Little Lion Men

Okay, having finished on the subject of exposing lies (for now) I'd like to give a little consideration to one of our main weapons of spiritual warfare. The Lord Jesus has many titles that reflect his nature and one of my favourites is "The Lion of the tribe of Judah". Now the meaning of the name "Judah" is praise. Praise is one of our most awesome weapons.

Isaiah 61~ He has sent me...to bestow on them...a Garment of Praise instead of a spirit of despair


Seems to me that if I am in a place of despair the last thing I want to do is praise. The very notion of praising seems false, seems to lack integrity. And surely God wants me to be honest, and surely he sees how I feel and I can't pretend with him.

You see the trap we come into when we are in despair, we can descend into a tailspin of prayerlessness . Despair is a prison. The walls of the prison are built with bricks that are made of our belief that our feelings and circumstances are the true indicator of what is going on. But what has really changed? Is God no longer on the throne because one of our family has got sick? Have the laws of physics, held together and underpinned by his very word, ceased to operate because your partner has left you? Has the God who gives you every breath and marks the hairs on your head ceased to care for his children because you have been underpaid? The answer is a resounding NO!!

He is still on the throne, his purpose for you has not changed, his love for you has remained constant, his faithfulness to you has never wavered, not for one second. Did He bring us out here into the desert to die or is his intention that we get to the promised land?  Did he give his only son for you, only to turn his back on you? No, we of all people can be hopeful in the dark times. We have tasted and seen that God is good. Take heart, stir your hope and stretch out your hand.

Remember Paul and Silas in prison (in Acts 16). Now they would have had good reason to despair, in natural terms. One could say they could feel quite justified in having a bit of a sulk. "We're out in the world preaching your message God and where does that get us...we end up in prison...is that how much you care?" But what are they doing in the middle of the night? They are praying and singing hymns to God. They are not perturbed by their circumstances because they know who's really in control. Your body may be trapped but if you are free in your soul, free in your mind, you are never a prisoner!
This has two amazing effects. Firstly the other prisoners are listening to them. What a contrast between them! All in the same boat together but yet Paul and Silas are full of joy. What a testimony.
Secondly Their physical prison is reduced to rubble by an earthquake. What a fantastic story. What a metaphor.

The devil wants you to be bedazzled by what you see and cause you to give up, to not trouble him. This is why scripture, time and time again, says "what do you see?". I love the line the 24/7 prayer movement used when they first started, developed from Ezekiel "You see bones....I see an army!" When we praise, our despair lifts, we catch a greater vision and we receive hope.

That is why we are to be little lion men, little lions of Judah. To carry praise into every desert we enter and every oasis too. What are we looking at? We have to learn, like David, to take courage in the lord and give our souls a good talking to. When we praise we are doing what human beings were created to do. There is no greater purpose. We sing a song in my fellowship that never fails to remind me that I need never lose hope

We lift up our eyes, lift up our eyes You're the giver of life.~Matt Redman,You alone can rescue.

Lets lift up our eyes and give him praise whatever our circumstances, praise him for the good and praise him through the bad. Try it, you might just rekindle your hope and that'll really hack Satan off!

(Here's a link if you want to have a little listen) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONQ7W6Qpi8&feature=related

One hell of a lie

The next (and last for now) of these blogs on the lies that make us ineffective in our warfare addresses (quite possibly) the most damaging lie, the most insidious untruth, the most life sapping of fibs I can think of. It is also the most pervasive and one of the easiest to absorb, simply by being in the world.

3. My circumstances are the main indicator of Gods love for me


Much has been made on the issue of suffering, many better theologians and moralists have made far better expositions on this subject than I am ever likely to be able to do the slightest bit of justice to. If I'm honest, as soon as I think about this subject I think of all the cliches, I think of "footprints" and I think of the old metaphor of the tapestry. If you look at the side that's being worked on,  it's a mess of nonsensical tangles and threads but when you turn it over you see a beautiful picture.

I think of how you can look at some of these characters in the bible and, if we see just a snapshot,  we can easily see evidence of the abandonment of God. I think of Isaac on the altar, of Joseph down the well, of Job scraping his sores with broken pottery, of Peter in the courtyard and of Jesus on the cross. When I think of any of these situations I could not blame any of them for questioning Gods love for them in those exact moments. I wonder if anyone had approached Job with the tapestry metaphor, whether he wouldn't have finally lost it and given them a punch on the nose! Strangely it's the least comforting thing when you're going through it to be told "it's probably for a reason"...we see God as some kind of divine torturer or vivisectionist, hurting us for the greater good.

