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Spiritual Warfare

June 30, 2015 2Comments

In our supposedly civilized, educated, western society, the term “Spiritual Warfare” raises more than a few eyebrows. Most people, including many Christians, think that the Spiritual Warfare is a superstitious remnant of bygone evolutionary era. The mention of the Devil and demons makes people more uncomfortable than wool underwear. Mention the Devil and demons too much and you’ll either get committed and or people will treat you like Forrest Gump on the school bus. So, why even mention it all? Primarily because I think that I’ve been called to mention it. Now, don’t get me wrong. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people who get a prompting from God, and then act on it immediately. I’ve been called to mention Spiritual Warfare for a while, and I haven’t because I didn’t want people to think I’m weird. One of my family members already said that I’ve joined a cult. While the topic is a little weird to most people, the Devil and demons are well documented throughout the Bible. And like I’ve said before, if I believe in God and Jesus, then I’m obligated to believe in the opposition.

So once we acknowledge the Devil and demons exist, the next logical questions are: What do they do? How do they operate? The Bible says that the Devil’s goal is to “steal, kill, and destroy” (John 10:10). He is also described as “a lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The keys to a healthy understanding of the Devil and demons are truth and balance. The truths: 1) They exist, 2) They were defeated on the cross, and 3) God is infinitely more powerful than they are.

So, one might ask: if they were defeated and God’s more powerful, then why consider them? It’s kind of a warfare mindset. For instance, by 1945 the Nazis knew they were going to lose World War II, but knowing the inevitable outcome of the war didn’t keep them from fighting until the bitter end and killing as many soldiers as possible. In other words, the Devil and his helpers are going to harass and oppress as many people as they can until final end of the war.

Applying the preceding knowledge to everyday life is where balance is helpful. For instance, knowing that the Devil exists helps us understand why heinous acts, such as the Charleston church shooting, happen. Although I readily admit, it doesn’t help us understand why God allows it to happen. However, I don’t think we should run wild with the idea and expect demons to be involved in every aspect of life, such food spoiling in the refrigerator or the local sports team losing a game. Also, it’s not an exoneration for bad behavior. We all know a little kid who said the Devil made me do it. However, while not an exoneration, the Devil could be a contributing factor. It appears the he works with our weaknesses and faults to stack the deck against us, so to speak. So, while we have the final choice on whether we engage in bad behavior, no doubt we have been prodded and cultivated to a certain extent along the way. Another way the Devil works is through deception. The Bible calls him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He can plant lies in our heads and make us believe that they are our own thoughts.

In closing, spiritual warfare can be scary stuff. Again, my advice is acknowledge it, consider it, don’t run away from it, but don’t run wild with it either. Also, my blog is, by no means, comprehensive. A more in depth study on spiritual warfare is Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson and any book by Charles Kraft.

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Faith, Hope, and Love

April 26, 2015 2Comments

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.

I was in church this morning, and I felt like God wanted me to write this blog to one of my best friends and his family. I, of course, immediately made excuses why I shouldn’t write a blog to them. You see, my friend’s mother, Alice, just passed away, and his father also passed away very recently. It takes a lot of tact to write and to speak about biblical matters at a time of mourning. And to be quite honest, without God’s help, I am not up to the job.

The Bible says that there is a time for everything under the sun. There is a time for mourning, and now is definitely the time. My friend and his family are going to miss their parents. They are going to grieve, and there are no magic words that will fix that. But even in death and especially in death, three things remain: faith, hope, and love.

We have faith. We have faith in the promises that God made through Jesus. We have faith that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. We have faith that Alice has a new body, one that will never get old-no more sickness and no more pain.

We have hope. We have hope in that fact that the next time we see Alice, she will be in her prime. She will be complete and perfect.

But most of all, we have love. On Friday night, Alice’s visitation was held. As expected, there was mourning, but there was also an overwhelming sense of love for Alice and the family. And it’s certainly fitting for my friend because he loves people. He is probably one of the first people I ever knew who set the example of how to love people. He is inviting, generous, and non-judging. It was really cool to see that kind of love being reciprocated on Friday night.

To my friend: we are incredibly sorry for your loss, and we are here for you. But most importantly, we love you.

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Selflessness-the Marriage Mender

April 22, 2015 2Comments

I promised myself that I would never write a blog about relationships because, well, I suck at relationships. Nevertheless, in an effort to make myself a liar……here it goes.

In my opinion, the most important relationship is between me and the big guy, aka Jesus. The second most important relationship is between me and my wife. I already have one failed marriage under my belt. Therefore, when I said “I do” again, I meant it. However, as the years passed, the aggravations, the hurts, and the disappointments, piled up on both of us.

Well, today my marriage is not so bad. In fact, it’s great. So, what happened? Actually, several things happened, but mainly my relationship with Jesus got better. When that relationship got better it simply trickled down into all my other relationships. Probably, the most pertinent thing I learned from Jesus is selflessness, the opposite of selfishness. It is a tough and constant lesson, but it is vital to relationships. It is especially vital in marriage.

