Tag: Spiritual Warfare

Six Spiritual Choices that give the Devil a Foothold-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments


Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour– 1st Peter 5:8 NIV

For a good part of my Christian life I preferred to just sort of ignore the devil and demons.

It’s not like I didn’t believe in those things, but, like most post-enlightenment Christians I simply preferred to focus on the “less weird” aspects of the spiritual realm. Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit and angels were my jam and I would have been perfectly happy to keep it that way indefinitely.

But, then the world went to hell. 

Literally. 

Right before my very eyes.  People began believing the most crazy-town stuff imaginable. People everywhere, from every walk of life, began claiming there is no such thing as objective truth. People actually started to say out loud we all have our own unique little truth we are entitled to believe even without any evidence to back up the existence of our “truth”.

However.

If your “truth” includes saying or believing the “wrong thing” you would be “cancelled” and lose your reputation, livelihood and the right to live in “polite” society.  Full-grown adults bought into the notion that gender is “fluid” and therefore changeable. Universities began offering free tampons to “men” having their periods. Parents and teachers stopped telling kids that boys have penises and girls have vaginas. Instead, educated people began encouraging kindergarteners to discover their “true” gender.  People were willing to throw a perfectly good country out the window because the founders of that country were fallible human beings who behaved just like everyone else in their era.

Sigh.

Everything went to hell in a handcart and Ephesians 6:12 is only plausible explanation for the madness that has engulfed the world. 

It says: 

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

 The devil is real. 

He is a created being who turned against God (Luke 10:18). He hates those who love God and it’s absolutely critical we understand his tactics. Satan wants to steal our ministry opportunities, turn us against God and eradicate our influence in this world. He does this through attacks where he plants lies in our minds and tempts us to behave in ways that steal our effectiveness, kill our love for God and destroy any positive influence we have (John 10:10). Satan waits for just the right opportunity to attack us (1stPeter 5:8). We give him the opportunity to do so when we do the following:

We don’t pray, we suddenly stop praying or our prayers focus only on shallow things-

I do not understand everything there is to understand about prayer. However, one truth I do understand is that regular prayer provides a powerful form of spiritual protection (Matthew 26:41).  When we stop praying regularly or never really form a habit of prayer or we only pray perfunctory prayers we give the devil an opportunity to gain a foothold in our thinking (Ephesians 4:27). Once the enemy has traction in our minds he can plant all sorts of foul seeds that eventually grow into deception, dissatisfaction with God and curiosity about sin.   

We wander where we don’t belong-  

There are some places God’s people simply do not belong. Watching other people sin dulls our spiritual sensitivity and can awaken a desire within us to sin. Therefore, serious Christians ought to avoid any entertainment that presents sin as normal or healthy behavior. Being around Christians who are willfully and proudly sinning breaks down the natural desire all Christians have to remain holy and please God (1st Corinthians 5:11). It is spiritually strategic to avoid anyone or anything that makes sin appear attractive (Matthew 13:41, Matthew 18:6-7). 

When our primary sources of information come from the world-

In Colossians 2:8 Christians are warned they can be “taken captive” by “deceptive philosophies”. This is most likely to happen when we get most or all of our information on life, current events and how to do life from those who don’t know God or understand how Christians are to live in this world. There is nothing wrong with an occasional secular book, podcast or seminar. That said, getting all or most of our “how-to” information on living life from worldly sources (including secular counselors) gives Satan ample opportunity to take our thinking captive. Once our thinking is captive our behavior will always devolve (Colossians 4:5, Ephesians 5:15).

When we have the wrong kind of self-focus-

There are two types of self-focus. The first is when we think endlessly about making ourselves happy, being successful and getting our own needs met. The second is when we put our attention on where we need to grow and how we can become emotionally healthier, godlier, wiser versions of ourselves so we can glorify God and make the world a better place. The devil loves the first kind of self-focus but hates the second because the first inevitably leads to self-destruction and a life of sin. While the second always leads to a life of profound joy that inevitably points others to faith in Jesus (Matthew 5:19, Colossians 3).  

When we haven’t submitted our lives or some part of our lives to Jesus-

Seriously. Disobedience and rebellion and refusing to acknowledge or repent of sin are open doors the enemy will always walk through. Deal with those issues (Ephesians 4:27, James 4:7, 1st Peter 5:8). Pronto. 

We refuse to forgive- 

Refusing to forgive leads to bitterness and bitterness makes us more open to sin (Acts 8:23). Satan would be a fool not to take advantage of that kind of opportunity to plant bitterness, rage and every other kind of evil in our lives (Hebrews 12:15). Forgiveness is never easy but is is the most spiritually freeing thing we can do. It is more than worth the effort. It is essential to our spiritual survival (Matthew 6:14-15, Luke 11:4).