But the truth is that the tapestry metaphor holds true. God's love is complete. From everlasting to everlasting. He knows all that we cannot see. That is why we walk by faith and not by sight. This prayer is the first building block for the rest of my life, and I pray that God will give me the ability to pray it with integrity. It is this; "God help me to trust you in the darkness". He did not spare his only son in his great love for us...can we not trust him to freely give us all things, to work for our good in all things.

So let us flip the tapestry over for a second. Isaac was saved (as God provided the sacrifice himself) and God prospered him all his life. Joseph got out of the well but that was just the beginning of his trouble! However, God placed him there that he might prosper him and saved his own would-be murderers through him. Job was restored and vindicated. Peter was forgiven and restored and went on to lead the church.

You see Satan wants you to have the spirit of abandonment, for you to think of yourself as orphans rather than much loved children. Why? Because then you'll give up in despair, defeated before you start.

And of course what about Jesus, what happened to his tapestry picture. Did God abandon him? The answer is heartbreaking and heart warming. Yes he did. God abandoned Jesus so that you and I need never be abandoned. And yet Jesus tapestry is not finished there. God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name.

Seven years ago I had to come to terms with my own tapestry in a way I never wanted to. My mother, a believer in Jesus from the age of 12 , was diagnosed with cancer of the liver at the age of 56. She believed that she would be healed. She fervently believed this to the extent that she would not verbally acknowledge the possibility of death. I honestly didn't think to question Gods love at the time but I could have legitimately questioned his presence. Had he abandoned us? She died just 3 months after the diagnosis was given. My world was rocked to its foundation.

3 months after she died I decided I could face reading the bible again. I turned to the reading I would have read on the day after my mother went home. My jaw dropped when I read these words from Paul's 1st letter to the Thessalonians  "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." (4v14)This would have been one heck of a coincidence in any case but more than that.... it was the very text our pastor chose for his address at her funeral. 


At her funeral someone had said to me ""Well, she's healed now!". At that time I think I experienced something a little bit like Job may have done at my hypothetical suggestion that he was presented with the tapestry metaphor. No punch ensued. But do you know what? That very glibly given truth is the deepest, profoundest statement I can think of (and I am sure it was offered in that spirit). We don't all get happy endings in this world but flip the tapestry over and we are all healed and truly home. My Mum had just completed her last act on this earth of trusting him in the darkness.  Satan wants you to fear, fear for your abandonment but perfect love casts out fear and God is love. Never doubt it.


May I leave you with this thought from scripture, that fills me with hope.


Philippians 1:6 ~ He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Salt

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.~ Matthew 5:13

I think I've always struggled a little with this verse. Struggled to understand it. The temptation to want the metaphor to hold out as solid doctrine was always too great. I have even wandered if the last part of the verse wasn't some kind of way of saying that you can lose your salvation. I'd like to say that I don't think this is the case. And what is this "saltiness"...what exactly does that mean? 

This is only a short blog today and so I wont go into this element in any depth. I have heard people say that it is significant that it is salt rather than sugar. I like that. We are not here to sweeten the world, to give them a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Salt does 3 things (at least) that spring immediately to mind. 

First its about flavour. It stops, in part, the blandness of some foods and adds a little something. I think as Christians we ought not to be bland, unsure of what we are or what we think. We ought to be characterised as little Jesus's, making life something to savour. Salt also brings out other flavours, providing contrasts. We ought to be people who bring out the best and the natural goodness in others.

Secondly it is a vital nutrient. The world needs the church like a body needs salt. Too much is also a bad thing. We must know when to speak and when not to speak. When to act, and when not to act.

Thirdly it makes you thirsty. We must, by our lives, leave the world wanting more of him. If he is the living water then our job, rather than giving them sodium poisoning, is to leave them with a thirst for Jesus.

But what really impacted me about this verse is that it is not really about the salt. We can take the "saltiness" to really define a property that a substance possesses. This could be defined as the "parable of the salt" and a parable nearly always has one clear message. The message of this parable is "usefulness".

I heard a sermon recently on the early part of Acts, centring around the story of the healing of the lame man at the gate beautiful (Acts 3). Peters amazing Holy Spirit inspired one liner "Silver and gold have I none" comes from this story. In a nutshell (sorry Bernard) the message was saying that if they'd had silver and gold the temptation would have been to give out of that. If they had given him money, the preacher asked, would he still have been begging the next day? So Peter says "what I have I give you, in the name of Jesus..get up". Peter had to give out of what he had. If you haven't got it, you cant give it. The bit of the message that really impacted me was that the disciples ended up in court over this and after an inspiring impassioned speech, the accusers have nothing to say. We need to be acting in such a way that our actions leave the world with nothing to say because of the amazing things we are doing.

