Real spiritual warfare cannot commence until one thing takes place...

[Gideon]

We as children of God have been given spiritual armor with which to wage spiritual warfare. We have been given swords to wield. We have been given shields of faith that God assures WILL quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy. 

We are told that if we resist satan steadfast in the faith, he will flee from us. So...... are we, and do we see satan fleeing from us? 

We are promised that whatever we ask in Jesus name, the Father will give us, amen? God has promised to cause us to walk in obedience as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil.  Yet, translated into real life, how is that working for us? 

I see all sorts of posts here on spiritual warfare, but may I say in all lowliness, I think for many, dare I say even most, it is not working very well. So what is the problem? Why do we not see the church of the living God doing exploits?  Why are we trapped in doubts, fears, defeats, sins and behaviors that we hate? 

Forgive me for my honest take here, and it is not criticism. Jesus promised answered prayer and not just the answer  "No , that is not my will for you. Sorry." lol.

Do we not see? If He truly delivered us not just from the penalty of darkness but from the power of darkness itself, if He assured us that He would not allow us to be tempted above our ability to resist, if He has provided us all things that pertain to life and godliness, if we have been provided weapons of war so that we may truly fight.... and win, with our shields of faith quenching ALL the fiery arrows of the enemy, ..... then what is the problem? 

Look, we can confess we have all these wonderful promises till the cows come home, and  they are wonderful, and ours for the taking, but if we are honest, for the most part, they simply are  not working. Yet what do we find? Do we see His children crying out to Him for the hindrance so that they might become warriors for God? Sadly, no.  

You see, most do not want to admit to is that something is wrong, badly wrong. Guys, I get it. I understand how hard it is to finally get to the point of admitting that we are missing something, because we feel if we do, we become rootless, cast to the wind and are totally unanchored. It is our holding onto these truths, even if they are not working,  that keep us hopeful..... and keeps our noses above water, LOL. But guys, we must not forget this one critical thing.....

Truth works. And if it is not working, we need to figure out why. 

Many years ago, I took up bee keeping and remember my first day in full uniform, lol. I had my coveralls (armor) on. I had my little smoke puffer puffing to calm the beasts. I had my veil on to protect me. I was ready for battle.... that is, until one little bee got inside my veil and stung me dead center on my nose. If there had been a video, it would have gone viral. ?

What is the point of this? Just to demonstrate a very important lesson on spiritual warfare. Armor, sword and shield offer no protection if the enemy has planted a traitor inside the armor.

And who is this enemy, this traitor, of which I speak? Is it not self, our old nature? Is it not he that refuses so often to take the way of escape offered? Is it not the old us who  blocks our prayers being answered because of lingering doubts fueled by our disobedience, leading to guilty consciences? Remember what God said? "A double-minded man is unstable in everything he does. Do not let him think he will receive anything from the Lord."  Ouch. 

Guys, the time is short, and God wants us to finally be totally free from our old rebellious nature so He can make us overcomers. Where does sin find its power. Doubt? Lack of assurance? Lack of fruit? Lack of power to overcome?  The answer lies in the bee in our armor... the old us, and that dude must die. 

We have been taught that sanctification is our growing from our old nature to our new one. May I humbly submit? We have been taught wrong. This error has left us powerless to fight. We cannot resist the devil steadfast in faith if there is still a part of us with allegiance to the enemy. . We cannot get answers to prayer until we figure out how to escape double-mindedness.

But how? There is a way, and God WILL have a church walking with their foot on satan's neck. We are about to be awakened to the the truth, but who will first see it? Those who have finally arrived at the point they HATE their old nature. Those who, like Paul in Romans 7, see themselves as wretched men due to their fallen win nature and powerlessness to overcome its desires. Those who KNOW they need a miracle and are willing to step out and believe God has one for them. 

In these last days, God is going to awaken His bride and His children WILL walk in power and much joy as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil. Our inner battle will finally be WON. Then we can fight and free others, but not until we are walking in the FREE INDEED Jesus promised us. Exiting days are ahead... IF we cry out to Him to open our eyes as to the HOW of holiness. 

