Battle of Spiritual Realm

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17) image When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4). When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9). When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you wi...

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:24) How far does the reign of Christ extend? The next verse, 1 Corinthians 15:25 says, “He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” The word all tells us the extent. So does the word every in verse 24: “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.” There is no disease, no addiction, no demon, no bad habit, no fault, no vice, no weakness, no temper, no moodiness, no pride, no self-pity, no strife, no jealousy, no perversion, no greed, no laziness that Christ will not overcome as the enemy of his honor. And the encouragement in that promise is that when you set yourself to do battle with the enemies of your faith and your holiness, you will not fight alone. Jesus Christ is now, in this age, putting all his enemies under his...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6) One of the things we are thankful for when we let our requests be known to God is his promises. These are the ammunition in the cannon that cuts down the unbelief that produces worry. So here’s how I fight. When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise of Isaiah 55:11. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and te...

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike. For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer. So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them? The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by f...

Larry Sparks, Dallas, Texas I don't have a prophetic word about the coronavirus...I do, however, have a very clear word from the Lord about a supernatural key that will help the Church silence the all-consuming roar of fear right now, starting with our own lives. When fear boasts loud, it should be a convicting call for the praises of God's people to become even louder. We don't praise God for a result; we praise Him because He is worthy – no matter what is going on around us. The Lord Is Restoring the ROAR of Praise! I prophesy that the Lord is restoring the ROAR of praise, for the ROAR of praise and the SHOUT of the King will empower the people of God to war victoriously against the prevailing spirit of fear that is contaminating the earth. Wash your hands, yes. Buy appropriate supplies and food (and toilet paper!), absolutely. Be prepared and operate in wisdom. But there must be a sound of praise roaring once again from the Church. For the last 1...

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few weeks you have probably seen, heard, and read about the coronavirus that is disrupting life all over the globe. And it is quite likely that it has had a direct impact on you, even if you have not yet gotten sick from it. Social distancing has become a new by-word in the past few days. The banning of large gatherings, including churches, and the closing of many establishments where people gather are common. Empty shelves at the grocery store are a normal sight. And there is the expectation that things will get worse before they begin to improve. Many people automatically look to connect any large-scale disaster to Revelation and see in it a sign of the end. But should we? This article will look at this virus and its relationship to Revelation. And then at how, as Christians, we should respond to it. What Is This Coronavirus? There seems to be a lot of confusion about this virus, starting with its name. Cor...

Prayer is a response to promises, that is, to the assurances of God’s future grace. Prayer is drawing on the account where God has deposited all his stores of future grace. Prayer is not hoping in the dark that there might be a God of good intentions out there. Prayer banks on the promise of God, and goes to the bank every day and draws on stores of future grace needed for that day. Don’t miss the connection between the two halves of this great verse. Notice the “that is why”: “All the promises of God are Yes in Christ.  That is why  (therefore) we pray Amen through him, to God’s glory.” To make sure we see it, let’s turn the two halves around: When we pray, we say Amen to God through Christ,  because  God has said a decisive Amen to all his promises in Christ. Prayer is the confident plea for God to make good on his promises of future grace — for Christ’s sake. Prayer links our faith in future grace with the foundation of it all, Jesus Chr...