Defeating Satan and His Lies

Reposted from crosswalk.com

Doing hard things is hard.

The words aren’t just the catch-phrase for a movement, but a reality. Doing hard things takes determination, grit, and die-hard commitment to push through the pain.

Right now, I’m on the brink of the biggest hard thing I’ve ever done. Throughout my journey as a rebelutionary, I’ve done things that terrified me. I’ve grown stronger and braver. I’ve tested the limits of my comfort zone and gone beyond them. I’ve seen God move. I’ve felt his presence uplifting me. But through it all, I’ve known one thing: the impact our hard things have isn’t confined to this earthly realm.

And neither is the opposition we receive as we do them.

Before the hardest things I’ve done, and the biggest breakthroughs I’ve experienced, I’ve always felt the oppression, attack, anxiety, and irrational fear trying to overtake my mind. I’ve been paralyzed with insecurity and doubt.

This time is no exception.

I’m overwhelmed and terrified. The task before me seems insurmountable, the fear in my heart overpowering.

But every time, without fail, God has brought me through, and done things greater than I could fathom.

So I’m pushing through. Not giving up. And most importantly, I’m fighting.

Our Hard Things Matter.

Satan hates our hard things. He hates this movement of rebelutionaries.

The hard things we do are ultimately for Jesus, for the glory of his name and furtherance of his kingdom. That’s why our hard things matter—and why we’re so fiercely attacked as we do them.

With every hard thing we do—every time we don’t give in to fear and share the Gospel, every time we destroy our pride and do small hard things well, every time we accomplish what the world says is impossible, every day we live sold-out for Christ—God’s name is glorified and Satan’s attacks and lies crushed a bit more.

We need to keep going and keep fighting. I’ve searched Scripture, and found six ways to fight when the enemy attacks as we do hard things.

1. Fight with God’s Word.

This is a battle unlike any we can comprehend. It’s fierce and deadly serious. We would be unable to withstand it, and even less equipped to fight in it, except for one thing: God’s Word commands us to, tells us how, and is, in fact, our most powerful weapon.

In light of these words of truth, the Father of Lies and every demon must flee. In Matthew 4, Jesus demonstrates this when Satan tempts him in the wilderness. Weak and vulnerable, the Son of God takes up this weapon with the words “It. Is. Written.” Three times he repeats it, quoting Scripture in the aftermath of temptations, combating Satan’s lies with pure truth. And the enemy left.

We can hold in our hands, and speak with our mouths, Words of unprecedented, immeasurable power.

The next time Satan lunges to attack, open the Word, lift up your sword, declare God’s truth, and block the enemy’s advance.

2. Fight with Prayer.

Samuel Chadwick wrote in his book, The Path of Prayer, “[the devil] fears nothing from prayer-less studies, prayer-less work, prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”

Prayer is more powerful than we realize. When we pray, we’re entering the throne room of God—and stepping onto the battlefield. Over and over in Scripture we see proof of answered prayer.

When Daniel set his heart to pray and fast for three weeks, God sent an angel to him, and Daniel’s prayers exactly covered the time the angel struggled against the evil forces delaying him. (Daniel 10:1-14)

Elijah prayed fervently seven times for God to end the drought plaguing Israel, and on the seventh time God sent rain. (1 Kings 18:41-45)

And James tells us, “The prayer of faith will save the sick,” and, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5: 15, 16)

If we’re not seeing answers to our prayers, maybe it’s because we’re giving up too soon. If we don’t believe our prayers can have any effect on the enemy, they probably won’t. Prayer isn’t a comfortable exercise—it’s hard work and discipline and it requires persistence and perseverance.

If we’re going to fight, we must fight on our knees.

3. Fight Dressed in Armor.

When I feel like I’m in the thick of battle, I intentionally take the time to “dress myself” for war. Ephesians 6 outlines our armor. Praying through the passage and reading it out loud, I verbally clothe myself with the protection God offers.

Usually it looks something like this, “I’m standing in Christ, putting on the belt of truth. God’s Words are truth, and everything the enemy is trying to tell me is a complete lie. I’m strapping on the breastplate of righteousness— not my righteousness, but Christ’s, purchased for me with His blood on the cross. (vs.14) On my feet are the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. I can walk in God’s peace today. (vs. 15) Above everything, I’m picking up the shield of faith. No darts of the enemy can penetrate it. (vs. 16) On my head is the helmet of salvation. I’m saved and I know I’m saved, and Satan can’t steal my salvation from me. And lastly, the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word. (vs. 17)”

I do this, because it gives me a visual and verbal outline of what my “armor” and “weapons” are. It grounds me in God’s Word.

