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Discernment and Spiritual Warfare

Melville, Jonathan12 Sep, 2017Prayer and Intercession0 comments

Luke 3

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

Luke 4

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.
And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you,’
and,
‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Developing sensitivity to the HS is crucial to moving in the authority of Jesus. That is a given. However on the flip side it is also important to recognize when HS is not the origin of what we are hearing. This is discernment, and the HS will develop this in us. The highest use of discernment is to connect with what HS is doing in a situation, or speaking to us. Discerning the genuine also shows up the counterfeit for what it is and empowers us to discern and resist the voice of Satan.

Jesus hears God the Father speak, then HS leads Jesus into the wilderness. Through the HS we encounter, and overcome all voices that claim authority in our lives. Only the voice of the Father can be our authority.

As Jesus encounters Satan I don't think he announced who he was or what his intentions were. He would be in his best outfit, making his most skilled attempt to seduce and deceive Jesus. Notice that Satan even quotes scripture. He has done his home work.

Satan quotes scripture, but they are twisted to a self focused perspective
Jesus countered with scripture which is interpreted from a God centered persecutive

Satan was cunning and cleaver, but in playing his hand he gives away some of his strategies. There is a method to what was happening here…

If you are…God had already spoken to Jesus, already had the word in Him. Doubt and confusion creates opportunity to exploit.
- God given identity and relationship is the very first thing he went for. The jugular vein of our spirituality
- Example 1 Cor 14:33 - Confusion in handling gifts can render them ineffective
- Four soils parable - Satan tries to snatch the word away - in this case the word was "You are my Son"
- Eden - "Did God really say..."
Make Bread…put personal comfort first. Self interests first.
- Jesus rebuked Peter “get behind me Satan” for his rejection of sacrifice
- Romans 8 - flesh vs spirit. The entire chapter is about this
- Esau sold his birthright for a meal - with massive implications
- Israelites complained about food in the wilderness, this motivated their desire to return to Egypt
All authority...this is an outright lie.
- Ps 2:7-8 – Jesus had just been named the Son - He only needed to ask the Father for the nations. Tempted with a short-cut. The easy road of compromise. This would save the messiness and pain of the cross
- Philippians 2 – Spiritual authority comes through sacrificial obedience, not sucking up or having friends in high places.
- It is a terrible mistake to confuse position with spiritual authority...
Jump off the Temple…What an amazing entrance into public ministry that would be. Descending from on high on a staircase of angle hands...yet Jesus frequently warns us to do things in secret and not for the praise of others.
- Jesus challenged the crowds on this issue regarding John – “What did you come here to see…”
- Mat 6:6,18 etc
- Romans 2:28-29 - there is a play on words - Judah (Jew) means "praise". Is our praise (Jew) from God or people...

If you think about it - it was an amazing spiritual experience. Visions, out of body experiences, visitations from angelic beings, but at the centre was compromise and self-promotion. Jesus recognized that this experience didn't reflect the nature or will of the Father. It just show how careful we must be to discern the origin of what we are experiencing or hearing.

Jesus knew his position of athority with the Father (You are my Son - the named heir), and His working relationship with the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of the Lord is upon me - the Power of creation).

What Satan attempted was to set the agenda and call the shots in Jesus life. He attempted to assume a position of authority over Jesus. Jesus responses did two things - He answered Satan' s temptation, and also held Satan himself accountable to the word of God. Jesus exercised His spiritual authority without gtiving it away or allowing it to be manipulated.

Strategies - It is really important to understand Satan’s strategies.

