Thy Kingdom Come - Part 3

Keys to the Kingdom

The adversary loves to alarm and make us fearful. However, there are keys to knowing how God wants us to handle life's challenges. Emotional balance through faith and rest in our relationship with Christ opens us to the knowledge of Scripture teaching us how to dress in His armor (Ephesians 6). Our Lord is clear in  Scripture about covering our hearts with the cloak of humility as Jesus did when He walked the earth.

God handles our battles no matter where they originate. Remember, our job is guarding our soul like a sentry. God and His host of angelic troops battle for us whether the enemy is human or spirit.

Pondering: For some of us spiritual warfare is an uncomfortable subject. In actuality, it is a blessing to learn and prepare for spiritual battle. However, obsessing or spending too much time worrying about the possibility of spiritual attack is not a spiritually healthy balance .

"But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 5:16-NABS).

Coaching: God's armor protects us from the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The allegory of the armor is, in essence, incorporating the mind of Christ into our attitudes and actions by learning God's Word and praying for our needs and the needs of others . . daily. God's imperative to retain the mind of Christ leads to a deep spiritual awakening.

    God's Protective Keys:

• Develop a defensive not an offensive battle strategy.
• Dress with the mind of Christ.
• Surrender to God.
• Obedient to the point of death.
• Be a servant.
• Inhabit deep prayer and Bible study.
• Submit to an attitude of humility through the mind of Christ.

The Holy Spirit permanently indwells us when we become saved. The depth of our spirit naturally intensifies as we build a relationship with and fall in love with Jesus. We continue to grow in spirit and truth until God takes us home.

Following God's instruction to love one another can change the world! He gave us the gift of loving deeply. If we completely trust, obey, and grow in His love the veil is taken away (2 Corinthians 5:16) and we will see the depth of His love and incredible influence on the world.

According to the book (Spiritual Warfare, By: Robert Dean and Thomas Ice), prayer changes things. Prayer contains more than one important part in spiritual warfare. We need to become thankful in everything... yes, everything. Instead, we often become discouraged and therefore become self-absorbed when suffering because we focus on our problems rather than God. We are to adopt an attitude of submission and humility toward God as we call upon Him to intercede when we find ourselves battling the devil.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (John 1:9 NASB).

The mind of the Spirit is a place of reason and feelings, patterning itself after the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5). Our minds (Romans 12:2) were formerly hostile to God (Romans 8:7), but through the renewal of the mind we accomplish these things through the Spirit, in opposition to carrying out the desires of the sinful flesh (Galatians 6:15; Romans 8:4). The concept of total dependence on the empowering of the Spirit is crucial to Christian living and it demonstrates the impossibility of any Christian not possessing the Spirit.

More Keys:

• Retain the mind of Christ and move into deep spiritual awakening.
• Love so you can help heal the world.
• Grow in a relationship with God so that, after salvation, we will be Spirit filled.
• Be thankful in prayer (this takes time to develop.)
• Confess (this is vital in resisting the devil.)

One day Jesus is going to return and take us home with Him for eternity. There is no sin nature in eternity. All of our pain and suffering, our soul-scars, disappointments, sorrows, and hurt will be replaced with eternal joy and purpose in a new life accomplishing things in eternity we could never do on earth. If anyone believes we will be sitting on clouds playing harps, bored in heaven... I am here to tell you that's nuts. There are more exciting things in eternity than our earthly minds can possibly fathom.

Challenge: I challenge you to satisfy your life-purpose through the filling of the Holy Spirit. If you are dressed with the mind of Christ the army of God protects you in spiritual warfare. He provides all the protection you need to survive with peace and rest during this time call waiting on earth. Are you ready to trust, obey, and surrender to the empowering of the Spirit? The decision is yours. It is between you and God. What is it going to be? If you continue to control your life, God will step back. If God is in control of your life (In the Meantime) you have access to (God's Protection) and can take possession of the (Keys to the Kingdom).

 

Comments

[mariagloria]

Thank you very much for this post sister!!