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crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Satanic attack

Forgive my mischievousness, having noticed brother Paul up at the moment ... Guess I am wondering of your thoughts here to all this brother. Do wish to return back to the emphasis, though I think it is not far from it.

Chris, what fascinates me often in these things is the different aspects that will grab us. Yours completely enlightening as they are looking at a different faucet. I still am processing Sparks emphasis on that one solitary word;

"Now".

It is just amazing the things we can glide over even after having read a passage numerous times. "I had never thought of that!" The instant reaction ... it is those pleasant surprises that always keeps God's word so ... [i]living[/i], breathing ...

Of the out take just earlier that I had put up, to confine it even a bit more;

Quote:
Lord, in me Thou art other than I am; Thou art not what I am; Thou art other than this mood, than this feeling, than this absence of feeling; Thou art other than all these thoughts, other than I am! I am dead, so far as my feelings are concerned, but Thou art other than that, Thou art living! I am feeling dark, Thou art the light, and Thou art in me! This is me, this is not the Lord!



Already this is finding an etching into the soul and the mind. It has already been put to practice as the threats and suggestions have come. Have long ago forsaken the practice of having conversation with the enemy or his minions ... Ah, wish I could say that is always true, the things we can get drawn into before we are even aware. Better to state it as, [i]when[/i] I am aware of it and the Lord is before my attention predominantly ... My these things are difficult to express adequately. Sometimes the great lengths that can be applied to just not give way to temptation, to not sin against the Lord. Times when it is seemingly effortless, a certain mental practice is often a 'slamming the door' the instant the notion arises, a purposed turning away, a distraction, anything but to begin to allow the consideration to even form .... Thinking along the lines of;

[i]But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.[/i] Jam 1:14

To just block the entrance.

Other times it is far more subtle and sinister, a drift, a being caught up in particular circumstances, agitations, frustrations ... things creep in and before long the whole tone and movement of our being is being ... well, played with as Sparks put it.

This world has the uncanny ability to draw us off our spiritual moorings by presenting everything as 'reality'. What I mean is, that which is 'seen' is really all there is. It just dawned on me something I had written down next to a particular Psalm, went back to find it. It is marked 5/11/02 at the end of Psalm 27, verse 14 being underlined at;

Psa 27:14 [u]Wait on the LORD[/u]: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: [u]wait, I say, on the LORD.[/u]

Next to it had written;

"The real reality is in what we cannot see, the problems are not the issue, they are only distractions."

The funny thing is, every time I have come back across it, I would think, "Well, that's not very profound, what did I write that there for?"

But to try and draw back to what I am thinking here, it is amazing those times when the mind is clear and with a backward glance, these attacks and temptations, whatever they may be, anything from lust to unbelief ... just how much they actually backfire! Instead of dragging faith down they end up being the proving ground. That rush of revelation that, "I didn't cook this up!" I was being assaulted! This world has that strange ... 'comfortability mode' that tends to lull everything into a deep sleep by the way it is presented. For all that is obvious and sinister and outright evil, most days don't find a great upheaval. Arise and go to work. Eat. The sun is shining (generally here in California). Very nominal, common duties. Circumstances vary wildly (meant to say widely ...) and have given up the whole prediction business, that particular pet peeve of mine (presumption) by and large.

But the surprises come from all over the map. From the Lord in great wonder and amazement, appreciation and thankfulness. I have some nefarious worry wart like attributes that stay buried deep within still. My beloved cat. Everyday she shows back up is met with great praise and "Thank you Lord" for her protection. A multitude of seemingly minor matters ... maybe I am still just under this conviction and amazement that I ought to have been destroyed long ago and some days I just stagger after some failure at why He still withholds His hand. It's not paranoia, it's just ... Good grief, we are such fools! I am certain of my own ... Digressing here.

But these times when there is a laughter about it all, when it is recognized that the very thing set out to destroy faith comes redounding back to ... "This is the Lord!" or even paradoxically almost a thanks to the devil himself for ... showing me the [i]real reality[/i] of things. Isn't there a very subtle intimation that goes on in the mind sometimes that wants to make all our spiritual understanding crowded into an area labeled "abstract"? Almost to a perverted idea of "You know these things aren't real", that tendency and mingled mixture of the natural mind and who knows where to fix it particularly often times (the devil\the world - the devils world).

Maybe what I am trying to say is when it suddenly dawns on me that, "Hey, this isn't my thought!" "Where in the world did that come from?" Do I really need to be convinced otherwise when the whole great appearance of things already has this sheen on it? Besides, it often comes completely out of nowhere ...

We do indeed wrestle [i]not[/i] .. but [i]with[/i]

Not flesh and blood, the natural, all that Sparks describes or assimilates as "Judas"

[i]but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.[/i]

Think another unfortunate problem in our day is the preponderance of truly appreciating passages such as this from just sheer ... overuse, or perhaps it's abuse. The sheer reality of this is incredible.

As often is the case am a bit disjointed trying to distill all this. But rather like very much this "[i]Thou art other than[/i]" as a fixed understanding. Looking forward to more of this exchange brother, still pondering your thoughts on "[i]Living[/i]" and lastly;


Quote:
Indestructible life!



That passage I believe in Hebrews ... To apply this rightly to the Lord's death and resurrection, to all that the devil attempted, to everything ... to

Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Have often mused on those words ... staggering! Wonderful! Incredible!


(Edit* Too longwidned, notice Paul is gone, but Chris is up :-) )


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Mike Balog

 2007/1/1 12:28Profile
PaulWest
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Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
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 Re: mike's provocation

Brother Mike,

Forgive me for not reading all the comments on the post thus far. Been quite busy, head cluttered, and I want to do all of these gracious contributions justice with an intelligent commentary. Many times I'll come on here and just read - and this is done puposefully. I have in the past regretted many, many postings which were done in haste, without fully comprehending what I was objecting to or commenting on, but to merely get my [i]point across[/i] and say something of vague worth. Alas, pride lurks beneath the surface of such motives, as well as the folly of impetuousness in wanting to be heard for the sake of interjection. This is something the Lord has been impressing upon my spirit on a personal level; namely: read more Paul, meditate more, and pray more - but post less if you can afford to.

Brother, I'll tell you that I'm eagerly awaiting to read the entire Sparks article with diligent care and an intentive spirit. Sparks, to me, is one of those titans that I can not approach as an easy, quick-fill read. I pray give me time, and, Lord Willing, I will soon contribute to this powerful discussion!

In the meantime, I must commend you on your new Spurgeon signature. It's very, very powerful. Thank you!

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2007/1/1 12:59Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
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 Re:

Quote:
I have in the past regretted many, many postings which were done in haste, without fully comprehending what I was objecting to or commenting on, but to merely get my point across and say something of vague worth.


I resemble that remark ... think I coined it frankly ...

Dear Paul, understood brother, very much so.


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Mike Balog

 2007/1/1 13:40Profile
ChrisJD
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Posts: 2895
Philadelphia PA

 Re: and we know...

Hi again all and welcome into the boat, so to speak, brother Paul West. We're out into some pretty deep water here... :-)

I wonder if the image of little children gorging themselves on sweets that fell of the back of a pastry truck, right in front of them, does not seem appropriate, almost :-)

Brother Mike,


Quote:
But these times when there is a laughter about it all, when it is recognized that the very thing set out to destroy faith comes redounding back to ... "This is the Lord!" or even paradoxically almost a thanks to the devil himself for ... showing me the real reality of things.



As I was reading this I thought of something that I read in a Voice of the Martyrs newsletter of all places. It was a short word from Pastor Wurmbrand where he mentions this saying, which I think is Latin: felix cupla. It means something like 'blessed guilt'. I thought I'd see if I could find anything on Sermonindex related and came up with this...

Quote:
To an able woman building on such a weighty basis as that on which Lady Boyd had for long been building, Rutherford was quite safe to lay weighty and unusual comforts on her mind and on her heart. 'Christ has a use for all your corruptions,' he says to her, to her surprise and to her comfort. 'Beata culpa,' cried Augustine; and 'Felix culpa,' cried Gregory. 'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox. 'I find advantages of my sins,' said that most spiritually minded of men, James Fraser of Brea. Those who are willing and able to read a splendid passage for themselves on this paradoxical-sounding subject will find it on page xii. of the Address to the Godly and Judicious Reader in Samuel Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawingto Himself.




