Identify the Enemy

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

We attended a bullfight in Spain, which, though it may not be the pinnacle of enjoyable experiences, is nonetheless an interesting one. Having grown up around a farm, the kill before butchering was never something I looked forward to. Some would argue that the death of the bull in a bullfight is as humane as the death in a slaughterhouse. I do know that in the bullring the beast has his moments of glory, and after watching six bulls defy the matadors, my admiration for bulls has gone way up. As a child I was never allowed to touch a bull. When feeding the cows and petting them, the temptation was always present to likewise pat the bull, but any movement I made toward that end was met with a strong rebuke from my grandfather. He had hauled several bulls over the years and seen men gored; he never trusted any bull. The toros in Spain enter the arena full of attitude, muscle-rippling strength, and catlike quickness in an impressive show. They look for anything that is moving and immediately charge with power that is awing to witness; they send every matador scrambling behind a thick wooden wall, and then they hammer the wall with their horns. I had never witnessed that in a bull, nor had I seen that kind of endurance. Nothing about a bullfight is fair; the only way to make it less fair would be to remove one of the bull’s legs! However, because of the bull’s strength and superiority, the fight would take hours were the bull not slowed down. Carrying a spear, a horseman rides in on a heavily padded and blindfolded horse, and the bull immediately rushes him. The first bull we saw actually knocked the horse over and was able to gore it, even as the rider, falling down, drove the spear deep into the bull’s back. Next, four matadors begin to wear the bull down with a series of charges at pink capes. When the bull is sufficiently tiring, another matador will come holding two colorful skewers. He allows the bull to charge him straight on and then jumps sideways, driving the skewers into the back of the bull. This is repeated three times. Even at this point the stamina of the bull is incredible. The matador, with his large red cape, will now come out to work the bull until it finally has its strength bled out of it, at which time, with an air of satisfaction, the man draws a sword; the great beast bows its head to hurtle one more time toward the rag that has given it so much grief, and the matador drives the sword into its great heart. Some matadors are better at this than others, but ideally, the bull’s demise is quick, and it drops, immediately dead. The whole exhibition takes around fifteen minutes.

As I watched, I could not help but think about our fight against the “rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness.”In Christ, the battle is won. On the cross He did not say, “To be continued!” He said, “It is finished.” Like the bull, we in Christ have the superior strength.However, the bull makes one fatal mistake by thinking the cape, a simple piece of lifeless rag, is the enemy, the source of its torment and pain! I kept thinking to myself, If only you would stop fighting the rag, stop looking down, look up at the head, and move eighteen inches to the right! The battle would be yours. Even to its dying breath the bull was eyeing the rag, when it was the matador that was driving the sword deep into his heart. A physically superior creature is defeated because of a wrong focus. How often in our spiritual battles the enemy has our focus on something other than him; we never pay attention to his ugly head. So many times I have talked to couples ready to divorce over absolutely nothing but a rag; the enemy has continually poked at them, making them think that the rag is what is hurting them. It is not the rag! It is the one behind the rag. Move eighteen inches to the right, go for the head, and you will see the truth of it. Many times I will stop in the middle of a situation and just say, “The Lord rebuke you!” I know the issue is not the issue; there is someone behind the issue, and I want to go for the head. The believer has the superior strength, but that will do him no good if his focus is in the wrong place. So many just bow and let the enemy drive the sword deep into the heart. There will nearly always be the need for a twenty percent improvement in any relationship; that provides the rag. Why let the twenty percent steal the eighty percent of joy? On any given day, you should immediately be able to say three things that are right about your situation and about your mate. We need God’s grace to recognize the head.

SOVEREIGNTY VS. FREE WILL

It is always somewhat difficult to strike the balance between the absolute sovereignty of God and the will of man. That God gives men choices is clear – that it is GOD who directs the steps of a man is also plain. So – the fact is that God does give us choices and these choices are contained within the larger circumference of God's will. God predestinates us to reach a certain goal. Along the way He gives us choices. He will then deal with us according to those choices, whether they are good or bad choices. If we make a bad choice, He will bring stripping, judgment, rebuke – whatever is necessary to correct and teach us. If we make a good choice He will also deal accordingly. But the end is secure, all these choices are contained within the larger sphere of His predestinating will, and are given to effect the necessary work within to conform to His image.  

J. PRESTON EBY

How, Exactly, Do I Abide in Christ?

Then He said to them all: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it.”
--Luke 9:23, 24

Abiding in Christ is something that every believer has experienced, and yet it seems most difficult to maintain. I have been asked, “What do you struggle with?” Like all teachers I struggle with the thing I most often teach, abiding! All of my other failures originate from this one. When Christ is my focus, nothing really bothers me, and when He is not, the smallest event can create a spiritual domino effect. So the question, “How, exactly, do I abide?” is a significant one.  

Let me share a few insights.

