All posts filed under: Spiritual Warfare

Arrested by Stealth

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Mark 14:1 ESV It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him. They wanted to arrest Him secretly. Stealth comes from an Old English word related to steal. Now we must understand that no thief steals openly. Stealth means secretive, secrecy sneakiness, slyness, camouflage, clandestine. I am sure you have all heard about the stealth bomber? This aircraft was designed in accordance with technology that makes detection by radar or sonar difficult. This is the modus operandi of the enemy. His primary way to attack us – steal from us and hinder us – is to hide from us! He seek to blend in, make his moves undetected. The scripture calls him a thief – John 10:10 – The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But he does none of this openly. Matthew 24:43 says to – Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a thief was coming, he …

More than Conquerors

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I had the privilege of being a part of a missionary work in the West African nation of Ivory Coast, correctly know known as – La Cote D’Ivoire between 1990 and 1994. By the time I signed on, they had planted about 6 or more Churches around Abidjan – capital city. Those days were special: knocking on doors, walking the neighborhoods, holding All Night Prayer meetings and community gathering for fasting and praying. A revival was happening all around us – young and old coming to know Jesus and being filled with the Holy Ghost. These are some of the best days of my life and ministry. The people we ministered to were just like me. They were refugees, displaced, cut off from family, scattered in this foreign land and living among people with a strange tongue. They were often abused, and un-welcomed and mocked in the public square. You would think their pain and sorrow would define them, break them and leave them in despair. You would think their loneliness, loss, and inability to …

I shall not be moved: 10 Prayerful Declarations

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Unlike kanye, I am not a God. The rapper released a song this week in which he claims to be a god. I am a human being. I am prone to wander, susceptible to sicknesses, frail. I have moments when I shine, than those other times when I suck. Welcome to the human race. But that does not make me weak, because I know who is God and He has promised me a victorious life. I am more than a conqueror. I’m afflicted in every way – but I am not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not destroyed. I may carry in my body the death of Christ, but because of His death I live. I’m sick, yet I’m healed. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 16:1 Therefore, I declare that I shall not be moved by: the snare of the fowler… from all the devices of Satan… lies, slander, evil plots and conspiracies the deadly pestilence… …

Ono = Oh No! I am not coming down!

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ONO = Oh No! Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Have you ever noticed, when you finally make up your mind to obey God, live for Him, follow the Spirit’s lead, that’s when all hell suddenly breaks loose against you? I have come to realize that when you focus on living for God and doing His work, the enemy seeks relentlessly to get you off track. This the case with Nehemiah the governor and rebuilder of the wall of Jerusalem. He and his compatriots were knee-deep in fulfilling the work the Lord had given them. But to get them of track Sanballat and Gehsem decided to throw everything, every trick in the book, to get them off track. Our enemy also, would use all the dirty tricks in the his books to take us out of the game, slow us down, …

He will pluck my feet out of the net

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Welcome to OneVerse! OneVerse is that passage of scripture that pops out and hits right where it should. Today’s OneVerse is taken from Psalm 25:1, 2, 15 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Sometimes the people of God (you and I, children of the King) are ensnared and taken captive by this corrupt nature, but Like Paul discovered, Jesus is the only one who can bring deliverance to his own. Sometimes we are tempted by Satan and his devices, wiles and snares seem to hover over us as he tries to tighten his oppressive grip on us. But Jesus know exactly how to release us from his grip. Than, there are times when wicked men/women try to bind our feet in the snare of the fowler. Yes, it could be a jealous best friend …

Too hot for him to handle

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A few years ago one of best friends lived in Accra, Ghana. He got his monthly pay check one beautiful Friday just before he left work. His first stop was at a local bank where he cashed his check than sped to the local market to get supplies for the weekend. After walking around for a few minutes, he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wallet. To his surprise, it was gone together with every penny he had to his name. He didn’t know that someone had picked his pocket and lifted his wallet. He sat down in disbelief wondering how he was going to get through the month. Well, being a godly, praying man of God, he bowed his head and said a prayer. After the amen was said, my friend decided to stay seated for a few more minutes, as he braced himself for a few difficult days ahead. All of a sudden, a young man showed up with my friend’s wallet in his hand . The young man shaking and sweating, …

Spiritual Warfare 101

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Part 7 Dealing with Demonic Affliction Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts portray Jesus and the apostles as using the command-control mode to address sickness, the weather, paying taxes, speaking with personal authority, and so forth. The rest of the New Testament, following the main approach in the Old Testament, exemplifies and commands a different mode. Is there a similar switch for dealing with demons associated with ailments and afflictions? We certainly will not be surprised to find a mode shift. Scripture is ‘silent’ on the issue in the same way it is silent on paying taxes, performing resurrections, or stilling storms by words of command. The silence thunders. The mode of addressing demonically induced sufferings reverts to the classic mode: Live the Christian life of receptive faith and active obedience in the midst of life’s hardships…. The modern demon-deliverance ministries are predicated on two fundamental errors. First, they misread the biblical record and fail to distinguish between moral and situational evil. They cast out ‘demons’ of moral evil, something neither taught nor illustrated anywhere in Scripture. Second, they …

Spiritual Warfare 101

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Part 6 Sin and Suffering Proponents of EMM make two major arguments: Because Jesus and the apostles cast out demons, we should do likewise. Because EMM is not forbidden by Jesus or the rest of the NT, there is no reason not to use it. Powlison argues that the Bible does not teach us to wage spiritual warfare using EMM. Rather Scripture teaches us a different way to live the Christian life and fight our ancient foe. The Dominion of Darkness Entails Sin and Suffering One key to understanding spiritual warfare in the ministry of Jesus Christ is to notice that he mounted a twin-pronged offensive against the powers of evil—against moral evil and situational evil. Jesus employed two modes of warfare to address two different facets of the evil works of the devil. Moral evil = the evil people believe and do. Situational evil = the evil we experience (suffering, hardship, unpleasant and harmful events, death) The two meanings of evil are closely linked; Satan employs both for his evil purposes. God consistently portrays inhabiting …

Spiritual Warfare 101

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God’s Sovereignty in an Evil World God uses evil for his glory and the comfort of God’s people. EMM advocates simply do not articulate this understanding of God’s sovereignty in the mist of evil. Consequently, their understanding of spiritual warfare becomes skewed. The demons become increasingly autonomous; sin becomes demonized; the world gains the look and feel of superstition rather than biblical wisdom. EMM advocates rightly seek to reestablish a worldview that recognizes spirit beings, both good and evil. But the drift in EMM thinking toward demonological explanations creates a world more precarious and spooky than the Bible’s world. Ironically, in the end, the EMM worldview has more affinities with the occult worldview than the Bible. The Bible gives an opposite, theocentric explanation. There the love of God—love for his name’s glory and his people’s welcome—strikes the deciding blow in the battle. Psalms and Proverbs are the supreme manual for spiritual warfare, for fighting both flesh-and-blood and spiritual enemies. Knowing that the devil is God’s devil brings us incalculable joy and confidence in battle with our adversary. A Different …