Three Components of Every Spiritual Battle (Part 1) War Over the Word

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

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christianity, components of spiritual warfare, full of the Spirit verses power of the Spirit, greater blessings, information not revelation, John 1:14, know the word of God is principle not in practice, Luke 4:1-4, Mark 4, spiritual warfare, the word became flesh, the word is a seed

I can’t tell you the number of times someone has sat across from me and said, “I don’t know why I am under attack? I just don’t understand why these things keep happening to me? I don’t know why the devil has such a personal interest in me? Why won’t he leave me alone? I am so tired of the battle!” Does this sound familiar? If we haven’t said it out loud, most believers have thought it. If we are going to win the battle, we must understand why we are in a war over good and evil. We must understand the components of every spiritual battle. Listen to the story of when Jesus was under attack. We will just cover the first four verses today.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. ³And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” ⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘ Man shall not live on bread alone.’” (Luke 4:1-4)

We learn from this story there are three reasons for every spiritual battle, including the ones you and I go through over and over. Whenever God begins to lead you into something greater, the devil will do anything and everything to keep it from happening. He doesn’t want you to access more of God, or reach the higher place in God’s will and purpose for your life….So, the battle intensifies.

Luke 4 helps us understand that when God has spoken a word, that same word or words will be tested. Actually, it’s not so much the word being tested, as it is our faith in and commitment to that word. This story is more than a “temptation narrative.” It is about spiritual warfare. It reveals the warfare that ensues whenever we’re on the verge of progress, increase, or launching into new areas. This attack upon Jesus’ life happened immediately after Jesus was baptized and the Spirit descended on Him. As He was about to embark on His earthly ministry, Satan aggressed. Does this sound familiar? If Jesus’ committment was tested by the devil, our commitment will be equally challenged.
What is this battle between “good and evil” about in Jesus’s life? When you get a chance today, look at Mark 4 and compare verses 1 and 14. Jesus arrived walking in the “fullness of the Spirit” and exited the desert “walking in the power of the Spirit.” The difference between walking the “fullness of the Spirit” and walking the “power of the Holy Spirit” is found in the battle between the two events. Your power, or lack thereof, is found in the spiritual battles you face. It is imperative we understand the components of spiritual warfare in order to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Satan attacked Jesus in three different areas. Every Spiritual battle is over something, and we need to know why. So we can look at this passage and learn how to stand strong in time of battle.

THE WAR OVER THE WORD OF GOD (1-4)

Jesus had just heard a fresh word (confirming word) at the end of chapter three. We could call this a REVELATION. Something concealed was now revealed. It is only after this revelation came that the warfare arrived to test this word. This is one of the reasons battles come. Battles come our direction according to the level of revelational knowledge we obtain. When the Word becomes alive in you, and revelation is imparted unto you, Satan will begin to battle you over God’s Word.

John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh ……and we beheld His glory.” Any time the Word becomes flesh in you and it becomes a reality, Satan knows you’re a step closer to seeing the glory of God and seeing a promise fulfilled in your life.

Mark 4 teaches us that the Word is a seed. And when the Word is sown, Satan is perched, ready to devour the seed to keep it from taking root, producing, and bearing fruit to the glory of God. Many people know the Word of God in PRINCIPLE, but not in PRACTICE. The reason they fail to put it into practice is because they failed in battle because of the word. Satan fought and battled them until the word DID NOT become FLESH!

Unfortunately, this means many believers are living on the level of INFORMATION, and not REVELATION. And when revelation knowledge comes, Satan will intensify His attack, trying to get you to rely on other sources to sustain and help you. Remember, Satan is coming after the Word! You must bow your back and say, “I am not going to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!”

There is a story told about a little boy in a grocery store that I think illustrates the battle over knowing and doing. The boy was standing near an open box of peanut butter cookies. “Now then, young man,” said the grocer as he approached the young man. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing,” replied the boy:
“Nothing.” “Well it looks to me like you were trying to take a cookie.”
“You’re wrong, mister, I’m trying not to!”

Yes, the battle for good and evil begins when we are young. You may not have understood what the battle was about when you were young. Now, you are older and hopefully wiser. Stand on the precious promises of God. Your strength and power comes from being victorious.

Part Two -War Over the Will of God
Blessings,
Pastor

What Real Obedience Can Look Like!

12 Wednesday Oct 2011

Posted by eisakouo in Receiving Revelation

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Beth Moore, hairbrush, hearing God, John 1:14, life in the Spirit, Love, obedience, witnessing

I have spent a lot of time in the past few blogs discussing the importance of hearing God speak and walking in obedience to the spoken word. I haven’t been able to work in many illustrations. Below is a story from Beth Moore’s life back in 2005. It is a alittle long, but well, well worth the read. In fact…it’s a must read. Did I sell it? Please take some time to digest her story.

Blessings,

Pastor

Beth Moore at the Airport : The Hairbrush Story

At the Airport in Knoxville on April 20, 2005,
Waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I’d had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say that because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego. I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones. The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might havebeen, I found myself wondering if I’d just had a Howard Hughes moment. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport…an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat, trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let’s admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.

I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I’ve learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing. I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. “Oh, no, God, please, no.” I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, “Don’t make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I’ll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don’t make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!”

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, “Please don’t make me witness to this man. Not now. I’ll do it on the plane.” Then I heard it… “I don’t want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.” The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, “God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I’m on this Lord. I’m you’re girl! You’ve never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am on him. I am going to witness to this man.” Again as clearly as I’ve ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. “That is not what I said, Beth. I don’t want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.” I looked up at God and quipped, “I don’t have a hairbrush. It’s in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?” God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God’s word: “I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:17) I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself.

Even as I retell this story my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible,” Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?” He looked back at me and said, “What did you say?”
“May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?” To which he responded in volume ten, “Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you’re going to have to talk louder than that.” At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, “SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?” At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Longlocks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, “If you really want to.” Are you kidding? Of course I didn’t want to. But God didn’t seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, “Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don’t have a hairbrush.” “I have one in my bag,” he responded. I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger’s old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man’s hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don’t do many things well, but I must admit I’ve had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I’d done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull.

A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man’s hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I’ve never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I – for that few minutes – felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while. The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God’s.

His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant’s. I slipped the brush back in the bag, went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees, and said, “Sir, do you know my Jesus?” He said, “Yes, I do.” Well, that figures, I thought. He explained, “I’ve known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn’t marry me until I got to know the Savior.” He said, “You see, the problem is, I haven’t seen my bride in months. I’ve had open-heart surgery, and she’s been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride.”

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we’re completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I’ll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I’d acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft. I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, “That old man’s sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?” I said, “Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!” And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you’re exhausted because you’re hungry, you’re serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on, but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you’re hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you’re sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need! I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way… all because I didn’t want people to think I was strange. God didn’t send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Life shouldn’t be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, “Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!”