Jesus was the most perfect example of selflessness. Since he was the son of God, he could’ve had everyone serve him. However, he chose to serve others. He spent much of his time wandering from town to town healing the sick. He said that the second most important commandment is “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. He also said, “love your enemies”. Ultimately, he was crucified, not because of anything he did wrong, but to pay the debt for all that we have done wrong. That’s some hardcore selflessness.

So, if we are supposed to be selfless enough to “love our enemies” and “love our neighbors as we love ourselves”, then how much more selfless should we be with our spouses? Ouch. It was hard, and it still is hard. But when I finally started putting her needs above mine, we had a breakthrough. Suddenly, she felt loved, and I felt respected, which was what we wanted all along. Things got better between us and quickly, too.

Being selfless will work in any relationship. It may take longer if the other person is not “on board” or if the other person has given up. The other person may also take advantage of the generosity and not reciprocate…..at first. But selflessness is contagious. Sooner or later the other person will see the changes and want to reciprocate the selflessness. That’s when the marriage gets better and life gets easier.

I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like at accept Jesus simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.

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Can’t-trianity or Freedom?

March 31, 2015 0Comment

I can remember growing up in Eastern Kentucky very vividly. I can remember my parents talking about so-and-so getting “saved”. At that time, I didn’t even know what getting “saved” meant. I’d hear my parents say that so-and-so got saved. Then so-and-so also stopped smoking, stopped drinking, stopped going to bars, and stopped “running around” with members of the opposite sex. In my juvenile brain, it sounded like so-and-so just became very uncool.

So, my idea of Christianity became “Can’t-trianity”. You can’t smoke, you can’t drink, you can’t listen to rock-n-roll music, you can’t go to a bar, and you can’t have sex. I wanted no part of “Can’t-trianity”. I realized much later in life that there’s much more freedom in Christianity than there is “can’t”. Some of my misinformation was simply ignorance on my part. I hadn’t read the Bible; so how was I to know what you can and can’t do? The rest of my misinformation came from Christians. And like I’ve said in other blog posts, often Christians aren’t the best examples of Christ.

I believe that many people today feel the way that I once felt about Christianity. They feel it’s just a bunch of “can’ts” that suck the fun out of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would like to discuss some of the “can’ts” and some of the freedoms.

1) You can’t smoke if you’re a Christian- I can find nowhere in the Bible where it addresses smoking. People shouldn’t smoke because it causes cancer. Case closed.

2) You can’t drink if you’re a Christian- Jesus drank wine. Communion often uses wine. Paul said to stop drinking, since it leads to wild living. So, if drinking causes you to sin, stop drinking. In other words, if drinking causes you to become disrespectful, neglectful, abusive, or any other unsavory adjectives, you shouldn’t drink. Otherwise, a grown adult, drinking in moderation should be okay. To me, drinking is kind of like French fries and Coke. Occasionally for dinner, I can eat French fries and wash them down with Coke. However, I wouldn’t want to do that every day.

3) You can’t have sex if you’re a Christian- God gave us sex. Shocker, huh? Therefore, he is A-okay with us having sex. He did give us some guidelines for our own good. Break open a bible, if you don’t believe me. Explore the guidelines for yourself.

Now, I completely concede that God gave us some laws. In fact, 7 of the 10 commandments deal with stuff we “can’t” do. However, how many laws does our government give us? Well, google couldn’t answer the question. There are an estimated 3,000 federal criminal laws. That number doesn’t take into account any other types of laws, such as civil laws. That also doesn’t take into account state and local laws. And we complain because God gave us only a few laws. If God only gave us a few laws and the government gives us exponentially more laws, then God obviously cares more about our freedom.

But God didn’t stop there. He knew that we couldn’t follow the few laws that He gave us. Instead of punishing us for breaking the laws, He sent His son to take the punishment for us. So, not only did He give us only a few laws to follow, He then gave us a pardon on the punishment. Does that sound like someone who is more concerned with laws, rules, and “can’t” OR does it sound like someone more concerned with our freedom?

I’m ending all my posts with an invitation to accept Jesus. If you would like at accept Jesus simply pray the following prayer or one like it: “Dear Lord, I’m a sinner. I acknowledge that You sent Your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. I humbly accept Your son, Jesus, and I now further acknowledge that I am forgiven of my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins.” If you prayed that simple prayer, you are saved. Now, you need to follow Jesus. Start reading your Bible. I would suggest starting with Matthew, reading all of the New Testament, then reading the Old Testament. Also, find a good church. Christianity was never meant to be done alone. You need to be in community with other believers.

Spiritual Warfare

Faith, Hope, and Love

Selflessness-the Marriage Mender

Can’t-trianity or Freedom?

You Missed

Child-Like

Inverse Hypocrisy

Spread it out before the Lord

This is the Site of a Great Victory