For too long most Christians have lived as if the devil is a joke, a fantasy or an exaggeration.

This has resulted in a feeble church, worldly Christians and a world in crisis. We must endeavor to live lives that thwart the enemies plan and take back ground for the Kingdom.  We do that through constant prayer, a commitment to forgive quickly, submission to God, becoming the best version of ourselves and looking to the Bible and other Christians, not the world for answers to life’s questions.  

The Steps to Breaking Free From Almost any Sin-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds- 2nd Corinthians 10:4 NIV

 Addiction, divorce, sexual sin, lying, rage, hate and offendedness have all become increasingly more common in our unhappy and unhealthy culture. Government leaders are failing to meet the needs of those they were elected to serve. Corporations are filling the leadership gap and are quickly becoming weirdly authoritarian taskmasters with zero checks on their worst impulses.   Social unrest is at an all-time high and no one really seems to know what to do about any of it. 

Why? 

Seriously.

Why does the world seem to be teetering on the edge of madness all the stinking time? Why has evil taken root in the hearts of so many? Why are so many leaders becoming despotic?  Why are people so easily offended?  Why are people so incredibly vindictive and cruel when they are offended?  

Well. 

The short answer to all those questions is of course sin. People are sinners (always have been) and fewer and fewer people care about putting any kind of restraints on their own corrupt inclinations these days. As a result, the world and the people in it are becoming more immoral and more sinful. Anytime humans embrace sin they become more wretchedly unhappy. 

Sigh. 

The longer answer is much more complicated, as longer answers always are. Due to a shocking proliferation of sin in the church Christianity has lost much of its moral authority and spiritual influence in the world. This has left people without a roadmap to figure out life.  People rarely make good choices on their own. Anytime people stop making good choices en masse a moral vacuum is created. Evil inevitably finds a way to a fill moral vacuum. 

The normalization of bad behavior has led to a proliferation of spiritual strongholds in the lives of people. A stronghold is a place where Satan has gained a foothold in the life of a person and sin has taken root. A stronghold is a place in a person’s life that has become a fortress for the enemy. When someone has a spiritual stronghold in their life they become controlled by sinful behavior or thoughts. 

The Church and the people in it cannot do anything about what the world chooses to do or not do. We cannot force non-Christian people to make healthy or wise choices about how they live life.  However, Christians can make healthy choices that empower them to get and stay free of addictions, life-controlling behaviors and thoughts. In the process, we can lead other people to a better place. But, first we have to be free of our own spiritual strongholds. The most common strongholds include unforgiveness, offendedness, shame, perfectionism, anxiety, rage, addiction, productivity, insecurity, unbelief, deception, critical spirit and control.

The only way anyone can be the influence God intended us to be in this world is to get free of the strongholds in our lives. We get free through the following four practices:  

Ruthless self-examination- 

No one can get free of anything they refuse to see or acknowledge. Because the human heart is both naturally wicked and self-deceptive it is sometimes difficult to see our own sin (Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 21:4). For that reason, is critical we examine our hearts and lives frequently for sinful behaviors and attitudes that have taken root (2nd Corinthians 13:5) or sin that we have never really dealt with (Acts 8:23). 

Once we become aware of a sin or sinful stronghold, we must:

Make prayer a priority-  

Sin that it is not confessed and prayed through can never completely be eliminated from our lives (Mark 9:29). The longer a behavior has been a part of our lives the more entrenched it will become and the longer it will take to effectively deal with it. There is a temptation for Christians to turn to worldly means to deal with spiritual issues. Christian counseling and coaching can be useful in helping us to understand why we do the sinful stuff we do and in keeping sinful habits broken. However, prayer must be our first line of defense when it comes to dealing with a sinful stronghold. 

Always choose obedience- 

In Luke 11:24-26 Jesus makes it clear that new habits and behaviors are the key to staying free of spiritual oppression and strongholds. Too often Christians who have been set free from life-controlling behaviors stupidly believe they can live any way they choose without spiritual consequences. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anytime we make the choice to willfully sin we invite demonic oppression into our lives (1st Peter 5:8, Ephesians 4:26-28). Making the choice to become increasingly more faithful and obedient to Jesus is absolutely necessary if we wish to stay free of demonic strongholds. Period

Immerse ourselves in a community of believers-

The Christian life is all about working out our brokenness after we receive salvation (Philippians 2:12). However, we were never meant to do that solo (Ecclesiastics 4:9-12). We all need a core group of people in our lives who will spur us on to better choices (Hebrews 10:23-25). 

Authentic Christians are blessed with a natural desire to make the world a better place.  However, for too long too many Christians have tried to skip over the necessary step of working through their own junk before they tried to assist the world with theirs.  This has been a miserable failure. Those of us who live and move in the Christian world must face the hard reality that we can only help others with their sin after we have broken the strongholds in our own life. 

The Four Biggest Threats to the Church-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Be sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame- 1st Corinthians 15:34 NASB

The biggest threats to the Church right now are not oppression and persecution.

Historically persecution and oppression has actually caused the church to grow and become more effective. No healthy, sane Christian wants to be persecuted. Persecution sucks. That said, it’s tough to argue that persecution can not have a positive impact Christians and the growth of the church (Acts 8:1).

Here’s the thing:

 Contrary to popular belief our biggest problems are not coming from a corrupt government, or ungodly influences or even the devil. Christianity’s biggest problems are all coming from within Christianity. Those are all real problems but they are not the biggest problems. The biggest problems are all coming from within Christianity. 

Following are four of the most damaging:

 Christians who refuse to acknowledge the danger of false teachers-

 There are a lot of Christians, including some leaders who blithely quote Matthew 16:18 anytime they are confronted with false teaching, sinful leaders or any other problem that is clearly creating moral and spiritual chaos in lives of Christians. It is true Jesus promised Peter Satan would never defeat the church. However, it is also true Jesus instructed Christians to be on guard against false prophets who would pass themselves off as Christians and lead many astray (Matthew 7:15). Paul warned elders in Ephesus that “ravenous wolves” (false teachers) would infiltrate the Church and destroy the faith of many (Acts 20:28-30).  Jesus prophesied false teachers will rise up and deceive many in the last days (Matthew 24). Jesus and Paul were not chronic worriers with a penchant for overthinking. Therefore, they would not have given those warnings if they did not feel there was a clear and present danger to the Church. The Church will never be defeated. However, that doesn’t mean the church cannot lose its ability to effectively deliver spiritual truth for a season. When this happens, churches stop reaching the lost and everyone loses (Matthew 5:13-16, Revelation 2:5, Hebrews 6:4-8)   

 Christians who refuse to submit to the word of God-

 There are some attitudes and behaviors that are so wrong if they become standard operating procedure in a person’s life they will keep that person out of heaven (Galatians 5:21). Seriously. It’s true. Those sins include, but are not limited to lying, adultery, covetousness, bitterness, all forms of sexual immorality, debauchery, witchcraft, fits of rage and selfish ambition (1st Corinthians 6:9-10, 1st Timothy 9-11, Revelation 21:8). There is a grassroots movement within churches that effectively seeks to minimize the importance of holiness and maximize the importance of “accepting people the way they are”. This has led many within the body of Christ to think they can be a Christian without actually submitting to God’s moral leadership in their lives. Christians who have not yielded every corner of their lives to God always end up fighting for the relaxation of biblical standards. These Christians are leading others astray with the false doctrines of easy believe-ism and cheap grace.  

 Christians who are quick to publicly judge other Christians for all the wrong things-

  The last couple of years has exposed some real ugliness that exists in Church world. Some Christians have a seriously rebellious spirit (1st Samuel 15:23). Other Christians are so gripped with a spirit of fear they have been rendered useless for Kingdom work (Isaiah 41:10). Many believers clearly put more faith in government orders than they do in God (Proverbs 29:25). But by far, the worst is the judgment Christians display towards one another (John 13:34-35). Take the public mask war we endured for two solid years. Half of Christians called the other half “compromisers” and “bootlickers” for wearing a mask.  The other half used some ugly and incredibly condemning words like “selfish”, “unloving” and “anti-science” to describe any Christian who did not cheerfully put on a mask or who dared to question the wisdom of wearing one. Furthermore, nearly every day I come across some stupid social media post where a Christian takes it upon themselves to apologize for all the unkindness of all the other Christians in the world. As if they somehow cornered the market on kindness and moral goodness. Strangely, enough, they never apologize for the prideful, self-aggrandizing tone of their post. Christians are called to love each other. It is biblical to confront a Christian on something that is clearly sinful. However, this should only be done after a time of intense prayer where you ask God to show you clearly if your perception of the situation is wrong in any way. If after you have humbly sought God’s correction and still feel the need to confront the issue it should be done privately and in accordance with Matthew 18:15-17.   

