spiritual reality

Good morning,

As you probably know, I don’t believe in coincidences. Just when I find myself in a place where my emotions have taken over in a situation, by the grace of God I will often receive a message from someone or something that knocks me back into spiritual reality. 

It seems that lately I have noticed more than the usual spiritual attacks on people I know. Why do I call them spiritual attacks? Well, for a number of reasons. Some of the things that people are hit with in succession in so many areas just can’t be made up. Interestingly, many of these same things that hit them do not do any real damage or they end up not being a long-term problem. However, in the moment these things derail, discourage or deter them from what God has them to do.

This is one reason I see them as spiritual. We often separate things into what we think are “flesh and blood” problems and put the “spiritual” things on Sunday for the pew. But that is not at all how this world operates and we’d be fools to not get schooled and start to act on what is really going on.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

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.

I like how the Message puts the same verse into a present-day context:

Ephesians 6:10-12 The Message (MSG)

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

With all that is going on in the world and in your personal life, you may be like many of us who have gotten caught up in the “flesh and blood” of things. I still forget many times. However, once I recall that Christ won the eternal battle and He lives in me and all who believe, I recall the true power that we have. And, He gave us the authority to use that power.

Whether you “feel” like it or not, may I suggest that you tell Satan to scram in whatever area you are struggling? Remind him who your boss is and kick his booty out. I encourage you to do it out loud and often. My words are often whispers…. but as Pastor Jim says, it’s pretty scary to the dark kingdom to hear your whispers of truth that they cannot deny! So whether you yell or whisper, tell him where to go. I usually tell  him to go to the feet of Jesus. I know he won’t like that! And all throughout, PRAISE. Praise God that He gave us Jesus to overcome everything and that we have His reassurance that He will never ever leave us. We never fight any battle alone.