Battle Cry

54 Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. 55 When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. 56 You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times. Luke 12:54-56....."Believers ought to steadily mature in their faith so they're able to receive deeper and deeper words from God. If they aren't, something is wrong....God will not reveal more truth to you than you're capable of receiving."....Richard Blackaby...."The real enemy is the deceiver, the father of lies." James Robison

There are three things that I believe are disappearing in the western church, and to a shocking degree. Wisdom, Understanding, and Discernment. His Wisdom, Understanding and Discernment. How can this be? Why have we become so comfortable with its lack in our midst?

I think the greatest reason is that we've become so dependent upon our own understanding, wisdom, and discernment that we don't feel the need for His. The ongoing lack of emphasis on the Person of the Holy Spirit has played a huge role in this. I think many have simply believed that coming to faith in Christ just enhances the gifts we already have. In short, our fleshly talents have now been greatly improved. What we miss is that they're still just that, fleshly talents. He didn't come to improve us, but to transform us. No matter how many times we may have read or heard in His Word that we are not to "lean unto our own understanding," we still do. So how we "see," understand, and perceive what is happening around and before us is anchored in ourselves and not Him. What has happened is that a strong spirit of deception has infiltrated the church, and we are blind to what He's speaking and doing in the times in which we live. I think we're seeing the fruit of that in the times in which we find ourselves.

It's been a fact for some time now that we live in an information soaked age, and nowhere has that been more evident than in what we hear about this pandemic. The question is, what is it that we're hearing? Many people are saying that despite all the information coming out, what they feel is frustrated and confused because "facts" seem to change each day. What is the truth? What is the lie? Is frustration and confusion, and the anger that goes with them to be our lot, especially the lot of the believer? No! A thousand times and more, no. Not just in this pandemic, but in everything happening around and before us.

Available to us, if we'll dare to walk in it, is the discernment of the Holy Spirit, along with His Wisdom and Understanding. Armed with that, I believe He'll give us a growing sense of what is true and what is not. I think He'll give us a sense of who is pushing a personal agenda and who is not. Our understanding and discernment over what is being presented in order to lay hold of power and control, as opposed to what is good for His Kingdom will grow as well. In so many places in His Word we're told to "test the spirits" that we might know from where they are coming. How many of us actually know what that is, or have the depth to do so? We can when we walk in His Spirit, in dependence of His Spirit. This holds true not only as concerns are current world situation, but in all situations. Now more than ever, we need to be a truly spirit-filled and led people.

James Robison said that the enemy is "trying to destroy God's Kingdom purpose in our lives, His Church, and in this nation." But we have, in Christ, all the means to totally defeat the purposes of the darkness. His Word says that we are "more than conquerors," but as Robison points out, we cannot be that unless we are actually conquering. In the lives we are living, individually, as families, and as His Church, are we conquering?

Scripture says, "Let God arise and His enemies be scattered." The foremost means of the Father's arising is through His people. He arises through us as we live risen lives in Him. When this happens, the confusion the enemy meant for us is thrown back upon him. He, and all his forces are scattered. The Church, as it has been raised up to do, holds the ground....as conquerors.....Let God arise, in us, and let His and our enemy be scattered though us. Let this be our battle cry against the one who is our true enemy in all things.

Blessings,
Pastor O