God's Word is Truth and it is full of promises. The following one is one that we must be aware of:
We will wrestle "against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12 (b) This is a guarantee from Scripture. It is Scriptural truth therefore we must expect it and be prepared. Author of The Bondage Breaker, Neil T. Anderson states,"If we are ignorant of Satan's schemes, we can only come to the conclusion, "Any problems in the mind must either be a chemical imbalance or a flesh pattern."'
Mr. Anderson's point? The enemy can influence us in subtle ways to the point that we are not living in the full victory that Christ purchased for us. We also may not be using His gifts or glorifying His name as we should. Therefore, we must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. If the thought is not true-and we will know it by knowing God's Word-we don't believe it.
One powerful step in taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ is to remember our position in Him. Paul, writing to the Ephesian church elaborates on who we are in Christ beginning in Ephesians 1:3-14- (God's Word is italicized, my comments are not.)
"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Read that slowly...in Christ, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing because we are united with Him! Everything we need is found in Him. We have not if we ask not. We are His children...ask Him. Come to Him on the basis of who we are in Christ Jesus.
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy without fault in His eyes. God chose us! What a wonderful truth. Most all of us have experienced feeling left out, yet the Creator of the Universe, Creator of all things seen and unseen, chose us!
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it have Him great pleasure. God adopted us! We are part of His family, chosen by Him because He wanted to. What does that truth do to you? He wanted you...He wanted me! We are chosen by Him!
So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. Read those words...God poured out his kindness and grace on us, showering us with His love along with wisdom and understanding. And incredibly, He purchased our freedom by His One and Only Son dying in our place! We are free because Christ died for us. How the praises flow with that Truth!
God has now revealed to us His mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill His own good pleasure. And this is the plan: at the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ-everything in heaven and on earth. The mystery, God's own good pleasure, Christ reigns. He will rule over all. He has authority over all His creation. Satan only has limited time and limited power and soon his time will end. God reigns Supreme!
Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan. God's purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. Knowing that the Jews were God's chosen people, I wanted to convert...but thankfully this good news is spread also to the Gentiles.
And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. Hallelujah!
And when you believe in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. How awesome is THAT? We will stand before God and be identified as His by and through Christ Jesus because we have His Holy Spirit indwelling us.
The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised and that He has purchased us to be His own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify Him....we are guaranteed entrance to Heaven because of God's Spirit indwelling each one of us. We are sealed for the day of redemption when we are called Home.
Paul continues with a prayer that we should pray for one another and ourselves...
(vs. 18-23) I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called---His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance. Jesus calls us His rich and glorious inheritance! He values us...not because we have done anything but because we belong to Him by believing and receiving His work completed at the cross and His resurrection! How incredible is that statement?
I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in Him. We are wise to meditate on the character of God...to learn more of Him by time with Him and in His Word. Do a word study on the Names of God which describe His character.
This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead (and we serve this same, powerful God! He has not and does not change!) and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now He is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else---not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made Him head over all things for the benefit of the church.
And the church is His body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with Himself." We are complete in Christ Jesus. Lacking in nothing...anything else is a lie. Those lies we take captive to the obedience of Christ and cling to the Truth.
We must also remember that God has provided His armor for spiritual warfare. We are told to put it on but nowhere in Scripture have I found where we are to take it off! (Tell me if I am wrong!) Ephesians 6:10-18 describes each piece. Paul's reference is to the Roman soldiers armor. Each piece essential for survival. So, put it on dear one and do not take it off! Learn to use each piece well.
So, we Christians must remember that we can indeed be deceived. We can be influenced and at times oppressed. We may be leading relatively "normal" lives yet experiencing personal and perhaps interpersonal problems for which no cause or solution has been found and we are left thinking there is something wrong with us and why can't we just "do better"? We may also be experiencing physical afflictions for which no cause can be definitively identified. This is where we must know and cling to God's Truth.
Keep walking in the truth dear pilgrim. God's Word is truth...a light to our feet and lamp for our path.
(todays Scripture is from the New Living Translation)
