Pick up your weapons and ....get behind me?
Spiritual warfare is the most worlds most ridiculous plan. I mean, where else do you hear someone tell you to take authority, pick up your weapons and hide?
In case you're not familiar with the term Spiritual Warfare, let me edumecate you. Have you ever felt like you were facing unreasonable circumstances? You were either overly tired or in a fog or all your "buttons" had been pushed? Have you been busy doing The Lord's work? Have you been setting people free from darkness by shining the Light of Jesus on them? Have you been taking care of others and helping the helpless? Well, the enemy doesn't like it!
The Bible tells us that our warfare is not of this world, so surrendering to God in the midst of a battle makes no earthly sense. So, in case you are a new Christian, let me tell you how to surrender to God and how to pick up your weapons.
You may not even know that you have weapons. Look up Ephesians chapter 6, this is where the Bible describes our weapons. If you notice they are all facing forward. None of the weapons mentioned cover your backside. What? Would you go out on a battle field without protecting your back side? Well, our military uses other military to protect their backs. They also use air craft and ships and weaponry, but they have their backside covered.
So, why didn't He talk about putting on the shield of your back? . There is no butt shield in spiritual battles. Okay you can laugh! (There goes Frank again!)Well, if you are facing the enemy and God is behind you, who needs to have any backwards weapons?
The cool thing about God is that He is omnipotent. He's everywhere. He's in front of you, behind you, everywhere. The scriptures in Psalms 91 tell us that He is our shield. In Ephesians chapter 6 He tells us to pick up our shield. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6%3A10-20&version=NIV When Jesus talked to the devil, by way of Peter (when Peter tried to rise up and tell Jesus that He was wrong). Jesus told the devil to "Get behind him." What?
So, what is our posture? Are we on the defense or the offense? Yes. See, it makes no sense. The Psalmist David talks about God being like an Eagle and we are to hide in the shadow of His wings. (Psalms 91). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+91&version=NIV So, which is it? Pick up your weapons, get behind me, or hide? Yes.
I bet you're wondering how do you do all of that at the same time? Physically you can not pick up a weapon, then tell the enemy to get behind you...where you have no protection, then hide. See, it sounds ridiculous!
I guess that's why the Bible clearly states that our weapons are not of this world.
So, here are some instructions.
1) Pick up your weapons: Our mightiest weapon is the Word of God. But we can't just read our Bible and expect anything to happen. No, we have to get to know the God who wrote it. But that takes time? I hear you. It does! What do you do in the meantime?
2) Hide: When we get into God's presence through worship....yes worship. We become utterly invisible to the devil. Jesus becomes our shield and protector and something else happens too, we start getting to know God. Then as we learn who He is through His Word we can....say it with me...pick up our weapons!
3) Get behind me: So, let's say that we've gotten to know God through His Word and worship. Guess what we can do? Tell the devil to get behind us! Why, because we know that we know that we know that God has our back! We also know who God is (as much as we can know) and we are learning to trust him. I mean, who tells their enemy to get behind them when they have no butt armor?
(by the way, in case your wondering....I am not politically correct or religious.. so I hope the word "butt" does not offend you. Nah, if I can offend you using the word butt...well, just stop reading this blog isn't for you...lol)
Ah, I can see that you're still reading! Yes!
Yes, Jesus knew who He was. He was (is) both man and God. With all security in His place in God he could tell the Devil to get behind Him.
Let me digress to number two. How do you worship? Well there are multiple ways, but let me tackle two of them. First of all, you take your Bible and start reading it out loud about how wonderful God is! Take I Corinthians 13 and thank God that He is Love! Where it says, Love is... insert.. God is... This is worship. We are reminding ourselves to look to Him and to know Him instead of just knowing about Him.
Secondly, we turn on some music! Crank it up! Anything that says, "nah, nah, nah, God is greater than the devil" will work. I have recommended Jeremy Camps' song "Defender".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ9yEiZApt0 It basically glorifies God and speaks to who God is on a personal level. "He's my defender, He comforts me! "
Worship is not spooky. It is not hype. It is not riddled with ridiculousness. (?) It's as simple as thanking God and as difficult as saying who God is in the middle of the worst circumstances in your life. Let's take Paul and Silas in the New Testament. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16%3A25-34&version... They'd just been beaten, they were in a prison! Life was at its worst and what did they do? They told God how great He was! They sang songs about Him. They sang songs to Him. I wonder if one of them went like this... "How Great Thou Art?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0QVWzCv9k
In order to put these things into practice... Get to know our God! Read I Corinthians 13 out loud. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV This is who God is! Find out what your weapons look like In Ephesians chapter 6 and until you know who He is and until you're ready to use those weapons...Worship! Crank it up! "He's my defender! How Great Thou Art!" whatever song speaks your language...get it into your heart. Then, tell that devil to get behind you because you now are aware that God is guarding your butt!
