Battling Spiritually Clashing with the Unseen part 13 Eph. 6 12

Satan Is a Decided Fact

     He Tussles

     He’s Temperamental

         We Struggle    For we wrestle

         We Speculate  not against flesh and blood,

In Exodus 17 we see a series of events and a variety of slipups, blunders and personal miscalculations. So how does a waterless situation play into a wrestling match with invisible forces?  How often do we live blight less and scarred by a scarcity of refreshing interaction with our rock.

God directed Israel into the wilderness for testing and of course the evil forces were there to stir everything up. Not only did the people fail to grow from the test, they became insensible.  They didn’t just miss the point, they we’re totally imperceptible, oblivious, numb and hardhearted.  It’s scary to think that we can actually become comatose to God and his ways and dealings in us.

When they should have become delicate and sensitive to the Lord’s goodness, faithfulness, and mighty activity in their lives they struck out at God in anger, hatred and rejection.  We may ascribe to the corporate pyscho-babble grist that proclaims that depression is chemical imbalance or circumstantial conflict.  I’m not suggesting that going without water for many days and being in a wilderness of conditions isn’t a downer. But underneath the skin of their troubles was a fuming rage with God who let it happen.

Where Israel could have jetted through the wilderness in less then two weeks, instead through stubborn rebellion, they spent 40 years wandering and making it they’re necropolis.

Wandering is a state of being rootless, unsettled and homeless.  Traveling constantly, carrying your supplies on your back and having food drop out of the sky is a very peculiar life style.  But then again it was scheduled for only a couple of weeks.  How strange to make it a total life style choice.  This choice was based not on God’s purpose but on human resistance, corporate defiance, and an adamant refusal to surrender to the Lord.

Our Inadequacy Exodus 17:1-7

   The Scarcity of Water v.1

        Their Location     They pitched in Rephidim

Riphidim is a word in the Hebrew, which means discouragement and despondency; it literally means hanging limp, the condition of being in a state of such despair so as to be unable to react sensibly.  Riphidim signifies an extension of slackness or limpness.

We need to be alert when we hang out in an area, which can get us down, dejected and gloomy.  Once our feelings start unraveling we drain our supplies into an emotional hypothermia.

        Their Lack         There was no water for the people to drink

I get the impression that the group was heading to an area in the arid dessert where they thought there was going to be some water.  And yes God was leading them there, allowing a situation of tension and tautness.

This is the crux of vulnerability to the invisible attacks of dark forces.  But it’s also the treasure trove of feeling the deep embrace of God’s incredible love and forgiveness.  Of all the mysteries of prayer there is no greater adventure then getting our back to the wall where everything is unraveling unless the Lord intervenes.

       Their Leading     the Israel journeyed according to commandment

of the Lord

That the Lord lead them there is crucial.  Not only guided but commanded them to the spot.  Jesus was driven by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted.  Driven is a strong suggestion.  It means compelled, pushed and even forced.

  The Sarcasm Over Water v.2-3

       Their Chiding        The people did chide with Moses

       Their Criticism      Give us water that we may drink

       Their Complaining the people murmured against Moses

           Amnesiac      and said, wherefore is this that thou hast

brought us up out of Egypt

           Accusative    to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst

C.H.M. says: “They had just seen bread descending from heaven to feed six hundred thousand people in the wilderness; and now they are “ready to stone” Moses for bringing them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst.

Nothing can exceed the desperate unbelief and wickedness of the human heart save the supra-bounding grace of God. In that grace alone can any one find relief under the growing sense of his evil nature which circumstances tend to make manifest.

Had Israel been transported directly from Egypt to Canaan, they would not have made such sad exhibitions of what the human heart is, and, as a consequence, they would not have proved such admirable examples or types for us; but their forty years’ wandering in the desert furnishes us with a volume of warning, admonition, and instruction, fruitful beyond conception.

From it we learn, amongst many other things, the unvarying tendency of the heart to distrust God. They would rather trust in Pharaoh and the empire of Egypt rather then God.”

That’s like saying we would rather trust our fate to Osama Bin Laden or Adolf Hitler or Satan himself rather then the Lord.  We would rather lean upon a cobweb of human resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent, all wise, and infinitely gracious loving God.

Everything jumps out of perspective and we lose objectivity.  The smallest cloud can hide from our view the light of His perfect expression.

The Spirit of God terms this: “an evil heart of unbelief,” which exhibits itself ready to “depart from the living God.”

 The Severity Over Water V.4

       Pressured to Prayer

           The Unction         And Moses cried unto the LORD

Serving the Lord in helping people with there problems is not for the cowardly.  Relationship is not for the spineless.  We need to hang in there with people, because as strange as it may be, when you release someone from a painful trap or dark dungeon of despair they may turn on you and ruthlessly rend you.

Again, it’s all to get us in touch and in tune with the one we owe our every breath to.  As the Psalmist discloses: it is good that I’ve been afflicted that I might learn Your ways.

“Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to the tremendous difficulties” & “The anvil is not afraid of the hammer” C.H.S.

                   The Uncertainty saying, what shall I do unto this people?

How to motivate others for the Lord, how to encourage, stimulate and provoke each other to love and good works should be our prayerful study.

                   The Uproar          they be almost ready to stone me

One of the most amazing ironies is that followers of Christ can turn on each other with savage ferocity. Galatians warns of chewing on each other to the point of cannibalistic ingestion.  What a tragedy to break each other down with self-centered narcissism and empty conceit.

        Patience of Providence v.5

The Direction    And the LORD said unto Moses,

    Appear           Go on before the people,

    Assign            and take with thee of the elders of Israel

    Arbitrate       and thy rod, wherewith you smote the river,

take in your hand, and go.

The direction of the Lord is that we need to avoid reverting to hiding or avoidance.  Our natural tendency is to become an escape artist, crawl into a hole or evade confrontation.  We need to run into the roar of the lion and not be intimidated by the accusers snarls.  We’re to overcome evil with good and bathe every situation with the power that comes from prayer.  And when it doesn’t seem to work, keep praying, keep standing up for the right values, and take the high road of character and humble confidence.  Then pray more and meditate on the voice of the Lord seeking His perspective.

         Presence of Provision v.6

Specific Spot  Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;

Horeb is the Hebrew word for destitute, waste, dry place, and devastation.  This is where often we see the Lord best.

As Spurgeon rehearsed this thought often.