[b]'Christ has a use for all your corruptions,' he says to her[/b]

[b]'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox.[/b]

I think the full expression of that phrase [i]felix culpa[/i] is something like [i] O blessed guilt, which has given us a Savior[/i].

And now, to pull this up to the point here of the purposes of God in our being buffeted, as we said earlier, the place I found these qoutes goes on to say

Quote:
What Rutherford was bold to say to Lady Boyd about her corruptions she was able herself to say to Trochrig about her crosses. 'Right Honourable Sir, —It is common to God's children and to the wicked to be under crosses, but their crosses chase God's children to God. O that anything would chase me to my God!'




[b][color=000000]O that anything would chase me to my God![/color][/b]



[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=11960]Alexander Whyte: Lady Boyd[/url]



And we know, that [b]all[/b] things work toge.....


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Christopher Joel Dandrow

 2007/1/1 18:14Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Satanic attack

Quote:
In the meantime, I must commend you on your new Spurgeon signature. It's very, very powerful. Thank you!



Hi Paul, it was taken from,
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=10733&forum=34#107293]Pride and Humility[/url]

Towards the bottom of the thread,

[b]Pride the Destroyer[/b]
C.H. Spurgeon

... to give it some more context.

There is a bit of irony here ... :-)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris,

Had one of those senior moments apparently earlier, thought I had responded to something here and ... well it never showed up!

Quote:
...heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us.



[i]When, in New Testament language, we speak of heaven, do not let us think of that which is remote and far away, somewhere in or beyond the clouds. No, heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us. The Devil is called "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Now the air is not all above the clouds, but it is where we are as we breathe it now. The heavenlies are wrapping us round all the time and the spiritual conflict is in this very atmosphere. There is an illustration of this in the Old Testament story, when Elisha prayed: "Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see" (2 Kings 6:17), and the young man had his eyes opened to see how near as well as how real were the unseen armies of God. Because we have a spirit, which is the medium of connection with that which is spiritual, this evil atmosphere is not always outside of us but sometimes seems to make the conflict inward. In one way or another, the spiritual conflict is very real and for it we need the Spirit's sword.[/i]

This, taken from the other article ... Have been very much convinced of this reality and more and more everyday. That word, 'atmosphere'. Think I have mused on it here before in regards to revival, the Lord changing the atmosphere, even if this is something I would be supposing never having been in a true revival. But the oppressive atmosphere, the work atmosphere, home, the variance and changes, even our own response whether good or bad effecting ... I can't but help wonder how overtly 'spiritual' that might sound to some ears. I am not certainly thinking of this as in a measurable or a calculated looking into things but just an awareness or a intuition almost, taking notice of it ... ah, all these qualifiers, guess I am just concerned about others getting the wrong idea.

Just as well, different from moodiness or picking up things from those around you by their body language and such ... Indeed "in the air". It's quite noticable in our Lord in how He reacted or didn't react to situations ... "Get thee behind me, Satan" even in speaking to Peter. Could go on and on about this, it is quite incredible.

From there you had highlighted;

[b]Fellowship is not just something that happens. We must fight for it. It is a great factor in the spiritual battle.[/b]

Brother I do not know of anything that could better summarize the attempt here, in this forum. It is very much this.

[i]We meet spiritual antagonism in seeking to win souls for Christ, because it is only in this way that the Church is born. When, however, the full thought of God is brought into view, then the greatest challenge of the forces of evil is registered. This is because it is in the Church and in relation to the Church's destiny that the whole kingdom of Satan is to be met and overthrown. Hence, of course, the tremendous significance of corporate life. Even by small and seemingly insignificant means, moodiness or trifling disagreements, Satan breaks up the flow of fellowship among the saints. [u]It seems strange that the vital power of the Church should be weakened by the moods and temperaments of God's people but so it can be.[/u] If the Devil cannot succeed by such simple methods he has many other ploys and complex strategies, all aimed at the destruction of the relatedness of God's people. So spiritual fellowship becomes a real battleground.[/i]

The truth of this ... !

Quote:
I wonder if the image of little children gorging themselves on sweets that fell of the back of a pastry truck, right in front of them, does not seem appropriate, almost



:-) Funny, the earlier senior moment is what I had written along those same lines. But this is just too ... important? Helpful perhaps?

Quote:
'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox.



Oh, speaking of qualifiers!
Quote:
Those who are willing and able to read a splendid passage for themselves on this paradoxical-sounding subject...


That is very helpful, how this could all be completely misconstrued and completely open up a great can of worms. It is a difficult sounding statement and yet I fully agree. It has the essence of Paul's "Shall we sin that grace may abound?" God forbid!

Quote:
It is common to God's children and to the wicked to be under crosses, but their crosses chase God's children to God.



Brother, you are digging up some incredible gems here.


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Mike Balog

 2007/1/1 20:52Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Spiritual Warfare

[b]"He That is Spiritual"[/b]
[i]by T. Austin-Sparks[/i]

[b]Chapter 2 - Spiritual Warfare[/b]



[i]"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out"[/i] (John 12:31).

[i]"I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me"[/i] (John 14:30).

[i]"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might... For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"[/i] (Eph. 6:10,12).

[i]"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil, and Satan the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them"[/i] (Rev. 12:7-12).

Our occupation is with the content and outworking of a little fragment from 1 Cor. 2 - "He that is spiritual." We were occupied earlier with the centre of that so far as we individually are concerned, that is, the reconstituting of believers on a spiritual principle and basis. We were really turned in on ourselves - always a difficult and sometimes a dangerous thing. But we were seeing the nature of the new creation in Christ as being solely spiritual, and our great governing statement which covers all that we have to say was, and is, that spirituality is the key to everything that is of God; and that begins with a spiritual state or a new spiritual being, brought into life by new birth. We worked that out at considerable length. What follows now is an outcome of it. We are going to turn from the inward and individual, right out to the circumference of it.

[b]Two Creations under Rival Authorities[/b]

The Scriptures we have read touch the realm in which we are going to move. It is the circumference of spirituality. The great all-encompassing facts are these. Firstly, there are two creations active, an old and a new, which represent two kinds of man: what the New Testament calls the soul-man and the spirit-(or spiritual) man. "Now the soul-man" - that is the literal meaning of the phrase translated "natural man" in 1 Cor. 2:14 - "Now the soul-man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." "The soul-man"; compare this with "he that is spiritual" in verse 15. What is in view is a likeness after which the being is constituted. You know the meaning of "ikon" (Gr. [i]eikon[/i]). An ikon is an image, a likeness, a figure; and here in the New Testament we have three Greek words derived from [i]eikon[/i]. The word is changed to [i]ikos[/i], which implies "to take the likeness of." So you get this word [i]psukikos[/i], which means soul-likeness, after the likeness of the soul. That is what is referred to here in 1 Cor. 2. "Now the man of soul, the soulman," the man who is constituted soul-wise, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." That is the man to which 1 Cor. 15:45 refers. "The first man Adam was made a living soul," the [i]psukikos[/i] man. Then there is another word - [i]sarkikos[/i] ([i]Sarx[/i] means flesh). That is the man who is constituted wholly on the principle of the flesh. But then there is this other word so often used - [i]pneumatikos[/i]; and he is the man whose likeness is of the spirit, the spiritual man. It is to him that such passages refer as "He that is spiritual": "The last Adam a life-giving spirit." just that by the way.

To get down to this matter of two orders, the [i]psukikos[/i] and the [i]pneumatikos[/i] orders, or the soul-order and the spirit-order. These are the characteristics or natures of two creations, the old creation, and the new creation in Christ Jesus. We are saying, then, that there are two creations, representing two orders of man, active, and very active. Of course, you know that in yourself personally that is true. There is an active old creation order or soul life. You know also, that, if you are a born-again child of God, there is another Man in you active, and these two do not get on well together, and that is largely the root and cause of all your trouble. But in the wider realm, this is true of the whole two worlds.

The second thing is that, over those two creations, there are two lords. There is the one of whom we have read, the prince of this world, the great ruler of this world, darkness with his hosts, his hordes of evil spirits - Satan, the Dragon, the Devil, and his angels. They are there over the old creation and governing it. On the other side, there is the Lord Jesus Who is Lord of the new creation.

[b]Two Realms in Conflict[/b]

Thirdly, although we do not always feel it to be so inside of ourselves, there is nevertheless from God's standpoint and in God's mind an absolute divide between these two. They are split apart by nothing less than the Cross of Christ, and that Cross is immense. It puts things in two entirely separate realms. Later we shall come to see the working of that, but just for the moment I anticipate by reminding you of the object that the Apostle Paul had in view when writing to the Corinthians. At the beginning of his first letter he said "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom... for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (2:1-2). The object which he had in view in that deliberate determination was to put two worlds asunder in Corinth. They had come too near and were interfering with each other, and everything was upset because of the overlapping of those two worlds - the realm of the natural (you see how much Paul says about it) and the realm of the spiritual. We never get anywhere until this mix-up has been put right. So he said in effect, I determined to put the Cross right in there between these two things and split them asunder, put them apart. The Cross makes the great divide between these two creations, these two natures, soul and spirit.

Now another thing - and this is where we get very near to the point of our present meditation - the medium used by the prince of this world in the old creation is the soul of man; that is his line of action, his basis of operation. On the other hand, the means, the basis, the instrument of the Lord Jesus in the new creation is the spirit of man - of course, renewed in new birth, quickened and raised and joined with the Lord one spirit, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Man's spirit is the vessel of His activities. So you find that there is a continual conflict between soul and spirit in the individual; but also in the larger world, the whole world, it is like that.

[b]Satan Always Works Through the Soul[/b]

All Satanic activities are soul-wise. That is a key which will unlock a vast realm of things, if only you get it into your hands spiritually. Satan's activities are all soul-wise. He assailed the soul of man in the beginning. You know what the soul is - mind, heart, will: reason, emotion and volition. Satan came arguing and reached man's mind; he came appealing and seduced his heart; he came driving and forced his will. So he got that creation soul-wise into his hands, and ever since then all his activities have been soul-wise. He is a spirit, an evil spirit, but he works soul-wise. This whole world is run by Satan on the psychological basis; it is all psychology. We have had perhaps the greatest exhibition ever given to this world of that fact during the recent years. More than anything else, it has been a psychological warfare. But we have seen through the psychology so much that is absolutely Satanic. You may call it a "war of nerves." What is that but a psychological war? But so it is apart from wars; this world is run on the psychological basis. Everything commercial is psychological; so are all the secrets of good business. You will never have any success in business if you do not know the psychological moment and the psychological method, and all that. All the secrets of good teaching lie there - in your psychological acumen to know the psychology of the child. This world is all on that level.

But let us come to this. Have you not recognised that the activities of the Devil are always like this - in some way to stir up the soul? When there is some interest of the Lord in view - a conference is coming, or something which has spiritual values wrapped up in it - have you not found again and again that, in advance of it, there is a drive made on your soul to provoke you, to get you bad-tempered, to do anything to get your soul stirred up? You know when that has happened you are out of position, you have to get quiet with the Lord and get the seething inside calmed down. It is extraordinary how it happens; it comes from nowhere; very often there is no explanation. You take on provocations that do not exist, interpret looks and words in a manner never intended; there are phantoms about all the time stirring up your soul. So often it is not coming from anything at all that you can trace - it is not anybody, it is nothing said - but somehow your soul is getting worked up and you are being put out of spiritual position; the seething of your soul like a ferment overflows your spirit and destroys its poise and strength and grip. Sometimes the method used is to depress. You feel terribly depressed. You cannot explain it, but something has happened in the atmosphere and registered upon you, depressing your spirit. Yes, all the Lord's people have known that. David knew a lot about it. "Why, art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him" (Psa. 42:5). Sometimes you have to talk to your soul like that. You know the depression of the soul to take your strength away, to sap and drain your spiritual vitality. Sometimes the method is to bring the soul into darkness. What onslaughts the Devil made on Martin Luther along that line, to bring into the darkness of accusation and condemnation, where his assurance of justification and salvation was undermined and weakened! Many of the Lord's people know a lot about that, the darkness, the overclouding, when it seems that the soul is in a dark dungeon.

