SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/3/2019
10:41 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 The
Battle: Against Demons
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:12
Message of the verse: “12 For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
I have to say that there are many
believers who do not believe that there is a spiritual battle going on between
the believers in Jesus Christ and the invisible and supernatural realm. Paul makes it clear in this verse that there
is a battle going on with this supernatural realm and with the followers of
Jesus Christ. If you look around our
country you can see the battle for the soul of our country in the balance as
people desire to kill unborn babies, yet they want murders to go free. This is only a sample of what is going on in
our country, and the reason that I mention it is because it is my belief that
Satan is behind all of the evil that we see in our country, a country that 50
years ago would never put up with what is going on today. I have mentioned that the Satan is behind
what millions of people believe, and that is evolution and the reason that I
have said this is because once you take God out of the creation of then you are
not responsible for anything that you do because you are not accountable to
God. As far as demons making havoc with
nations this can be seen in the book of Daniel.
“12 Then he said to
me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart
on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your
words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. 13 "But the prince of the kingdom of
Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of
the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of
Persia.”
Daniel was praying and as can be seen here a high ranking angel was
coming to talk to him to give him the answer he wanted to here, but was stopped
by a high ranking demon, who is entitled “the prince of the kingdom of Persia.” Persia is modern day Iran. John MacArthur
writes “The war between God and Satan has not diminished but intensified, and
so has its front on this earth.” He goes
on to write about the word struggle: “Pale
(‘struggle’) was used of hand-to-hand combat and especially of
wrestling. As in our own day, wrestling
was characterized by trickery and deception—with the difference that in fights
in ancient Rome the conflict was real and often a matter of life for the winner
and death for the loser. Though Satan
and his minions know they are sentenced eternally to the bottomless pit
prepared in hell for them, they seek desperately to change that fate. If they can—warring ceaselessly to break the
power of God and destroy the things of God, especially the church.” I
remember when I first became a believer and was talking to someone about the
end times and he stated that those who follow Satan, and there are many who do,
think that Satan is going to win. I read
the last book in the Bible and Satan looses.
Our greatest enemy as believers is
with the forces that we cannot see as opposed to those that we can see. Those who are not flesh and blood are the demons
which is a vast array of adversaries who like the devil are not flesh and
blood.
Paul speaks of different rankings of
the world of those who are not flesh and blood, something I mentioned from the quote
in Daniel 10. Rulers, powers, and world
forces of this darkness along with spiritual forces of wickedness describe the
different strata and different rankings of those demons and the evil,
supernatural empire in which they operate.
John MacArthur adds “Human beings who promote paganism, the occult, and
various other ungodly and immoral movements and programs are but dupes of Satan
and his demons—trapped by sin into unwittingly helping to fulfill his schemes.”
Spiritual meaning for my life
today: Remember that I am in a
battle, and trust the Lord to give me strength for the battles.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Be
humble in the battle as I can only rely on the Lord to get me through.
Today’s quote
from “Love in Action” talks about our verse from yesterday (Pr. 12:25).
“Have you
ever been weighed down by anxiety when someone came along and spoke a good word
that lifted your spirit? During one of
the deepest, darkest times in my life, a fellow pastor called me just to say, ‘David,
I want you to know I love you, and know you are going through some hurt. I want you to know I’m here if you need
me. I want to pray with you.’ And he prayed with me on the phone. He called me every week for several weeks
with a word of encouragement. He poured
courage into my heart.”
That is what
encouragement is, pouring courage into someone’s heart.
10/3/2019
11:35 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment