Thank you so much for this reminder...the closer I get to the Lord the more the enemy attacks me personally...I am so thankful that God has chosen me to work in this ministry but I am even more thankful that He is bigger than anything Satan can throw my way...I am so grateful that He also gave me such a wonderful friend to walk through this calling with! I am praying for daily strength to run this race...and this post is an awesome reminder of where to draw my strength from...I know through Jesus Christ we will finish strong! xoxo

Mary, thank you. I certainly needed to be reminded of this message at this present time. God bless you.

I always find it intersting when the there are far more examples of Jesus praticeing love and peace, that Christians in America cling to the parts that are about war...

But perhaps I don't understand what is being written or the context in which you mean it.

I felt I needed to respond to your comment, achromic. The "war" referred to in the blog entry is a spiritual war. It is not a war we have chosen, but one we likewise cannot avoid.

You see, God has an enemy. His name is Satan. The bible is very clear about Satan's identity. He was once an angel in heaven (known by the name Lucifer), but Lucifer felt he should be in charge (basically), so God kicked him out of heaven along with 1/3 of the other angels. Lucifer and his fallen angel friends (now known as demons) departed heaven, sworn enemies of God for all eternity.

Since Satan and his followers hate God, they hate anyone who belongs to God -- which means every person that has trusted Jesus Christ for salvation is automatically his target.

The war we fight is not one that can be seen with the human eye. It is fought with temptations, deceptions, and every kind of ill. Those are the weapons Satan uses against us. We who bear the name of Christ, on the other hand, have the life of Christ within us to sustain us; the Spirit of God to protect us; and the Word of God to wield against these unseen assailants.

You are so right that Jesus was (and is!) all about love and peace, and so are we who bear His name. Our spiritual enemies, however, despise both love [the Word says, "God is love"] and peace. Satan's m.o. is to steal, kill, and destroy anything that is good; anything that honors God; anything that represents the love and peace Jesus exemplified.

I don't know if this clarifies it for you or not. It is a difficult concept to grasp. Thanks for posting your thoughts! You are always welcome here. :)

In the peace and love of Christ,
mary :)

Humm, so does spirtual wars, for you, sometimes take on physcial aspects? I have seen someone gobbled up by evil... I do believe in that... it was.. horrifying. For a long time I believed that I didn't do the right/good thing because I didn't stop/kill this evil horrible monster. I later came to believe that G*d did not want me to do that, that instead I was to pray that evil would be removed from him and that he would no longer do evil acts although .... I still do not have "faith" that it will be done... But I have been better since I began to pray in this way, not so torn up and filled with hate inside of myself. I would like to hear more of your thoughts on this.. . I feel like I was at war, that I survived it and that it did have to do with G*d, but I still could use some help understanding it.

LOL this isn't where I met to go but here I am...

Yes, spiritual warfare is often represented physically. It can manifest in temptations, thoughts, and certainly by illnesses, bodily attacks, verbal attacks, etc. The book of Job describes some ways the enemy can attack us -- but only with the permission of God. :) For example, Job's children were killed, his livestock stolen, and he became physically ill with a horrible skin disease. All these were things the enemy brought into his life for evil -- but through faith, Job prevailed. Satan can use other people, events, illnesses, or catastrophe of any kind to wreak havoc in our lives. So as believers, we must always be on alert and prepared to "do battle."

The bottom line is that Satan can do nothing to us without God allowing it, and only to the extent God allows it. Though his plan is to destroy us or our testimony for God, even those things can be used to glorify God and to strengthen our faith. The important thing for us to remember is to stand strong in our faith in God, recall His promises, call on Him in times of trouble and/or attack, and trust that He will bring good from it.

Yes, quite an interesting conversation!

Your respect for the name of God by using the * makes me wonder if you are Jewish, achromic? My husband and all his family are Jewish. I have a deep love for the Jewish people! :)

Hope to hear from you again soon. :)

mary

Not Jewish but almost. My mother, gave me up to live with my grandparents for a while... during that time she converted to jewdism, which was confusing and hurtful at the time because my grandparents were S. Baptist and they all acted like she was dead or dieing. It was the begining of the end for me and Christ.... at least until recently. My mother came back, eventually and raised me in a pretty Jewish type household... hoping/thinking that I would eventually convert as well and perhaps marry Jewish therefore having many Jewish children. It almost worked too as I loved the Jewish traditions and the revrance that they have for G*d. But I swore I would not convert unless I fell in love with someone that was Jewish because I would not promise G*d to raise a Jewish family unless I was sure I could keep that promise. It was not to be, I feel in love with .... hummm an Irishman that thinks there is a good a possiblity that G*d might be around but is pretty sure G*d does not take a personal intrest in us, and we eventually decided to have no children. But the past two years have left me very sick... and I have come very close to dieing more then once. I had a Gastric Bypass surgry that went very wrong and has left me not well. I find myself requestioning G*d/purpose/destiny as well as my past... what happened and why. I find myself quiet envious of people with faith......

Hi achromic,

I'm sorry things have been so difficult for you. Sounds like you've traveled a pretty rough road....

Don't ever get the idea that the faith walk is an easy one. People may make it look easy, but trust me, nothing about it is easy! Even though it is hard, I have found it to be two things: true and worth it. :)

I walked away from God myself in my early 20's. I stayed away for almost 9 years. It was purely by the grace of God that I didn't destroy myself during that time. But when I came back to Him -- He was so good to embrace me, clean me up, and fill me up with all that He is! I had been at the end of my rope, and even in light of all I had done He loved me back into the fold. I was so grateful -- am grateful still! -- I knew I would never walk away from Him again! :)

My life hasn't been all that easy since that day, but one thing I know: life may be hard, but it's infinitely harder without God. He is the One that gets me through the difficulties of this life. He is my lifeline.

I've lived close to Him and I've lived far away. I choose close! :)There's nowhere I would rather be.

I pray for you, achromic, that He will touch your life just as He touched mine... Meeting you at the point of your need with all that He is.

Thanks for sharing part of your story with me.... Please let me know how I can serve you...

In Christ,
mary

Achromic, I'm glad to see you're getting some questions answered about spiritual warfare. Hopefully you'll start to see how we can love post-abortive women and still be "at war." You're in my prayers.