The Battle Scars of a Satanic Attack

Whenever I meet a new believer, I am always quick to warn him or her of the battles that lay ahead. I believe this is the right thing to do. When a believer has been misled by the promises of the modern gospel (the just-accept-Jesus-and-all-your-troubles-will-vanish) lie, the believer is ushered into a dangerous mindset that will more than likely cause a backslidden condition when Satan's minions get the crosshairs on him.

Now, I believe in the joy of the Lord, and I am all about letting new believers enjoy the new, exciting life in Christ they've discovered. It's wonderful! Awesome! And like all new believers who haven't been informed, they hope it will last forever! But one day, inevitably, trouble will come knocking at the door. The fiery darts will begin sailing. Jesus promised attacks (in this world you will have trouble) and when they happen, even the strongest, most seasoned saints hit the shelters.

I wrote this not to give instruction in time of war, but how to identify the trademarks of a languishing, besieged spirit. I will be brutally honest with this, in the hopes of giving comfort to other Soldiers of Christ and to assert that you're not alone! Finally, if you can identify with any of these traits, understand and take courage that you've been honored by being deemed worthy to suffer a Satanic attack. Suffice it to be said that the healing Balm of Gilead for these battle scars is found only in the Word of God.

[b]A Loss of Appetite for Prayer and Bible Study[/b]

This is the first area to buckle under Satan's artillery. Satan is no fool. He knows that if he can take out logistics and cut off the food and water supply, the soldier will be left powerless. Like a ruthless commander, he bombs the power plants and burns the oil refineries, trying to cut off all outside communication to God. Thus, a true Satanic attack is a siege in the most literal sense! When this happens, the soldier needs to strap on the armor and get down low; a terrible storm is brewing on the horizon.

[b]A Growing Interest in Secular Entertainment[/b]

Against your own judgment, you seem to find yourself growingly amused by worldly television shows and other forms of entertainment (which you used to hate). Your mind is so restless; it wants to do anything and everything but read the Bible and pray. Secular music, clothes, money, career and fashion statements all begin pulling at your heart. You're looking back at Egypt, and Egypt is looking so good, so relaxing, so sensual and easy to buy into. This is all meticulously contrived by the destroyer of souls. After he closes out your communications with God, he surrounds the walls of your mind and flashes his gold, wine, women and song, hoping to draw you out. Beware! Those who venture beyond God's protective walls of obedience are immediately apprehended, stripped and shackled to sin.

[b]Psychological Torments Begin[/b]

I know firsthand how lethal these blows can be. Normally, this is the breaking point. This is where the rubber-meets-the-road of the Christian walk. This is where the false converts are flushed out, and where the fence-straddlers fall off on the wrong side. Here Satan attacks the very core, the very essence of your beliefs. This is where you begin to question your relationship with God, question the inerrancy of the Bible, question your salvation, question absolute truth, question your church, your pastor, eternity, heaven and hell. Humanistic philosophies start making sense. These thoughts seem to come from the very essence of who you are, birthed in your own psyche - which is why they are so dangerously deceptive. You feel yourself sinking down into a bog of darkness and lies. While your own spirituality is being compromised, your mind begins a new and treacherous voyage of lustful desires and violent impulses. You are shocked, repulsed at what you are still capable of doing - and enjoying - even after all these years as a faithful Christian! You feel paralyzed in terms of getting the controls back. And the fact that you've stopped praying and meditating on scripture only compounds the guilt you're feeling.

[b]A Silent Witness[/b]

Mission accomplished. You no longer witness because you no longer care. Satan has achieved his goal - to take the fight out of you - and now he just continues with the shelling at a daily tempo. As long as you're not praying, as long as you're not feasting on the Word, as long as you're not sharing your faith, you are no longer a threat to hell. Understand that this sad state pretty much defines 98% of the Christian church today in North America. As far as military campaigns go, Satan has scored an immense victory. About 150,000 people fall into the jaws of hell daily while God's AWOL soldiers are cheering at the Super Bowl, watching idiot television shows and happily pursuing the American dream. And the brutal truth is that you have become another statistic. What happened? Oh, it's so depressing, so disheartening. Will God ever revive the fire you once had? He must - for if he doesn't, you know you'll never regain lost ground and die in a lukewarm condition!

There are, of course, many more scars than these. You may have many of your own unique ones. You are not alone! Though these atrocious onslaughts have weakened you, comfort is wrought by knowing the enemy is still outside the walls. And you know from experience that Divine Help will come if you hold on. In a moment - in the twinkling of an eye - when God has determined your trial has gone on enough, Jesus will step onto the battlefield with rescue and relief. Oh, watch the cowardly enemy take flight when he is confronted with Absolute Deity! Hear the sweet voice of your King call from the battlefield: "Come! Step out, my faithful one! Like faithful Joseph, you never gave in. You endured your hardships like a good soldier and your allegiance to your God stands fast! Enter now into times of refreshing!"

Thank you, brother Paul, for sharing these powerful and true words.

And thank [i]you[/i], dear sister, for your most gracious comments. Thank you also for your comments on the JS Bach poetry thread. Which reminds me, I'm taking my wife to see Handel's [i]Messiah[/i] on tuesday. She is very excited! That Hallelujah chorus is just so awesome.

Brother Paul

I thank you for posting this. I have had first hand experience with one of these attacks, I sent you a personal message about it.

Whenever I meet a new believer, I am always quick to warn him or her of the battles that lay ahead...A Loss of Appetite for Prayer and Bible Study. Satan is no fool. He knows that if he can take out logistics and cut off the food and water supply, the soldier will be left powerless.

Acts 16:14,15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

In these modern times, the word 'believe' doesn't mean too much anymore...in Acts, true converts attended to God's word. I am humbled by the care and action portrayed in that single word.

Also humbling was how she didn't trust her own self-evaluation regarding the state of her faith and soul before God, but instead wanted the word of God, through Paul, to judge her. In fact she insisted, perhaps actually begged Paul to come into my house and abide there.

Do we evaluate ourselves based on our own feelings, or do we plead to be searched and tested by the scriptures? Do we insist that the word of God be made welcome to come and abide in our homes?