First, abiding is not something that we do but the awareness that we trust the Lord completely.Psalm 139:7, “Or where can I flee from Thy presence?”

Second, abiding is not dependent on us but on Christ, so it is a faith issue. He is the One keeping us in the abiding relationship, the branches in the Vine.

Third, if we do not know how to set our minds on things above, then we can at least discover what it is to set our minds on the flesh and refuse to do it! Examine Luke 9:23 to understand the flesh, and if we say no to every opportunity to set our minds on it, by default the mind must go to the spirit.

Fourth, abiding is the beginning point of an abundant spiritual life; therefore, all powers meet at this point. When forces would move you from your position in Him, do not succumb to the voice that whispers, “It does not work; it is not for you. You are exactly where you were years ago!” Once I was in a boat that capsized, and I was pulled under the water. I did not immediately begin to think, Well, I guess I will never have air again! Air sure does not last very long; it sure is not worth the effort of breathing! No, no, no! All I thought about was getting back to where there was air. We are not to let failure move us away. Rather, we can get back, start breathing again, and let our focus rest in Christ.

I Will Be Just Like JESUS, I Will See HIM As HE is!

Before time began, before the worlds were created, Before time begins, before the worlds are created, before any angelic being fills the heavens with praise . . . there is neither past nor future tense. God lives entirely in and through Himself, rejoicing together in His triune nature, the Father rejoices in the beauty and power of His Son. The Son basks in the glory of His Father. The Spirit radiates the goodness and beauty and strength of the Son and the Father. To the Father, the Son is everything. To the Son, the Father is everything. To the Spirit, the Son and the Father are everything. The Father, being the greatest and mightiest of All, raises up His Son and places Him above every other part of Himself.

The Father says:      “I magnify My Word above all My Name.”

There, in the beginning, before time existed, the Father beholds His Son, raised in glory above all of Himself, and suddenly God stops, stunned, unable to believe what He sees. Suddenly, the Father, looking through the Son, catches a glimpse of the most beautiful thing in the entire universe. That’s it. It’s all over for God. God falls head over heels in love.

God sees me, Daniel Yordy. God sees me, _____________________, (put your own name in the blank), and His heart leaps into His throat. He can hardly believe His eyes. Yet there I am, the image of God’s glory, the  reflection of all that God is. There I am, Beauty and Might revealed. God will not rest another moment until He has me as His bride and friend, as His son and companion forever. In that moment time is.

God immediately counseled together with Himself. All the dynamics of God spun in fierce excitement. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit were in full agreement. They all knew they wanted me, that they would do whatever it took, pay any price, bear any cost, suffer any loss, endure any hardship. None of it mattered, each of Them would do the assigned task. God determined in His heart, right from the beginning, that He will win me as His own. And so the Father looked steadfastly at the me He sees from the beginning.
He gazed deeply at all that I am as He sees me in the end. He knows me, every part of me in my completed state. He knows my glory, my beauty, my strength. He looks fully and deeply at me and sees His own Son. He sees
the reflection of Himself in all of His fullness.

The Father motioned, “Are you ready?” “I am ready,” the Son replied. As God opened His mouth to speak, the Son, the Word God speaks, leaped forth to fulfill the determined purpose of God. God CALLED into
existence that awesome creature that bears His image, and in that moment I was conceived in my mother’s womb.
I exist now, because God called what He sees I am into existence.

And here I am, sitting in my chair, reading this book. Here I am, beset by weakness and limitation, sorrow and loss. Here I am, stumbling and falling short of God’s glory, my face so often covered in mud. Here I sit, seeing
myself as weak and fleshy, torn and divided, fully aware of my sin and my shame.

But suddenly, I sit up and take notice. “Could it be? Is it really possible that I am not who I imagine myself to be? Could it be that I am something very different from what I ‘see’ when I look at myself right now?”
I stop, suspended for a moment, and then the question flames in my mind. “If this that I ‘see’ myself to be is not who I am, then, for God’s sake,  WHO AM I?”

And if I have to look at something invisible to see who I really am, if the visible things I see of myself are not telling me the truth, then how on earth do I know who I am? How do I get from here to there? What is my guide?
Where is reality found?

God, from the very beginning, determined that I would be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be, not one solitary person, but the firstborn among many brethren.
And in the moment when God called me, the final me I really am, into existence, He justified me of every shortcoming I would ever know, and He glorified me forever in WHO I AM.

And the secret of who I am is right there, fully in the open, staring me right in the face my whole life.

Who I am is nothing more and nothing less than who Jesus is in me. To know myself, I simply look at Jesus. To know what I do, I simply look at what He does. Whatever He thinks, how He lives, whatever He does, that is what the real me does, that is how I live.

Jesus lives in me!