4. Fight with Praise.

Psalms is a book filled with praise. Again and again, it proclaims the power, beauty, and goodness of praising God. Even when the Psalmist was overwhelmed and anguished, he nearly always ended each Psalm with a call to praise.

Satan can’t withstand the pure praises of God’s people. Praise is one of the strongest levels of spiritual warfare. When we praise God despite our circumstances, chains are broken, strongholds crushed, walls destroyed, and armies defeated. Think of Paul and Silas, praising in prison. (Acts 16:25, 26) Jehoshaphat, leading his army praising into battle. (2 Chron. 20:15-24) The Israelites, praising the walls of Jericho down. (Joshua 6)

God responds to our praises. So does Satan. God is glorified. Satan is thwarted.

5. Fight in Community.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. Too stubborn to admit I needed prayer, I suffered alone, until I reached the breaking point. But when I surrendered my pride, I learned a beautiful truth.

There are few things more powerful and moving than praying for another, and being prayed for. Joining hands and hearts with each other, and passionately interceding together is impactful, and always brings me to tears. Scripture, once again, first teaches us this truth.

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells us, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Deuteronomy gets more dramatic and says, “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand.”(32:30) And Ecclesiastes famously declares, “And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”(4:12)

There’s strength in community. Our impact is multiplied as we reach out to those around us and fight this battle together.

6. Fight as a Victor.

I recently shared how I was struggling with a friend. Her response encouraged and strengthened me: “The enemy hates what you’re doing…so keep going! A pastor at my church recently said, ‘May the opposition of hell be the affirmation you need to keep going and obeying God.’”

You’re guaranteed victory if you’re submitted to God. God already won the war—we can have victory in the battle. James 4:7 tells us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

He. Will. Flee.

There’s no caveats, no if’s, and’s, or but’s, no fine print—just the command to submit and resist.

If we’re doing hard things for God, we’re automatically a target for attack, and we will receive opposition from the enemy. But this doesn’t have to be something that scares us. We don’t have to cower or live in fear. That’s what Satan would want us to do, but not what God calls us to do. We’re victorious. We’re equipped. We’re filled with God’s Holy Spirit and covered with the armor we need. God’s Words are a force to be reckoned with. With them in our hearts and on our lips, so are we.

We’re not powerful in our own right or strength. On our own, we can’t fight at all—but because Jesus has already fought for us on the cross, we’re able to stand strong and live freely.

Keep Going.

So, rebelutionary, when—not if—Satan opposes your hard, God-glorifying things, keep going. Don’t give up.

Remember, we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of evil. (Ephesians 6:12)

Pray. Praise. Put on your armor. Pick up your sword. Have comrades in battle.

And fight, knowing that victory is yours by the blood of your King.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” (Ephesians 6:10)

The Kind of Love that Marks a Christian

Reposted From Crosswalk.com

Who God Loves above All Others

Why does the Great Commandment instruct us to love God first, others second? Because this is the order in which God himself loves. God’s love did not begin in Genesis 1:1. It is eternal, existing before creation, having found eternal expression within the Trinity. It required no object outside the Godhead. We love because he first loved us. He loves us, having first and eternally loved himself.

Self-love is not always commendable in humans. While loving ourselves accurately is good, and even necessary for loving our neighbor, the Bible also speaks to the negative category of those who are “lovers of self” (2 Tim. 3:2). We have all known people whom we would label as an egotists, those who think of themselves more highly than they should. Egotism is an impossibility for God. He is irreproachably a lover of self, being the only one worthy of total love. For God not to love himself would be irrational. God’s worth is infinite, making him alone worthy to receive infinite self-love, as well as the unqualified adoration and veneration of everything in creation. It is impossible for anyone, including God, to love God too much.

We Can Love the Love of God Too Much

But it is possible for us to love the love of God too much. We do this when we emphasize the love of God at the expense of his other attributes. Sin can cause us to love a version of God that is not accurate. This is the basic definition of idolatry, a disordered love. Ironically, one of the most common forms our idolatry takes is the disordered love of the love of God. The overemphasis of God’s love is even evident in non-Christians. They may know very little of the Bible, yet many know and are quick to quote the truism that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The statement “My God is a God of love” often has as its subtext the idea that his love precludes him ever acting in wrath or justice, or in any way that does not fit our human conceptions of love.