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Thank you much PaulWest for reminding new, and older converts of these crucial things,

MC

Acts 16:14,15 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

In these modern times, the word 'believe' doesn't mean too much anymore...in Acts, true converts attended to God's word. I am humbled by the care and action portrayed in that single word.

Also humbling was how she didn't trust her own self-evaluation regarding the state of her faith and soul before God, but instead wanted the word of God, through Paul, to judge her. In fact she insisted, perhaps actually begged Paul to come into my house and abide there.

Do we evaluate ourselves based on our own feelings, or do we plead to be searched and tested by the scriptures? Do we insist that the word of God be made welcome to come and abide in our homes?

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Thank you much PaulWest for reminding new, and older converts of these crucial things,

very encouraged by this, Mike C.

I reckon our Lord is bringing all of our attention to His Word , really "feeling" very blessed today, sigh..God is just all too loving to us, undeservedly so, thank you too Greg and Mike B. Where will we all be without His Word..

As always, brother Paul, keep ministering to us this way..praise God!

It is amazing that since I posted this "Battle Scar" message, I have been practically inundated with personal messages from different brothers and sisters. Obviously, this topic is of great concern to the body of Christ! How blessed we are to communicate and share truth. We need to talk more about war. None of us are alone in our battles, though the field is smoking with carnage and our flags of holiness are bullet-ridden and bloody.

Saints, if we live holy for Jesus, we will be persecuted - and the form of persecution isn't always in the physical. Surely, the bloodiest persecution is in the spiritual. Spirits of wickedness in high places, forces from hell waging a very real and treacherous war in your mind. Sometimes this fight can get lonely. Part of the enemy's battle plan is to convince you that this war is unique to your walk. That other stronger saints have gone on and vanquished the foe and now live in peace as the world defines peace. This is another lie, a battle tactic, psychological warfare at its finest. There is absolutely [i]no[/i] finality to this war. It just gets bloodier and bloodier, and the more you advance the bigger the guns get against you.

But the enemy's campaign is futile if we continually look to Jesus and soak ourselves in the Word of God each morning. This is where we get the firepower to beat back the horde and continue in holiness.

THanks so much Paul for reminding.
I needed to read this.
God Bless
Nell

Hi everyone.

Brother Paul, you brought this out

Obviously, this topic is of great concern to the body of Christ! How blessed we are to communicate and share truth. We need to talk more about war. None of us are alone in our battles, though the field is smoking with carnage and our flags of holiness are bullet-ridden and bloody.

I think you're right brother. I have felt the desire to talk more about our warfare also. At the same time I feel there is a potential danger in entertaining a sense of [b]curiosity[/b] when it comes to these things, which I want to avoid, you know what I mean?

It so happens that tonight I was walking down Walnut street and I encountered a man that I believed was demon possessed.

I'm pursuaded that what brother Paul said is true, the field of battle is smoking.

[b][color=000000]The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.[/color][/b]

For who is God,
save the Lord?
and who is a rock,
save our God?
God is my strength
and power:
and he maketh
my way perfect.
He maketh my feet
like hinds' feet:
and setteth me
upon my high places.
[b]He teacheth my hands to war[/b];
so that a bow of steel
is broken by mine arms.

good word. thanks paul, for always encouraging this body on s.i.

i can tell that you really have a genuine love for His people.

Have been dropping bit's and pieces of recent days and can concur wholeheartedly with all of this. Another thread speaks perhaps of the casualty aspect as much as the possibilities ... those that are not necessarily of a satanic attack

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13582&forum=48#104546]What I saw[/url]

But perhaps this is where the mind as Paul mentioned is so great a battlefield ... Have found so much of the natural mind to have it's own great problems that it can be sometimes impossible to wrestle out where the spiritual minions are at work, is it a deriving and bringing back to mind, imagines and the sights and sounds, tastes of Egypt as was mentioned? Or the natural evil bent still resident in the old\\dead man ... Hope not to get off on all the theological underpinnings of that.

Fatigue. This is an area that I have recognized as fertile ground for attacks, times I may dose off here in the study and upon awakening... It is uncanny the audacity and force of some notion, some temptation upon opening the eye's, thoughts never even entertained, unrelated to a particular dream... By contrast do not recall many that came when the Lord was strong in Spirit...

There is a couple of verses I have been musing on due to recent failures and combined attacks, towards the just mentioned strength;

1Jo 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

Will come back to this in a moment, the other;

Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Mat 12:44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Mat 12:45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.

Strange as it may sound having read this countless times, the word "empty" came to mind as predominant, as if I never recognized it was there.

Realizing generalities are just that, general and very much opposed to all sort's of fixed Christian ideas that seem to be much more in a state of flux in reality ... Paul stated it acutely, the battle is unending and more intense, surprising as I have even found out recently... But Job was assaulted unbeknownest to himself the reasons behind it and have found that there is no rhyme or reason ... to finally get to the point here...

My wonder is in the word "Kept". Being kept by the Lord, being filled with the Holy Spirit seems to answer the result of 1 John; the [i]wicked one toucheth him not.[/i]. It is both our keeping and His keeping us, our discipline and prayer ... Brother, to insert here, your admonition about this cannot be overemphasized, to my amazement my praying did slip even while I was cognizant of it.

Between this keeping and that word 'empty' ... Would hate to read the wrong thing into all this and go beyond what the Lord was comparing it to by the concluding statement; [i]Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.[/i]

Just wondering at it all.

Have found so much of the natural mind to have it's own great problems that it can be sometimes impossible to wrestle out where the spiritual minions are at work, is it a deriving and bringing back to mind, imagines and the sights and sounds, tastes of Egypt as was mentioned? Or the natural evil bent still resident in the old\\dead man ... Hope not to get off on all the theological underpinnings of that.

Brother,

I think it is interesting to note that while our natural mind certainly has its propensity for restlessness and dwelling on vanities, there comes a time where something else takes over and alien thoughts and desires flood in so strongly that [i]it feels as though something is literally speaking them into your head.[/i] Now, this doesn't happen too often - and praise God for that - but when it does, there is no mistaking.

I remember, clearly, last year, when something like this happened one night. I couldn't get to sleep. Kept tossing and turning, tossing and turning. Suddenly (and I say "suddenly" because it literally happened in such a way), horrific thoughts beseiged my mind. I will not even attempt to allude their description here. I began to panic - so intense, so horrible, so vivid they were. I felt totally helpless, almost paralyzed, and I couldn't stop my brain. All I could think of was "[i]Sin! Sin! Sin![/i]" I cried out to God to make them stop, the images, the voice, the injections of thought. They were coming in waves, like one after another crashing against the sand on a beach.