“What do I not owe to the hammer and the anvil, the fire and the file? It’s the stroke of the sacred hammer and chisel that shall have been given…”

Severe Strike  and thou shalt smite the rock,

And what do we owe to the smiting of Christ our rock and source of all.  Isaiah 53 says of Christ: “Smitten of God and afflicted…by His stripes we are healed.” It’s solemn to realize and keep in view that it is our sin that led to the smiting of the rock.

Jonathan Edwards wrote: “Christ, when he was in his passion, was in the hands of justice, he was God’s prisoner for believers, and it pleased God to bruise him, and put him to grief.  God brought him into a low state; He was humbled beyond above all, and when he raised him from the dead, he set him at liberty, declaring that it was enough. And now there is free admittance for all sinners into God’s favor through this risen Savior, everything against us has been dealt with and removed.  It is enough done, and God is satisfied; as he has declared and sealed to it by the resurrection of Christ, who is alive, and lives for evermore, and is making intercession for poor, distressed souls that come unto him”.

Significant Solution and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink

Jesus said: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. John 4:14

Drinking water from the rock is a symbol of the indwelling Spirit of God.  We drink as we depend on His filling in our personal challenges and tests.  Jesus was struck as he took our sin on the cross.  God is satisfied; the crime of sin has been legally expiated. The Spirit has been poured out on all who receive Jesus.

Scrupulous Submission   And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

          Particulars of the Place v.7

 Testing                                  And he called the name of the place Massah

Strife                                      and Meribah,

Nagging Harassment    because of the chiding of the children of Israel

Nasty Hostility                 and because they tempted the LORD

Negligent Harshness     saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

The amazing grace and crazy love of God is that He answers our prayers and meets our needs, not based on our performance but centered in His compassionate mercy.

It’s not that the people we’re the only harassing nuisances but Moses response was complicit.  The people griped about the lack of provision, Moses moaned about the stupidity of the people.  They all tempted the Lord accusing Him of abandoning them.

We only seem to learn through pressure to depend not on our resources in self and our personal bankruptcy, but to turn to Jesus and the filling of His Spirit to learn:

Our Empowerment Ephesians 3: 14-17 

Stimulate with Your Empowering Love

It’s Provoking       For this cause  ( as I think of this great plan )

Bring in their lives an arousing invigoration of your grace Infiltrate with your provocative compassion

It’s Pleading        I bow my knees unto  ( I fall on my knees )

Motivate with intensity in the enduring qualities of your mercy.  Instill dependence in your power

It’s Person             the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Kindle with the fuel of your power and rouse in reliance.  Connect in Your relational interaction

It’s Portrayal      Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named

Incite in increased comprehension to your interconnecting beauty.  Attach to our heavenly identity

It’s Possibilities   That he would grant you

Intensify the penetration into our unique individuality in you.  Expand us in your infinite possibilities

It’s Potential        according to the riches of his glory

( out of the glorious riches of your resources)

Fire-up the vision of the wealth & wonder of your glory.  Enrich us in Your glorious infiltration 

It’s Power             to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man

( he will enable you to know the strength of the Spirit’s inner re-enforcement )

Instigate inner empowerment by your Spirit unleashed.  Strengthen us in Your Spirit’s indwelling & filling

It’s Presence        That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith

Infiltrate with complete access with spiritual filling.  Characterize us with an addiction to faith in Christ

It’s Planting       that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

Obsess & consume in a compulsive dependence on Christ.  Saturate in a deep stability of unconditional love

Inundate in drenching oversupply of your unrestricted passion

It’s Preciousness 

    Christ’s Love v.18-19

The Dimensions of Love        May be able to comprehend

Develop a growing perception in the immeasurable extent of Your Love

The Dependents of Love        with all saints

Advance us to crave Your love & reveal our incapacity without Your love working in us

The Degree of Love              what is the breadth,

Explain the extent of compass in the broadness of Your love

 The Duration of Love           and length,

Fill our hearts in the extent of Your love and duration of continual durability

The Depth of Love               and depth,

Energize our merciful compassion in the intensity of feelings of Your forgiving love

The Distinction of Love        and height;

Instill a realization in the importance and excellence of Your love

 The Discernment of Love      To know the love of Christ

Prosper our perception in the recognition and comprehension of Your Love

The Dynamic of love              which passes knowledge

Jesus promised, I will never leave you or forsake you. We drink and are filled with His Spirit not based on our perfections but on His provision, promise and presence in us.  We are only expected to agree with Him about our failure, weakness and need.

This is submitting ourselves to God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, who dwells in us, and recognizing the reality that He has already drawn near to us, as He lives to meet our every need and desire with Himself.

Battling Spiritually Clashing with the Unseen part 12 Eph. 6:10-12

We Struggle Not Against People    For we wrestle not against flesh


Inspire us with intensity to grapple effectively & keep us from being thrown to the ground

Decipher for us the demonic impulsion behind the human oppositions we face

We Speculate People are pawns                     and blood,

Guide our view beyond the person to prayerful discovery of the root cause of each opposition & adversarial imposition

Moses, in the book of Exodus, announced to the Israelis the news of God’s goodness to deliver them from Pharaoh.  They were to be released from slavery.  They would be freed from Egypt.  They were given the proposal of a land of promise, known as Canaan.  They were to be released from slavery in Egypt.  They were to be liberated from the dominating rule of Pharaoh.

1. Pharaoh is an example of Satan.

2. Slavery is an illustration of the flesh.

3. Egypt is a visual of the world.

4. Canaan is a picture of all our blessings in Christ.

The people were encouraged with these new promises, how could they not be?  The greatest thing ever, liberation from there enslaving agony.  When we look at all of the guarantees and freedoms we have in Christ, we too are elated, as the joy of all we have in Christ is our strength.

There is a struggle though, and it’s against the powers of evil.  To make progress, there is gradual advance, a fight and every step of forward progress comes with a price.

God presented His way of grace to His people and He’s placed His promises on us.  A man, a deliverer, was raised up named Moses, and incredible pressures were brought on that man to get him to the point of dependence in the Lord’s methods of spiritual warfare.

Of all the environments to be born into, of all the extreme circumstances of inconvenience, Moses and his parents faced them.

He was born into a satanically controlled empire, ruled by politicians and dark magic peddlers that wanted to exterminate God’s chosen ones.

God has always had a remnant of people to carry His message of grace and love to the world, and their conditions and treatment have often been savage and barbaric.

