For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places.
Ephesians
6:12
Take note
of this next sentence and let it sink deep into your hearts; you’re losing the battle because you are
fighting the wrong thing… Satan has you deceived in this fight; he is
laughing and toying with you because you are focused on the appearance of
things and the spirit that resides within them… If you have been fighting
without results, Paul tells us why this is the case today… You haven’t gained
ground in this war because you are raising your sword against the wrong adversary…
Paul teaches us today the importance of knowing who and what it is that we
wrestle against… As a child of God we are to “love the sinner and hate the sin,”
God displayed this when He picked you up and dusted you off… This same grace
and mercy that the Lord showed when He not only sent His only begotten son but removed
Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden… The person of Adam was a noble man;
however, he allowed the persuasion of the enemy to infiltrate the very morals
that God had established in Him… This is the case with most of us today, we all
have been created in the image of God, but there are different things that we
have allowed the enemy to infiltrate within us… This is why Paul says “For we wrestle not aginst flesh and blood…”
Learn today to extend a helping hand to someone who wronged you because they
were not made in that way… A lot of us have been deceived into thinking that
people are beyond the realm of God’s saving grace and so we write these people
of by staying away from them… It is your divine duty to share Christ with them
so that the attack of the enemy can be thwarted by the love and mercy of our
God… It isn’t the being themselves, but the principalities, powers and darkness
that have taken up residence within them… Sins
the fall of man the word says that all have sinned; this simply means that we
are born with this stigma and must choose to accept Christ and wrestle with
walking the will that He has paved and devised for us… This wickedness that Paul speaks of today doesn’t
even have to be found in someone else; it could very well be residing in you…
You may not necessarily lash out at people; however, in today’s focus verse we
learn the important things that we must not only understand, but carry with us
daily… The first lesson is that upon this
earth we will wrestle… There is a battle that takes place daily, the
problem is that it comes in many forms… Laziness (a desire not to get up or go
to work), jealousy (a desire to have what others have obtained) and malice
(hatred, spite or cruelty) which will cause us to be nasty to people or
disrespectful just to name a few… Know
that battles are at your door and sometimes have already invaded your house…
You must follow the guidelines that are outlined in this letter to the church of Ephesus
Again,
whether we recognize it or not, daily we are at war within ourselves and our
societies… We see many young men and women becoming chalk outlines, many kids
having kids and more and more decisions being made that lead to catastrophic
outcomes… To understand the war that we are fighting (this is the second
lesson that we must learn and comprehend), we must understand who the enemy
really is… When someone commits a heinous crime we are quick to pass judgment,
but the truth of the matter is that we should be praying for that individual to
be released from the bondage of evil that has taken His life captive… This war that we are fighting isn’t about
the flesh; it’s not about what you see but about the motives and where the
decisions are derived from… Jesus taught that we are to love the sinner and
not the sin… There are so many people that have been written off and pushed to
the side instead of lifted up and laid before Christ… Paul reminds us today
that As Christians, we are taught to love the sinner, but hate the sin. We must
remember that evil comes in many forms in fashions (a wolf and sheep’s
clothing) and that it is seeking whomever it can devour…Paul wrote in his
letter to Rome that we aren’t to retaliate toward evil deeds, but that we are
to overcome evil with good… Romans 12:20 says, “On the contrary: If your
enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In
doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Paul’s message
was that we cannot allow the devil to manipulate situations and cause us to fall
short… When we look beyond faults and wrongdoings we are allowing God’s love
and compassion to enter in and manifest it self… It is so easy to give someone
a piece of our mind when they have heart us and this is the war that Paul is
speaking of today… Coals are used to mold things and remove impurities from
jewelry… Often times we are compared to gold and therefore subject to the
refiner’s fire… When we extend a hand of love instead of a hand of hate, we
reap coals on the person who has wronged us and those coals create the
foundation for purification and molding in their lives… Everyday that you are
privileged to see is another day in the war for your soul… The devil will come
in many forms; he could try you in the form of a financial hardship, losing a relationship
or simply inflecting strife into your life; however, understand that none of
these scenarios are focused on physical challenges… The storms your face test
your faith, your mental toughness and emotions… Paul reminds us to be mindful
of the situations around us, but to also remember that it isn’t about what we
see on the surface… A lot of people look
at what happened with Job and all the riches he lost; however, many people fail
to realize when the devil actually stepped into his life… Job had lost
everything but Satan really stepped in when his wife told him to curse God and
die… The physical things that we see on the surface of Job’s life weren’t the
real problem, it was the decision to curse God or not… Paul’s letter speaks to us and Job’s situation confirms it… We wrestle
not against the flesh (what we can see), but rather against the devil and all
the traps that aren’t visible…
BE BLESSED!!!
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