Mike, a thing like this is what I'm referring to in this thread. An attack. They literally incapacitate you. And the worst kinds are the ones that flood in and challenge the central core of your beliefs. Those are the spookiest, because [b]what do you do?[/b] Here is something that transcends mortal temptation, in my book. It's one thing to entice a man sexually - it's another to strike directly at the heels of his faith. Where do you turn if atheistic bullets are being shot at God himself from inside your own mind? No, brother. When these flash storms begin, they go beyond mere flesh and bone. They are malicious imports, and a scholarly knowledge of Greek and Hebrew can't do anything to help you. All the sermons you've preached and read are instantly forgotten. The only thing you can do is cling on for dear life with a child-like faith in what the word says about Jesus.

See, much of what we suffer daily, I believe, is the product of our own flesh, and the inclinations of our carnal minds are able to pull us down only so deep, but let it be known that wicked sharks dwell in the waters of eternity's realm, and may at any moment, should God sanction an attack/test, invade the shallow lagoon of our temporal thoughts and initiate a bloody feeding frenzy.

[i]"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat..."[/i] (Luke 22:31)

Brother Paul

the battle is unending

How true. :-o We might imagine that only the lost aren't keeping their eyes on Jesus...but how many times after some 'victory' we will look away to our "accomplishment" and instantly find ourselves pursued again!

The human heart is ever looking for a finishline and resting place here on Earth. This is our undoing saints! This thread is showing me how important it is for each one of us to help the other remember Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary... and to not become comfortable in this place...but instead desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.

I love this mighty warcry from Spurgeon...

"For here we have no continuing city" (Heb.13:14) is a truth that we know, yet most of us try to make the earth as comfortable for ourselves as if it were to be our abiding residence. Too many believers act as if they could be the friends of the world and the friends of God at the same time. Settle the matter once for all that you are a soldier.

Did you dream that when you came to faith in Christ, the conflict would be over? Ah, it was only the beginning. Like Caesar, you crossed the Rubicon and declared war against your deadly enemy.

You drew your sword, and you did not sheath it.

Your proper note on joining the church is not one of congratulations that the victory is won, but one of preparation, for now the trumpet sounds and the fight begins.

You are a soldier at all times.

Somehow we are not spared this war yet we are also not alone in it.
Hear my voice, O God,..Preserve my life from dread of the enemy...God will shoot at them with an arrow;...

Blessings saints,

Grace be with you all!

MC

Thankyou for the post brother Paul. A few seconds before sending my last comment which took a few minutes to prepare suddenly disappeared...Had to go for a Tim Horton's donought break before again starting with a few questions and comments.
Oh the suggestions of the tempter :-o Indeed how the Word of God is so important to combat the devil as our Lord did Satan in the wilderness. David said, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." - Psalm 119:11
A quote from Jessie Penn Lewis: "There are religious demons, not holy, but nevertheless religious, and filled with a devilish form of religion which is the counterfeit of true, deep spirituality. These pseudo-religious demons very rarely attack young beginners, but they hover around persons who advance into deeper experiences, and seek every oppurtunity to fasten themselves upon the conscience or the spiritual emotions of persons of high states of grace, especially if they are of a vivid or energetic temperament. These are the demons that play havoc among many professors of holiness. One way they get hold of persons is as follows: A soul goes through a great struggle, and is wonderfully blessed. Floods of light and emotion sweep through the being. The shore lines are all cut. The soul is launched into a sea of of extravagant experience. At such a juncture these demons hover round the soul and make strange suggestions to the mind of something odd, or outlandish, or contrary to common sense or decent taste. They make these suggestions under the profession of being the Holy Ghost. They fan the emotions and produce a strange, fictitious exhilaration, which is simply their bait to get into some faculty of the soul...
(6)Some Examples of How Demons Take Hold of Apparently Spirit-filled Christians
A very holy and useful woman says that soon after receiving the baptism of the Spirit there came to her one night in the church a wild, abnormal impulse to throw the hymnbook at the preacher and run all over the church screaming and it took all her will power to keep her hand from throwing that book. But she had common sense to know that the Holy Spirit was not the author of such a suggestion. If she had yielded to that sudden feeling it would have likely given that fanatical demon admission to her emotional nature and ruined her life-work. She is a person who knows the mighty demonstrations of the Holy Spirit and understands God's sufficiently to know He is not the source of wild and indecent conduct...
Another person said he felt like rolling on the floor and groaning and pulling the chairs around, but he distinctly perceived that the impulse to do so had something wild in it and a touch of self-display contrary to the gentleness and sweetness of Jesus; and, as quick as he saw it was an attack of a false spirit, he was delivered. But another man had the same impulse, and fell down groaning and roaring, beating the floor with his hands and feet, and the demon entered into him as the angel of light and got him to think that his conduct was of the Holy Ghost; and it became a regular habit in the meetings he attended, until he would ruin every religious meeting he was in..." -
[url=http://www.acts1711.com/diagram.html]War On The Saints[/url]
Indeed brother Paul we can be seduced, trapped and deceived by Satan...but praise God for many things like His armour, His Word, and the blessed Holy Spirit that guides His children into all truth.
Any comments on the above quote by sister Jessie brother? I also believe many must understand that they're not going "nuts", but that they do have a war to fight for the sake of their own souls and the souls of others. As we walk through the valley of death, the Lord is with His children.
Very interested to see where this blessed thread could lead...to the glory of God I pray :-D

richie

So much here brothers. I pray that God will watch over us and direct us in His perfect ways and be the guardian of our souls.

Brother Paul, I remember when you had first shared about the attacks you went through after praying and seeking for God to use you and how much I recognised in them my own experiences too!

About these mental assults...

I shared before how just as you, these things began after I had set out in [b]earnest[/b] to share the Gospel in my neighborhood and elsewhere.

