Preparing for the Battle-Activating my faith
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Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
| Proverbs 4:5
Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. |
| 4:6
Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; Love her, and she will keep you. |
| 4:7
Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. |
So why do we need to be prepared to battle? Why do I say that there is a battle going on? Why must we press in and gain wisdom and knowledge for this time? Why must we be prepared to do spiritual warfare? Listen to this:
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. (God is removed from our schools and court rooms) 2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. (Abortion, murder, assaults unprovoked, euthanasia)3 Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away. 4 “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. 5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 7 “The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change F12 their glory F13 into shame. 8 They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity. 9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds. 10 For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.
As I read this I was struck by the truth of this word as it relates to the time in which we are living. While the point of this reading is Verse 6, which speaks to the need for getting knowledge of God and His ways, the verses around it remind me of the warning in
/2 Timothy 3:1-9: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins (certain people prey upon those whose spiritual vulnerability leaves them open to error.), led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
“6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins ( certain people prey upon those whose spiritual vulnerability leaves them open to error.), led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
This is not an assault on women. This is further evidence that men and women have very distinct roles, 1 Corinthains 3 3But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
When there is no man, the evil one seeks opportunity to come in and lead the woman astray with false teachings and doctrine to steal the next generation. So, it is the Church Leaders, Pastors and Church Members responsibility to look after and care for the women, and especially widows. To teach and to admonish and to protect spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and financially. To provide that care and to the orphans, also. James 1: 27Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
We live in perilous times and without knowledge in the Word of God we are going to find it very difficult to survive and to thrive. Many people have the mistaken impression that we can overcome our circumstances through our own physical efforts. While it is important for us to not become lazy the first battle that we fight is in the realm of the spirit. Everything that happens to us is birthed first in the spirit. Had the devil not rebelled and been kicked out of heaven sin would not have entered the world. Read carefully the following verses:
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
(KJV (Authorized) 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. )
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
Look carefully at verses 12, 16 and 18. We are exhorted to realize where the battle is coming from. The battle is first launched in the spirit. If there is strife we must war vertically before we will get victory horizontally. There are spiritual forces of wickedness that have been assigned to destroy that which God has purposed for our lives. That does not mean they are stronger than God’s purpose for our lives but we must war against those forces as we walk in the spirit and not in the flesh.
Three Heavens: First Heaven = the clouds, Second Heaven = Outer Space, Third Heaven = Where God dwells. The devil is the “prince of the air”. He rules in the in between both the first and second heavens. This was done when Adam first sinned and gave over his dominion to Satan. These (verse 12) high places reside at the beginning of the first heaven. Sacrifices were made at the beginning of the first heaven. The temples and places of worship to false gods were built on these high places. (See 1 Kings 18 below) This is also the footstool of God. There is therefore a battle in that realm of this heaven. God instructed that these high places be torn down.
Numbers 33:50-56
50 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; 53 you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. 56 Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’ ”
Deuteronomy 12:1-4
1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.
2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Going back to Ephesians 6, we must also recognize the fiery darts of the enemy. His weapons are not as easy to spot as a gun or a bomb. They are more subtle but just as deadly. They can be sickness and disease, misplaced priorities, words we allow to control us, or words we use to control others. Even our circumstances can be used to discourage our faith. It is imperative that we stand our ground in faith and trust that God is who He said He is in our lives.
We also must be prepared to destroy every high thing, which we do spiritually first before we can attack it with words or with any other peaceful method of opposition. Look at what King Hezekiah did to the high places. Because he did this God avenged him in his battle with the King of Assyria, which was the most powerful King of that day.
2 Kings 18:1 Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi F27 the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image F28 and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan. F29 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
Because of King Hezekiah’s obedience to carry out the instructions of the Lord and tear down these high places, God gave him a great victory over the King of Assyria.
Why do we need to tear down these high places in our lives? The idols we create in our lives, like money, political power, addictions, work, music, adultery to name a few will lead us away from God and will crowd Him out of our lives. They will also cause us to have strife in our lives with others. We must watch against in fighting and recognize who the enemy really is.
James 4: 1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet F12 you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and F13 adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? 6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” F14 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
We must resist the enemy and we must do that through recognizing our authority in Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came in the flesh. Paul exhorts us in 1 Timothy to fight the good fight.
1 Timothy 6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, 15 which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
We will not be declared innocent in the eyes of God. When we are standing before God on the Day of Judgment, we shall not be declared free of sin, but rather our sins will condemn us. And then Jesus Christ our Lord will say, “I have paid the debt with my life.”
James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your F6 works, and I will show you my faith by my F7 works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? F8 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” F9 And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. We must exercise our ability to gain knowledge and wisdom in Jesus Christ so that we can activate our faith and so we will be prepared for the battle, which we are in, and for the battle, which is to come. Get wisdom, get knowledge and use your faith, which was given to you by God through Jesus Christ to win the spiritual battle for your family, your church, your business and your community. You can make a difference!
In His service and for His purpose,
Pastor Greg Young