  Christians who foolishly kowtow to the culture–

Being a Christian and being liked by unsaved people can be mutually exclusive (Matthew 10:22, Matthew 24:9, Mark 13:13, John 15:18). Christians should never be needlessly unpleasant or mean. However, there are times when choosing to stick to biblical convictions causes non-Christians to become angry at us because biblical truth makes them feel uncomfortable. Many Christians are embracing organizations, ideas and moral standards that are antithetical to Christianity, because they are persuaded it will help them reach the lost. It won’t. It just muddies the message and leads people to believe they can become Christians without being transformed into the image of Christ. They can’t. Christians must stop fretting about being liked and instead focus on being like Jesus. Jesus loved people but He never compromised truth to reach them (Luke 3:6-8, Matthew 23, Mark 10:16-22, John 8:11)

 The world we live in has never needed Jesus more than it does right now. In order for the Church to be the church Christians have to live holy lives, recognize that spiritual truth matters and stand together in love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to turn the Spiritual Tide-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

 The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So, let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light- Romans 13:11-12 NIV

My week began on a spiritual high note.

  Sunday, I attended one of the most moving church services I have ever been a part of. It was a sweet reminder that God is and people are still being transformed by His presence in their lives.

 It was all kind of downhill from there.  

 The rest of the week was mostly just a series of weird and unpleasant reminders life is short, the world is still a dark place and there is no shortage of spiritual work to be done.

 One such reminder came via a long conversation with an individual who was, from a biblical perspective one of the most tragically ignorant people I have ever interacted with. The whole discussion was frustrating, mostly, because this obviously lost individual is fully convinced they already know everything they need to know about God and the Bible. In reality, all they really know is what other ignorant people have told them and precious little of it is accurate or nice.

 Sigh.  

 My heart is still broken for that person. Nothing is sadder than someone who thinks they know everything when they really know nothing.  I was reminded once again that there is a battle raging—not a physical battle— we are not literally at war with anyone. Christians are supposed to be fighting for the hearts, minds and souls of people who do not know Jesus (Philippians 2:25, 2nd Timothy 2:3-4, Ephesians 6:10-17). The shocking number of biblically ignorant individuals in the Western world indicates that we have lost more battles than we have won in recent years. 

 We are losing because EVERY professing Christian, regardless of age, gender or denominational preference is a soldier called to fight.  However, some of our soldiers appear to be woefully ignorant of their status and calling. Others understand there’s a battle but are too busy arguing about stupid, trivial stuff to be of any use to anyone. Still others are simply not in any kind of spiritual shape to fight. They are simply too spiritually weakened due to sin to be of any use whatsoever. Others are so busy chasing worldly squirrels they don’t have the focus needed to fight even the tiniest battles effectively (1st John 2:15). 

Sigh.

 A course correction is desperately needed in our ranks. If we all commit to making a few changes in what we do and how we view the world Christians would become far more effective very quickly. It all begins with:

 Understanding the times we live in- 1st Chronicles 12:32

 Americans live in a culture that is rapidly becoming post-Christian. This is a complex issue but basically it means Christianity is irrelevant at best and stupid at worst to the majority of people in our culture. Furthermore, most churches have done a sloppy job of teaching church-goers what the Bible teaches about most issues. The churches primary responsibility right now is to help both the saved and the unsaved to understand individuals CAN choose to live their lives anyway they wish. However, there is such a thing as “best practices” when it comes to relationships and life choices. Those “best practices” are found in the Bible.  It’s time for Christians to stop majoring on minors and start leading people to the knowledge and kind of living that leads to abundant life in Jesus.  

 Getting in fighting shape-

 This means dealing with the sin in our lives decisively and doing our best to live a holy life (Matthew 5:29 Colossians 3, 2nd Peter 1:3-11, 1st John 4:9).  Getting in shape spiritually means committing serious blocks of time to prayer and learning as much as possible about the Bible and what it says about life. It means knowing ourselves. Every Christian should have a complete understanding of their own strengths so they can be used effectively for the Kingdom. Believers must also have a clear understanding of their own weaknesses so that they are not destroyed by them.

 Aligning yourself with the right people-

 Christians should love everyone but only align themselves with those who believe in inerrancy of the Bible and are willing to live out its principles.

 Putting your armor on-

 Every believer should study Ephesians 6:10-18 in depth and have the entire passage committed to memory. It should be a prayer we pray daily.  For a sample of what I pray click here-

 Engaging the right way-

 It is imperative Christians make a regular practice of getting into the world and interacting with the people in it (Matthew 5:13-16, John 3:17. It is equally critical we do it the right way. Christians should never bully, intimidate or make people feel like anything less than a person made in God’s image.  That said Christians should never be afraid to speak the truth of the gospel with passion.

 We are where we are mostly because too many of us have been spiritually complacent for far too long. It is time for all of us to set ourselves aside and get into the game.