All of God’s Actions Are Loving

But God’s love is both holy and infinite, which means that all his actions are loving, even when we cannot perceive them to be so. Not only are all his actions loving, but all he withholds or refrains from doing is also loving. When God acts in Scripture in ways we perceive to be unloving, the problem is not with his actions but with our limited perspective. When we endure hardship or loss, we may be tempted to question whether God loves us. This is why the Bible takes such care to remind us that hardship and loss are to be expected in this life. Hardship and loss are agents of separation, but nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. It is high and long, wide and deep, and if we fix our eyes on it, perhaps we may be able to begin to grasp some of that even in this lifetime.

And as we grasp it, we can then press it upon our neighbor.

Love without Bounds

Once we recognize that the love God has bestowed upon us is not merely an emotion but an act of the will, we are forced to reevaluate how we love others. Specifically, we must reevaluate our categories. No longer can we parse our fellow humans into the categories of “lovable” and “unlovable.”

If love is an act of the will—not motivated by need, not measuring worth, not requiring reciprocity—then there is no such category as “unlovable.” This is what Jesus teaches in the parable of the good Samaritan. When the lawyer seeks to qualify the meaning of the Great Commandment by asking, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29), Jesus responds with a story about a man who shows love to the “unlovable.” It is, of course, a story about himself—and a story about everyone of us who has received rescue at his hands. As the parable is careful to illustrate, it is a costly and unsought rescue, an unsought rescue, bestowed upon an undeserving recipient

Love, No Matter the Cost

The costliness of agape is evident in the cross. Thus, those who resolve to take up their cross resolve to love as Christ loved, in a costly manner.

When we begin to follow Christ, we resolve to love God even if it costs us. And it does cost us—it costs us our pride, our comfort, our self-will, our self-sufficiency. At times, it costs us amicable relationships with family, our expectation of safety, and more. But in laying these aside, we learn the worthiness of the object of our love in a deeper way. We find increasing freedom, and as we mature, we resolve to love God no matter what it costs us.

Loving Our Neighbor Costs

When we begin to follow Christ, we resolve to love our neighbor even if it costs us. And it does cost us—it costs us our preferences, our time, our financial resources, our entitlement, our stereotypes. At times, it costs us our popularity, respect, and more. But in laying these aside, we learn the brokenness of the object of our love in a deeper way. We find increasing empathy, and as we mature, we resolve to love our neighbor no matter what it costs us.

This is the kind of love that marks believers as distinct from the world. What is the will of God for your life? That you love as you have been loved. When faced with a decision, ask yourself: Which choice enables me to grow in agape for God and others? And then choose according to his will.

When You Lose Your Belief

Reposted from Radical Mentoring

There’s a finite amount of belief in a person. You can’t create more belief. You can move your belief around, believe more of one thing and less of another, but each human has a unique capacity for belief.

Here are a couple of controversial examples. Colin Kaepernick lost his belief in standing for the national anthem. It was overtaken by his belief that our country “oppresses black people and people of color.” No matter where you come out on his protest, it has clearly cost him. Right or wrong, he’s suffered for his beliefs, becoming a divisive and unemployed quarterback.

Edward Snowden lost his belief in obeying the law and leaked classified information. His stated reason for those actions was his belief that our right to privacy was so strong, it outweighed his belief in the government. I don’t know how much he’s suffered. I know he can’t come home and is living in exile as far away from law enforcement as possible.

A lot of folks who call themselves Christians seem to have lost their belief. Their desire not to be known as ‘overly religious’ has overtaken their desire to be active, engaged, and public about their faith. Rather than suffer embarrassment or rejection or conflict, they’ve chosen to blend in rather than stand out. They’ve drifted from Christian values to become like everyone else.

Have you lost your belief? Has fear of rejection driven you into a spiritual ‘shell’ like a turtle’s? Has your need for approval overtaken your calling to be faithful and true to your Heavenly Father? He’s ready and willing to give you the courage to come back. All you have to do is ask.

Moving Forward in Christ

Reposted from The Rugged Historian

Too many times we look back at our past mistakes, failures, and sins, which, in turn, causes us to be held captive by our past.  We must focus on who we are in Christ and the journey that He has put on while working to become who we know that we need to be.  Self improvement is viewed as a bad thing in some Christian circles, but there is nothing wrong with casting off our yesterday and desiring to be more Christ like while fighting to walk the narrow road.  Don’t let others who don’t have the strength or faith in the life changing power of the Lord Jesus Christ hold you back.  They want to do so because it is true, misery does love company.  Look to Christ continually because in Him you will find the strength to not only walk the narrow road, but to run it with purpose and courage while being everyday rugged.