Sometimes the means is to inflate the soul, and, oh, what a lot of success the Devil has gained along that line. Nebuchadnezzar was the very embodiment of this whole principle of soul life. "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?" (Daniel 4:30). That is the spirit of Antichrist inflating the soul. The word of the Lord is, "If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing" (he really is, from God's standpoint, nothing) "he deceiveth himself" (Gal. 6:3). How many people there are deceived along that line of self-importance! You know what this world is like in this matter. But the tragedy is that the very realm of the things of God, the work of God, has become the playground for that sort of thing, people exhibiting their own self-importance, and bringing themselves into prominence - all the expression of an inflated soul life. You find absolutely nothing of that in the Lord Jesus when He was here, but the exact opposite. "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29). "He poured out his soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12).

Well, there are many other ways in which the enemy works soul-wise. Sometimes he seeks to affright. How often he has tried to get us frightened, as he did in the days of Nehemiah - and in the days of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib came and started his demonstration around Jerusalem.

[b]The Answer to Satan Through the Spirit[/b]

On the other hand, all Christ's activities are spirit-wise, and there you open up another whole realm of Scriptures; e.g., "born of the Spirit" (John 3:8) "renewed in the spirit..." (Eph. 5:23); "strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16); and - touching spiritual understanding - "the eyes of your heart enlightened" (Eph. 1:18). So you bring in the Scriptures, all bearing upon this spirit-wise activity of Christ. And this quickened, renewed, energised, indwelt spirit, is up against this soul of ours, and this soul world.

When we speak of spiritual warfare, let us not think in terms of the abstract. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." What do you take that to mean? - that they were a people of a phraseology about the blood and they started hurling their phraseology at the Devil? Well, phraseology, even about the Blood, has no effect on him. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." Whom did they overcome? - the Accuser of the brethren, who accused them day and night. How do you overcome an accuser? Only by having a better case than he has. You have to have a good case, and the Blood of the Lamb represents that in a mighty way. Our legal standing because of the Blood of the Lamb puts the enemy out of court if only faith will hold to it. And we must not think in geographical terms of Satan being cast down from somewhere high up and coming crashing to the earth. This is [i]spiritual[/i] warfare. We have to get this spiritual sense and idea of things. Our soulical mentality is always drawing pictures of places, positions, spaces, but we have to understand that this is a spiritual matter - that Satan can, in effect, be cast from the highest heights to the lowest depths without any geographical factor coming in at all. You may have a person against you who lays a charge at your door, and thinks he has a very strong case. But you happen to have a case which undercuts that and tears it to pieces, and he goes down before you in utter collapse; he comes from a tremendous soul height to a very great depth. That is not a geographical thing but a spiritual. This is spiritual warfare, not geographical. "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:12), it is not in the realm of the physical and geographical at all. It is spiritual - you can call it moral if you like - and the Blood represents a legal case, and Satan can be cast down from heaven countless times in one day. You cannot do that literally: it can only be understood spiritually. A million people all over this earth may cast him down in one day at different moments of the day. As they stand by faith on the case that the Blood provides, they have a mighty and triumphant answer. That is how spirituality works out in warfare. Christ works spirit-wise. Soul cannot cast out soul, and the soul cannot cast out the Devil because the Devil has already got it in his hand. Satan has obtained ground in our souls, but in our renewed, born-again spirits he has no place. The evil spirit behind everything can only be overcome by a spirit strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, and that means by a subduing of the soul to the spirit.

