(representation of an evil spirit only)
This one was bad. You don’t want the little ones, but you definitely don’t want one of these. It probably registered an 8.7 on the wrecking scale. What God had spent 25 years in the making was about to end in 25 minutes.
Loud, explosive words of hurt and hate spewing from the mouths of Mr. Proud, and Mrs. Stubborn! Satan, no doubt, was in the shadows of darkness cheering with every foul, and fateful word spewed. He probably was ringing his hands, anticipating, the final blow that would end it all. He must have been pleased with his demolition plans, for he loves to kill, steal, and destroy.
Fast forward to today. The couple is still together, and in fact, their love is stronger than ever. How did they do it? They didn’t, Love did. God, knowing their darkest hour had arrived, hearing their invitation for his help, must have dispatched an army of angels to defeat his enemy, and theirs. The couple didn’t know how to stop the eruption of anger and fear, but they knew how to pray, or in this case, scream, out of desperation. What they may not have known, is they were fighting forces unseen.
“In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.” (Eph. 6:10-12 PHILLIPS)
Everywhere people live, there are ruling spirits doing the work of the devil. One such spirit, here in the Philippines, is the spirit of control. It seems to be more prevalent in women, but it is certainly seen in men as well. The way to defeat this spirit is with God’s help, but also by repenting of this spirit in your own life. I have to on a regular basis. One should stop fighting people, especially those they love, and ask God what evil, ruling, spirits are over their land? Once you know, claim your authority, you have in Jesus, and speak to the ruling spirits and tell them, in the name of Jesus Christ, to flee. Then watch how the people around you will change, and live in peace. “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.
Satan is religious. He loves churches that try to get you to follow a list of dos and don’ts knowing when you fail, you will probably hate yourself and possibly hate God. Satan religiously tries to get you to believe the lie that you have to follow a list of rules. The problem is simple: you are trusting man to tell you what God desires from you instead of finding out for yourself.
Love is not premeditated– it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.
Here in the Philippines, they print pictures on the packages of cigarettes, that show what could happen if you smoke. Is it effective? I don’t know, but I don’t see a lot of smoking going on. Of course that could be due to the cost of cigarettes.
Because it worked for an individual, a certain way, in a certain amount of time, doesn’t mean it will for you. I’ve noticed over the years, people will flock to hear a person tell how God moved in their life to reach others. Or to hear what they did before God healed them. There is nothing wrong with listening to someone give their testimony, but people think if they duplicate what the person did, it will happen for them, so they take notes, and list each step as if it’s a formula or a recipe. They think, “Well, if I pray as much as they did, or quit my job to fully devote my time to God.” The danger is this; if the individual does all the same steps, but doesn’t get the same result then they can get discouraged, dissatisfied, disgruntled and disappointed with themselves or even with God.
I almost blew it! What if I hadn’t of done what I had committed to God to do? I had told him a few years ago I would do my best to never miss a deadline to writing a blog. If I had what would have happened? I know one thing, the end result wouldn’t have been the same.
The words break free of my mouth, before I can think them through,
Do you know the first thing Jesus said, when he exited the tomb? “Ta-Da!” Answered a third grader in a Sunday school class one Easter. He probably didn’t, but should have. Perhaps he said, “I told you!” I don’t really know, but it doesn’t matter. What does count is what he did for you and me by dying, being the perfect sacrifice for our wrong doing, and then defeating death at its own game.
How many times have you beat yourself up for not doing your devotions? Me? I used to constantly be black and blue! I didn’t like it. Am I not serious about serving God? I used to ask myself. I wanted to make God happy with me, so why did I constantly feel as though I was disappointing him?
brady, mark a. 