THE BATTLE CRY (Part I)

"And then, going from bad to worse, it will be dog-eat-dog, everyone at each other’s throat, everyone hating each other," (Matthew 24:10b MSG).

Are guns the main problem?  Should we get rid of or restrict guns?    Now there have been knifings in London, UK, and The Hague, Netherlands.  Should we get rid of or restrict knives?  We need to remember the true problem; it's not the instruments people use, it's not even the people themselves!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our war is against the "powers", "master spirits", the "world rulers of this present darkness", and against the "spirit forces of wickedness" in the "supernatural sphere" (Ephesians 6:12 AMP).

Non-believers will not know how to effectually combat the violence of these "Last Days" but we do!  When you hear of shootings, knifings, people running other people over with cars, etc. then it should be your "call to arms".  Brothers and Sisters, it is time to pray AND KEEP PRAYING!

Dean Sherman, in his book called “Spiritual Warfare for Every Christian”, states, “Even Christians can take action in the wrong way.  Many well-meaning folks give money, time, and efforts to improve man’s situation, but ignore the spiritual way to combat evil…They attend protests, organize boycotts, or launch educational efforts, but spend little or no time in prayer, spiritual warfare, or evangelism.”

Ephesians 6 gives us the key to the kind of warfare that advances God’s Kingdom.  Yes, I am talking about doing something and advancing His Kingdom NOW…not in some distant future when we get to heaven.  I know many of us have read, studied, and listened to sermons regarding Ephesians 6 and I could go ahead and give you my grasp of it in this post, but I would rather encourage you to seek it out yourself.  Letting go of everything you have been taught about this scripture:  set aside a half hour this week with a notebook, pen, and your Bible and start that half hour by asking God’s most Holy Spirit to open your eyes and understanding to the full truth of this scripture.  Then read and make notes of what stands out to you.  The next challenge I give you is to take five minutes each day for 21 days and ask God to reveal to you even deeper truths out of what you wrote down.  Can you give God one half hour this week?  Can you give Him five minutes a day?  (Matthew 26:40)

Allow God’s Holy Spirit teach you to battle, for the war is already upon us!

A FRIEND’S PERSPECTIVE

A friend, Sister Jenna Scott, posted the following insight on Facebook the other day and I thought it was so inspirational, with her permission; I share it with you…

“I had a neat experience the other day and wanted to share it with you. 😊 I was reminded of a talk given by Elder Bednar who is an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He talked about the people who can spin plates on wooden spools. They go from one to the other in a total balancing act. He compared it to life being a balancing act. The image came to mind of me being in a high school gym that was dimly lit. There was a spotlight on 10 different spools maybe 4 or 5 feet tall. On top, each plate was spinning on the wooden spool. I pictured myself running from plate to plate exhaustedly trying to keep up the spinning. Then the Spirit enlightened my mind. How would the Savior be in that process of me doing it on my own? He wasn't. Then I saw next to the 10 spools 10 angels standing by each wooden spool. Each had the plates perfectly spinning. The Savior would then step to one and put His hand on the shoulder of an angel and take their place. He would start to slow the plate and let it wobble a bit. He whispered, "Jenna, I am over here. This is where I want to work with you now.” I walked over to Him and He helped me steady the plates as I put my hands with His. He taught me how to steady it and then let me go, but He stayed near until He knew I had it. Then He would walk over to the next spool and do the same thing. Each time He would look at me intensely with loving eyes telling me how I could do this. They were times where I would think I needed to fix one plate, but the angel had it covered and the Lord would giggle and say, “Come on, I’m over here.” I had to learn to let go of what I was trying to control and listen to Him-- to come and learn what He would have me learn. I compare this to trying to control my own progression and feeling overwhelmed by it. The truth is, we are in the Lord’s hands and He will encourage us to trust that He is 100% invested in our progression. Our progression does involve grace 100%, but it also involves our part, our efforts, our faith. It is an exhausting life to feel responsible to keep each plate spinning on our own and it is an unfulfilling life to expect the Savior to spin all the plates for us. There is so much joy when we learn to trust in Him, to try our best and to be patient on those days when we have seemed to knock down and shatter every single plate.”