Why The Bible Matters

Reposted from Radical Mentoring

Why do so few people read the Bible?

I’m not talking about a random verse pulled out to make a point, I’m talking about the book itself . . . the entity . . . this thing that’s integral to our faith. It’s one of the most important topics!

God’s Word is eternal . . . it’ll last beyond the internet, the Super Bowl, the iPhone, the Final Four . . . everything. In heaven, we’ll recognize the words, the wisdom, and the authors, and we’ll never tire of learning what it all means.

So why bother now? Why not wait until heaven when we’ll have all the time in the world? (. . . or out of the world?) Besides, is this stuff really important? Is it really true? Why do we struggle to ‘get into it’?

There’s the fact that God’s Word has been around . . . unchanged for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and almost half the world’s population believe its essence. A friend of mine was ready to commit his life to the nine ‘insights’ spelled out in The Celestine Prophecy. I asked, “Wow, what if the author changes his mind, or discovers some new truth?” Shortly after, he published The Tenth Insight. My friend later became a Jesus-follower.

Isn’t it smarter to build your life on a time-tested plan?  The New Testament approach to life is wise, effective, stable, practical, and true.

“But isn’t the Bible just a compendium of stories and folklore, pieced together by church people with a motive?”

Sounds convincing, until you try to explain how the Dead Sea Scrolls perfectly matched earlier manuscripts and were untouched by church people from their recording until their discovery in the 1950’s. The Bible is true. You can depend on it.

“But is it relevant?” You bet it is! Here’s just one example . . .

You get a new job or have your first child or move to a new church. You’re scared out of your skin! But when you read 2 Timothy 1:7, God reminds you “the spirit of fear is not of God, but God is love, power and a sound mind.” Suddenly, you realize “Hey, I can do this! God loves me! This fear I’m feeling isn’t coming from Him . . . I have His power within me . . . I can discipline myself . . . I have a sound mind . . . let’s get on with it!” You’re no longer afraid.

And one more point . . . the Bible is supernatural! I’m not kidding.

Remember Hebrews 4:12? “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Paraphrase: God will use His Word to help you sort out your thoughts and attitudes regarding what you want (i.e., your “heart”).

I take that to mean when I read the Bible and ask, “God, what are you teaching me here?” or “Lord, what would you have me do?” He’ll often give me wisdom I’m not smart enough to discover on my own.

And then I try to obey. I also write it down in my journal, because I don’t want to forget. I’ve unearthed much of what’s written in my blog posts this way.

So . . . read your Bible. And chat with the Author as you read. Pray. Ask questions. Listen to His answers and instructions.

How to Pray for Physical Healing

Reposted from The Word Among Us

Of all the kinds of healing, physical healing is perhaps the hardest for us to really believe in; it is far easier to believe that prayer can lead to repentance or can change a person psychologically.

Yet real physical healings take place regularly in the prayer groups I know. Often, a dozen or more occur at conferences when we take the time to pray for the sick.

So if you have the faith that the Lord still heals people as he did two thousand years ago, launch out and learn to pray for the sick. For, although physical healing may stretch your faith (have you ever prayed for a blind person?), it is also the simplest kind of prayer.

The Confidence to Launch Out. To pray for the first time requires courage. I used to feel very foolish, as if I were pretending to be someone special when I knew I was just an ordinary person. Who was I to pretend to be a great healer, to act like Christ? All this was, of course, merely false humility since, as we know, Christ himself instructed his followers to pray for the sick. Sometimes healing requires more courage than faith.

What a joy when we find that God really answers our prayers and heals the people we love! The praise of God spontaneously rises from our hearts. If you have confidence that Jesus might use your prayers to heal the sick, then there are just a few simple steps to learn. They are easy enough to remember; we do not need a graduate degree to learn to pray for physical healing.

I have missionary friends who are teaching the poor people of the barrios of Latin America to pray for the sick, and they report that about eighty percent of these unlettered people are healed or notably improved. There is no one method or technique that always produces results; God wants us to depend on him—not upon a technique. But there are some simple steps that flow out of the very nature of prayer for healing, and these I want to share with you.

Listening. The first step is always to listen in order to find out what to pray for. Just as the first step for a doctor when he meets a patient is to find out what to treat, so we need to find out what we are meant to pray for. A doctor is looking for a right diagnosis. In prayer for healing, we are looking for the right discernment.

