IN TWO REALMS!!!

A SEEN WORLD AND AN UNSEEN WORLD

The wise Apostle Paul realized something too easily overlooked, that there is both a seen world and an unseen world. Though we live in a world of concrete and steel, our warfare as Christians is in the spiritual realm. And this spiritual realm is like wind; you can’t see it but you can see evidence of it. Though it can’t be seen with physical eyes, it is there nonetheless. It is in the spiritual realm that Paul is warring against the enemies of Christ. His purpose is to defeat every enemy that hinders people from obeying the wonderful message of the gospel (2 Cor. 10: 3-5) “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling out strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  May we join Paul in boldly battling every spiritual enemy that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, both in ourselves and for the sake of others? The victory is indeed ours through Christ Jesus.  Bear in mind that Jesus as a Son of God was not left behind by the tempter, but suffered as well being tempted. The good news however,” He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Heb. 2:18).

THE GREAT DECEIVER (Job 1:6-12)

It is true that Satan was among the “the sons of God” when they presented themselves before the Lord. Strange? Satan together with the angelic host around the throne? He was there however, as an intruder, perhaps what we call today a gate-crasher. Uninvited but nevertheless there. Satan is always an intruder, count on it- intruder he will! If he attempted to scale and then sit on God’s holy mountain what inner sanctum will he not try his best to penetrate?  Of course if Satan stands among the angels he must look as angelic as possible Masquerading is one of his specialties. If the officials needed Judas Iscariot to identify Jesus for them; for He looked like everybody else- perhaps we will need assistance in picking out that disreputable leader of the opposition, for he blends in so nicely with everyone else. My beloved, do not look for horns, pitchfork, and red tights. Look for something much more subtle, something much more at home in our secular and even religious societies. Satan with his schemes will look just as anyone else wherever he intrude to be. John the Apostle reminds us that, “The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him; be informed brethren, he is not alone but with his deceiving counterparts called his angels.” (Rev. 12:9).

GOD IS STILL AT WAR WITH SATAN

If God in His Sovereignty still wage war with Satan ; then who are we my brethren to slumber and relax knowing that the devil and his hosts are down here on earth? Job spoke in his wisdom thus:” The dead tremble, those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before Him, and destruction has no covering, He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the water in His thick clouds, yet the clouds are not broken under it. He covers the face of His throne, and spreads His cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters, at the boundary of light and darkness. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power and by His understanding, He breaks up the storm. By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.”  In the days of the Israelites, prophet Isaiah tells us that God waged war, “In the day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; and He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.”(Is. 27:1)

STAND UP TO SATAN (Matt. 4:1-11)

Jesus ‘response to the devil’s third wilderness temptation was a simple but firm “ Away with you, Satan!” one may wonder if sufficient authority has been delegated to the believer, so that he too, when under demonic attack, may deliver a similar ultimatum to the evil one. Of course Satan is not dispatched easily by anybody who can simply mouth the word “Away”; to any who think this confrontation is only rote and mechanical, Satan will reply by saying, who are you? Paul and Jesus I know but who are you? (The incident with the sons of skiver Acts 19:11-16). “ To genuinely tell Satan to depart, however, is not only a sign of spiritual sagacity and maturity but even more it is indicative of full appropriation of Christ’s authority by the believer. It is never God’s will for us to lie down and play dead before Satan.  We must refuse to be intimidated, or to be lulled into admiration for him.