More to come.....

blessings,

Gideon     

Edited June 11, 2020 by Gideon

[Sower]

2 hours ago, Gideon said:

I see all sorts of posts here on spiritual warfare, but may I say in all lowliness, I think for many, dare I say even most, it is not working very well. So what is the problem? Why do we not see the church of the living God doing exploits?  Why are we trapped in doubts, fears, defeats, sins and behaviors that we hate? 

 I don't know about how it's working for everybody else. I have a full time job removing/keeping the beam out of my own eye.

2 hours ago, Gideon said:

We as children of God have been given spiritual armor with which to wage spiritual warfare. We have been given swords to wield. We have been given shields of faith that God assures WILL quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy. 

We are told that if we resist satan steadfast in the faith, he will flee from us. So...... are we, and do we see satan fleeing from us?

Some of the most important verses in scripture there, Gideon, for a soldier in God's army.

As an example, things I am constantly saying  to myself/God all day long:
Thanks for another day, Lord.
That's sin.
I choose to obey.
Thanks.
That's sin.
Thank you Father for your word.
Sorry.
That's sin
God is light.
You are faithful and just to forgive my sin.
All your promises are true.
Thank you Lord
That's sin.
I agree with you
That's sin.
I trust you Lord.
That's sin
I acknowledge you Lord
That's sin.
I need direction Lord.
That's sin.
Thank you Lord.
That's sin.
I need you Lord on this one.
Not I but Christ.
That's sin.

Then I eat breakfast.

Taking every thought captive, throughout the day, is sometimes exhausting.
Then I remember, not I but Christ. I'm dead. God's in control.
For me, the waking period is the most intense battle time, 
as if the enemy were just waiting for me to fill/bombard my (sleepy) mind.
And I have to be alert quickly, as these thoughts (sin) can repeatedly slip/slide in so smoothly.
I try not allow morbid introspection, but state/say the light of God's word/promises.
I simply state a (sinful) thought to be sin. I am agreeing with God, and reprogramming my mind with light/truth.
I don't morph over it, but press on.
I allow the light of the repeated word (I have hid in my heart) to chase out the darkness.
The darkness of the thoughts (the fiery darts) that try to cripple my faith.
I have realized that when I examine every thought I think, there is a lot of them that need to be removed.
When I say 'that's sin', it is because I decide not to continue those thoughts, or that I allowed it to become sin.
Every sin I sin is me missing the mark, and do not blame the world, flesh, or devil. I take credit. I agree with God.
With the flesh I serve sin, and with the mind I serve Christ.   God is light!
 

 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1, 13-15

 

[AnOrangeCat]

56 minutes ago, Sower said:

As an example, things I am constantly saying  to myself/God all day long:

I do this, too. I think it's really helpful, especially when it comes to giving thanks. At least for me it's one of those things that helps remind me that the relationship with God is personal and that we can come to Him for even little things.

[Gideon]

5 hours ago, Sower said:

 I don't know about how it's working for everybody else. I have a full time job removing/keeping the beam out of my own eye.

Some of the most important verses in scripture there, Gideon, for a soldier in God's army.

As an example, things I am constantly saying  to myself/God all day long:
Thanks for another day, Lord.
That's sin.
I choose to obey.
Thanks.
That's sin.
Thank you Father for your word.
Sorry.
That's sin
God is light.
You are faithful and just to forgive my sin.
All your promises are true.
Thank you Lord
That's sin.
I agree with you
That's sin.
I trust you Lord.
That's sin
I acknowledge you Lord
That's sin.
I need direction Lord.
That's sin.
Thank you Lord.
That's sin.
I need you Lord on this one.
Not I but Christ.
That's sin.

Then I eat breakfast.

Taking every thought captive, throughout the day, is sometimes exhausting.
Then I remember, not I but Christ. I'm dead. God's in control.
For me, the waking period is the most intense battle time, 
as if the enemy were just waiting for me to fill/bombard my (sleepy) mind.
And I have to be alert quickly, as these thoughts (sin) can repeatedly slip/slide in so smoothly.
I try not allow morbid introspection, but state/say the light of God's word/promises.
I simply state a (sinful) thought to be sin. I am agreeing with God, and reprogramming my mind with light/truth.
I don't morph over it, but press on.
I allow the light of the repeated word (I have hid in my heart) to chase out the darkness.
The darkness of the thoughts (the fiery darts) that try to cripple my faith.
I have realized that when I examine every thought I think, there is a lot of them that need to be removed.
When I say 'that's sin', it is because I decide not to continue those thoughts, or that I allowed it to become sin.
Every sin I sin is me missing the mark, and do not blame the world, flesh, or devil. I take credit. I agree with God.
With the flesh I serve sin, and with the mind I serve Christ.   God is light!
 