Before I relate some things in specific I remember how once I recieved a 'memo from hell' as Ray Comfort calls them. I was leaving the house to walk the streets and share the Gospel and a man who lived in the neighborhood, who had a particularly dark and seemingly disturbed personality, walked by, and seing the Bible in my hand began talking to me. He began to say things like 'people don't want to hear that anymore' and other such things to which I replied in faith that God's word will not return void. Some may think nothing of that, but these sorts of words can have a wholly unatural effect when they are, as I believe, energised by the demonic.

Now back to those assults of the mind. I can say that I wholly agree with you brother Paul, how there is an altogether [i]other worldy nature[/i] to these assults; they are other worldly in their force, in their nature, in the [b]pressure[/b] they exert upon the soul. It can be... heavy, intense! Once when these things were at a particular height and being pressed upon me with high intensity a dear brother came by my house completely unexpected and greatly enouraged me.

I had not been able to muster the strength to go to Church and even going, at this point, may not have helped(it would take too long to explain). But this faithfull brother, who I had much confidence in, that he was a true brother and servant of God, he came by my house, which he was not used to doing either, and as we talked he related how God had impressed upon him in prayer at the altar(he went to a different fellowship) that 'the loins of my mind were getting weak', and that he was to pray for me. Now brothers, that is probably the most spot on and accurate description of what was happeneing to me at that very hour and he had no way of knowing it!

I thank God for His providential care of me at this crucial hour!

Since moving here I think I have encountered a differnt form of assult and it seems like literally [b]wrestling[/b] aginst something in the heavenlies? I even had a dream about that very thing one night. Through all this I think I am finding that it's one thing to know about the armor and weapons we have but it's quite another thing to know how to use them, you know what I mean?

Remember what David had said when he was going out to battle Goliath, concerning Saul's armor?

[b][color=000000] And David girded his sword over his armor, and he tried in vain to go, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these; for I am not used to them." And David put them off[/color][/b](1Samuel 17:1 RSV)

A couple more things quickly...

Brother Mike, I think it is definitely posible that the things you mentioned about the other thread can be related to all of this. I pray God you will be strengthened and that all of these things God will use to continue to perfect that which concerns you and His work in you.

Would like to share part of a prayer from the 35th psalm that I had taken hold of during this time of struggle. A brother had given it to me on a plaque that he had gotten on a trip, it reads..

Plead my cause, O Lord,
with them that strive with me:
fight against them
that fight against me.
Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear,
and stop the way
against them that persecute me:
say unto my soul,
I am thy salvation.

[b]say unto my soul,

I am thy salvation.[/b]

By the way, I think it was brother Ritchie that mentioned Jessie Penn Lewis? Look at whose picture came up in the random photo when I went to log in for this post

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=346]Jessie Penn-Lewis 1[/url]

Thank you so much for sharing Brother Paul,

I'm reminded of Hebrews 12:1. Brother Tyndale instead of the word "entangles" that's used in the NIV or "so easily beset" as used in the KJV he used "hangeth on." Let us not come into agreement with these familiar spirits. The battle for our souls is very real and Satan is after our faith.

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Brethren,

The reason, I believe, we don't hear much about these types of assaults from the pulpit is twofold:

1. Many Christians do not have the type of[i] intimacy[/i] with God that would trigger an attack of such, and:

2. When speaking of the spiritual nature of such heinous attacks, the fear of bordering on the metaphysical is always present. It's risky to speak such things from the pulpit, especially during this age of "God is love and nothing else" with the idea that he will never allow a faithful child to suffer at the hands of the enemy. Lies from the pulpit!

Well, the truth needs to be spoken in love, and not shyed away from. There is a spiritual war going on, a very real and bloody war, and most people think that it merely involves crucifying the flesh and supressing the sinful urges that were entertained before one's conversion.

I don't want to get into writing a detailed recourse on all the different tacics, for this has already been done in its exhaustive entirety, I feel, in William Gurnall's "The Christian in Complete Armour." Any saint reading this thread who doesn't already own a copy, needs to get one. This the only book, outside of scripture, I deem worthy enough to consider [i]imperative[/i] to the saint's library.

The greater the intimacy with God, the more horrific the assaults. God may give you a period of peace and tranquility to study and mediate and fellowship and preach, but seasons do change. Autumn turns to winter overnight. You look out your window one morning and see snow on the ground. Such the same, I have found, when war is issued and the advancements commence. Fighting off these advancements in the flesh is futile. If you're not already established in a solid intimacy and in good, right fellowship with God, the shellshock will utterly hammer you. I think it's very disheartening that this stuff isn't adressed from the pulpits. People are usually left in the dark, lonely and suffering, and with lots of questions during these times. They weren't prepared for surprise attacks, they weren't told what to expect. All they did was go after God with all their heart (which precludes such attacks), and suddenly they feel abandoned and staggered, writhing in mental agony as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar gather around and say, "Just keep praying! Pray harder!"

"Well," you say, "I [i]can't[/i] pray! The heavens are like brass. I'm dying here, and you have no clue what I'm going through!"

I'd think my Army platoon leader were my enemy, if he told me to go after a certain hill of gold but not warn of the machine-gun nest at the top. Such, I feel, are pastors and evangelists that say, "Go after God! Pray and fast! All his treasures are yours!" but not warn of all the debilitating ambushes along the way. Many a warrior for Christ was been stopped in his tracks and taken down for lack of knowledge. And many have been wounded by friendly fire. This especially happpens to repentance-preaching evangelists who cross the DMZ of Christian political correctness and are promptly shot down by their own well-meaning comrades. In truth, the enemy will move through ones closest to you, the ones you confide and trust in, and will often use them to emasculate your strength through rejection and doubt.

Oh, it's a bloody, bloody battleground with carnage strewn all about. Flesh alone can't cause this; but flesh manipulated by spiritual evil can and will. Like I said, I am always apt to warn youth of these things - especially when I sense a kid with a real heart for God. I'll warn him with tears, because I know the pain of battle. But I'll also exhort him in triumph, because I know the thrill of overcoming!

As do many of you!