We are really listening to two things: to the person who asks for prayer and tells us what seems to be wrong; and to God, who from time to time shares with us the true diagnosis whenever the person isn’t sure what is wrong.

When we listen in this way, the Spirit comes to enlighten us when we are in the dark about what to pray for. To some people this special knowledge seems to come in a very special way in the form of definite mental images or verbal impressions. To many of us, however, the knowledge of what to pray for comes in a very natural way, more like a simple intuition.

We may not be sure whether we are inspired by God or not; we learn by experience to sift out our intuitions and to find what works out in practice. Often, after I have followed what seemed to me a simple intuition about what to pray for, the person I was praying for has told me that I touched on those very things he had not directly mentioned but had hoped that I would pray for. When these intuitions work out time after time, you learn to trust that God is working through them.

In addition to listening to the person, we should also be alert to the promptings of the Spirit who may enlighten us, especially when we don’t know what to pray for. It is not healthy for us to be unduly problem-oriented and symptom-centered. In the abundance of Christ’s health and life, sickness will be overcome, in the brilliance of that light, darkness and ignorance will be dispersed.

Laying on of Hands. In actual praying for the sick, the laying on of hands is a traditional Christian practice: “They will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover” (Mark 16:18). Certainly it is not essential; if you feel that the person you are praying for would be embarrassed or would feel more comfortable if you stay at a distance, then by all means be sensitive to his feelings. But if it does seem right, there are several advantages that explain the New Testament practice of the laying on of hands.

In the first place, there does seem to be a warm current of healing power that often flows from the minister of healing to the sick person. Precisely what happens when we feel this current we are not sure, but it seems like a transfer of life-giving power. Jesus himself experienced this flow of power in such a way that he could sense it:

Now there was a woman suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, whom no one had been able to cure. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak; and the hemorrhage stopped at that instant. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” when they all denied that they had, Peter and his companions said, “Master, it is the crowds round you, pushing.” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched me. I felt that power had gone out from me.” (Luke 8:43-46)

Often we experience this same transfer of power, occasionally like a gentle electric current, but more often like a flow of warmth. Whatever it is, it is often connected with healing. It almost seems like a transfer of life.

Some with the gift of healing talk about “soaking prayer” in which you just soak the person in a prayer of God’s love. In thirty years of praying for the sick, we have discovered that this soaking prayer where we spend time with a person and pray with the laying on of hands helps immeasurably. It’s like God’s radiation treatment: The longer the sickness is held in the force-field of God’s love, the more it shrinks, until it finally disappears.

The Actual Prayer. In praying for the sick person, we can be spontaneous and improvise prayer for healing. We can assume any posture that is most comfortable for us—sitting, kneeling, or standing—where we can best forget ourselves and relax and concentrate on the presence of God. We turn our hearts and minds to the Father, or to Jesus; we know that it is only through their love that anything will happen. After welcoming their presence and praising God, we then turn to the petition itself.

Most ministers of healing suggest that we be specific in our prayer, that we visualize as clearly as possible what we are asking God to heal. For instance, if we are praying for the healing of a broken bone we can ask the Father (or Jesus) to take away every infection, to stimulate the growth of the cells needed to restore the bone, and to fill in any breaks. Such a specific request seems to enliven our own faith, as we see in our imagination what we are praying for. It also stimulates the faith of the sick person as he listens and pictures in his own mind what we are asking God to accomplish in reality. This helps him become more actively involved in the prayer, even if he says nothing.

On the other hand, some of us—that includes me—are by temperament not very good at imagining things; it is much easier to leave the imagination out and just ask God—but in a very specific way—to heal the person.

With Confidence and Thanksgiving. For a long time, there has been a kind of tradition which led most of us to end all our prayers with the phrase, “if it be your will.” The idea behind it, of course, is that we don’t know God’s will, so we don’t have the confidence that everything we ask for will be given us. This is true. Yet, this addition—”if it be your will”—can weaken our prayer if it really means “I don’t believe anything is going to happen.” This is a far cry from the words of Jesus, “Everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

If we believe that God answers our prayers always (not always as we think he will, but nevertheless always), we naturally will have a heartfelt desire to thank him. We can thank him even during the prayer: “I thank you, Lord, that even now you are sending you healing love and power into Bill and are answering our prayer.” Our attitude should be that of St. Paul: “There is no need to worry but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6).