Go God!

If we do not put gas, oil or transmission fluid in our cars they will break down. But we claim liberty in Christ, do as we please, ask God to bless our unhealthy food that we stuff in our faces then when our bodies start to break down and we are ailing we blame it on the devil.

If Jesus is ever interceding for us according to the will of God, Satan has to ask permission to sift us and if God grants permission then who are we to rebuke, plead the blood of Jesus, and try to cast out a demon, or do spiritual warfare? Obviously, God allowed Satan to sift us or we wouldn’t have the afflictions and tribulations. If you must blame, then blame God for allowing the troubles. Why would we want to stop the perfecting process by rebuking, pleading the blood, casting out, binding up or doing spiritual warfare? And just whom are we doing the spiritual warfare against?

It does not say that Paul rebuked the persecutions and afflictions, cast them out, pleads the blood of Jesus or does spiritual warfare. He endured. We are told to endure. Paul entreated the Lord three times that the thorn in his flesh might depart from him. God decided to not grant that to him. Nor did he tell Paul to do spiritual warfare to get liberated from it. Paul didn’t rebuke the thought or voice but rather chose to glory and take pleasure in his infirmities, reproaches, necessities and persecutions. Go Paul!

The Lord was more interested in building Christ-like character in Paul as a true display of His power (2 Corinthians 12:9) than in putting on the kind of fireworks display which many today are calling ‘power encounters’. We must realize that believers are NEVER instructed to rebuke the devil or his demons. The only acceptable condition for a believer to rebuke is when he lovingly corrects a brother fallen into sin.

As Christians, if we spent half the time we gave to ‘devil fighting’ or doing spiritual warfare, to look deep within the word of God and see for ourselves what it really says, we would be effectively warring for our salvation. The helmet of salvation guards our head or our thoughts.

If we are diligently seeking Gods truth in all things instead of trying to figure out how to get out of the affliction quickly, our mind and thoughts would be covered and we wouldn’t need to be doing a war against every thing that we thought was not of God. If we were attentively seeking Gods truth, and not playing religious games in seeking power, our mind would be so filled with the real power of the word that enduring would not be such a chore.