Brother Paul

Any quotes/advice from some of the saints now passed on that could be posted here concerning these attacks by the devil and his workers? This would be so to shed a greater light on this subject...that it would bless others that come here that may need insight and encouragement in their own battles with the enemy....also some Scripture verses, etc...

richie
PS...my copy of Gurnall's book cost around $70. Canadian...which maybe alittle too pricey for some if they go through a Christian bookstore...or, try: Sovereign Grace Publishers; PO Box 4998; Lafayette, Indiana; 47903. Here it is in a volume-series: offered as volume #2 of the 12 volume set entitled "The Fifty Greatest Christian Classics"...at the time of the last printing, $19.95 US+ tax & shipping :-)

Any quotes/advice from some of the saints now passed on that could be posted here concerning these attacks by the devil and his workers?

Here's a good one from a brother who, like the apostle Paul, was no stranger to Lucifer:

"The most trying time is the most helpful time. Most preachers say something about Daniel, and about the Hebrew children, and especially about Moses when he was in a tried corner. Beloved, if you read the Scriptures you will never find anything about the easy times. And if you are really reconstructed, it will be during a hard time. It won't be during a singing meeting, but during a time when you think all things are dried up and there is no hope for you. This is the time God when makes the man. When tried by fire, when God purges you, takes the dross away, and brings forth the pure gold. Only melted gold is minted. Only moistened clay receives the mold. Only softened wax receives the seal. And only broken, contrite hearts receive the mark as the Potter turns us on His wheel - shaped and burnt to keep the heavenly mold, the stamp of God's pure gold. We must have the stamp of our blessed Lord who was marred more than any man."

- Smith Wigglesworth

Compton:I love this mighty warcry from Spurgeon...

MC, I'm very grateful for introducing me into this great series of sermons by Spurgeon about spiritual warfare. Highly recommendation, very useful and powerful.
Here you can find them - [url=http://members.cox.net/spw1942/spiritual_warfare.html]Sermon Series by Spurgeon on Spiritual Warfare[/url]

This thread put me up on the fear level a bit. (yeah, i'm easily frightened by satan.) Thank God for the Book of Job, look at the aftermath of the attacks through the Sovereign Hands of God. Incredible!!

[color=0000CC]Job 42

(Job's response and attititude}
[b]1Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
3Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
4Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. [/b] wow!!!

(Job's rewards)
8Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.
10And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.
12So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
13He had also seven sons and three daughters.
14And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.
15And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
16After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations.
17So Job died, being old and full of days.[/color]

[edited]
If we all wind up having these blessings as "scars" instead? :) Yeah, I believe we do, with Christ, what else could we want..? Just to attain Job's attitude alone is rewarding enough, in my case, I suppose.

"Don't be afraid, just believe" Praise Thee Lord!
GOD [b]is[/b] the greatest,..only to be vigilant..

Please pardon me Paul, i so need some comfort from topics like this.

I think it is interesting to note that while our natural mind certainly has its propensity for restlessness and dwelling on vanities, there comes a time where something else takes over and alien thoughts and desires flood in so strongly that it feels as though something is literally speaking them into your head. Now, this doesn't happen too often - and praise God for that - but when it does, there is no mistaking.

An attack. They literally incapacitate you. And the worst kinds are the ones that flood in and challenge the central core of your beliefs. Those are the spookiest, because what do you do? Here is something that transcends mortal temptation, in my book. It's one thing to entice a man sexually - it's another to strike directly at the heels of his faith.

Most certainly brother. Well recall points of just tremendous mental and spiritual agony. The thought's instantly return to the scenes of the crimes ... Times when I was convinced I was going insane, these were somewhat the 'early' years and right around the time of trying to understand, make sense of the whole madness of WOF style teaching. Times when I would scream (with the windows rolled up) while driving to work at many of the same things you have mentioned, especially this draw towards atheistic unbelief, a zillion 'evidences' badgering the mind ... Brother, there was a point when I went to the hospital to see if I was in some sort of depression and ... Can still remember sitting there thinking, "This is ridiculous, how in the world will a doctor, if he\\she be not a believer even begin to understand spiritual matters?" And I wasn't far off, they basically told me there was nothing wrong with me ... Such foolishness! I was being torn to shreds by the enemy of our souls but I was ignorant and [i]confused[/i] ... That, a tell tale sign as we know or ought to know being very much the red flag. This went on for quite a few seasons, much like a battle, a regrouping and new conflicts arising.

Went back and dug up a couple of journal notes, I do hope the saints are doing something of this sort, keeping some form of expression to look back on, a great deal can be gleaned by what we have gone through. This one, I had sent to the brother who put together The Revival Hymn right around the time we had taken on doing a written transcript, he had recently been under an assault as I, this is from about 3 years ago now;

[i]Something ripping at the core of my being-
An unknown terror bleeding for comfort.
Only deadly silence
Torn asunder
All has been denied me
Hellish thought's of unbelief,
offered for relief of sorrow-

These do not tempt me,
nor deter me.
Have we become unaware?
Shall I give heed to a liar?
Though you assault me,
and I drink of the cup of madness.

Can I be persuaded to fear God less,
or enticed with trinkets of grandeur?
Away! Away from me!
You have no part.

Shall I cease to trust,
though I understand it not?
Of my own reason
deliver my heart?
Despair at the purging altar?
Oh God, leave me not to my own devices.

Let my cries and tears
Be acceptable in Your sight
As the flesh is purged
in the Heavenly light.
May it be in a hidden way
through the allotted days.
Away from man's gaze
and his every praise.[/i]

Another;

Postcard To The Devil

[i]By what great of conspiracy has this battleground of lies arisen to strike, this uncircumcised Philistine to defy the God of all the living? 40 days and nights of incessant chatter, taunts and spewing forth words to cause fear that are but empty, useless. Let no mans heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Draw near that your head be lopped off once and for all.

Is it not a fixed law that pride goes before a fall and yet a never ending sneer it is. Prove me a liar this day that I would have faith and up from the pit comes unbelief. I said, "I will be strong in His power and might" and no sooner the thought than the test. Driven even further into the wilderness, to be tempted into disbelief. The onslaught came like a flood. Past memory of former days, of forgotten loves and pleasurable sins. The subtle craftiness and appalling offer to bow down to you, the father of all lies and accept 'all these things' as if a prize to be desired.

In the travail of the soul day after day and night after night, when I thought I had seen the worst of it, in anguish and weakness, in hunger and lack, always the coward and then the attack. Through the fog and confusion found captured behind enemy lines, pressed for surrender, shackled and chained.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.[/i]

Nothing to profound but the effects are well recalled. Times in prayer, actually this last one was derived from that as it came about during prayer which just floored me.

