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WAGING THE SPIRITUAL WAR
by Pam Clark
If just being good enough could get us to Heaven, and get us Heaven on earth, we'd all do it! But life has shown that just being "good enough" doesn't always get you there. Bad things really can happen to good people! We hate that.
Mankind without Jesus is driven by evil forces. We are in the midst of a great decision: Whom will we serve? Will it be Jesus or the god of this world? Do we really even know Jesus, who He is, what His position is, what He represents and do we have personal relationship with Him that endures through hard times?
Oh, we are all tested and the testing is no fun, but the reward of really knowing Him is well worth it, with the One who has conquered sin, hell, death and the grave and Who wants to impart those victories to us!
Not every place in the world has the option of being comfortable, as we have known comfort in the United States and in other Christian nations. Freedom is a precious thing and the freedom to worship and pursue our happiness in the safety we have known, is in indeed a precious thing worth defending.
Our churches are not just to be warm social settings but strongholds for God. If we don't understand that, they can be taken away. Jesus said "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?" (Mtw 24:42-25)
Our churches should be offering Spiritual meat. Before you assail your pastors that you may need remember this: Only baby Christians are truly exempt from Spiritual ministry, because once you begin to know the truth, you should begin your own Spiritual ministry of witnessing in the ways that they can, and continually mature in that, being ultimately well rounded by the Body ministry. But it involves OUTREACH!
The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are to be equipping you for the work of the ministry with the rest of the Body. All should be doing the work of the ministry - some are just called and more equipped to pass that on, and that is their work of the ministry! It's not that easy! There are a lot of mindsets to overcome of ideas that are not of God.
We can enjoy comfort so much that when it's time to go to war, we can be like David who stayed at home "at the time when kings go out to war" and get ourselves in trouble, or be like the tribes of Israel who did not join their brothers in vanquishing the enemies of their territories and gave the enemy great ground.
Churches will have seasons of blessings and seasons of trial. So will every believer! When the times are good, and peaceable, it's time to take the territory. It's like breathing - we take air in, and then we give air out. When the assaults come, it's time to minister to the Body. When we are healed and well, it's time to move outward.
The problem the Church has today is that when God gives them rest from their enemies for a season, they camp in the land of self-satisfaction. Once healed, they forget the Lord and do not go out in their renewed strength to hold and take the land for righteousness or evanglize for new converts.
The lost need to be found, the new converts need ministry! But when we change the focus from the world Jesus died for to how smart "we" are, it's an abomination to the Lord! Little compromises here and there become big strongholds for the enemy, who is not happy about being evicted for God's sake.
There is nothing wrong with learning, we must be equipped! But when we "ever grow in knowledge and forsake the truth", we've missed it. If teachers are not equipping for MINISTRY, then they are not God's teachers! If apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and not equipping for MINISTRY, they are false or missing it! We are to redeem the land, the time, the souls through God's power in His Son Jesus in us.
I'm not trying to be so radical that I can't be normal. Our victories in the past have brought us great spoil and God is not upset with that. But He is upset when our focus becomes the spoils and not Him.
There are some great ministries out there who are pursuing the will of the Lord. There are also some ministries who think it's their ministry to criticize the ones doing the work while they do NOTHING to win the lost and minister to the needy. Their own flesh consumes them.
When Jesus healed, and He healed in many ways, it was a physical and Spiritual act. Prayer is very much a part of the Christian life.
But there needs to be results. There needs to be progress and productivity. The first time my electricity went out, I thought, "If I had known this was going to happen, I would have done this..." and I learned to stock a few things. We aren't just to hoard up though - we are to fellowship and do ministry enough that every joint supplies. Our taking the land is not terrorism, but winning souls to Christ.
Our lives should have projects. Our churches should have projects! It's one way of knowing who is really with you or not. Pray about these things. Don't bind people to your church but find out what God's will is for your Church and do His Plan! You may not participate in every project but you should participate in some!
God's people are good people. They will support good plans. If they don't, you need to see where the enemy is getting in. Maybe they aren't equipped, maybe they are doing something else. If you can't equip them, call in the ones who can!
God called churches have God called visions. Some churches equip and send, some churches equip and grow, but they grow because the ministers within do outreach!
Know that if your focus is really Jesus, it will have His marks on it. We may be different tribes and clans but we hold to the same Book and same Lord. Do we really know Him? Are we about our Father's business as He was?
Jesus didn't sit still. He got out there and got with it. He had family time and He had work time. Both are equally important but to neglect one for the other is missing the mark.
Are you productive? Are you using your talents? When He comes will He find faith in the earth?