We are at War

We Are at War

It is past time for all of us to realize something that we should have been aware of long ago, We Are at War.

 

I am not talking about war the way we normally think of war, I am talking about a war that is far worse and more far reaching then any war we have ever, in the history of this world fought. And yet it is a war that has been going on since the beginning of time.
It is a war against evil.

And while it sometimes becomes necessary to fight this war out in the open with physical weapons it is a war that must be fought on a spiritual level each and every day by each and every one of us.

The Apostle Paul very clearly lays this all out in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 6:10-18.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

The devil, Satan is real. And he hates everything that God stands for and everything that God wants you and me to be. He will do whatever he can to stop us, to slow us down or to take us down. He never has a good day; because there is always more evil he wants to do.

Satan breaks into this world in many ways. He uses the weapons of greed, lust, envy, the desire for power and pride to overrun people and countries.

Jesus refers to Satan as the great deceiver, a liar and the father of lies. Satan lies every day to countless people and governments all around the world. He lies to churches and to Christians as well. He has and continues to lie to other religions and far too many people believe his lies.

He has us believing that God didn’t create the world, that it was all an accident. It all just happened and that if we believe in a God created Universe we are fools. He tells us that we all evolved from some cosmic dust that somehow was changed into something that could eat, and grow and become something it never was.

At the heart of Darwin’s theory of evolution, is the lie that there is no God, and that therefore, there is no right and wrong. That there is no heaven or hell and that there is no reason to believe that there is anything after this life to look forward to. This is a Lie straight from the pit of hell.

Satan further lies to us about what life is, and when it begins and what its value is.

Satan lies to us about marriage and what it is and is not.

He lies too many in this world about killing, to force others to their own version of a religion.

And Satan and his demons will lie to each of us about whatever they see is needed to knock us off track and keep us from being used by God, for anything.

He will take events in our lives and turn them into something nasty and evil, putting ideas in our heads about our friends or our spouses that simply aren’t true, just to mess us up or to keep us from doing anything good in this world.

When the devil comes out of the shadows with violence in this world, through killings or the use of armies, we must fight him on his level, with whatever force is necessary to stop the killings. But what do we do to fight him when he is more subtle, when he stays in the shadows?

WE MUST PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD!

Just as Paul says to the Ephesians, we must put on the belt of Truth, the breastplate of Righteousness, the Gospel of Peace, and the Shield of Faith and take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The only way to truly stand against Satan and all he tries to do in this world is with the World of God. We must come to know God and His word. We must trust in Him to take care of us and watch over us. We must use the shield of faith to pour the water of His word on the fiery arrows Satan throws at us.

We must pray every day not only for ourselves and those who are close to us, but for all the people of God. Talk to God and ask Him to come into your life and protect you and those you love. We must be a people who pray. We must wake up and truly come to know God, to know Jesus. We must pray that this world wakes up to God.

This is my whole calling, to Wake the Churches and the people of God up to the reality of Christ, God and His word. We should not be a people who let Satan and his lies run over us. We should be a people who stand by the word of God, and live a life that is pleasing to Him.

We must be a people who not only know about Jesus, but know that He can live within each and everyone one of us. We must open our hearts to Christ and let Him in.

Our pastors and preachers must be people of the Book. Who teach and preach to us the FULL message of God and His Word. Not watered down refuse that will never lift us up.

God, Jesus, Heaven and the Bible are real.

And so is Satan and hell.

There are far too many people we know who will never see heaven because they refuse to believe Jesus when He says in John 14:6.

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We are at war, and it’s a war that is going to be won, but are you on the winning side?

At the end of the Book of Revelation the Bible tells us that Jesus is going to return to the earth at the head of an army of His believers and Satan and his followers will be finally put down. Are you going to be with Him or against Him?

If you haven’t made the choice to follow Jesus then, you really have made a choice, and that choice brings you into alinement with Satan, whether you realize it or not. For whoever is not for Christ, is by definition against Christ.

If you claim to be a follower of Jesus but have never really let Him into your life, given Him control of your life and asked Him to lead and guide you, then you have no idea what you are missing.

Satan will never stop trying to attack you, or mess with you, but without Jesus living in you; it’s very hard to fight against those fiery darts the evil one throws at you. Even if you have given your life to Christ, Satan will not stop, he will continue to take runs at you, to try and take you off your game. But if you have faith in Jesus, you can overcome anything Satan throws at you. And how do you have such faith, the Bible has the answer from Romans 10:17.

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The Bible goes on to tell us, that if we resist the devil he will flee from us. You resist him by standing on the word of God. You resist him by claiming Jesus as Lord of your life and telling the devil that fact. You resist him by claiming the finished work of Christ on the cross, that you are saved from death through His death and that Satan has NO POWER over You.

Read God’s word and be open to what He will show you as you dig into it. God wants you to know Him and to be aware of what is really happening in this world. You need to be ready to fight and to fight you have to be equipped. And that means learning about God. Invite Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to come into your life, to walk with you and to teach you what you need to know.

Stand with Jesus at the door to the empty tomb in Jerusalem and tell Satan that you have been raised with Christ and that he has no more claim on you.

Can you do that, have you done that?

We are in a War and the question is, are you prepared to fight it?