[b]The Subjecting of the Soul to the Spirit[/b]

Now we have touched a new aspect. The Lord spoke figuratively when He said that we should take up our cross and deny ourselves; and later He went further with that in a little fuller explanation when He said "Whosoever would save his soul" - that is the word there - "shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake, the same shall save it" (Luke 9:24). The whole soul life, the whole natural life of ours, has got to be brought into subjection to our renewed spirit before the enemy can be cast out. If we are actuated by natural, soulical interests, we have no power over the Devil; he has ground. It is only when our reasoning and desiring and feeling and willing have been brought into subjection to the Spirit of Christ in our spirit as something inside of us, by our own determined and deliberate choice, that the enemy can be defeated. The enemy can make havoc in a life that is lived on the soul level, as he did at Corinth - even though it be the life of a believer. The degree in which our natural life influences us is the degree in which we are powerless over the enemy, and, let me repeat, it is in that realm that things matter. The real issue of life is in the spiritual realm. Our accountability, our worth, our value, is measured by the degree in which we count there. It matters not what we are here in this natural world. We may be important people here naturally but we do not count for anything really beyond a few passing years, and then it is [i]Sic transit gloria mundi[/i] - so passes the glory of the world. It is how much we count in things spiritual that is our real value.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Demands Faith[/b]

Now, let me say further and again, things that are seen, things that happen, are not alone, they have spiritual factors behind them. Oh, young people, try to get hold of this. Ask the Lord to help you to get this really registered in your hearts, not as a part of your religious education or information, but really as a working principle in your lives. Your difficult situations, hold-ups, frustrations - they are not just alone by themselves. If you are a child of God, there is a spiritual factor and a spiritual intelligence behind, and you will never get through until you can get behind the thing and deal with that spiritual factor; until you know how to deal with the enemy, the things will not be loosened. The Lord's answer to these challenges may not always be in the same way, but always on one certain principle. Paul said, "I would have you know that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel" (Phil. 1:12). That is one way in which the Lord answers the enemy - He sovereignly turns the work of the Devil to His own glory and to the fulfilment of the very thing which the Devil intended to prevent. The Lord's answer is not always in the direct way of casting out the Devil, nor a direct rebuke that brings the enemy's work to nought or stops him from working. The Lord very often allows him to work but answers him in many ways, and the ultimate issue is with the Lord, not the Devil. But always the Lord works to one principle, and that is the principle of our faith. Paul met the situation; he saw and felt the things that were happening. Do you think that in his heart he capitulated to Satan and said, The Devil has things in his own hand, it is of no use our trying to do anything? Not a bit! Paul's attitude was - the Devil sees we are having some success and he is working; he is apparently doing a lot of harm, but the issue of this thing will be with the Lord and not with the Devil. So, because of an attitude taken like that on the part of His servant, the Lord was constantly, in different ways, answering the Devil and getting the issue into His own hands. But the instrument of the Lord in defeating and casting down the Devil was the spirit of the servant of God standing strongly - and you do marvel how strongly Paul's spirit stood. Though Satan often seemed to have things his way, in the end the Lord triumphed every time.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Through Discipline[/b]

We have spoken of our feeling of grief over the lost impact of the Gospel, and of the Church, and of Christian life generally; but where does impact begin? It does not really begin upon men, nor upon things, nor upon the world. Impact really begins upon the spiritual forces behind, and if you have not the spiritual strength, all your assaults and all your endeavours will be in vain. Are you in the Lord's work? Unless you can get behind people and things to the spiritual factors and forces, you may as well close down. You are not, in the long run, going to have much to show for all your labours. You are dealing ultimately with spiritual things. If you are going into the work of the Lord, remember you cannot get this equipment by mere Bible study or by any kind of soul-training. You can only get this along the line of the discipline of the soul and the strengthening of spirit, and that is why there should be a predominant element of practical life in all training for the Lord's work. For instance, to know how to live triumphantly in spirit with difficult people. You will never go out to meet the power of the enemy behind this world unless you have learned how to meet him in your own spirit and under discipline. So the Lord puts us through a severe gruelling before He really commits to our hands spiritual responsibility.

Let me say at once that the soul is not to be annihilated. We are not wrong in having souls; our souls have to be won, to be mastered and brought into charge of the spirit so that the self-element is eliminated and the soul serves the spirit and serves the Lord, and not ourselves.