 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1, 13-15

 

If we are going to truly agree with God, shall wenot climb our of the boat altogether and agree with Him "whole hog"? 

We are told if we are in Christ, we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit and we owe the flesh nothing. 

At what point in "getting the beam out of your eye" do you finally succeed so that you can then assist others in getting the more out of theirs? You are confusing thoughts from the enemy.... temptations to sin.... with sin itself. Temptation is not sin.

Yes, we still have fleshly bodies, but not fleshly natures. We are asked to believe that the old "us" does not need to die. We are asked to believe it is indeed dead. Until we do so, we are struggling to enter the rest, and yes, it is exhausting. But there will come a point in a believer's life when he or she realizes that this "process"    never leads to true freedom, and rest, and victory. We are too busy dodging blows or repenting, lol. 

In Hebrews, we are told that if the blood of bulls and goats had been able to cleanse us  of all iniquity, we would have "no more consciousness of sins". That is the rest God offers us. That is having the beam extracted. That is entering into the joy of our salvation. That is getting the traitor out of our armor. 

We have been taught we are part darkness and part light. We have been taught wrong. Now we are light in the Lord. But until we truly grasp what Christ accomplished with His resurrection, we will walk in defeat more often than not. And what did He accomplish by His resurrection? OUR resurrection. Glory!

God is not looking for us to try harder, to be more diligent, to resist temptation harder. the only advantage to these things is that they eventually bring us to the point we can admit that we cannot do as He desires. It is at this crisis point that we can have our eyes opened to the truth that what we cannot do, God can and will do IN US.... IF we simply believe He actually killed our old nature and has given us new ones that sin has no authority over. 

As children of God, we all possess new natures. Amen? But what we have not understood.... yet.... is that they must be put on by a declaration of faith that the old us is not in need of dying, but actually dead.

This is the "activation ingredient" that satan has blinded us to for 1900 years. And  in these last days, God is awakening us to the truth of who we truly are.... light.... and as we believe it is no more us who live, but Christwho now lives in us, we will "make our tree good" and truly walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, leading others into the rest that we ourselves are enjoying.  We will escape the wearying road to holiness and see our feet plant on the highway OF holiness. I cannot emphasize the measure of the distance between the two. One leads to endless running of laps with being healed only slightly, and the other leads to joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

The sons of God are about to be manifested. And what will the results be?

The heathen shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their very eyes. (Ezekiel 36:23) 

Can we imagine? A church with no beams needing removal? LOL. Whoa.

blessings, 

Gideon

[Sower]

9 hours ago, Gideon said:

If we are going to truly agree with God, shall we Gideon my brother, I find iy difficult jjjnot climb our of the boat altogether and agree with Him "whole hog"? 

We are told if we are in Christ, we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit and we owe the flesh nothing. 

At what point in "getting the beam out of your eye" do you finally succeed so that you can then assist others in getting the more out of theirs? You are confusing thoughts from the enemy.... temptations to sin.... with sin itself. Temptation is not sin.

Gideon my brother, I find it difficult to discuss with you, try as I may.
I shared my own struggles dealing with sin in response to you scripture,
and looked forward to maybe how you also deal with sin yourself, a discussion.
Right this moment I'm dealing with the 'beam' in my eye responding to you.
Try  talking, not preaching, on a discussion forum.
You said;
"You are confusing thoughts from the enemy.... temptations to sin.... with sin itself. Temptation is not sin."

And as in past threads of yours, I have let you know I understand ,
temptation is temptation. And not sin.
When I am tempted by a thought, I grab that thought (hold it captive)
Then I determine if it is a sinful thought, and when I do, I confirm to God and myself
by saying "that is sin".  Programing my mind. Letting the light in, removing any doubt. (darts) Get it?
Not saying I have sinned, but agreeing it is a sinful thought if pursued/conceived.

