Hello friends,
We had what we hope is the last frost last weekend. Maybe we can start to plan for flowers and other springtime blessings. I did have to mow the backyard last week. I’m not sure it didn’t grow all winter, as tall as it was.
In past articles I have mentioned the fact that Christians are in a spiritual battle as we live out the commands of the Savior. Pastor J.D. Greear in a recent article tells us that to fight spiritual warfare we need to be grounded in the gospel.
He writes, “Even Christians sometimes don’t want to acknowledge that Satan and demons are real, but Jesus most definitely believed in them. He (Jesus) gave his followers instructions on how to engage with them, though the instructions may not be quite what you would expect them to be.
“Jesus consistently directs people away from preoccupation with the demonic. He never tells us to go out demon hunting or approach the world like an exorcist.
There’s really only one passage in which the Bible outlines for us what spiritual warfare is like. In Ephesians 6, Paul lists out the weapons of our warfare. They include the helmet of salvation, which means let the gospel shield our thinking; the shield of faith, which is when you believe God’s promises; the belt of truth, or the good news; and feet covered with a readiness to preach the Word of God.
All of those things can be summarized by faith in the gospel. Cover yourself with the gospel. Saturate yourself in the gospel. When you are grounded in the gospel, Satan can’t touch you.
Paul gives three model prayers in Ephesians (1:15-23, 3:14-21, 6:18-19), and in none of them is he binding or casting out demons.
In 1 Corinthians 1, when Paul is addressing the division in the Corinthian church (which he said in Romans 16 could be demonic), he never tells them to rebuke the spirit of division. He tells them to be united in their minds and charitable to each other.
If you want to fight the demonic in your life, don’t focus on the demons at all—just let Jesus be large in your life.”
Pastor John reminded us Sunday morning that to stay strong in our faith, we need to spend time in God’s Word daily. This is how we defeat the devil.
Stay strong,
Pastor Jerry
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