You many be saying to yourself ... I don't need this! I don't do spiritual battle and I never will. Ah, be careful of those thoughts. They can surely land you in hot water. When you realized and admitted you are a sinner and accepted Jesus' atonement for your sins, you stepped onto the battlefield. There is no 'Neutrality' here! You chose and now your enemy will step up his game to try to bring you down and back to his side and his horribly desolate future.
Do not despair because you belong to Jesus now and not to Satan. Grow into your Faith in God as you learn to stand on the solid rock and hide in the shelter He provides. An excellent start is praying Psalm 91. You will feel the Power, the Presence, all God's Omnipotence, as you read these scripture verses aloud. Put on your armor every day (Eph. 6:10-18) and get this Word deep into your spirit man:
Ephesians 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.
Meditate on These Things
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
If you are at a loss as to how to start taking control of your thought life, here are some excellent quotes that can help you. Think on them as a group or one by one. I am sure, when you find your mind drifting, that any one of these would help you bring your thoughts back into line.
Francis of Assisi / Quotes
- Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
- If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
- For it is in giving that we receive.
- If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
- While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.
- Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.
- Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.
- Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.
- It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
- No one is to be called an enemy, all are your benefactors, and no one does you harm. You have no enemy except yourselves.
Rhemas 3/2/2016:
Jesus' Second Coming:
Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJV)
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
God is Judge:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NKJV)
9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the Lord, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.
Success:
1 Timothy 6:17 (NKJV)
Instructions to the Rich
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
In closing, I would like to recommend some reading material. There is an excellent book on the three arenas of spiritual warfare: the mind, the church and the heavenly places.
'The Three Battlegrounds'
by Francis Frangipane
I had read this book many years ago and, with moving, downsizing and whatnot over the years: I was led to find it and purchase it again. It is a revised edition from the original I bought so many years ago. Excellent Reading!!!by Francis Frangipane
Peace be unto you,
Anna