I believe this thread can be of some great help here within some boundaries. It can get difficult as we know by going too far, paying too much attention to the coward, a mighty coward but both this and a liar and deceiver, the whole of [i]An angel of light[/i] to be explored or exposed.

Very much struck by Jesse Penn Lewis in those descriptions of the out of control aspects and the embracing, rather than the reputing of in some of our more recent revivals.

As last comment, something that keeps our right balance and is well worth heeding, especially verse 9;

Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Jud 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Jud 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

Great post.

One morning I woke up and Judges chapter 3 came to my mind. I wasn't familiar with the content of the chapter other than having read it probably at least once before. I do remember seeking God for understanding as to the challenges I was facing in my Christian walk.

I went downstairs and got my Bible open to this chapter. Maybe the first four verses will speak to some of you as they to did me. I'll share the first one:

[b][color=000000] Now these are the nations which the Lord left,

to prove Israel by them,

even as many of Israel

as had not known all the wars of Canaan;[/color][/b]

Peace be upon the Israel of God

Paul's thread here has been sitting in the back of the mind for some time now. Something about the tussles and back and forth that comes up in our discussions here, sometimes it's the flesh, that leaning on the natural and sometimes it is that very opportunity that makes for an inroad it seems for the devil.

Have had this chapter open for quite a few days and have re-read it a number of times, think it applies quite well to this whole matter. It is explanatory at first, yet figured it best to leave all intact even if it appears to be a bit long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[b]The Stewardship of the Mystery - Volume 1[/b]
[i]by T. Austin-Sparks[/i]

[i]Chapter 14 - 1. Judas—The Indwelling of Satan in its Outworking. 2. The Heavenly Man—The Indwelling of God[/i]

Reading: John 13:21–33; Eph. 3:17–19; Col. 1:25–27.

We are to view the Lord Jesus in relation to the first Adam, and all that came in through that which happened with the first Adam in his fall, not only as this has reference to man and his condition, but to all that which Adam’s act of disobedience let into this universe, and into this world. That act of disobedience opened the door at which the forces of evil were standing, waiting for access. Adam was that door. They could never have got in but for Adam, but he opened the door by his disobedience, and the forces of evil rushed into God’s creation, and took up a position of great strength, to bring about in it a state of things contrary to God, and that in the most powerful and terrible way. To all of that, to the powers themselves, and the state brought about through their being let in, and all the consequences thereof, the Lord Jesus was, and is, God’s answer. But there was a secret about Him, a secret which spiritual intelligences alone could really discern, and this was that God was in Him. He was a Man, but He was far more than that; He was God. In these meditations our concern has been with what the Lord Jesus is as Son of Man, God’s Man, the Heavenly Man, in Whom God was, and is. That secret, that mystery hidden from the ages, hidden from men, is the greatest factor to be reckoned with.

So far as the enemy was concerned, his main objective with the Lord Jesus was to seek to get in between Him and that Divine relationship; to drive a wedge in and in some way to get Him to move on a ground apart from that inner, deepest reality of the Father. The meaning of the temptations in the wilderness is that they were an attempt to drive that wedge in between, to get Him to act apart from the Father, to move on His own human ground. The enemy knew quite well that, if only he could succeed in getting Him to do that, he would accomplish with the last Adam what he had accomplished with the first, and would have re-established his dominion and again gained the mastery. The secret of Christ’s victory was that He was so one with the Father, that in everything He was governed by the Father within, dwelling in Him. The life of the Heavenly Man, the Son of Man, again and again bids us heed the question that once came from His own lips: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (John 14:10,11). It was on that basis that He lived His life and met the enemy, and because He remained on that basis the enemy was incapable of destroying Him.

Many times attempts were made by the Devil to destroy Him, both directly and through men, but it was impossible while He remained on that basis, and this He did right to the end, and triumphed because of that inward relationship, that upon which He was living deliberately, consciously, persistently: the Father was in Him, and He and the Father were one; He dwelt in the Father, and the Father dwelt in Him.

But—and this is one of the main points that we want the Lord to show us at this time—that was the great secret, the wonderful secret which men could not read; for He Himself said, “...no one knoweth Who the Son is, save the Father...” (Luke 10:22). John, writing his epistle long years after, said, “...the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not” (1 John 3:1). The world knew Him not. In His own prayer recorded by John, we have these words: “O righteous Father, the world knew Thee not, but I knew Thee...” (John 17:25). It was on the basis of that secret relationship that there was to be a glorifying of Him. The glorifying of the Lord Jesus was bound up with that secret.

Now we want to know what the glorifying of the Son is, the glorifying of the Heavenly Man. We will again first take up the question in relation to the Heavenly Man in person, and then see how the same thing applies to the corporate Heavenly Man.

“When therefore he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway shall He glorify Him” (John 13:31,32).

We need not be concerned for the moment with the form of the statement. It sounds a little involved and difficult, but let us take the central comprehensive statement: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him....” It is upon the word “now” that everything hangs, and the Lord Jesus put into that little word a tremendous meaning. To what does that word relate? “When therefore he (Judas) was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son of Man glorified.”

[b]The Rejected Natural Man[/b]

I confess that Judas was a problem to me for many years, but I think I am getting near the truth about him, and this passage seems to give us the clue. The problem, of course, has its occasion in the statement of the Lord Jesus that He knew whom He had chosen: “Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70). He chose Judas and brought him into association with Himself, in such a way that he had all the advantages of the others and all the facilities that were theirs; all the benefits of the others were open to him. There is no trace of partiality. He has placed Judas apparently upon exactly the same footing, excluding him from nothing which was open to the rest, all deliberately, consciously, knowing what He was doing, and knowing all the time what Judas was. Then all finally heads up to this statement, “Now is the Son of Man glorified....”

I do not know how best to put it, and wish I had language and wisdom to express this, that would capture your hearts as it has captured mine; for I am inwardly glorying in what is brought to us here. To begin with, this represents the full development of man under the kindness of God: “...for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). God has shown no partiality amongst men. He has made it possible for all men to enjoy His benefits. He has shown unbelieving, Godless, rebellious men great kindness. He has not discriminated. All men may know His kindness and His goodness. Man is thus represented in Judas, who in this figurative way is here set in relation to the Lord, so that what is available to those who are really the Lord’s is available to him; he can come into it, it is open to him. The Lord has not shown any partiality. Yet man, living under the beneficent, merciful and gracious will, purpose, thought, and desire of God, can develop to this.