They were facing impossible conditions.  Full term abortion was the law of the land.  This was the mode of controlling the population of the Jews, extermination on all Israeli male children in Egypt.  Those who resisted this devil controlled political revulsion of horror were but a small band of creative midwives.

It may have looked like flesh and blood that these courageous ladies were wrestling against, but behind all the visible layers of bureaucrats were the invisible powers of darkness. God provided free homes for these ladies as a blessing for their fighting in faith.

But here God singles out this one lady, a mother, who through her creative trusts in God, delivered her baby son Moses from the devils evil scheme through a risky plan.  He goes from a reed shallow swamp on the Nile, to the palace of Pharaoh in the great empire of Egypt.

God trained this man Moses through 80 years of character forming pressures.  His pressures and education was to raise him up, to stand in the gap, and build up a hedge between the unseen demonic powers and God’s throne, to plea for the Lord’s loved ones.

J.N. Darby writes: the struggle against the power of evil is another matter. Satan will not let the people go, and God permits this resistance, for the exercise of faith, and for the discipline of His people, and for the brilliant display of His power where Satan had reigned.

We have to learn, sometimes through arduous grueling pain, that we are in the flesh and up against Satan’s power; and that we have no power to affect our own deliverance.

At the graduation of Moses, an 80-year introduction to God’s ways, the Lord revealed Himself in a “great sight”

Moses turned aside to see in the mountain of God.  Exd.3

It was a burning thorn-bush, passionate with fire, and yet not consumed. It was a striking display that the Lord was about to pour out new grace in good will to His people.

It’s “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” Deut.  33:16.

A thorn-bush, a bramble, is an applicable representation of what we are.  We have this treasure (God’s Spirit within) in clay vessels.

We’re incompatible, naturally, to contain the presence of God, as a dry bramble wouldn’t be fit to enclose a consuming blazing inferno, unscathed by its intense devouring ingest.

But the intimate loving heart of God yearns to dwell in the midst of loved ones. His desires are to embrace us to Himself and to live within us in constant intimate communication, us with Him, Him with us, and to fill us with all His life.

In Psalm 90, we hear the prayer of Moses, the man of God, as He stood before the flaming bramble bush.

Let your work appear unto your servants, and your majesty unto their sons. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands, establish it.”

The Lord’s work and majesty appears in the fires of His indwelling, abiding, filling Spirit.  He delivers, blesses, and clothes us with His own beauty and grace.

He’s our glory Psalm 106:20; and, it’s the work of our hands to make for Him a sanctuary, it’s His power and might to dwell in us and fill us. This is what He would create ultimately for Himself but He guides us to take each step under His leading and guiding.

It wasn’t the flame of fire that engulfs Moses’ attention, but that “the thorn-bush was not being consumed”.

I wonder if it took Moses 80 years to learn he was a dry wispy thorn-bush. It’s the only way to yield to God’s deliverance; He wants us to rest in His nearness and to relax in the flame.

The burdens in Egypt were severe, crushing and life threatening.  They cried out in their afflictions but the fire wasn’t in them, they lacked light, so Moses was prepared and sent. It’s so improbable to be filled with the fire of God but God’s ways are pure.

J.N. Darby writes: “Before the deliverance, when the hopes of the people are now awakened, the oppression becomes heavier than ever, and the people would have preferred being left quiet in their slavery.”

But the rights and counsels of God are in question. The people must be thoroughly detached from Egypt, and to this end, are now become their torment under God’s hand. God’s ways are not our ways for sure.

Moses works signs. Then the magicians imitate them by the power of Satan and it hardens Pharaoh’s heart. But when the question is of creating life, the demon filled magicians are forced to recognize the hand of God.

Our adoring worship is seeing this bush and that God has in His heart, to live in our thorn-bush.  His grace, His compassion, His forgiving mercy and purifying discipline are our glory.

We’re to order our inner house to become suitable to His life in us. God is effecting the prompting encouragement with His power within.  It’s Jesus’ pleasure to gratify us with the greatest engagement of all, and marriage of intimacy with Him.

There are the unseen contenders, invisible adversaries that we wrestle against and it’s not the seen flesh and blood of humanity.  It’s the evil one and his hordes of devils that oppose and attack.

But God uses it all to drive us to yield to His presence, power and the fire that engulfs us in the Spirit of Christ filling us.

2Cor. 10:3-8 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 

Phillips NT says it this way:

Now I am going to appeal to you personally, by the gentleness and sympathy of Christ himself.

The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level. The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds. 

Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defense that men erect against the true knowledge of God. 

We are to fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ. Once we are sure of our obedience we shall not shrink from dealing with those who refuse to obey.

We need to “turn aside” from conditions here, from everything human and natural, to see this great sight.

Moses had to remove his sandals from his feet. It’s holy ground to see God’s relationship with us in a weak scrawny bush.  We’re His people, dependents of His grace.

Christ is the vine, God the Father is the vinedresser and we’re His branches, drawing our strength from the vine in harmony with Him, abiding close to Him, as He lives in us.

The thorns are always poking, psychological, emotional, and physical thorns.  They’re there to point us to Jesus and the passionate love of His fire within.  They are painful, they are weakening, there’s anguish in them, but as Paul expounds on his thorns, He says, the power of Christ rests upon us.  This power of Christ is the fire within and the bush is not consumed but as we yield to His workings and purifying.

Moses was to remove his sandals, we’re to keep our shoes off; we are on holy ground, as we need the constant foot washing of Jesus.

We need to have our feet cleaned of the clutter of doubt to see that Christ lives in us with His burning desires of love to conquer in us a freedom.  This is a freeing is of us, and the possibility of a prayerful liberating involvement to others.  We have around us those who are vexed by the tyrannies of personal decline, the cruelties of political catastrophes and the constant onslaught of the perverting collaborations of the slaves of the evil one.

Often we’re blind to our bondage and it’s only as thorns pierce that we see our captivity.  We can defy by faith as we make a stand in prayer between the Pharaohs of our time and our Lord who wants His love to be burning in the thorn bush of our life.

Battling Spiritually & Clashing with the Unseen part 11  Eph. 6:10-12

Enlighten Us to Manage Our Adornment v.10

Enlighten Us to Measure Our Adversary v.11-12 

Satan Is a Defeated Foe

    Satan Is a Destructive Force

He’s a Twisted & Devious Schemer         the wiles

He’s a Tricky Diabolical Slanderer         of the devil 

    Satan Is a Decided Fact

For our fight is not against any physical enemy

         He Tussles 

In this vigorous struggle guide our every move to productivity

         He’s Temperamental

In the face of a variety of mood changes in others train us to be correct & compelling

The challenging alert in our need to be strong in the Lord conveys the opposing perilous hazard in an implication of our drift of being weak in the Lord.

