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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : Quenching the Missiles of Satan

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PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Quenching the Missiles of Satan

"Keep thy heart with all diligence.." (Proverbs 4:23)

The follower of Jesus Christ has been entrusted by God to diligently keep his or her heart safe in the midst of this evil world. The word “keep” denotes maintenance and a preservation. The blood-washed believer who is walking before the face of God with clean hands and a pure heart is exhorted by the Holy Spirit to continue as such, and to the believer who acquiesces, grace is given by God to overcome the whole world and rejoice daily in Christ.

It is a daily duty to keep the heart with all diligence. It is both an obligation for holiness and a necessity for spiritual health to keep careful watch over the breathings of the heart. This is because the new heart is susceptible to outside spiritual attacks and potential infestations if not kept and renewed in grace. A good illustration is a celestial body – a planet or a moon – suspended in space without an atmosphere. Trajectories are able to impact its surface and make craters. Craters are depressions. The heart unkept is like a planet without an atmosphere; it is prey to all the flying garbage of space. There is no buffer zone. Lustful temptations strike the surface and cause huge explosions leading to depression. The influences of the world speed toward it like fiery comets and make full impact, rocking it on its axis. There is no protection from extraneous contaminates.

On the contrary, the heart well-kept and guarded by grace is like a planet with an atmosphere. The atmosphere burns up cosmic garbage and thus prevents the damage and depression of craters. These are like the “flaming trials” which cause us to suffer in the flesh but prevent sin from bringing dejection and failure to the conscience. The atmospheric grace of God upon the heart and mind of the believer is like a fiery curtain hostile to outside contaminates.

Hostile thoughts and impulses target our minds and hearts daily. These spiritual trajectories seek to make impact and cause explosive depressions in our minds. They aim to wound our consciences with the remembrance of sin and create a frustration between us and God’s grace. God’s grace is given to “keep” the heart from being overpowered by these attacks and preserve the conscience from defilement.

Once, when we lived in the flesh to the fulfilling of the lusts of our minds and pride of life, we were like orphaned moons without an atmosphere, empty and without God in space. But Jesus rose from the dead and sent down the Holy Spirit to encompass our bodies with a protective atmosphere through grace. We are no longer orphans; we are now the sons and daughters of God and heirs to a Heavenly Kingdom whose majesty and glory no words can describe. As the earnest for this promise, God has given us a foretaste through the Holy Spirit. He abides in us now; He protects us from the trajectories of Satan: from the comets of lust, the meteors of pride, the asteroids of discouragement.

He sheds His love abroad in our hearts and provides a magnificent atmosphere and blanket of protection. And if we keep our hearts with all diligence, He will continue to do so, with ever-increasing glory and power and light. The next time a piece of space junk comes flying your way, remember that you have an atmosphere to burn it up. The next time you are tempted to get angry, remember to protect your heart from the invasion by activating God’s grace. The next time you find yourself on the verge of an impure thought, instantly quench the meteor’s impact through the blood of Christ and watch it burn up in the stratosphere of grace. In the moment of need, you will find God’s grace ever faithful to deliver and “keep” you from sin. The flesh will suffer temporarily as the alien force disintegrates above your head, but there will be no impact, no defilement, no crater of depression. You can win the battle through Christ!

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/10/7 15:27Profile
lindi1208
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Joined: 2011/3/8
Posts: 173


 Re: Quenching the Missles of Satan

Brother Paul!

Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful anointed teachings on guarding our hearts and minds. They have been truly a blessing to me and so timely as I am in a season of battling fiery darts from the enemy!

Not so long ago you offered to send me a copy of your book. I tried twice to email you but I got a mailer error message so couldn't forward my details. If it's not too much of an ask please could you email me instead and I will reply with my details.

Thank so much Bro Paul! Looking forward to the next posting!

Much love in Christ

Lindi


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Lindi

 2012/10/7 18:16Profile
DieingtoLive
Member



Joined: 2011/11/22
Posts: 66


 Re: Quenching the Missles of Satan

Always a blessing your analogies of the spiritual warfare we deal with. Thank you brother. Karen.