You see the nature of spiritual warfare; you see the realm in which things matter most. Well, this takes us back to our earlier message - the reconstituting of us and the building of us up in an inward way, the increase of spiritual measure. May the Lord use this meditation to secure for Himself the instrument that He needs for casting out the prince of this world, for establishing and extending His true spiritual kingdom and reign.



_________________
Mike Balog

 2007/1/10 15:58Profile
ChrisJD
Member



Joined: 2006/2/11
Posts: 2895
Philadelphia PA

 Re: The Servant In Battle

[b]The Servant In Battle[/b]


O Lord,

I bless thee that the issue of the battle
between thyself and Satan
has never been uncertain,
and will end in victory.
Calvary broke the dragon's head,
and I contend with a vanquished foe,
who with all his subtlety and strength
has already been overcome.
When I feel the serpent at my heel
may I remember him whose heel was bruised,
but who, when bruised, broke the devil's head.

My soul with inward joy extols
the mighty conqueror.

Heal me of any wounds recieved
in the great conflict;
if I have gahtered defilement,
if my faith has suffered damage,
if my hope is less than bright,
if my love is not fervent,
if some creature-comfort occupies my heart,
if my soul sinks under pressure of the fight.
O thou whose every promise is balm,
every touch life,
draw near to thy weary warrior,
refresh me, that I may rise again
to wage the strife,
and never tire until my enemy is troffen down.
Give me such fellowship with thee
that may defy Satan,
unbelief, the flesh, the world,
with delight that comes not from a creature,
and which a creature cannot mar.
Give me a draught of the eternal fountain
that lieth in thy immutable, everlasting love
and decree.
Then shall my hand never weaken,
my feet never stumble,
my sword never rust,
my helmet never shatter,
my breastplate never fall,
as my strength rests in the power
of thy might.

- [i]Author unknown[/i] taken from [i]The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions[/i], edited by Arthur Bennett


_________________
Christopher Joel Dandrow

 2007/1/17 19:21Profile
Compton
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re: Jessie Penn-Lewis on deception

from War on the Saints...

"It is crucial to understand that being decieved by Satan the evil one, does not end when a person becomes a Christian and recieves the regenerating life of God. Satan's ability to blind our minds is frustrated only by the degree that his deceptive lies are driven away by the light of truth. Even though a believer's heart is renewed and his will has turned to God, the deeply ingrained tendency toward self-deception and, in some measure, the presence of the blinding power of the Deciever on his mind, still manifest themselves in many forms, as the following statements from Scripture show:

1) A person is decieved if he is a hearer...and not a doer of the Word of God. (James 1:23)

2) He is decieved if he says he has no sin.(1 JOHN 1:8)

3) He is decieved when he thinks he is something when he is nothing. (Galations 6:3)

4) He is decieved when he thinks he is wise with the wisdom of this world. (1 Corinthians 3:18)

5) He is decieved by seeming to be religous, when an unbridaled tongue reveals his true condition. (James 1:26)

6) He is decieved if he thinks he will sow and not reap what he sows. (Galatians 6:7)

7) He is decieved if he thinks the unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9)

8) He is decieved if he thinks that contact with sin will not have its effect on him. (1 Corinthians 15:33)"


_________________
Mike Compton

 2007/2/24 23:48Profile
PaulWest
Member



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

 Re:

Saints, if anyone is interested, I put an audio recording of "Battle Scars" on my blog which can be accessed via my SermonIndex profile. I believe 2008 is going to be a pivotal year for many of us, a year of growth and casting off poor habits - especially those pertaining to Bible reading and prayer time. These two are the primary areas Satan would attack and impede upon, and we should not be ignorant of his devices.

Such areas of elevation are not given without a bloody fight.

Brother Paul


_________________
Paul Frederick West

 2008/1/6 20:29Profile
billy1980
Member



Joined: 2016/3/9
Posts: 312
Tennesse-

 Re:

Bumping this, "sometimes the method used is to depress. You feel terribly depressed. You cannot explain it, but something has happened in the atmosphere and registered upon you, depressing your spirit. Yes, all the Lord's people have known that."


_________________
Billy Witt

 2020/11/13 19:04Profile





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