No event in our life is incidental; every happening is purposeful with possibilities and potential.  It’s hard to understand the reasons for Job’s losses, Joseph’s victimization.  It’s mind boggling to fathom David’s family upheavals and his political crisis was overwhelming.

The thing that stands out in these men’s lives is they became strong in the Lord.  They developed in Godly character and they turned their bitter experiences into worship and encouraging writing.

The reasons for misery are measureless and diverse.  They are as varied and wide-ranged as the personalities of people.   Everyone is affected by misfortune, as Job says, man is made for adversity as the sparks fly upward.

It doesn’t matter who we are, how rich or poor we may be, or what station in society we’ve arrive at.  We all get hurt, everyone is vulnerable to heartache, and the unfailing statistic is that one out or one dies.

How we respond to our pain shows where we’ve allowed God in our heart.  Do trials and disruptions in our relationship draw us to a deeper intimacy with the Lord or do we become sour and bitter in the hurts of life. It’s natural to ask the Lord why He’s letting the destroyer into our tender inner hearts.  At times the specifics are given but more then often it’s the general answers that we have to rest in.

There’s a paranormal conflict rampant through the universe.

Satan is a decided fact, he tussles and he stirs us in pushes of temperamental moves.  He’s unpredictable getting us into a feeling that life is unreliable, erratic and volatile.  We have to trust that all is screened by God and permitted in His love.

The demonic forces try to push us away from the peace Christ has redeemed us too and they plot to dislodge the peace we gain by pray dependence.

The context of 1 Timothy 4:1-3 is a bio of the false teacher.  My thought is to expand its reference to include the decided fact that demons are on the prowl in the spiritual realms of our lives seeking to create conflict at all time.

Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

Forbidding marrying, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them, which believe and know the truth. 

The prediction of demonic attack Now the Spirit speaks expressly

God’s Spirit specifically tells us and He speaks expressly, deliberately and definitively.

The period of demonic attack       in the latter times 

The historical stage for this battle theater is the latter times, which are, our present time frame.

The purpose of demonic attack some will depart from the faith. 

This departure is what is defined as apostasy. There are various forms of apostasy and this is merely my personal spin on faith default.  There is intellectual apostasy, emotional apostasy, psychological apostasy, moral apostasy, doctrinal apostasy and spiritual apostasy.

Paul says All they which are in Asia be turned away from me. That had to be a major disappointment. Any departure from the faith is dangerous.  We’re experiencing a seizure when we drift from faith to fallacy. It’s a flip from truth for an embracing of error. The problem lies in the treachery that we may mentally hold to the truth in our heads while we emotionally abandon it in our hearts.

The premonition behind demonic attack   giving heed

The forewarning is we’re not to give heed but close the ears of our heart to these lethal voices.

The power behind demonic attack            to seducing spirits

The objective of seduction is to lead another in a predetermined direction and to win them over with a lure while hiding the hook.

The principle behind demonic attack         doctrines of devils

Demonic powers have a exhaustive doctrinal statement but their main tenant is you’ll become like God with an ability to call your own shots.

The phoniness behind demonic attack       Speaking lies in hypocrisy 

What we listen to is a major issue.  Psalms 1 warns us where not to walk, where not to stand and where we shouldn’t sit and relax.  Ephesians tells us also where we’re seated in Christ, how to walk with Christ in the power of His indwelling Spirit and what we need to stand against in the power of Christ’s provisions.

We are not to allow ourselves to be spiritually seduced and lulled into an inattentive stupor.  Seducing spirits allure and entice us away from the truth. Seducing spirits use fascination and charisma to bloat our senses. They’re pushing at us, to drive us away from the Spirits leading into God’s design.

When we reject the truth, an invisible illusion from “another” spirit begins to take over in our thinking.  This isn’t possession but it’s an abhorrent variance into all kinds of delusions and deceptions.  We’re living a fairy tale if we think that demonic powers are incapable of communicating in complete sentences. They are in attack mode constantly and untiring in verbosity and longwinded garrulity.

A Demon is behind every false teaching. Demons spurn the truth, snub God’s design, slight God’s person and scorn the access we have to God’s power through prayer and faith.  There is a tyrannical grip that vises down around us, and it’s the grasp of devil powers constantly altering truth in our world.

The painkillers behind demonic attack having the conscience seared

                                                                                 with a hot iron 

When our conscience no longer alerts, or if we’re numb and sedated between wrong and right we may have become calloused to spiritual influence.  When our souls pain center is muted as if it’s seared flesh, we’ve been anesthetized by demonic powers.

Being seared with a hot iron was a brand put on slaves and criminals.  Scripture refers to a variety of conditions in our conscience.

A weak conscience      1 Corinthians 8:10–12

A cleansed conscience Hebrews 9:14

A clear conscience       1 Peter 3:15–16

A good conscience       Acts 23:1

A seared conscience    1 Timothy 4:1–2

The devil wants to drag us down, drug us up and dumb us into being insensitive and impervious.

The perversity behind demonic attack  Forbidding marrying

The common thought is that forbidding marriage is the ludicrous religious thought that commitment to celibacy gains high points with God.  Many who’ve claimed they have put marriage aside to serve God have had some tragic mishaps.

But forbidding marrying could have a broader scope that demonic influences are stirring in our current culture. In the name of a life of devotion they’re charting out a path of deviance.

The other aspect of forbidding marriage is that those that marry are incapable often of a growing intimacy in their union, which devolves into some stage of divorce.  This too could fall into the category of yielding to the alien spirit of forbidding marriage.

The Spirit of God has clarified in Ephesians 5 the model of marriage and His design is to fill us to achieve that model.

But unfamiliar spirits drive couples apart, deter them from cleaving to each other and stir the selfish animosities that lure couples to be treacherous and disloyal to each other.  Betrayal is a poison of the evil one.  Duplicity and betrayal entered the heart of Judas, to the extent that Jesus says of him, that it would have been if he hadn’t been born.

We could even say, in the midst of wavering commitment, that shacking up or so called common law marriage is a fence straddle which is the diluting influences of the evil one who convinces a forbiddance in marriage.