 2012/10/7 20:05Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

Quote:
Not so long ago you offered to send me a copy of your book. I tried twice to email you but I got a mailer error message so couldn't forward my details. If it's not too much of an ask please could you email me instead and I will reply with my details.


Sister I sent you an email. I will send anyone who requests a copy of the book "Understanding Mortification" free of charge if they are serious about discovering the way to victory in Christ Jesus.

P.S. These new devotions will be edited and compiled into a second book on spiritual warfare, Lord willing. I am very excited to be able to share these truths.

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/10/7 23:00Profile
Jeremy221
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Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re: Quenching the Missiles of Satan

How does this correspond to what is commanded in Ephesian 6:16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked?"

From the illustration from Ephesians, it looks like there are two layers of protection for the believer's heart, righteousness and faith. Can you flesh out your understanding of this in how it corresponds to the Proverbs 4:23. Thanks.

 2012/10/9 5:07Profile
RogerB
Member



Joined: 2007/4/5
Posts: 267
Bruceton TN

 Re: Quenching the Missiles of Satan

William Carroll at www.tscnyc.org (Times Square Church) had a very good lesson on the hedge God has placed around us. It's titled "America needs jobs". Of course that was a pun because he started with Job. William shows how God always has a hedge around us and shows how to draw strength from that hedge. I was glad I found this.

http://www.tscnyc.org/media_center.php?pg=sermons#top

Or go to the site www.tscnyc.org, choose "all sermons",
and it's near the top.


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James R Barnes

 2012/10/9 10:39Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

Quote:
From the illustration from Ephesians, it looks like there are two layers of protection for the believer's heart, righteousness and faith. Can you flesh out your understanding of this in how it corresponds to the Proverbs 4:23.


It is a collaborative effort. As with the blind men who received their sight from Jesus, we simply trust that God is able to do it and then it is done. The blind men knew they couldn't cause their sight to return by their own power. This is the sort of faith I am talking about. It is a bold faith predicated upon the knowledge of one's own utter weakness and inability. It is this which activates the power of God's grace. Peter says we are kept by God's grace through faith (I Peter 1:5), and Paul says our salvation comes by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). If you notice, faith is always the catalyst. The "shield of faith" as spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 6 is what happens when our faith in the sanctifying power of Christ's blood arises and protects our hearts and minds from the weapons of the enemy. When we walk in the Spirit by faith, our flesh is buffered and we delight to do the will of God. And when temptation arises we must at that moment in our weakness decide to deny self and take up the "shield of faith".

Something supernatural happens when a believer denies self and with humility places his or her faith in God for victory. God at once comes to their rescue and delivers them from anger, dirty thoughts, an unruly tongue, impatience, criticism, the love of the world, chasing after money, etc. As soon as you feel the temptation coming in one of these areas, you can humble yourself and confess your weaknesses to God in resisting it. The mistake is in trying to fight it. That's like saying you don't need an atmosphere after all; you can employ your own surface-to-air defense to shoot down Satan's rockets. But you've tried that a million times already! It doesn't work because you are not strong enough - and you will never be strong enough to defeat Satan.

Thank God that Christ has already defeated him and all his demons on Calvary! It is finished. You don't have to clench your teeth and grunt and sweat but simply take up the "shield of faith" in the moment of need and rest in His conquest. The way you marry Proverbs 4:23 with Ephesians 6:16 is that the former is a motion detector which triggers the latter. We must diligently keep watch over our hearts for the slightest signs of disruption and advancement of the enemy. We are expected to monitor every rogue thought and bring it down into captivity to Christ's obedience. Our spirits are like God's candles - His searchlights - which investigate all of our inner motives (Proverbs 20:27) so we can bring them into reckoning and then mortification.

Does this make sense to you?

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2012/10/9 22:57Profile
Jeremy221
Member



Joined: 2009/11/7
Posts: 1532


 Re:

Thank you.

 2012/10/10 11:34Profile





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