- Daniel Yordy

Heavy Loads

Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you. --I Thessalonians 4:11

“Do not let down and do not stop working; the time is near!” “Are you doing all you can? People are dying, so where is your vision for missions? Get up! Go around the block preaching; there are those in your neighborhood who need saving!” “How can you enjoy your sandwich in the restaurant? Do you not know that sinners surround you?” “You only have so much time; do not waste it on anything but ministry!” Blah . . . blah . . . blah!

Usually we hear such things from someone who is in “full-time ministry” with no other job commitments. In the majority of the places to which I travel, those with whom I minister have full-time jobs and consider all of their activities to be an extension of ministry. “Ministry” must be redefined; it is not constant talking! Saint Francis said that we are to do everything possible to share the message of Jesus Christ, and then if we absolutely have to, say something! That is an overstatement, since the world must see but also must hear. The beauty of our “religion” is that we do not have to get out of the world, like the Buddhist, in order for it to work. It works right where we work! We do not have to move up a priestly ladder climbing toward heavenly work and moving away from earthly work. Our faith has its impact in the everyday tasks. As we live in Him and He lives through us, life’s activities are filled with Him.I Corinthians 10:31, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Paul did not separate our work under the headings of “secular” and “religious”; he combined it with the use of one word, all. “Do all to the glory of God.”Separation of the all that a believer does has led many to feel as though they are second-class believers, who then become dissatisfied with their vocations while looking for “the great Christian someday,” a day when ministry will fulfill them. Considering the list of admonitions at the start of this article, how do any of them apply to the first thirty years of the Savior’s life? He had a Kingdom to start, apostles to train, the whole of mankind to save, and yet for years He continued to work at a carpenter’s bench! In Him we see that the life of heaven and the life of earth can become one in the daily tasks of humanity.I remember succumbing to the teaching that spirituality equals activity. I felt condemned if I were not witnessing to everyone I met, yet the effort was rarely fruitful. I then discovered rest and became motivated to live for the glory of God. I stopped pressing for salvation decisions and began looking for ways to love. Rarely a week goes by that I do not find myself witnessing, but now it is natural, not contrived of my own doing, and it is fruitful. I love Christianity, for there is nothing else like it; it is unique, absolute, and it is the way.

Falling Forward

Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see
the glory of God? John 11:40

Mary and Martha could not not understand what their
Lord was doing. Each of them had said to Him, 'Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died.'
And behind their words we seem to read their true
thoughts: 'Lord, we do not understand why you waited
so long to come or how you could allow the man you
love so much to die. We do not understand how you
could allow such sorrow and suffering to devastate our
lives when you could have stopped it all. Why didn't
you come? But Jesus simply had one great truth in
answer to all of this. He said, in essence, 'You may not
understand, but I am telling you that if you believe you
will see.'

Abraham could not understand why God would ask him
to sacrifice his son, but he trusted Him. Then he saw the
Lord's glory when the son he loved was restored to him.
Moses could not understand why God would require
him to stay forty years in the wilderness, but he also
trusted Him. Then he saw when God called him to lead
Israel from Egyptian bondage.

Joseph could not understand his brothers' cruelty toward
him, the false testimony of a treacherous woman, or the
long years of unjust imprisonment, but he trusted God
and finally he saw His glory in it all. And Joseph's
father, Jacob, could not understand how God's strange
providence could allow Joseph to be taken from him. Yet,
later he saw the Lord's glory when he looked into the
face of his son, who had become the governor for a great
king and the person used to preserve his own life and the
lives of an entire nation.

Perhaps you find yourself asking questions: "I do not
understand why affliction has been granted to strike me.
I do not understand why the Lord has led me down these
twisting paths. I do not understand why my own plans,
which seemed so good, have been so disappointing. I do
not understand why the blessings I so desperately need
are so long in coming."

Dear friend, you do not have to understand all God's
ways of dealing with you. He does not expect you to
understand them. You do not expect your children to
understand everything you do--you simply want them
to trust you. And someday you too will see the glory
of God in the things you do not understand. (J.H.M.)

What I see in this passage is this:
'You may not understand, but I am telling you that if
you believe you will see.' Not the exact words of Jesus,
but very close to what He was saying to Martha. You
see the enemy is constantly telling you that God is
not good to you, but in the stories above you can see
that He does care about you and He is always good.
As we walk through the darkness the Father wants us
to fall forward into His arms.

Independance

And the serpent said to the woman, "You shall surely
not die! For in the day you eat from it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.

(You will be like God. You will be equal with God, but
you might even be better than God. You will know evil.)

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree
was desirable to make one wise, she took its fruit and
ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he
ate. Genesis 3:4-6)

(When the woman saw that the tree was desirable to
make one wise, she ate and gave some to Adam who
was standing next to her.

The sin of Adam was not in the eating of the
fruit but that he chose independence from God. Is that
not our biggest problem still; our biggest sin? We make
decisions every day without any thought of what God
has in mind. He wants even more of us in this regard.
He wants us to be that branch in the Vine receiving
continual nourishment and life. He wants us to so be
leaning on Him that if He moved we would fall down!