The prohibitions behind demonic attack commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them, which believe and know the truth.

Exclusions and omission’s are a key element in devil related religious maneuvering. The deceptive nature of satanic attack is that it not only hawks avarice where we dive into acquiring everything under the sun but the devil peddles asceticism.  Abstain from this, withdraw from that, curb something else and refrain from another thing.  Both extremes of abstinence and the other end of the accumulation of things and experiences through indulgence are generally devil driven from our invisible struggle.

We’re fighting a supernatural enemy.

Battling Spiritually & Clashing with the Unseen part 10  Eph. 6:10-12 

Enlighten Us to Manage Our Adornment v.10

Enlighten Us to Measure Our Adversary v.11-12

    Satan Is a Defeated Foe

Satan Is a Destructive Force 

He’s a Twisted & Devious Schemer       the wiles

He’s a Tricky Diabolical Slanderer       of the devil

Slander is the Greek term diabolous, from diaballō , to slander; from this verb comes the noun Devil, the god of all slander.

Satan lives up to his name Diabolous or Devil in the first temptation when he slanders God, in Gen. 3.  He entices by insults and defamation, destroying paradise for humanity.

In Matthew 4 we see the Devil again utilizing evil speak in a diabolically slanderous manner to Jesus.

The literal meaning of slander is to set in opposition, to accuse, to repudiate by giving false information. This is the Devil’s mode as a mudslinger and false indicator.

The title Devil also reveals what Satan’s goal in a person’s life is. He doesn’t simply want to stumble us into evil, but works to tempt us to do something that is out of order.  It’s a fabricated way to meet a designed need or accomplish what seems like an essential end result.

He’s trying to make us feel like it’s hopeless to endeavor in waiting on God.  He is trying to keep us from trusting God’s Word and relying on the Lord’s loving provisions.  The tragic thing is he’s an expert on the specific details we so easily worry over and give into fear about.

The Devil says to Jesus three times; if you are the Son of God, do this.  In the word “if” is slander and defaming denigration.

He is pushing Jesus to prove His deity by satisfying His hunger by making bread.  We all have hungers and desires that the slanderer prods at us about.

Jesus has a different approach to prove His deity.  Jesus declares: Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word from God’s mouth.  He teaches that real life is verified, fulfilled and satisfied by depending on God’s Word.

Are we living close enough to the Lord to gain our needs and guidance in His Word?  Satan wants us to prove ourselves by acting in independence. God’s Spirit leads, even constrains and compels us to demonstrate our true design by dependence on the Lord through His Word.

The second test of the slanderer is to challenge Jesus to throw Himself from a high spot.  This is the belittling scorn of trying to push Jesus into a spectacular action to make a supernatural impression. Jesus says we’re not to presume on the Lord or challenge God by defying Him to do weird things.

Who are we to put a dare in God’s face by concocting a presumptive taunt that’s irrational?  It’s outrageous to make following Jesus into a jazzy magic act. We are to walk in a trust of Him.

Isaiah 30:15 explains:

For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; in returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.

Jesus’ response is proof of the importance of interpreting scripture with scripture and not yanking a text out of context.  That is what the slanderer is doing here; he’s pulling the Word of God out of context to rationalize a flashy extravaganza style of religion.

We are, in our modern Christianity, fostering an appetite for the astonishing, the dramatic, and the shocking.  We are not to equate the things of the Spirit with the dazzling of impressive entertainment and mob like numbers.

The third slanderous test is to get Jesus to gain power and possessions by adoring the wrong person and the wrong path.

The path to character, to reigning for God and achieving glory for God is through suffering.  The cross was to be experienced before the crown.  Wiersbe makes the point that there are no shortcuts to walking in God’s will.  To share in Christ’s glory, we have to share in His suffering.  Satan promises benefits it we worship him, if we adore his ways, and if we bow to his dark kingdom methods in the world.

What we worship is what we become, and what we admire and are flattered with is what we serve. Allowing the wrong affection and values in our heart has a devastating effect on us.

Satan uses slander to achieve his goal in us. Whatever he can do to seduce us away from God is employed.

He’s like an invisible prosecutor calling into play various elements of the fall to push his agenda of rejecting God and ultimately getting us to feel like life in Christ is not practical.  He wants us to get into a dualistic life frame.  A scheme of separating a secular life alongside what appears a religious dysfunctional counterfeit pretension.

Satan demonstrates three of his names in these three temptations of Christ.

His name is Abaddon which means destruction or destroyer.

His name is Accuser as he accuses day and night before our God, Rev.12:10.   

His name is Adversary,  1Pet.5:8 Be aware, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 

Slander is diabolical or devilish in that we are tricked into libel of ourselves, as we foster self-maligning.  It doesn’t make sense to defame ourselves but when we grudge our past or feel spite for those God has allowed in our lives we are getting tricked by diabolisms.  We become trapped in our own scandal not seeing the outrage of the tempter who is still using the same question of “if” you were this or “if” that happened, we would have achieved something different.

God allows the devil to blaspheme and slander.  In Revelation 13:2, Satan is described as a beast with a mouth like a lion.  In 1 Peter he’s seen as a lion that roars.  He is roaring that we are worthless, that God is untrustworthy, that prayers to the Lord won’t be answered and that it is a waste of time to wait on Jesus for anything.  Daniel refers to the beast as a little horn with a mouth speaking great things.

Daniel refers to the devil as boastful, speaking blasphemies, where he exalts and magnifies himself above every god saying unheard of things about the God of gods, until the time of wrath is completed. Dan 11:36.

In Rev.13:6, he’s demanding that the nations worship him instead of God. Why does God allow Satan to be so irreverent and rude?  His diabolical slander is oppressive and how weird to have the name of blasphemy on his heads. Rev.13.

I think God permits these attacks for this time, to attract us to all we have in the Lord Jesus.  There is an irony in the slander of Satan because it’s a paradox that is allowed by God’s authority to prove the value and power of His Word.  We are challenged to move out in faith in God’s Word and to grow in Christ through prayer.

Job’s account of massive losses is perpetrated by the slander and accusation of Satan in the heavenly sphere before God.  God allows the tests of Job and lets suffering shape this great man.  Job’s attitude is the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and that it’s all a part of God’s blessing.  He confesses that even if God slays him that he’s going to trust the Lord.