In the same thread in Acts (because of this amazing move of the spirit) people bring their possessions to be sold and the money is used to help the poor. I am always impressed by the bit in Acts 2:47 where it says they were "enjoying the favour of all the people". In other words they were loved as a result of all the good they did.

Back to the saltiness now. Its clear what has happened to the church in our nation. I read this verse as I opened a book by Les Isaac, the founder of the "Street Pastor" movement. And the latter part of that verse hit me again "It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled by men". Is that not what has happened to us. Is the church not thrown away by the world in general as irrelevant, are our beliefs not "trampled" intellectually and publicly?

What is it then that can take away their dismissal. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to understand, and live by, the power of the Holy Spirit, so we can take away all their arguments and leave them speechless like Peter and John did at the Sanhedrin. I would argue also that it is our resources, our "Silver and Gold", our time and money and the good we do with it that will restore the message of Gods love for all people expressed in Jesus Christ, restore our saltiness and give us savour.

The next big lie

Now I come to a subject for which I have every (and yet no) qualification. This subject is one of the most subtle lies to ever make it out of the mouth of Satan. Are you ready? Here we go then.

2. It doesn't really matter what I say.


Words are the most powerful weapons we own and in the wrong hands or used for the wrong motives they can be of devastating consequence. It is not of small importance that the first creative thing in history was a word. The word of God. The word of God is referred to as the sword of the spirit and Jesus himself is called The word of God. Words matter.

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken. ~Matthew 12:36


In the most excellent Message version Eugene Peterson puts it this way "There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation." 


Now this command could turn us all into gibbering wrecks without the Spirit of grace. In the same passage Jesus also talks about how the words flow out of our hearts. So it is our hearts that need the clean up rather than our words because out of a clean heart will come clean words.


 How many of us have slandered brothers and sisters in their absence in a way we would never dream of doing in their presence. Do we think its of no consequence just because they cant hear. I believe we should honour all people (especially our brothers and sisters) whether they can defend themselves or not. We should be jealous for each others reputation. And the words we speak against people do US no justice as children of God. As we speak them we are condemning ourselves, they have a power over us and they have a power over our hearer. Our hearer must then make a moral decision based on what they have heard. Do they go along with us (often just to keep us happy) and condemn themselves. Do they remain silent (and thus are complicit in our sin) or do they challenge us and risk damaging a friendship. And it is we who have put them in this position. As James says "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness".


Is there a place for talking about problems and frustrations and hurts we have with others? Of course there is. It is really our hearts that are key and thank God for that we have Jesus. Our hearts can be healed. In the same manner we are told "In your anger do not sin" be very careful not to speak out of your hurt, frustration etc. Acknowledge it, acknowledge it with friends but resist blaming language. And speak with trusted friends about these issues in the light of Gods forgiveness and never to gossip. Remember "what you bless on earth will be blessed in heaven".


It is also not always what we say but also how we say things. Through our words our attitudes are conveyed. Much damage can be done to others through tone alone. My recent prayer, one that I carry with me is this "God give me the patience that you have shown to me" I always find this throws my negative feelings back on me and I can remember how merciful God is to me..and I never want to be like that unforgiving servant.


Some good news


James, who writes about the taming of the tongue, and is the brother of Jesus (debatabley but that's my take) and has an incredibly effective moral compass admits himself, in one of the strongest diatribes on this subject,


All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind,  but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ~(James 3:7-8)


Now I know this doesn't sound like good news but let me assure you that if James is saying that no one can do it, we can at least relieve ourselves of unrealistic expectations. James is, however, saying that we can all have a go, that we have to. In doing so, much damage by the enemy will be averted.


And the flip side is that our words have life. Our words are eternal, angels recording every one, so we can (and no doubt do) do incredible good with our words. We can build up and affirm, correct and encourage, prophesy and bring into life, heal, forgive, bless, challenge. You are children of God, and if so then Princes and Princesses with all the weight of heaven behind your words. Lets use them wisely and turn them back on the enemy of our souls.