CHRISTIANS ARE AT WAR WITH THE DEVIL Gen. 3:1-15

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Listen to this my brethren; the devil knows how to deceive and manipulate, and knows exactly whom to face, where and at what time! The Satan knew very well that the woman was a weaker vessel  and had not yet known the Scriptures  how to defend herself( In this passage I would say , the man failed  the woman , he only gave her the warning  of not eating the fruit of both knowledge of good and evil . Had the man given his wife the full package; she would have known how to say “it is Witten “or “Away with you Satan” (this we had seen in the previous paragraph, not just anybody who can simply mouth “Away with you Satan” Back to the man again, I feel he never fulfilled his responsibility as a husband to protect his wife as weaker vessel from the tempter. Where was he in the first place? Had he been there, the Satan would have not gotten the opportunity to deceive the woman; he was required to be there to protect his wife, face and battle the tempter, I believe it would have not reached this far of the Satan to tell the woman,” Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”  After the woman gave the response of what God said, he goes ahead and tells the woman, “You will not surely die, For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil” kwisha maneno! I feel it sounds good in Swahili more than English. To cut the story short, the woman ate the fruit and gave to her husband who also ate; Here the weaker vessel should be the man himself, in the first place, he was not there, second he never protected his wife and third he had no moral standard even to ask his wife where did you get this but forth, he played the blame game “it is the woman whom You gave to be with me, who gave me of the tree, and I eat.”  As human beings knowledge is demanded in all aspects of our life endeavors.  From this same passage of (Gen. 3: 15) I would confidently introduce you to another subtopic:

CHRIST AS THE VICTOR

The above passage can be referred to as the “preaching of the Gospel in the Garden of Eden.” Because it introduces the One who will deliver mankind from the power of the tempter. The seed of the woman who would bruise the head (or destroy the power) of the serpent was the Savior Jesus (cf. Rom 16:20)”And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. “The seed of the serpent, namely wicked persons (cf. Matt. 13:38, 39; John 8:44)”The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.”” you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand on the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” Would be the enemy of righteousness in all ages. Their venom would be directed specifically at Jesus, and would do Him violence to the extent of causing His death. But God’s resurrection power showed that Christ’s harm had only been harmed in a minor way, whereas the power of sin had been crushed by being conquered at Calvary. There Christ died to atone for human sin redeeming us from its bondage. This verse promises that in the prolonged conflict between good and evil, the Holy seed Himself is the guarantor that good ultimately will prevail. (2 Thess. 2:8)”And the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”

CHRISTIANS ARE AT WAR WITH THE POWERS OF DARKNESS (SPIRITUAL WARFARE Eph. 6; 10-18)

Spiritual warfare is conflict between the forces of God and of Satan, between the powers of light and of darkness. Jesus battled the evil one and gained the ultimate victory by His death on the cross and by His exaltation. But as Christians, we cannot avoid spiritual warfare as soldiers of Christ. To help us in this struggle, God provides defensive armor, as well as an offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, so that victory is certain. What should ring in our minds at this juncture is how to fight these battles; My brethren, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. After knowing what we are fighting; then I admonish you to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His Might for us to stand these forces, because when we are in the our natural and physical body my brethren , don’t try it, lest you be overpowered as the seven sons of skiver.  And as soldiers of Christ Jesus told His disciple what is expected of them, and what to expect from this world; “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world will love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the words that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My words, they will keep yours also.”  With this in mind my beloved brethren, as you wage war, the devil and his host will not be at ease with you, but nevertheless stand firm for the battles are not ours but the Lord’s. (Deut.33:29) assured us this, “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! Your enemies shall submit to you, and you shall tread down their high places.”

SPIRITUAL VICTORY ASSURED!

Christ’s assured victory is that in Him we find peace, but in the world  there is; tribulation but He goes further telling us to be of good cheer; because He has overcome the world(John 16:33). Jesus appointed seventy  other followers and sent them two by two  before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. And when they returned, they were joyful saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10: 1, 17-19) What more can I say? If all power and the authority are given to us; then we are victors with Christ. Victory is certain and accomplished by Christ on the cross; “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all peoples to Myself.” We will be drawn to Jesus at His second coming if found worthy and qualified. In (Col. 2:15) Apostle Paul tells us, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”  And ( Heb. 2:14) say, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil.” (1 Cor.15:55-57), says,” O Death, Where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let’s end with our Lord Jesus Christ’s prayer to God the Father, before He returned to Him from (John. 17: 9-23); “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those that You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, but these things I speak in the world that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the World. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the whole world may believe that You sent Me.And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfecting one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Amen.”

“Grace to you and Favor from God our Father and Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen...”