Satan’s power comes from the Nature of God - Holy (law) and Just (vengance). His is a delegated authority
- He appeals against us – He is the accuser. Rev 12:10, Job 1, Luke 22:31
- Depowered by Jesus – Col 2:14-15
- Grace is administered through Jesus Christ alone (Is 53), we exchange the conviction of guilt (a legal term) for Christ's righteousness
- If he can errode our faith and obedience in Christ he postions us outside grace, we are exposed to justice and he gains power through accusation
If he cannot overpower them, get God to do it for him. Satan does this by tempting people to violate God’s holiness – then God’s justice is aroused.
- Tree of knowledge - Gen 3
- Balaam – 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, Rev 2:14, Numbers 24 & 25, Numbers 31:15
- Activates the power of God’s curse. Deut 28, 29
- The old and younger prophet: 1 Kings 13, 2 kings 23:16-18
- Eg Occult, blatant sin etc.
Get them doing the wrong thing for the right reasons
- See the temptations of Jesus
- Galatians 3:3 – perfecting in human strength
- Abraham and Hagar – Ishmael
- Moves faith away from God’s ability to our own
Get them to do the right things for the wrong reasons
- The internal work is easy to ignore because no one can see
- Romans 12, Acts 5 - Lying to the HS
His mission is to kill, steal and destroy. But he cannot do this without our consent. First he must errode spiritual authority
- James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8, Luke 9:1, 10:19

Go, No and Slow

Melville, Jonathan5 Sep, 2017Pastor's Desk0 comments

Ezekiel 12:4-8

By day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight, as though going into captivity; and at evening you shall go in their sight, like those who go into captivity. Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it. In their sight you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight; you shall cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.
So I did as I was commanded. I brought out my belongings by day, as though going into captivity, and at evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought them out at twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight.
And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying...

Sometimes the call of God is clear, but at the sometime can be a bit vague....

Ezekiel was commanded to dig through the wall, which he did - that much was clear - then what? There was a night of waiting, wondering, looking foolish. A demolished wall behind him but no fanfare of obedience awaiting outside, no reward just an awkward silence. He became a public spectacle without understanding why. God didn't explain until the next day.

"Did I really hear correctly...I have obeyed you Lord and now you go quiet?"

No, there is no hesitation. Ezekiel is confident because he knows a key to walking with the HS. Sometimes God say "go", other times he says "no", and Ezekiel understands "slow". When God calls us to walk with Him and match His pace.

God gave enough for Ezekiel to be obedient, but not enough for him to be independent. That's Slow. One step at a time, at His speed.

Abraham learned this too...

Genesis 12:1

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

Did you catch that?
God didn't give directions to Abram, arriving at the destination isn't what this is about, it was an invitation from God to go on a journey with Him.

This is the slow.

It is too easy to do God's work for Him at our pace and in our own way. We get a sniff "go", of His call, and roar off with all our energy doing God's work for Him. Then what happens? He has to pull us back in. And we start to hear "No". And we bounce between these realities. We need to hear and understand when God tells us "slow".

You see God doesn't need our strength, wisdom or assistance. We kid ourselves. The destination of His call is always in His capable hands. He asks us along for the journey.

Dead ducks don't flutter.

De Lange, Jan25 Aug, 2017Pastor's Desk0 comments

Many years ago, a wealthy man went duck hunting with a hired hand named Sam. They took a horse and carriage, and along the way a rim came off one of the wheels. As Sam hammered it back on, he accidentally hit his finger. Instantly he let go with some bad words. He quickly fell to his knees, asking God's forgiveness. "Lord, it's difficult at times to live the Christian life", he prayed.

"Sam" said the man, "I know you're a Christian, but tell me why you struggle so, I'm an atheist, and I don't have problems like that."

------------------------------------

Sam didn't know what to say. Just then two ducks flew overhead. The man raised his gun and two shots rang out. "Leave the dead one and go after that wounded bird!" he shouted. Sam pointed at the duck that was fluttering desperately to escape and said, "I've got an answer for you now, Boss. You said my Christianity isn't any good because I have to struggle so. Well, I'm the wounded duck and struggle to get away from the devil. But you Boss, you're the dead duck!"

--------------------------------------

That insight fits Paul's description of his Christian experience in Romans 7: 14-25.

Struggle is one evidence of God's work in our lives Forgiveness of sin is available, so don't despair. Remember, dead ducks don't flutter.

Struggle, yes, it's part of living
Nothing's gained on beds of ease;
But when our heart is set on Jesus,
Struggle drives us to our knees.

–Dennis De Hann

What are you living for?

De Lange, Jan24 Aug, 2017Video Library0 comments

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