Experiential Truths of Spiritual Warfare

Jesus came to help those who could admit that sins might be the cause of their unsolvable probems

Posted: 22 Mar 2011 04:56 AM PDT

Jesus did not come to save the world, but to save sinners (out of the world). What are the implications of that for us today? Firstly, only those who are in the world and are aware that sins are the reason for their suffering can be saved. We are all in the world, and we are not born into a heavenly system, but a world system. Our souls assume the fallen nature when the first sin is committed.

Souls cannot be saved who are not able to ascribe their mental and emotional suffering to the likelihood of sins. Sin hardening causes the soul to stop feeling and this usually precipitates the onset of an emotional breakdown. No matter how much we try and convince a person that they need Jesus in their lives, they can only come to know the goodness and good things of Jesus when they are willing to accept that sin in their lives has resulted in their failures or a lack of blessing.

If a person has a health condition that does not improve with treatment, a marriage which has failed, or a career or business which is in a downward spiral, it may be sins which have built up in that person's soul and also may be to do with sinful living. The word of God is the instrument by which men can be convicted that sins are at the heart of their life's problems. A long time ago I mentioned that one of the reasons for broken lives and failure, is because sins stacked up in the soul, curse the person's life. My life was a classic example of this.

If a person is stuck in quicksand and they are sinking, they cannot be hauled out unless they are aware of their predicament and are willing to assist the person who is trying to help them. If you are in the mire and eventually come to realize and admit your situation, you can receive help. If you are only ankle-deep, you might be in denial and that will prevent you from receiving help when someone throws you a lifeline. The sinking person will struggle against help and is not ready for help unless they can admit they are in grave danger. The rescuer is likely to become worn out and walk away. Luckily the holy spirit promises us in Heb 13:5, "...never will I leave you or forsake you". We might frustrate the work of the holy spirit at times but when we are committed to our faith, we enable grace to rescue us from pitfalls which others without faith would be trapped in.

Jesus came to earth to convict the world of sin. He came to convict us, precisely because the world is not aware of its own sins without the light shining on it. If you stay in a room with the lights switched off, you may never discover that you are ugly, unkempt and what poor shape your body is in. When the lights are turned on, you able to see yourself as you really are. The bible says that the heart is deceitful above all else. The dark heart does not understand itself without the company of light. This could be why unbelievers have such extreme reactions and aversions to the Lord. Jesus magnifies our errors and faults and which person can say they enjoy such scrutiny? Jesus was not loved by all people. He was hated by many and that is because those people had their thoughts and motives exposed by Jesus when they were in his presence. Those who followed Jesus and listened to his teaching, were in fact listening to the Word of God in human form. They became better people by putting his truths into practice. Each time Jesus spoke from God, he enabled a seed to be planted in those who listened to him.

Those who had the seed of the word planted in them began to grow and flourish in faith and they began to understand the good things held out by the father and the nature of righteousness as a standard expected by the father. By becoming disciples of Jesus, they were able to fully grasp the corrupted state of their souls and grow in conviction that they needed what Jesus had to offer. They become gradually obedient to his teachings. He also revealed to them that the devil would hinder them in receiving what God had to offer.

He made them aware that they were sinners because they had made repetitive errors in their lives. He made them aware that their wrongdoings had led them to becoming imprisoned within themselves. He made them aware that their lifestyles had actually been deathstyles. He also made them aware that his spiritual nature was very different to theirs. His lack of spiritual defilement made the spiritual corruption of his naysayers and antagonists more apparent. His perfection made their imperfections stand out more. By revealing truth which people least wanted to hear and by telling them things which reaffirmed the fathers love for them, they were reminded of their deficiencies. They either moved away from him or by their humility grew more attentive to what he was teaching.

Eventually they learned that their souls were in Satan's kingdom and not with his God as they thought they were. Jesus told them that they honoured the father with their lips, but at heart or in spirit, they were far from him (in fact with the devil). Jesus provided them with a solution for their spiritual condition. He offered them a free gift of healing which was by the purification, salvation or redemption of thier souls. By offering the gifts of God freely, he was able to give them what he himself had received from the father - eternal life. Through the eternal life offered by God, the mortal soul is transformed into an immortal one. This enables the disciple of Jesus to attain to the expanded consciousness of Christ.