More lies

So, now we have established that we are not the all important conquering hero, cutting swathes through the demonic hordes and singlehandedly defeating the enemy, or a demon seeking christian version of the Terminator, we may settle into the idea that we are a band of brothers and sisters, following orders from our commander Jesus. We need to watch out for each other, to step in at times and cover each others vulnerable sides while they fight elsewhere. This is a team effort.

It is my intention  to dedicate a few episodes of this blog to the subject of exposing some general lies that Satan wants us caught up with.  Here I want to deal with one in particular. A Sister recently told me " that our mindsets are key to our understanding and participating in spiritual warfare. so what better place to begin than with the renewing of the mind." and I suppose this was the more general subtext of my first 2 blogs on this issue.

 Most lies that we embrace, intentionally or otherwise, come through human agents. These may well be demonically inspired (and demonically re enforced) but we are fed most of them through the words (spoken AND written) of other homosapiens. If I have a 15 minute conversation with you...and in the course of that conversation I reassure you, compliment you and affirm you say at least twice in every minute but at the end of that conversation say something derogatory like "Have you put on weight?"  or "I think what you said the other day was out of order!" I can almost guarantee you that the thing you will take away from that conversation, the thing you will remember (and hold onto) will be the negative thing that I said. That is just our hard wiring I'm afraid. So we must make an effort to renew our minds. To believe what God has said about us. Things that Parents have said, teachers, bullies at school, friends etc have shaped us over the years. Roles that have been assigned to us in our families (ie He's the naughty one) may have sometimes become self fulfilling prophecies. We need to reboot a little.

Okay, as Julie Andrews once said (or sang rather) Lets start at the very beginning: a very good place to start.

1. You are wanted.
  
Satan would love for you to believe that you had no place on earth. That your life here were no more than an insignificant unwanted interruption in time. This is a lie from the pit of hell. Send it back with a label on the envelope saying "not known at this address". We are all Gods children. There is no illegitimacy in the Kingdom of God. He is the beginning and the end and has known you throughout. What ever you're parents may have said or done, no matter what your siblings or others have told you. You are unique and your place in this world is to be you. God chose you to do the job no other could; to be you. Remember 1 Corinthians 12:21, that the eye may not say to the hand I do not need you.

Psalm 139 provides most of the basis for what I am saying. Look at these tit bits. If this resonates meditate on this and ask Father,  Jesus and The Spirit to give you his mind. Refuse the old lies that will no doubt rise up when you try to believe.

Verse 16 ~ Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. 

We see here that the Father had a plan that includes us from start to finish. As the hymn goes "from life's first cry to final breath".


Verse 13-14 ~ For you created my inmost being; knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,I know that full well.

Here we see that God not only wanted us to come into existence but that he was very specific about who we were/are to be. I find this very healing and hopeful.

John 1:12-13~ Yet to all who did receive him......he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision...but born of God.

So we see that no matter what we think about our origins or place in the world, no matter who we are, we are accepted wanted children, welcomed with open arms by our heavenly perfect Father. No matter what our start start in life, we can enter into the full acceptance of this loving relationship with God, through Jesus by the spirit.
And if we were in any doubt of his love towards (and desire for) us, look at this...

John 3:16~ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son

1 John 3:16~ This is how we know what love is; Jesus Christ laid down his life for us


Romans 5:5~ God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit


He couldn't treasure us more. We are the pearl he sold all for. I think for us to "get it" it has to be more than repeating these things until we believe them. We have to repent of believing the lies, of giving them power by our own thoughts and words and then, FAR more importantly we must enter a deal with God in prayer that we are, you are, I am going to receive that truth, to welcome it and to download Gods love for us, to not just read the verses but to "click on the link" and make it ours.

Lie Number One

My gosh this is a tough one and a strange place to start on a series of blogs on spiritual warfare but, as mentioned in my last, one of the key elements to our  warfare is being "not unaware" of the Devils schemes. So as a preparation for our warfare I think its important to expose a few lies so we can fight in the clear open air rather than in the fog of deceit.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others ~ Phil 2:4


You are not the most important person in this battle. The first poisonous lie Satan slipped into the well back in Eden was to elevate our own opinion of ourselves. Firstly he used his argument (by comparing us with God) to put us on an equal footing with God (and here the enmity was established) and then he made our interests separate from Gods. This was never the case, our best interests have always lain with Gods interests. Later in the passage I quoted from, we see that the first quality of Jesus, the defining characteristic that qualified him to be THE supreme champion in this holy war, was that although he was god he did not consider equality with God something to be be grasped. In essence; he was not thinking of himself.

