Understanding The Battle
- Bill Mullins
- Jun 17, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 22, 2021
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph 6:12)
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Mat 11:12)
From the arrival of Emanuel (God in the Flesh - Jesus the Christ) up to the present day the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence by those who would seize it by force, and that battle continues each and every day.
How was the kingdom of heaven seized in Jesus' time?
The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and Lawyers took it by using the leaven of hypocrisy (the false doctrines of the Pharisees and the Sadducees). That is to say that they said much but did little themselves. They put grievous burdens upon the shoulders of the people that they themselves could not bear and subsequently shut the kingdom of heaven off from the people and from themselves as well.
Sound Familiar?
(Mat 23:13) But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
(Mat 23:14) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
(Mat 23:15) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
My point here is: what takes place in the physical (natural) realm effects the spiritual realm and what happens in the spiritual realm is manifested in the natural realm.
Subsequently I believe that what we are seeing in the world today is the manifestation of the same ancient Pharisaic spirit manipulating people once again in an attempt to shut the kingdom of heaven to God's children of God by forcefully seizing it on earth.
The Battle for Our Minds
The temptation of Eve by the serpent within the garden that was in Eden is the quintessential blueprint of the enemy's battle tactic recorded for all to see, and he is still using those same tactics to this very day.
And Why Not? It's been working since the beginning and if it aint broke don't fix it!
Why is it still working?
Because mankind has not changed!
The light of the body is the eye (mind): if therefore thine eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light, but if thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness? No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:24
Throughout scriptures we are either directly or indirectly instructed by our Father God to be single minded about what we believe about Him, His Ways, and His Will. We are also told being single minded is light that not being single minded is evil and is darkness.
1) Light - φωτεινός - phōteinos: transparent or well illuminated, from the Greek word φῶς
phōs - to shine or make manifest.
2) Darkness - σκοτεινός - skoteinos: opaque, covered with darkness, from the Greek word σκότος - skotos: shadiness, that is, obscurity (literally or figuratively), from the primary word σκία - skia: “shade” or a shadow (literally or figuratively) darkness of error.
Whether Eve was told that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden by Adam or God Himself, His words are pure because there is no darkness in Him (1Joh 1:5)
But the serpent, the most subtle beast in the field managed to beguile Eve by doing three things: 1) Causing Her to Doubt His words. 2) Tempting her with her own desires.
3) Deceiving her with the natural.
Satan tactfully and subtly convinced Eve that she wouldn't die if she ate of the fruit and that if she did she would be like a god knowing good from evil. He then used her natural senses against her.
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, (Gen 3:6)
Isn't that what we are seeing today and have been seeing for 6,000 years, people coveting mammon? (mammon - μαμμωνᾶς - mammōnas: riches where personified and opposed to God)
The carnal mind, being double-minded, sometimes in the spirit and sometimes in the flesh, strives to satisfy spiritual needs and or desires through the natural realm. They use things such as drinking, drugs, sex, and shopping to fill the void rather than repenting, renewing their minds, and discovering that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom 8:5-8)
If you are filled with anger and or hatred, or even worse indifference towards another human being, if you find yourself standing in judgment or condemnation of another human being, if you find yourself seeking vengeance or revenge against another human being, if you are not loving your enemy, you are not in the will of God who commands otherwise!
You see we can't fix what's broken until we first admit that it's broken and find out why it's broken. And nothing can stop that process in it's tracks faster than pride.
Believe me I know!
But it all changed for me one day when while reading scriptures God showed me that I was a Pharisee. Someone who was clean and shiny on the outside while the inside needed a lot of work.
Now you can argue with people about such things but when God reveals it to you you can't rationalize your way out of it. You have to either reject it or deal with it.
You can't deny it because deep inside you know it is the unabridged truth!
It is difficult at best to deny the desires of the flesh because no one likes being denied their passions be they natural or spiritual. It is hard not to seek revenge when we have been wronged but an eye for an eye is no longer acceptable under the new covenant of our Lord Christ.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Mat 5:38-39)
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. (Mat 5:40-41)
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust for if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same and if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Mat 5:43-48)
But these are the things we are none the less instructed by our Father to do.
Let us pray that our Father God gives us the strength that we will need in the days to come to overcome the wiles of the enemy.
May we do as Jesus instructed us to do: put a hedge around His words to protect them from suffering injury or loss, set our minds on them (take them captive) and allow only those words into our hearts.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2Co 10:3-6)
Be Blessed!
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