 

How do we tell the Difference Between Evil and Stupidity?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms- Ephesians 6:12 NIV

There are subjects associated with Christianity and the church bound to illicit some obvious discomfort and perhaps even a flight response from unbelievers. Expressing biblical views concerning the wrath of God or any topic pulled out of the book of Leviticus will for sure make most non-Christians visibly uncomfortable and perhaps even a bit sweaty. 

There are also biblical issues that make some Christians super squirmy and uncomfortable. Ask why a good God allows evil, or exactly how predestination works, or simply start a conversation about premarital sex, women in ministry, or demonic possession and most Christians will nervously check their watches and begin searching frantically for the nearest exit. 

But perhaps the most of uncomfortable topic of all the uncomfortable topics for both believers and unbelievers is, drumroll please:

Spiritual warfare.

There are good reasons for this. There is simply no other subject in the Bible that can get weirder faster than spiritual warfare. This is partly because the Bible is somewhat vague about the particulars of the subject. We know that there are angels and demons and that the angels are the good guys and the demons are the bad guys. We also know that Satan is constantly scheming to distract people from the truth of God (1st Peter 5:8). He also wants to discourage and demoralize Christians (Daniel 10:10-14, Zechariah 1:7-11 Ephesians 6:10-13).  But, the ins and outs of how all of that works is a bit hazy and we are left to fill in some of the blanks.

Some Christians fill in the blanks rather dramatically. 

Every Christian has an auntie, nana or cousin who sees a demon under every dumpster and the devil at the core of every problem or minor inconvenience. These folks sincerely believe EVERYTHING is a scheme of Satan. Flat tires, bad weather, tired children and head colds are never just the result of poor planning or living in a fallen world. They are always from the devil. This causes many Christians to simply dismiss the spirit world altogether or to accept the idea that the spirit world exists but avoid thinking about or discussing it. For the record, I do not judge Christians who choose to adopt those polices. The latter was mine for a very long time. 

However.

There are problems with that policy.  Christians are commanded to resist the devil and stand firmly against evil (James 4:7, Ephesians 6:13). It’s difficult to resist something or stand firmly against it when we are doing our level-best to ignore the thing exists. I have also observed that anytime we deny the reality of the spirit world we become less discerning about spiritual things in general. The good news is it IS possible to know for absolute certain if a movement, idea or undertaking is a scheme of the devil or just a stupid/bad idea.

Evil ideas and Satanic movements ALWAYS have three characteristics to them: 

Evil ideas look helpful but lead to despair-

Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2nd Corinthians 11:14). He also wraps his most destructive ideas in an altruistic façade. The modern-day environmental movement is one clear example of this. Environmentalism was (mostly) a good thing until it was hijacked by weirdos who want us to eat bugs and dead people (I am not making this up. Google it).  Past environmentalists sought to solve problems and create community around the task of caring for the planet. The early environmentalist movement brought us Arbor Day, recycling and environmental cleanup programs. However, around the time The Inconvenient Truth was released environmentalism became despair driven and began pushing an insane anti-human agenda. When humans live sensibly and in submission to God they really are the answer to problems that concern the earth (Genesis 1:28). However, the modern environmentalist movement continuously tells us that humanity is the problem and the only hope for the planet is for all of us to hurry up and die already. 

 Evil ideas destroy human life and rob people of their dignity-

Satan hates humans and his first ambition is to end human life if at all possible. Legal abortion is an example of one of his most successful schemes. At least fifty million fewer humans exist today thanks to that evil idea.  If he cannot influence people to take a life he does the next best thing. He influences them to surrender their God-given dignity by getting them addicted to drugs, alcohol or some weird form of sexual bondage. 

Evil ideas lead to hate, division and death- 

Satanic schemes lead to death, division and conflict. They never bring harmony, prosperity or respect for both sides of an issue.  Therefore, we should always look at the fruit of political movements, social crusades and ideas. For example, communism sounds fantastic, even kind of Christian, at least on its surface. In the communist ideal everyone contributes what they can and everyone has what they need to survive and thrive. HOWEVER, no communist regime has ever delivered on these promises because socialism ignore the reality of the fallenesss and evil of human nature. So, instead of solving our economic woes socialism/communism has instead killed at least a hundred-million people over the course of the last century, sown hate and divided millions. Socialism will never succeed anywhere because it ignores human nature and is built on a foundation of envy and envy always leads to hate and division. 

The times we live in are getting stranger and scarier by the day (2nd Timothy 3:1-3, 2nd Peter 3:3). It is imperative Christians be discerning about the political and social movements that are being presented to society as “good” and helpful”.

Most are just old schemes wrapped in shiny new packaging for a new generation.