When the Devil’s diabolical slander looks like it’s conquering, it is actually an opportunity to show God’s power of grace by faith to see demonic evil truly conquered.  Philippians 3:10 calls this, the fellowship of Christ’s suffering, where victory is experienced through what seems like defeat.

In the book, Tried by Fire, Brian Birdwell says,

One minute he was visiting the bathroom down the hall from his Pentagon office. The next minute he was burned over 60% of his body from an unknown explosion and resulting fires. That was the hell unleashed on Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell on 9/11/2001.

He didn’t know that a 757 jet had been hijacked by terrorists and flown into his side of the Pentagon building. Nor, did he know that he was one of the few survivors from his office sector of the Pentagon. Nor, did he know about the levels of pain and agony associated with his resulting recovery.  That was all to come.

What he did find was that God had plans for him to survive that day, and eventually lead him to become a Texas State Senator. The journey he recalls is a chilling reminder of the depth of trauma that only God can heal.  Satan means it for evil, God means it for good.

Jesus taught us how to defeat the devil and his diabolical tricks by exercising humility.  We’re to allow the mind of Christ to be our inner experience.  If we consider others as better then ourselves we will never slander or talk in a damaging way about another person.

Satan wants us to not only slander and blaspheme God as worthless, but he wants us to feel insignificant and meaningless so we treat others, motivate others and react to others in a slanderous insulting method.

The Lords approach is to build up by praising us, and identifying our value as individuals with unique personalities. He endorses by encouragement and comforts in His gentleness.

We learn humility and tender feelings for each other in the things we suffer and undergo in agony. We can glory in our weaknesses, heartaches and sicknesses, as this is where the power of Christ rests on us.

Battling Spiritually & Clashing with the Unseen part 9  Eph. 6:10-12

Enlighten Us to Manage Our Adornment v.10

Enlighten Us to Measure Our Adversary v.11-12 

    Satan Is a Defeated Foe

  Satan Is a Destructive Force

He’s a Twisted & Devious Schemer      the wiles

Wiles, is the Greek term methodia, where we get the English word method.  The invisible forces of darkness employ a legion of methods that are rooted in nitpicking manipulation or what could be referred to as duality maneuvering.

Wiles signify the craft of deceit. It’s the joining of two root words, meta, “after,” hodos, “a way”.  This is a cunning device, a wile is a tactic employed to pull us into personal blunder and mental inaccuracy.  If we tracked back into our personal errors and private failures we could unearth a wile we’ve gotten tripped up and snared with.

In Eph. 4:14 we have this warning initiated in this way.

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. 

These individuals who employ cunning craftiness are the minions of the unseen forces of darkness.

God’s design is to get us stable and grounded.  He doesn’t want us to live like naïve children who are at the whim of every chance of wind.  When we’re in this condition, we’re vulnerable to the slightest breeze of teaching and lewd jockeying of those who’ve developed an expertise in the craft of the presentation of lies.

Phillips says, we’re meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it’s from the head, that the whole body is a harmonious structure knit together by the joints with which Christ Spirit provides, and grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love.

Proverbs 12:1 says, whoso loves instruction loves knowledge: but he that hates reproof is brutish (insensitive & oblivious).

If we love to learn truth we are going to love the discipline that goes into learning.  The rigors and need of consistent application of our mental faculties will be a passion in our heart.  When we’re challenged by the critical ridicule of others and the questioning skeptics intrusion, we will thrive.

Now if we despise the disciplines of study.  If the pain of digging for meaning in life from God’s word is a bore to us, we are vulnerable.

It’s awfully strong to say the there is no gray area here but that’s the way Proverbs is written.  We are either those who love instruction or ones who hate reproof.

To hate reproof, really means we scorn prayerful meditation in God’s Word.  This leaves us with the personal designation of brutish.  To be brutish means we’re insensitive, oblivious and even unconscious to the various wiles of the Devil.

Proverbs 12: 2 goes on to add, a good person obtains favor of the LORD: but a person of wicked devices will he condemn.

A good person, could be rendered, a wise individual, or one who has opened their heart to the Lord Jesus. To obtain favor is to have a drive to delight in God.  To revel in His grace and cultivate sensitivity to God’s Spirit.  This is living in the conscious presence of God.

The contrast in this Proverb is a person who is soaked and dripping in wicked devices.  Wicked devices are twisted wiles that are full of warped artificiality.

Proverbs 12:3 a person can’t be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. 

There’s no footing in a bottomless swamp of ruses and guiles.  We have to grow our roots in God, sink our foundation in His Word and secure our footing in the truth of Jesus.

It’s withering to be under the tyrannical barrage of demonic lies.  By withering, what I mean is we subject ourselves to personal weakening, as we wilt under an onslaught of disapproving reproach and scolding accusation.

This disapproving reproach and scolding accusation erupts into visibility by inner guilt.  Our guilt gushes over with its maladjusted family of blame, criticism, skepticism and cynicism and all the negative uncertainty and distrust that collide in our feelings.

These are the wiles of the Devil to exploit our feelings and inner drives.

Our delivery is found in the loving forgiveness of Christ.

Battling Spiritually and Clashing with the Unseen part 9  Eph. 6:10-12

Enlighten Us to Manage Our Adornment v.10

Enlighten Us to Measure Our Adversary v.11-12

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

    Satan Is a Defeated Foe 

In a chapter called prayer and the unseen enemy, H.A. Ironside writes on the challenges of seeking the Lord, through the privileges and responsibilities of prayer, in his book Praying in the Spirit.

He states: In our attempts to express ourselves to God, we’ll find we’re constantly conscious of incessantly repetitive invisible hindrances.

Satan, and his army of evil spirits, who are profane principalities and powers in heavenly places, are perpetually attempting to hinder our prayer-life.  Our unseen enemy works overtime to stop us from prayer, when the opposition fails in cutting us off from prayer, they’ll then use all their diabolic ingenuity to delay the answer.

In Ephesians 6:10–20, we have the cover pushed aside on these mysterious battles, and we attempt to discern the nature of the conflict in the sphere of spiritual activity.

Ephesians parallels the Book of Joshua.  Canaan the promised territory is the place of privilege, as God’s children are taking possession of their new territory, in Joshua.

In Ephesians it’s our heavenly territory that the Spirit of Christ is exposing, where we have every spiritual blessing in Christ.  Paul says “All things are ours,” but what is now needed is appropriating faith.

God gave all Canaan to Israel, but energy was needed to enter into and enjoy it.  We need to appropriate our blessings in Christ, to “possess our possessions.”