Let us seek to explain that. Man has been tried under every condition from the beginning. First of all he was tried under innocence. How did he behave? He failed. Then in his fallen state he was tried again, without law. How did he get on? He failed again. Then he was tried under law, but failed as before. Man has failed under every condition. He has been tried by God in every state and appointment, and has utterly failed. The end has always been a tragedy. No matter what attitude God takes toward man, in himself he is a failure and will work out to the most dreadful tragedy.

Look at Israel. What is the attitude of the Lord toward Israel? How marvellous is the way the Lord dealt with Israel. Look at the patience of God with Israel, the kindness of God with Israel, the ground upon which Israel was set before Him. In effect, God said: You have only to show something of faithfulness to Me and you will immediately receive blessing. Some of us have wished we could get blessing as instantly as Israel did when they were true to the Lord. They were subjects of such special care, but they failed. Their condition and treatment is figuratively set forth in the unprofitable fig-tree, that bore no fruit in spite of years of care. Justice demanded that it be cut down without delay, but still further opportunity is given: “Let us dig about it and dung it this year also.” Let us show kindness for another year! But it is just as big a failure. So man, tried under every condition, brought into touch with the beneficent will of God, is yet a failure.

Judas gathers up man, man to whom is open all that God has, man who is brought into touch with all the good and perfect will of God, and yet in himself the most awful failure; for this man, when he comes to his fulness, will betray his Lord, he is so hopeless. Man in himself, even though the mercies of God may go out to him, will arrive at this. This is a fearful end. “Yea, mine own familiar friend... which did eat of my bread,” says the Psalmist, “hath lifted up his heel against me” (Ps. 41:9). Thus will this man do amidst the very wealth of the grace of God.

Here is Judas representing one who has been brought into touch with the Lord, and to whom all the blessings are open that are open to the rest of the Lord’s own, and this is how he turns out. It is a picture of man in himself. Is it not true? The full development of old Adam, of the first Adam, in whom God does not dwell, is here shown to us. Just at the point where this man is surrounded with all the advantages, all the facilities, all the blessings, all the opportunity, all that could have been his, just at that point he goes out to betray his Lord: “...and it was night” (John 13:30). There is a world of meaning in that.

[b]The Heavenly Man of God’s Election[/b]

Instantly that man has gone out the Lord Jesus says, “Now is the Son of Man glorified....” What does this mean? This is God’s answer to all that. God has another Man, Whose path is to be wholly different from that tragedy, that dark calamity, a Son of Man Who can be glorified. God has prepared His own Man to take the place of this other man, as soon as he has reached his end: and what an evil end it is! Do you see what is signified in the end of Judas? When he goes out God brings in His Man Who can be glorified.

Do you see why the Lord Jesus chose Judas? Do you see why it is that when he was gone out Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified?” There is the one who represents the Adam man and what he comes to in spite of all God’s grace and mercy which is at his command. Until there is something in him other than himself, that is what he comes to. And just when that nature, that man, that race is seen in its full awfulness, its full outworking, lifting its heel in treachery against the God of all grace; just when that man reaching fulness goes out into the dark, the eternal night, God begins His new day by bringing in His new Man to take his place.

What is the secret? What kind of man will be glorified? We have seen the man who cannot be glorified, who goes out into the darkness. What kind of man is he who can be glorified? What is the principle and secret of His glorifying? It is that God is in him. What is the glorifying of the Lord Jesus? It is the breaking forth and manifesting of the Father in Him, of that secret which makes Him other than the type represented by Judas. The hope of glory in His case, the certainty of glory, was the Father dwelling in Him. “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him....” That is a full-orbed statement about the glorifying of the Son of Man. It is remarkable that this statement should be found in the Gospel by John, in which the Lord Jesus is pre-eminently set forth as the Son of God.

[b]The Glorifying of the Corporate Heavenly Man[/b]

Now, of course, we come to feel the benefit and the power of this, when it is transferred from the personal Heavenly Man to the corporate Heavenly Man. So the Apostle says: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith...” (Eph. 3:17); “...Christ in you, the hope of glory...” (Col. 1:27). We read at the beginning of the Letter to the Ephesians that we are “...a habitation of God in the Spirit” (2:22). What does this mean in its value and out-working? This Body, so created and living upon that fact, is as indestructible as Christ Himself, is as certain of victory as was Christ. On the principle that Christ dwells in the heart by faith, this Body can enter into wrestling with principalities and powers, world rulers of this darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, and come out victor on the field.

What is the secret of the glorifying of the Church, His Body, the corporate Man, and what is the nature of the glorifying? It is the same thing. It is the manifestation of the secret, the coming out from secrecy into open display of that which is true, of Christ within. During the course of this dispensation, the secret is in the Church, in the members of Christ, but “...the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not” (1 John 3:1). Looked at from the outside we are very little different from any other people in the world. Yet the secret is there, and this secret means that if you touch that one, or that church, you touch God. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” said the Lord, when Saul was touching His members. He is in His members. You have to reckon with Him. They are indestructible, they cannot be destroyed. We are not talking about the destroying of the body. The true Church is an indestructible entity. When Satan has done his worst, that Church will still stand triumphant, and will abide for ever, when he and all his shall have been banished from the universe.

At the end of this dispensation which has held this hidden secret, there will be an unveiling of the Christ in His Church, when it appears with Him in glory, and it will be glorified on the same principle as that on which He was glorified.

[b]The Essential Basis of the Believer’s Everyday Life[/b]

Now, there is something that we have to take to our own hearts out of these inclusive factors. We have to live all the time on this basis that we have set forth, and as we do so the enemy’s power is absolutely rendered nil. Our trouble is that we do not live upon this basis. We live so much upon ourselves. We live upon our own feelings, our own conditions, our own state, anything and everything that is ourselves, and because we do that we are simply played with by the Devil. When we get into our own mood, what a mess he makes of us. When we get into our own feelings, or our own thoughts what havoc there is. Anything that is ourselves, if we get into that, and live on that, will give the enemy an opportunity to do as he likes. Whenever believers get down into themselves, on to the ground of what they are, if it is only for a moment, they begin to lose their balance, their poise, their rest, their peace, their joy, and they are tossed about of the Devil at his will. They may come to the place where they even wonder whether they are saved. Let us remember that the part of us which still belongs to the fallen creation, and will not survive, is the playground of the enemy, and it is of no use our trying to make it survive.

