Shielding, Spiritual Warfare, and Salvation;
The battle is with spiritual forces most of the time. These forces might be actual spiritual entities that are antagonistic to us or they might simply be spiritual force that is sent against us by some means. The way these spiritual forces impact us is through attitudes, opinions, moods, values, ethics, morals, energies, and other spiritual realities. We can encounter this battle in two ways; in the world where these spiritual realities create systems and structures that oppress people, destroy justice, freedom and lives, and distort the truth of God. The other place we fight this fight is in our own personal lives where these spiritual forces fight us with moods, doubts, fears, confusions, despair, depression, addictions and other ways to chain our spirits or destroy our lives.
For example; God’s gay children are under the most violent attacks of evil known to man; they are not only being denied their basic human rights and freedoms, but they are being beaten, raped, tortured, abused in every way, murdered, and in some places they are under threat of imprisonment, the death penalty, and genocide!
We are called to stand our ground. Our job is to resist them, to stand against them. We are not to run away, hide, or surrender. We are not to cooperate, join or aid them. We resist them, confront them when necessary, and banish them. we are to ignore them if we can and fight them when we can’t! We go on the aggressive or offensive if absolutely necessary and only then, otherwise we need to always be on the defensive!
Our decisions on how to live, what to do, and what values we follow are not made by REACTING to the spiritual forces even though we are to react and do. We are simply to ACT and react based on our faith in God and discipleship in Jesus Christ.
This means we stand against the threat of the negative spiritual forces. We do not let them blackmail or extort us. We give them NO control over our lives, or any place in our lives, no matter how they manifest themselves. If they are operating in the systems of oppression in this world we do not cooperate with these systems; when they oppress and oppose the
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 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 the 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. 
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"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God."
A Mighty Fortress is our God, A Bulwark never failing; Our Helper He amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe; His craft and power are great: And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing; Were not the right man on our side, The man of God's own choosing. Does ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He, Lord Sabaoth His name, From age to age the same, And he must win the battle. And though this world, with devils filled Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For lo! his doom is sure; One little word shall fell him. That word above all earthly powers, No thanks to them, abideth; The Spirit and the gifts are ours Through Him who with us sideth; Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also; The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still; His Kingdom is forever. Amen |
When you must stand against the spiritual powers, simply call out on Jesus and realize that you stand within him like a warrior within a suit of Armor. It is Jesus who protects us.
For me it helps to visualize myself literally surrounded by Jesus. Jesus is the Light and the negative spiritual powers are the darkness. Jesus, the Light, shines in the darkness, but the darkness does not understand the Light; the darkness cannot grapple with the Light. It must flee from it and be undone by it; (John 1:5) As the Psalmist said, "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1)
This brings us to the best news there is about our spiritual warfare. You see the powers and authorities may not be admitting it, but they already are conquered by Jesus. This is why we only need to stand. We don't need to defeat them because they already are defeated. This is how it is put in the beginning of the book of Ephesians in chapter 1 verses 2-23:
"He[God] raised
Him[Jesus Christ] from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the
heavenly realms, far above all rule and dominion, and every title that can be
given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God
placed ALL things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over EVERYTHING
for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything
in every way."
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There is no battle between Jesus and these powers. Jesus already won the battle. He did this in his birth, his entire life and ministry, in the crucifixion and the resurrection and his ascension to be at the right hand of the throne of God. In this world we don't always see this reality. But whether we see it or not, it is the way things really are.
When we are in Jesus we don't need to fight the powers. Instead we just focus / center ourselves, and ground ourselves, in the reality that we are in our Sovereign Savior Jesus Christ; the Victor and Triumphant One and get busy doing what God calls us to do, free from fear.
The reality that Jesus is our Salvation is contained right in His Name which literally means, "The Salvation of the Lord". It is Jesus, his life and death and resurrection that is our Salvation. Salvation means not only eternal life, but spiritual healing. It is Jesus who makes us spiritually alive and well.
We often think that Faith is something we have about Jesus. But in reality our Faith is a gift of God, a gift whose author is Jesus himself, and a reality that Jesus is finishing in us. Sometimes when we talk about Faith we mean the content of our beliefs; but always in every way, the content of our beliefs should be the person Jesus Christ. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. This is why it is not enough for a mature Christian to just have faith.
That is what gets us through as baby Christians. A mature Christian in a deep, evolving, and abiding relationship with God must live into our faith and move beyond it. We must come to have a knowing beyond faith. Faith is for when you haven’t seen or you can’t see; I have seen, and now I know! I don’t just believe in God, or have faith in Him; I know Him! He is real, He is alive, He is at work in the world, and in my life, and He is my everything!
Living in Righteousness does not mean our attempts to live holy and pure lives, for that is only an outward sign of our inner righteousness; a necessary sign, a fruit of The Spirit of our faith and salvation, but not our salvation itself. Our Righteousness is our Savior Jesus who makes us right with God because we are in him; baptized and made new creatures in his blood. We were purchased by and with his blood! It is by his blood that we are made worthy. Our good deeds do not attain our salvation but are rather the proof of it. And once you are truly saved you are always saved, you can not loose your salvation, God does not take the gift of salvation back!
Then in Hebrews 12:2 it says, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
John 1: 1-5, 9-18;
“ 1In the beginning was The Word,
and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.
3All things
came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that
has come into being. 4In
Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it…….9There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before
We also have Christ
telling us about himself saying in john 14:6 “I Am The Way, The Truth, and The
Life”! Then again in the famous first chapter of John we have scripture saying
of Christ that he is the assurance of our salvation by grace through faith in
him; “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,
the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own
did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God; children born not of natural
descent, nor of human
decision or a husband’s (or wife’s) will, but born of God. 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”. And the
famous third chapter of John again reiterates this point further by telling us
that; For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son;
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent his Son into the world not to
condemn the world; but so that the world through him might be saved”.
John 1: 11-12 He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God! (some translations have “those who called on His Name”.)
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