The seven nations of Canaan, greater and mightier than Israel, typify the unseen spiritual foes with which we have now to cope.

The call is:  “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”

We are to depend on God in this conflict as Israel was in the wars over the Promised Land.  In His strength and power we overcome as we listen, respect and obey His Word.

The Defeated Foe, Satan, and his demonic followers, were created with a free will.  They’ve exploited their freedom choosing to oppose God’s will.

Their gain was a twisted nature; their loss was a fall from paradise, perfection, and a future fall into everlasting perdition, the lake of fire.

In his present wait, for eternal punishment, the Devil infiltrates on every level as a megalomaniac. He is a despotic tyrant who controls by deception and duopolistic wiles.

He’s a horrific antagonist; but a defeated foe.

His doom is defined in the beginning of creation, Gen. 3:15;

His fate and defeat was achieved at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14.

His destruction will be realized in the future where he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire Rev. 20:10.

Our first defense is to see Satan and the countless, demonic forces, as dangerous, but defeated.  Our triumph is to rest by faith in our position in the ascended and glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and resist Satan, by faith in the finished work.

Our biblical directions are to be clear-headed.  We’re to be attentive and alert to the mobility of our adversary.

The devil is compared to a roaring lion walking everywhere, seeking those he can chew up; we’re to resist in the stability of steadfast faith.

Ephesians 4:27 states, we’re not to give place to the devil.  That means to not allow him a ledge of operations or to in anyway allow him to mislead by deception.

I took a break from writing this early today.  I needed to cook dinner, so I put some lamb chops on the grill. After cooking I sat and ate, waiting for another, I had cooked for who had left to go down the hall for a few moments.  When I could hear some movement as to this persons return, I took one of the steaks, I had prepared, and cut it in small pieces, for this other person, who has a broken arm.  I had turned for only a minute, not realizing I had left my chair to the table pulled out, where I had left my plate of food.

It was a ledge of operation for an opportunistic dog that snatched my steak in a flash.  The loss was quick and complete as I failed to be alert.

We have to “Submit ourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” 1 Peter 5:8, 9; Eph. 4:27; James 4:7.

I let down my alert guard, my resistance was late and yes, the dog fled, but I lost my unguarded piece of tasty nutritious meat.  I had failed for just a moment to resist a roaming dog.

Our Lord Jesus is our invincible armor against the tricks and charms of the Enemy.

Colossians 2:9-10 (Phillips NT)

Yet it is in him that God gives a full and complete expression of himself (within the physical limits that he set himself in Christ). Moreover, our own completeness is only realized in him, who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all powers.

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we are complete in Him, who is the Head of allprincipality and power.” “Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light” (Col. 2:9, 10; Rom. 13:12 KJV).

Satan can’t create a thing, his freedom to propagate any evil, is only allowed by God’s consent.  In saying that, it wasn’t God’s will or purpose that the dog got my steak.  I permitted him the possibility and opened the door to it.

Satan is a defeated foe.  The gates of hell can’t prevail; demonic powers can’t predominate and succeed against us.  We are only defeated when we fail in our armor and leave the door unguarded and open.

Samuel Ridout writes: Not a hair of the child of God can fall without the Father’s permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish the Father’s will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between them and us. They will but work for us His own purposes of love.

We’re to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We’re not told to overcome him, but when he meets the Lord Jesus Christ in us, he cannot stand that; he must flee.  That’s being strong in the Lord.

    Satan Is a Destructive Force

Keep us from drooping to the disparaging pummeling of the evil one

 He’s a Twisted & Devious Schemer      the wiles

Give us discretionary shrewdness to isolate every cunning trick

He’s a Tricky Diabolical Slanderer      of the devil

Develop our discernment in the evasive deceptions of all that is around us

     Satan Is a Decided Fact

For our fight is not against any physical enemy:

         He Tussles

In this vigorous struggle guide our every move to productivity

         He’s Temperamental

In the face of a variety of mood changes in others train us to be correct & compelling

Battling Spiritually and Clashing with the Unseen part 8 

ENLIGHTEN US TO MANAGE OUR ADORNMENT

   Our Protection Eph. 6:11  

      Be a Force

Our Array It’s Clothing                   Put on

Our Armor It’s Complete                the whole armor

Our Almighty It’s Christ                  of God

The phrase, whole armor, is the Greek word panopia, where we get the word panoply. Panoply is defined as a full array of protective covering.  Panopia comes from two words, Pas, which is “all” and, hoplon, which mean a weapon.

God has given us a weapon to protect us in spiritual battle, and that protection is His complete armor.

One of the interesting lessons on battle technique is when Jesus, in Luke 11:17-22, is accused of being devil possessed which prompted Him to give a lesson on warfare.  I have placed an outline of that narrative at the end of this writing.

Jesus sums up that defeat of the enemy is by God’s finger, God’s facts and God’s force.

Commandments Written By God’s Finger  But if I with the finger of God

Conquest Worked By God’s Facts

The Power of Truth                                          cast out devils,

Control Welcomed By God’s Force     no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you

We’re up against a strong man who’s massively powerful.

When a strong man, armed to the teeth, stands guard in his front yard, his property is safe and sound.

But what if a stronger man comes along with superior weapons?

Then he’s beaten at his own game, the arsenal that gave Him such confidence are hauled off, and his precious possessions plundered. This is war, and there is no neutral ground.  If you’re not on Jesus side, you’re the enemy; if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse.

1. The strong man is Satan

2. The palace is the front yard of his kingdom, the world

3. His property or his goods are people held under his sway

4. The stronger man is Jesus

5. His superior weapons are Christ’s power of grace & truth 

It’s an amazing image that the finger of God casts out devils. Jesus alerts us to this reality, which means that the kingdom of God is upon us.

The Bible speaks of God’s finger, God’s hand, and God’s arm. Each part suggests the consigning of more power than the other.

The Finger of the Lord

The Lord needed only finger strength to rout the kingdom of Satan. The whole demon world stampedes in terror at the smallest exhibition of the Lord’s power.

God did miracles through Moses and the magicians told Pharaoh it was the finger of God.

When Moses was up on the mount with God the law was written by the finger of God.

The Hand of the Lord 

The Lord’s hand is where we experience His touch of blessing

Nehemiah 2:18   Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

When God’s hand is on us it works for our good and His glory.

