a whisper into the mind
of a leader who then gets men to follow him. A leader whom Satan worked
to put into a position of power.
We see that he gave Job a disease. We do not know what disease. It doesn’t matter.
All of this, the destructive weather, violence of men and disease,
came upon Job and led Him into despair. So, Satan can also cause
despair. (Except for God. Job continued to trust God and lean toward
Him, and that’s what saved him.)
Job also shows that Satan can get our loved ones to betray us, or at least add to our torment.
I tell you this so we can recognize what is going on around us and
pray properly or respond correctly. We respond with spiritual warfare.
We respond with love and prayer and praise and trust in God, and His
promises. We overcome evil with good. We take the bad that happens to us
and turn it around to serve God and help and save people.
So, let’s fast forward to the New Testament.
Immediately after Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. (Matt. 4:1-11)
This is a lesson for us. Have you ever considered that the moment you
got saved and was baptized Satan was allowed to tempt you, and sift you
as wheat?
I’m not saying he is. I’m not saying it happens to everyone, all the time.
But, the question must be asked. If you’ve never been tempted by the
enemy, or faced spiritual warfare, then whose child are you?
The temptations Jesus faced are temptations we all face, except for Christ, they were far more extreme.
We learn that we can overcome these things by faith in God and His goodness, as well as using His Word.
So, we see that the enemy has the power to tempt us, and try to get
us to fall. But, we can resist and if we fail we can turn to God and
confess it to Him. (1 John 1:8-10)
We also see that Satan has power over the nations of the Earth. This is confirmed in the book of Daniel. (Dan. 10)
Paul also speaks of how the enemy has power in high places. (Eph. 6:12)
When we look at the ministry of Jesus we see that there are unclean
spirits and demons that work in peoples lives. and we are called to wage
war against them.
We also see that his greatest earthly rival was the religious leaders.
Jesus plainly said they were the children of the devil. (John 8:44-47)
So, we can say that Satan used religious leaders to kill Jesus and
persecute the Church. He got these religious leaders, to use the
governmental powers, to kill people, and impose laws upon them to
destroy their freedom.
The Bible also says that there are false brethren, false teachers, and false prophets. (2 Cor. 11:26, 2 Pet. 2:1)
All of whom are probably listening to Satan.
Since he is the god of this world, and has power over the disobedient
children. and he has power over nations, governments and religious
leaders.
Then, we can say that the empires seeking to conquer the world, are
doing it by his authority. That when they oppress people and persecute
saints, it is by Satan’s authority, throughout history and even today.
Ok?
We see from Jesus’s ministry that the enemy can cause a friend to
betray us and deny us. Even in the face of death. Even to betray us to
people who will kill us.
Friends and family.
The Bible teaches that saints will be betrayed unto death by those closest to us. (Luke 21:16)
History teaches it.
We see saints dying the most horrific deaths for Christ, caused by the devil.
The enemy will attack and tempt our family in order to get them into
terrible situations simply to hurt us. But, we turn this for good and
tell them about Christ.
All of the apostles and saints around the world have faced
persecution. And there is more to come. That is the reality, even though
we might not face it in our current time.
So, as you can see the enemy has power. We are not called to belittle
it, but to stand against it. We are not called to fear it, but to turn
it around for good.
It is a tactic of the enemy to get believers to not wage war, by making us think he has no power.
Now, understand that through Christ we have power and authority over
the enemy. Through faith we can stand on His Word. We are overcomers
through Him who is in us.
But, if you think there is no enemy you won’t exercise that power.
People crack jokes and say “The devil made me do it.”
Well, maybe he did. Maybe instead of joking about it, we need to wage war and make sure of what is going on.
Maybe there is a devil behind every bush. Maybe it’s a roaring lion.
God is with us, but we are called to wage war. If we are saved we are free from Satan but we are still in a war.
God is with us. He protects us. Nothing can touch us unless it is allowed, and we can overcome it.
This life is just a moment. Every terrible thing only lasts for a second compared to eternity.
And when we die we go to be with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:1-8)
There’s no need for fear. There is no need to be focused on the enemy.
But, we are called to wage war.
We are called to turn to God and focus on Him, and we shall overcome.
The sign of Christ in you is not that you work to quit sinning.
It’s not that you pretend to be sinless, and go to your church every time the doors are open.
The sign is that you confess that Jesus came in the flesh, and confess Him as Lord. (1 John 4:1-3, 1 Cor. 12:1-3, Rom. 10:9-10)
The sign is that you love God and love others. (Matthew 22:36-40)
The sign is that you believe the Word. And you believe it so much
that you become a fool for Christ. You believe things that this world
rejects, and that makes us fools. (Rom.4:3, 1 Cor. 3:18-23)
The sign is that you believe so much that you do not want people to
suffer or perish. If you really believed you would be telling people
about the great things God has done for you and them. You would be
getting the Gospel out. (2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 10:32-33, Luke 8:38-39)
The sign is that you want to help people because you love them. You
want to go feed the poor, and clothe the naked. You want to visit the
prisoner and comfort the sick. You want to set the slaves free. (Matt. 25:31-46)
The sign is that you desire a relationship with Him, and things are
removed in your life that distract you from that relationship. You watch
for Him and grow in Him and will bear fruit. (John 15)
The sign is that you take all the bad that has happened to you, and
you turn it around for good. You use it to grow and to help others
overcome. You don’t bury it in the soil. (Matt. 25:1-30)
You use the gift God has given you to save and help others. You don’t
wrap it in a napkin and keep it in your pocket. (Matt. 25:1-30, Luke
19:12-27)
The sign of Christ in you is a focus and an urgency to build the
Kingdom. To seek His face. To let Him guide you and abide with Him.
(Matt. 6:3, Proverbs 3:5-8)
You endure hardness. Your endure molding as a potter molds clay. You
endure refining like a smith removing the dross from the silver and
gold. ( 2 Timothy 2:3, Jeremiah 18:1-6, Malachi 3:1-4)
And because of this, you won’t have the desire or time to sin.
But, you will sin. We all sin. If you say you don’t sin, then you lie
and Christ is not in you. When we sin we confess it to Him daily, and
He washes our feet. He cleanses us of all unrighteousness and works to
help us to overcome. And to Him, it is as though we never sinned.
Period. (1 John 1:5-10, 1 John 3:9, Psalm 103:12)
We do not sin because He does not hold it against us. When God says something doesn’t exist. It is gone.
He overcame Sin. He overcame Satan. He overcame Death. (John 16:33)
It’s all gone. That’s a fact. We are over comers in Him. (1 John 4:4)
Our faith grows in Him. As we know Him. Our lamps are full of the oil of faith because we have seen Him moving in our lives. (Matt. 25:1-13)
If you spend your life focusing on not sinning, your focus is on yourself. Not Christ.
Just let it go. Let Him remove what He sees fit. Let Him break you
and remold you. Trust Him. You will see yourself, sinning less. It will
just happen, as you focus on Him and let Him work. Remember, it’s about
you and Him. It’s not about what others think. (John 21:21-22)
What is written above is hard. But, its also easy because you cannot
do it. You just turn to Him and let Him do it. It’s not a checklist of
things you do. It’s a relationship that grows in you and you gradually
see yourself doing more of these things. Remember, dead things do not
grow. Are you growing in Christ, or are you dead?
This life is but a breath. This world passes away. Just turn your focus to Him.
He has overcome the world. He is eternal. And He is in you.