You said;
At what point in "getting the beam out of your eye" do you finally succeed so that you can then assist others in getting the more out of theirs?

That may be your ministry in life, but not mine.

“Dear brothers [and sisters], I am still not all that I should be but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing:
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize

for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us”  Philippians 3:13-14

If Paul had difficulty and was strained to reach the end of the race, I feel I'm in good company.
I won't arrive till I'm taken home.
Thank you for your post, Gideon.

[branchesofHim]

On 6/10/2020 at 8:09 PM, Gideon said:

In these last days, God is going to awaken His bride and His children WILL walk in power and much joy as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil.

Amen. Shalom.

Revelation 19:[5] And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
[6] And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
[7] Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
[8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
[9] And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

[Gideon]

On 6/11/2020 at 3:12 PM, Sower said:

Gideon my brother, I find it difficult to discuss with you, try as I may.
I shared my own struggles dealing with sin in response to you scripture,
and looked forward to maybe how you also deal with sin yourself, a discussion.
Right this moment I'm dealing with the 'beam' in my eye responding to you.
Try  talking, not preaching, on a discussion forum.
You said;
"You are confusing thoughts from the enemy.... temptations to sin.... with sin itself. Temptation is not sin."

And as in past threads of yours, I have let you know I understand ,
temptation is temptation. And not sin.
When I am tempted by a thought, I grab that thought (hold it captive)
Then I determine if it is a sinful thought, and when I do, I confirm to God and myself
by saying "that is sin".  Programing my mind. Letting the light in, removing any doubt. (darts) Get it?
Not saying I have sinned, but agreeing it is a sinful thought if pursued/conceived.

You said;
At what point in "getting the beam out of your eye" do you finally succeed so that you can then assist others in getting the more out of theirs?

That may be your ministry in life, but not mine.

“Dear brothers [and sisters], I am still not all that I should be but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing:
Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,

I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize

for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us”  Philippians 3:13-14

If Paul had difficulty and was strained to reach the end of the race, I feel I'm in good company.
I won't arrive till I'm taken home.
Thank you for your post, Gideon.

Brother, forgive me if I come  across as preaching from a higher place. In trith, it is most likely the opposite. What I am sharing is the way not struggle with sin. God has promised to keep us from falling and to cause us to obey Him. This means  rhat when we are tempted, He will not only make a way of escape so that we can stand against it, but also causes us to take that way of escape.  

How? Can this truly be possible? Yes! We are not called fight against the temptation, but to fight against unbelief that we are new creatures.

If it is true we actually died when Christ died, and when Christ rose from the dead, so did we, this changes everything, but only IF we actually believe it. How do we escape the authority of the law? Death is the only way. And if the strength of sin is the law, and we died to the law, sin has no more authority over us. 

It is when we finally tire of trying to conform our old natures to holy standards, and put off our old nature by faith that we see our feet planted on the highway OF holiness, and escape the highway to it. 

I realize I can come off too strongly, and I apologize for that.  But fourteen years ago, God visited me and showed me my error, the same error the vast majority of the modern church has been taught.  We overcome sin by faith, not by effort. It is when we finally reckon ourselves dead and yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead that we see the chains keeping us in Romans 7 fall away.

It is this truth that will awaken and empower God's people to stand as overcomers in these last days. God planted His church in the book of Acts with an unsurpassed outpouring of His Spirit. The early rain. And before He returns. His church..... us..... is destined to receive the latter rain, and what God is fixing to  pour out upon us will not only match, but exceed the glory that He caused to  fall upon the early saints. Glory!   

blessings to you, Sower

Gids

[Willa]

Often we battle " demons" in boot camp to train us for the genuine battle.

 I also find that what is sorely needed is good old fashioned repentance.  

[Gideon]

1 hour ago, Willa said:

Often we battle " demons" in boot camp to train us for the genuine battle.

 I also find that what is sorely needed is good old fashioned repentance.  

I agree Willa. Repentance has sort of become "last year's flavor of the day", and the effects of this are being manifested in a large portion of the body of Christ. I believe the genuine battle you speak of is fast approaching, and what sufficed in the past will not do so in the future. 

Our wake up call is arriving. Now is not the time for relaxing while the world approaching the precipice before. the end. 
 

blessings, 

Gids