Saturday, April 4, 2009

Visuals for Warfare


In our spiritual walk we all know about warfare. We have an enemy. We fight him on a daily basis. Sometimes it is hard to fight something you can’t see. The word says in John 20:29 Jesus said to him, £“Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We receive Jesus as our Lord and we see the good and kindness in others and by that we see Jesus. We see the enemy in others by the absence of God in their life so we know that they live by the flesh and we know that the word says in Romans 8:7-8 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. When I am in my prayer time God has given me such a visual in my minds eye to see Him, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. But then the enemy comes and tries to put his visuals in my mind that he is sometimes to big to whip. I see something big, scary, and the enemy appears to be quiet confident that he can’t loose. But of course we know that he is a liar. John 8:44 says You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. Abba is so cool and because I am such a visual person He has given me a visual that now when I am in intercession and warfare I use these visuals and I have full confidence of victory. I know that before I walked in victory by faith but this visual is just gravy and Abba always gives us abundantly above all we can ask or think.
In Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of £the darkness of this world and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Well I have the movie Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I hope you have seen it. If not rent it. I have the picture posted at the top. The only one that is not in the picture is the ghoul looking creature. Remember when Aslan (symbolic of Jesus) was on the altar and the witch (symbolic of satan) was above Him? She has all kinds of creatures as followers. Here are the visuals given to me. The first was a ghoul or bat looking creature. This was symbolic of principalities. The next was a bolder looking creature. He was symbolic of powers. Then there was a slimy undead looking creature and he was symbolic of rulers of the darkness of this world. Then the last but not least was the bull. He was symbolic of spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. When I saw that it was such a jolt to my faith. Glory to God. Now when I am in warfare I have this visual and the enemy can not deceive me or even put the thought in my mind anymore of losing. II Chronicles 20:15 says And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Now because Jesus has died for us we walk in victory because these creatures have already been whipped. Glory to God.

By His Grace
Love to all
Shirley

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

You Have Answered Me

Psalms 22:19-22: But you O Lord do not be far from me. O my strength, hasten to help me. Deliver me from the sword. My precious life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. YOU HAVE ANSWERED ME. I will declare Your name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation I will praise You.

As I was meditating on Jesus hanging on the cross this morning the Lord took me to Psalms 22. These scriptures are when Jesus was on the cross. But what really caught my attention were these specific scriptures. After all He had been through He was crying out for Abba. Don't be far from me. He knew that Abba never leaves us no re forsakes us. Deliver me. My precious life. He knew how precious He was to Abba. He knew that He mattered and that His life did count. Save me from the mouth of the lion. Of course we all know who that is. Who comes as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour and he was sure wanting to devour Jesus. and from the horns of the wild oxen. To me that is symbolic of the rulers of darkness of this world. (I will explain that in a later issue) But what really got me was the very next sentence. It blew me away. Jesus said YOU HAVE ANSWERED ME. Some people can read this and think to themselves I have missed a whole conversation somewhere. It went from save me to you have answered me. That simple. Why do we need so much help to misunderstand. This is the best example of faith I have ever read. I have read this I don't know how many times but today I saw it. I saw believing you receive when you pray This is knowing when you talk to Abba He does listen. Jesus knew on the cross as a man, not as God, but as a human man that Abba had answered Him. No doubt, or being double minded. He spoke and received His answer. There was no delay or waiting period. Then the next thing He spoke was I will declare Your name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation I will praise You. He went from asking to receiving to praising. It is that simple. I did not say the problem was simple but this way of life and faith should be to us. We can walk like He did in this. As He is so are we. As we are in the midst of our tribulation we pray to Abba and He hears us. Then if He hears us we know that He has answered us. Then we can praise Him for the victory. I am not there yet but I am walking towards it. The battle is His but the victory is ours. We can do this. We can do all things through Christ who strengths us. Be blessed this great Lord's day.

By His Grace
Love to all
Shirley