The Lord’s hand is what brings great deliverance

Deuteronomy 6:21 Then you shall say unto your son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: 

The Lord’s Hand is our provision of protection

1 Chronicles 4:10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. 

The Lord’s Hand is our assurance of security

John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  My Father, which gave me them, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

The Lord’s Hand is how we influence others for Him

Acts 11:21 and the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. 

The Lord’s Hand is sovereign over everything

Daniel 4:35 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and God does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what are You doing?

The Lord’s hand moves and His Arm extends and nothing resists

Deuteronomy 7:18-23  You shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,  

The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Moreover, the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.  You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God. 

The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you.

But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 

Insightful Master Luke 11:17‑26
The Demonic Kingdom v.17‑19
  Reason For Failing Positions  v.17

Self Disclosure             But he, knowing their thoughts, said

Subversive Division

In a Country                Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation

In a Community          and a house divided against a house falls
   Reaction For Faulty Principle  v.18

Satan is Organized            If Satan also be divided

Satan is Ordered                against himself,

Satan is Operational        how shall his kingdom stand?

 Satan isn’t Oppositional because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.

    Result Fixing False Premise v.19

Light Dispels Darkness    And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils

Legitimacy Disrupts Demons

Check Authenticity         by whom do your sons cast them out

Check Authority           therefore shall they be your judges 

The Divine Kingdom v.20‑26
   It’s Proof v.20

      Commandments Written By God’s Finger      But if I with the finger of God

Conquest Worked By God’s Facts

             The Power of Truth                                           cast out devils,

Control Welcomed By God’s Force                   no doubt the kingdom 

                                                                                               of God is come upon you

 It’s Picture  v.21,22

    Powerful Peace v.21

Protective Strength  When a strong man armed keeps his palace

Peaceful Stability     his goods are in peace:

     Prevailing Provocateur v.22

Dominating Force       But when a stronger than he shall come upon him,

 Devastating Failure

Defeated                      and overcome him,

Disarmed                    he takes from him all his armor wherein he trusted,

Divided                         and divides his spoils.

It’s Plan v.23

Determining Allegiance  He that is not with me is against me:

Deciding Assembly            and he that gathers not with me, scatters

Eph.1:7b Rich in Forgiveness part 6                             

Captivate in Our Riches From Our Savior v.7-12

   Edify Us In Our Being Pardoned the forgiveness of sins

Jesus in His earthly life was constantly thronged with people; He continually attracted the masses who mobbed Him night and day.  They wanted to see His miracles and hear His promises.  They we’re hoping also that He’d overthrow the corrupt tyrannical political sludge of their day.

They we’re heavily taxed and impoverished.  They we’re trapped by political and religious exploiters, worn down by being vexed with diabolical manipulators.  Jesus loved people and He was involved with them.  He was never a recluse or a hermit.  He openly welcomed others, provided food for others and joyously celebrated with them.

Once he went into a house in Capernaum.  The dwelling quickly filled to the point where it clogged the entrance and the surrounding yard with people.

The friends of a crippled man we’re determined to see if He would do something for their-disabled friend.  There was no way to get to Jesus with people filling the house.  With creative faith and ingenuity they got their hurting friend in front of Christ by climbing up on the roof of the house Jesus was in.

They removed the roofing material and lowering their crippled friend on a stretcher right in front of Jesus in the house.  Jesus glowed with a joy at their great faith and resilient creativity.  But instead of honoring their faith with instantaneous healing He threw a curve at everyone.  He tells the crippled man His sins are forgiven Him.

That Jesus would pronounce a pardoning release to someone made the religious leaders, who were dogging Jesus, infuriated; they accused Him of intolerable blasphemy.  Healing was one thing, but forgiving sin was something only God could do.

By doing this He was declaring He is God.  He was announcing, God makes the rules, determines what works and what doesn’t.

There is only one person we’re to listen to and that’s Jesus,

God made this clear in, Mt.17:5 While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.

The point is only God can forgive sins.  Not even the apostles in the first century took a shot at mediating between God and man in the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is the only mediator between God and man.  The man Christ Jesus can forgive sins.  Not Mary, not Buddha, not Mohammad, not anyone else.  No one but Jesus can forgive sins.

Jesus revelation was an uncovering of His person that they vehemently rejected.  He is God. Our riches in Christ are that in Him, and in him alone, we have forgiveness of sins.

The word for forgiveness means to send from one’s self, to send away, a release, and forgiveness is letting the wrong go as if they had not been committed.  Trench says that the image of the verb is that of releasing a prisoner.

We see total forgiveness of a prisoner in Isaiah 61:1-5

Forgiveness is the Release of the Captured

  By Our Riches in the Lord

     The Spirits Ability                The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me                                      The Spirits Anointing         because the LORD hath anointed me

     The Spirits Articulation    to preach

Forgiveness is the Rebuilding of the Contrite

  Help to the Compliant          good tidings unto the meek

Healing to the Crushed        he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted 

Forgiveness is the Recovery of the Captured

  Opportunity                               to proclaim liberty to the captives

Opening                                       and the opening of the prison to them that are bound

Forgiveness is Reliability of Creator Outlook

  The Penalty Answered           To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord 

The Provision Accounted      and the day of vengeance of our God

Forgiveness is Reassurance for the Crying

  Comfort for Dirge                      to comfort all who mourn

Choosing for Directionless   To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion

Charm for Devastation           to give unto them beauty for ashes

Celebration for Depression  the oil of joy for mourning,   

Clothing for Drabness the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness     

Forgiveness is Recognition for the Claimers 

  Comprehensiveness    that they might be called trees of righteousness

  Connection                      the planting of the LORD,

  Compelling                      that he might be glorified.  

Forgiveness is Restoration for the Collapsed

   Renovation                     And they shall build the old wastes,   

Resurrection                 they shall raise up the former desolations,  

Repair                              and they shall repair the waste cities,

Renewal                          the desolations of many generations.

Forgiveness is not only the releasing of the imprisoned but it’s the erasing of a debt.  The debt of the sin has been sent away.  To be released is one thing but to we’re also to accept that release and see the debt for the imprisonment is erased and sent away.  This is what it is to grasp forgiveness.

The only way to embrace forgiveness is to receive by an acceptance of faith in Christ and His substitutionary sacrifice for our sin.  Forgiveness frees all who receive Jesus from sin’s guilt, from sins condemnation, from sins bondage, from sins power, from sins penalty, and when we are taken to be with Jesus forever we will be free from sins presence.