The beauty of this lie is that it is so bold, so outrageous that we would all disqualify ourselves from having partaken of it. Who among us thinks we are equal with God? It would take a very courageous soul to declare that and mean it! And yet its the fact that we would disqualify ourselves from believing this lie that makes us less likely to be on our guard against its more subtle forms. How many Christians could truly say they live in a way that is exempt from promoting our own interests above those of God. A preoccupation with our own feelings and our own circumstances is often serving this lie and is a major strategy of the Devils to keep us from addressing the battle at hand.

I was bought up short on this earlier in the week when I was listening to a track by the Sudanese rapper and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal . I confess I know little of the back story of this man. I acquired his album through a friend and had only really half listened to it. The track is called Emma and starts with a dedication to a lady named Emma McCune. The Chorus goes "What would I be, if Emma never rescued me?". The song infers that he was not only rescued from his life as a child soldier but also from Starvation. I thought to myself what kind of person does that, dedicates themselves to rescuing people in dangerous situations and why do I spend 99% of my time worrying about, concentrating on my  own "problems" and feelings. I must admit it makes me feel slightly ashamed when I think how lucky I am, how grateful I should be and how little I do for others.

It strikes me that this overblown view of our own importance, no matter how subtle it is, is the first line of resistance from the enemy. I don't think spiritual warfare should take the form of a defensive mentality, seeing something going wrong with our car as a form of spiritual attack from Satan, but it should be taking the fight to him (at least at times it should) looking for injustices to fight and hopeless people to restore to Gods love.

The greatest commandment (Matt 22:37-40) was three fold. I view it as a triangle. Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul, mind and strength is at the top, loving your neighbour and yourself are both on the bottom at opposite corners, on the same level and linked by love. This is why the command to look to others needs as well as our own is SO important. It stops us navel gazing and paradoxically our own true needs are best served when we serve each other.

This means WAR

I'm back. Been a long break and I'd love to be able to say that I have been on some kind of Internet fast or pilgrimage so as to have more insights to share with you...but that would be a lie. I simply got out of the habit of blogging (if indeed it had ever become a habit).

My new thought is that I should do this more regularly as a discipline of writing and a way of, what is so commonly referred to in church circles these days as "journaling". That is to say record my experiences and thoughts on this life of Christ following.

I had a dawning thought today as I drove between stations that I had much neglected this idea of being in a battle or, to be more specific, that there is an enemy. I have come to view (or always have viewed) myself as the enemy. Those old cliches about being your own worst enemy have always held true for me over the years.

The thought that has occurred to me today is that this is a down right lie. I am not my own worst enemy. My enemy is Satan, his weapons are sin and deceit. I have never joined his army (though at times I confess I have done his work for him) but the times in my life of self-sabotage have always been based on believing lies and untruths about myself, about what is really going on when I enter into those things which grace permits but love forbids. In short I have been deceived or I have felt too weary to fight. The battle is both a metaphor and a reality. Whether I believe in a personalised devil or not (I think I do) the sin and evil that he represents is the "enemy of our souls". C, S. Lewis wrote about how the greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing people that he didn't exist. If there's no devil (whatever that means) we are not in a battle and docile unsuspecting Christians are easy targets as they continue in their life of grazing just enough to keep moving, navel gazing and questioning God when life does not deliver what they expect, or blaming him when it does deliver their negative expectations.
The battle is won in Jesus, the outcome is determined; Good wins, evil loses and death dies. But what we scrape from the ashes when the smoke clears is still being determined by how we live. Satan doesn't want to attack you, he doesn't want to alert you to his presence and (heaven forbid) have you fight back. He wants to erode your confidence in the Fathers love, he wants to undermine your faith, he wants to pollute your hope with despair.


Paul says in 2 Cor 2:11 that we are not "unaware of his schemes". Paul may not have been but I certainly am. We need to wake up and smell the spiritual coffee. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. He finds this so much easier when we are asleep to his activities. He has won so many battles by getting us to side with him in our naivety. I am saying to myself today to "wake up o sleeper, rise from the dead". I would urge you to do the same. In a war there are losses and victories but the fight must continue until the enemy is surrendered. We are fighting for our souls here and for the souls of our family. I'll be damned if I am going to stand aside and let his pillaging continue. I'm choosing sides today. You are a part of the solution or a part of the problem. I refuse to condemn myself any longer. I'll reserve the condemnation for the the one whose time is short. I am not my enemy. This fight is to the death.

I intend to commit a few more blogs to this subject over the coming weeks so stand by for a few more on spiritual warfare.

Love to you all