The Spiritual World & Spiritual Warfare

At my church, we are going through the book of 1 John. Each week a different small section of the book is read and studied. Today we read 1 John 4:1-6. The section, in my ESV Bible is titled "Test the Spirits" and today's message at church was titled "Cultivating Spiritual Discernment." I was not sure what to expect when the sermon started, but God really spoke to me through it.

The main thing that I took away from this message was how real the Spiritual world is. My pastor began to speak about belief in ghosts and at first I was thinking, okay I don't believe in ghosts. However, my viewpoint on that has changed a bit. The Bible does talk about the Holy Ghost and Spirits, so they are real. There are many things that can be confused when look at the world's view and the Bible's view.

In 1 John 4:1 (ESV), it is written "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false profits have gone out into the world." My pastor referred to this as the first lesson on Spiritual Discernment, and that is to develop a Biblical worldview. What does it mean to develop a Biblical worldview? There are three characteristics that are crucial to a Biblical worldview that my pastor talked about. They are:

1. A biblical worldview assumes the reality of spirits and the spirit world.
2. A biblical worldview assumes the spirit realm is actively involved in the natural realm.
3. A biblical worldview assumes there are only two sources of authority and power - and they are at war.

Spirits are real and they do exist, it is mentioned many times over and over in the Bible. Angels are spirits, messengers sent from God. Demons are also spirits, they are sent out by Satan. These two sources of authority and power (God and Satan) are at war. If you haven't noticed, there always seems to be a battle between good and evil, especially in Hollywood!

The second lesson that my pastor said is being taught in this passage is that believing is not to be the beginning point, but rather to "put up your antenna" and have spiritual discernment to discern what is and what is not from God. I found this to be relevant to my own life. I tend to hear something and if someone mentions the Bible or God I tend to think that they must be telling the truth. However, that is not always the case. It is very important that we are careful to not jump into believing something before we take the time to discern whether or not it is of God. 

The last thing I want to share that really stuck out to me in the message was when my pastor talked about how Satan's demons attack us. He talked about how the enemy can "snatch the Word" right out of our minds when we go to read the Bible before we actually read the words. I have found this to be true in my own life. I am experience Spiritual Warfare and this is one thing that is happening. When I go to read God's Word, I feel confused and that I am not comprehending anything and that I might as well not read it because I don't even know what I am reading. This is something that scares me. I want to be in God's Word and to understand and listen to what God is speaking to me. 

Be very aware, my friends, of what Satan can do and may be doing within you...without you even being aware! Satan and his demons whisper things in our minds that we may think sounds good and is of God, when it really isn't. I am interested to learn more about spirits and what the Bible has to say about it. As I learn more, I will be posting what God speaks to me so that others may become more aware through the things God teaches me.

The Journey's Still Going!

I haven't blogged in such a long time. I am still here and the journey has not ended. I question over and over again whether God has a spouse picked out for me. People continue to encourage me that He has someone special picked out, but the time has not yet come. Deep down inside I want to wait for His perfect timing, but I keep hearing a voice that discourages me. What I want to share tonight in my blog post is something that was spoken to me at church today.

My pastor shared from 1 John 3:19-24 and it was an incredible message. It felt like he was speaking directly to me, but I could feel the entire congregation being spoken to as well. He spoke about how Satan sends his demons out to speak lies in our heads to condemn our hearts and make us feel negatively about ourselves and our self-image. We need to push those feelings aside and allow God's truth, His good and perfect Word, to enter into our minds in place of those negative thoughts.

I have had so many negative thoughts entering into my mind and I let them take over my life. This explains a lot of why I have felt down about myself and why I've been grumpy to those around me, specifically my family. When we allow those thoughts to overtake us, we lose our confidence. We then don't have the confidence to come before God and our prayer life has been hindered. I have found that my prayer life has been sort of at a standstill as of late. I have not been able to figure out why it is hard for me to come before God. I have now realized that it must be for this very reason: I have lost my confidence to come before God because I feel like I am not worthy and I need to somehow earn back His love.

Please be encouraged friends, you do NOT have to EARN His love. He freely gives it to EVERYONE. He wants everyone to know how much He loves you. My pastor reference the song "Jesus Loves Me" today and I think that goes back to the innocence of a child and how important it is to keep that part of us alive, especially in our relationship with Christ. We tend to make things too complicated and our Heavenly Father just wants our love. He doesn't require us to do good deeds in order to come before Him. He wants us to love Him and that will lead to serving Him, which will lead to more love all around.

Here is a cute video of "Jesus Loves Me:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AAloccjo3Q Listen to the lyrics all the way through, there are some that I am not familiar in as I remember singing only the short version when I was younger. :)

As we grow in our confidence in Christ and we grow closer to Him, His Spirit will fill us up and we will begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. This is something that I want to experience in my own life. I have been made anew and from this day forward I am devoting to memorizing scripture and filling my mind with His truth rather than the lies Satan sends my way. I am going to put those aside and let in the Truth. Be blessed, friends! =D