Be and do the ridiculous! Charge and hide! Amen!!!
In case you're not familiar with the term Spiritual Warfare, let me edumecate you. Have you ever felt like you were facing unreasonable circumstances? You were either overly tired or in a fog or all your "buttons" had been pushed? Have you been busy doing The Lord's work? Have you been setting people free from darkness by shining the Light of Jesus on them? Have you been taking care of others and helping the helpless? Well, the enemy doesn't like it!
The Bible tells us that our warfare is not of this world, so surrendering to God in the midst of a battle makes no earthly sense. So, in case you are a new Christian, let me tell you how to surrender to God and how to pick up your weapons.
You may not even know that you have weapons. Look up Ephesians chapter 6, this is where the Bible describes our weapons. If you notice they are all facing forward. None of the weapons mentioned cover your backside. What? Would you go out on a battle field without protecting your back side? Well, our military uses other military to protect their backs. They also use air craft and ships and weaponry, but they have their backside covered.
So, why didn't He talk about putting on the shield of your back? . There is no butt shield in spiritual battles. Okay you can laugh! (There goes Frank again!)Well, if you are facing the enemy and God is behind you, who needs to have any backwards weapons?
The cool thing about God is that He is omnipotent. He's everywhere. He's in front of you, behind you, everywhere. The scriptures in Psalms 91 tell us that He is our shield. In Ephesians chapter 6 He tells us to pick up our shield. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6%3A10-20&version=NIV When Jesus talked to the devil, by way of Peter (when Peter tried to rise up and tell Jesus that He was wrong). Jesus told the devil to "Get behind him." What?
So, what is our posture? Are we on the defense or the offense? Yes. See, it makes no sense. The Psalmist David talks about God being like an Eagle and we are to hide in the shadow of His wings. (Psalms 91). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+91&version=NIV So, which is it? Pick up your weapons, get behind me, or hide? Yes.
I bet you're wondering how do you do all of that at the same time? Physically you can not pick up a weapon, then tell the enemy to get behind you...where you have no protection, then hide. See, it sounds ridiculous!
I guess that's why the Bible clearly states that our weapons are not of this world.
So, here are some instructions.
1) Pick up your weapons: Our mightiest weapon is the Word of God. But we can't just read our Bible and expect anything to happen. No, we have to get to know the God who wrote it. But that takes time? I hear you. It does! What do you do in the meantime?
2) Hide: When we get into God's presence through worship....yes worship. We become utterly invisible to the devil. Jesus becomes our shield and protector and something else happens too, we start getting to know God. Then as we learn who He is through His Word we can....say it with me...pick up our weapons!
3) Get behind me: So, let's say that we've gotten to know God through His Word and worship. Guess what we can do? Tell the devil to get behind us! Why, because we know that we know that we know that God has our back! We also know who God is (as much as we can know) and we are learning to trust him. I mean, who tells their enemy to get behind them when they have no butt armor?
(by the way, in case your wondering....I am not politically correct or religious.. so I hope the word "butt" does not offend you. Nah, if I can offend you using the word butt...well, just stop reading this blog isn't for you...lol)
Ah, I can see that you're still reading! Yes!
Yes, Jesus knew who He was. He was (is) both man and God. With all security in His place in God he could tell the Devil to get behind Him.
Let me digress to number two. How do you worship? Well there are multiple ways, but let me tackle two of them. First of all, you take your Bible and start reading it out loud about how wonderful God is! Take I Corinthians 13 and thank God that He is Love! Where it says, Love is... insert.. God is... This is worship. We are reminding ourselves to look to Him and to know Him instead of just knowing about Him.
Secondly, we turn on some music! Crank it up! Anything that says, "nah, nah, nah, God is greater than the devil" will work. I have recommended Jeremy Camps' song "Defender".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ9yEiZApt0 It basically glorifies God and speaks to who God is on a personal level. "He's my defender, He comforts me! "
Worship is not spooky. It is not hype. It is not riddled with ridiculousness. (?) It's as simple as thanking God and as difficult as saying who God is in the middle of the worst circumstances in your life. Let's take Paul and Silas in the New Testament. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+16%3A25-34&version... They'd just been beaten, they were in a prison! Life was at its worst and what did they do? They told God how great He was! They sang songs about Him. They sang songs to Him. I wonder if one of them went like this... "How Great Thou Art?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc0QVWzCv9k
In order to put these things into practice... Get to know our God! Read I Corinthians 13 out loud. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13&version=NIV This is who God is! Find out what your weapons look like In Ephesians chapter 6 and until you know who He is and until you're ready to use those weapons...Worship! Crank it up! "He's my defender! How Great Thou Art!" whatever song speaks your language...get it into your heart. Then, tell that devil to get behind you because you now are aware that God is guarding your butt!
Be and do the ridiculous! Charge and hide! Amen!!!
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