On this note, it is important to understand that the attainment of the holy priesthood as a vocation is potentially more important than any other wordly profession for a human soul, because of what it can potentially offer to man spiritually. The devil does not try and prevent the advance of science or technology nearly as much as he seeks to thwart the advance of spiritual knowledge which can lead to men receiving heavenly power. We know plenty about computers, space and medicine, yet we know precious little about the soul - our very selves. Satan does not want men to know because his kingdom has a vested interest in human ignorance and he allows technology to grow and become diversions for us who would otherwise have nothing to do except have more time on their hands to seek truth.

Especially, he is opposed to souls who resist or fight him so that they emerge into the heavenly realms and attain to the resurrection. The holy priesthood had the God given capacity to restore men to the image and nature of Jesus Christ, which is why it was snuffed out as a movement in Roman times. You and I are not in the image nor glory of Christ. We believe, we have faith, we read the bible, but we are not transformed into the image of Jesus. We are not glorified beings. Why do some of us claim that we are? If we are truly of Christ, where is the power and authority displayed by Jesus.

The kingdom of God is not of the kingdom of this world. The two are very different kingdoms. Jesus, by choosing to come into this world because of his love for fallen souls, reveals his abounding graciousness and humility. The future concern that we will be facing as fallen selves is this: When true humility is revealed to us, we will take it as self-righteousness and persecute it until we have eliminated it. When we feel condemned by someone, instead of taking their teaching seriously, we will discredit that person and try to get rid of them. The Word makes us feel condemned, not because we are condemned, but because sin living in us has already been condemned by the Word Jesus spoke.

Anyone speaking the word to us makes us feel like a sinner because the word is designed to convict sinners of their sins. The reason why we react this way to authoritative teaching, is because if the world is spoken powerfully, it is likely that people on the receiving end will feel condemned. They will say that you make them feel condemned, but it is in fact the Word of God that you are repeating to them which makes them feel that way. They take the feeling of condemnation to be from their own souls, but in truth it is coming from sins lodged inside their souls . The feeling of condemnation passes from evil spirits resident in the soul to the host soul itself, making the person FEEL BAD. Important to note that the feel bad feeling is not coming from you, but from sin living in you. Evil spirits living in you feel condemned because they have been condemned and they then pass their feelings into your soul making you feel condemned. When you feel condemned it is because the word is judging the sins in your soul and it allows you to know that you are a sinner, have sin living in your soul and are able to begin ridding your soul of unrighteousness and putting away sin in your life.

The devil who has established his kingdom inside the souls of men because of their sins, sees to it that any move made by that person to learn about what could set them free is counteracted or defended against by various methods, such an an inner voice saying, "who does he think he is" or "I am already saved" or "I have no sins", or "the devil is not the root cause of my problems." Now when a person is trying to teach that to others, sin in those others will also try to discredit that man by putting it into the minds of others that he is mad or insane. When Jesus told his tormentors that he was a king, he was mocked and they spat on him. This is why he said "father forgive them for they do not know what they do." Jesus knew that it was only because those men were darkened by sins that they crucified him. If they had been enlightened men they would have embraced Jesus as a brother and would have had no reason to harm him.

It is important for men to understand that Jesus was not trying to save the world. This would have been impossible because the world does not yet even acknowledge its sins. Only those who are poor in spirit and are humble enough to acknowledge their poverty are ready to seek the kingdom and the things which the father offers. Those who are in the world and are fully aware of their inner corruption are ready for what Jesus has to offer.

Satan does his best work in men's minds to convince them that the root cause of their sufferings is not sin and that the things which God offers are not what they need. The war against the souls of men begins with the mind which cannot fathom or accept the supernatural realm within. That is because darkness sits like a cap on the mind and the light of truth cannot penetrate. Men will either deny the truth, be unable to grasp the truth or will not make an effort to understand it. Fools of this world see God's wisdom as foolishness, but the wise will understand that what the masses deem to be foolishness is actually wisdom from God.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Experiential Truths of Spiritual Warfare

Experiential Truths of Spiritual Warfare

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