We have, for instance, a physical life. Within the compass of this natural, physical life as a part of the old creation, anything is possible. Mental darkness is possible. The upsetting of our nervous system can be of such a kind as to make us feel that hell rages in our very being. Anything is possible of moods, and feelings, and sensations, or of utter deadness and numbness, and if we live in that realm the Devil plays havoc. He encamps upon such things at once, if we take our natural condition as the criterion. There is no hope of glory in that natural realm.

How is the enemy to be defeated, to be nullified, to be robbed of his power? On the same principle as in the life of the Lord Jesus, by our living on the Father. We must live on the indwelling Christ. Our attitude will have to be continually toward the Lord: Lord, in me Thou art other than I am; Thou art not what I am; Thou art other than this mood, than this feeling, than this absence of feeling; Thou art other than all these thoughts, other than I am! I am dead, so far as my feelings are concerned, but Thou art other than that, Thou art living! I am feeling dark, Thou art the light, and Thou art in me! This is me, this is not the Lord! If only you and I will learn steadily (it will take time, it will be progressive) to live on in Christ, on what He is, on the fact that He is other than we are—not upon our experience of this, but the naked fact that He is within us—if we will steadily learn to live on that basis, by that great Divine reality, then the enemy has nothing in us. The Lord Jesus was able to say, “...the prince of the world cometh; and he hath nothing in Me...” (John 14:30). What was the adversary looking for? He was looking for the Lord Jesus to be living somewhere in Himself, consulting His own feelings, leaning to His own understanding, following His own judgments, His own will. If he could have caught Him there, he would have had something in Him and disturbed the balance of His life. The Lord Jesus was able to say, “...I live because of the Father...” (John 6:57); I live by the Father, not on what I am. He could say that as a perfect, sinless being, living none the less in dependence upon the Father all the time. Of this we have His own testimony: “The Son can do nothing of Himself...” (John 5:19); “...the words that I say unto you I speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me doeth His works” (John 14:10). He lived all the time on the basis of the Father dwelling within, and because of that the enemy had no ground whatever.

This is the lesson of life for us. For any glory within now, or for any hope of glory in the great day of the manifestation, the sole ground of expectation must be Christ in us; because the glory is simply the manifestation of the Christ within, as His glorifying was the manifestation of the Father within.

[b]The Church, a Mystery of a Divine Indwelling[/b]

Now concerning the corporate expression of this Heavenly Man, in the Letter to the Ephesians the Apostle tells us that something is going on in the unseen, the purpose of which is stated thus: “...that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God.....” I wonder what that means? I do not know altogether, but I think I can see something of what it means. I believe the unseen intelligences are watching to see how they can get an advantage. They are watching with all their cunning, their diabolical wit and wisdom and ingenuity, with all their superhuman intelligence, to see how they can get an advantage, how they can make a stroke, if by any means they can get the upper hand of this baffling creation, the Church. Unto the principalities and powers the manifold wisdom of God is being made known by the Church. How is this being accomplished? A clause from a verse in the First Letter to Timothy will, I think, help us towards the answer. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; He Who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory.” A part of the mystery here spoken of is this somewhat obscure statement that He was “seen of angels.” I cannot be satisfied with the thought that this just means that the heavenly angels saw Him, either when He was in the flesh, or after His resurrection. This seems to say to my heart (of course I cannot prove it, but I am comparing scripture with scripture, and taking into account that it is the Holy Spirit Who has disclosed this fact and brought it to our knowledge) that these other angels, these spiritual intelligences who had watched for a chance against His life, seeking an advantage, using their cunning, saw now Who He was, saw the full meaning of His being, and why they had never succeeded in compassing their design, but had been compelled to learn their impotence regarding Him. They know now, because the secret is out. This Man is other than the first Adam; He is different from the first Adam! They got their chance with the first Adam and they took it, and into that race they brought the diabolical wisdom of which the Apostle says, “This wisdom is... devilish [demoniacal]” (James 3:15).

These intelligences had been waiting for an opportunity to bring in their wisdom in this other Adam, this last Adam, and they could not get it. They were beaten and defeated at every point, and now the secret is out, and they see One over Whom they could gain no advantage. Why was this? Because of the Father dwelling in Him. It is to this same truth that Paul refers when he says that Christ crucified, so far from being the wisdom of this world, is the wisdom of God. His wisdom far transcends the wisdom of this world, which in its nature is demoniacal. God is still further displaying His manifold wisdom to principalities and powers through the Church, the Body of Christ, the corporate Heavenly Man. How is this being accomplished? By this mystery of Christ within, defeating their every plan, their every scheme, by the great reality of the indwelling Lord Whose wisdom is so much greater than theirs.

Oh that we could live upon the great reality, the great essential, the great secret of the very being of the Church according to God’s mind, that basic secret of Christ within; not upon what we are at any time, but what Christ is. If you take that position you will be in a position of wisdom that outwits all the cunning of the Devil, and outmatches all his power.

Put it to the test; for it is open to practical proof at any time. If when you are next feeling desperately bad and hopeless and full of evil in yourself, as though all that you had believed in no longer held water and everything had gone to pieces, and all the sensations are upon you that it is possible for one to have, till you could well believe that you are lost; if, when this is so, you will take the position that it is all to do with your poor, broken down creation, and that Christ in you is other than that, and by faith stand on Him, the Devil’s power is destroyed, his wisdom is outwitted, and there is glory. That is the lesson we have to learn. Christ in you, and in the Church as the habitation of God through the Spirit, is the symbol of glory, of victory, of power and wisdom. Blessed be God, there are seasons when this reaches out to our feelings and we enjoy the realization that the Lord is in us, but it is not always so. An attack of indigestion can have the strangest effect upon our spiritual life, so far as our consciousness is concerned. The slightest little thing can come along and change the whole situation if we allow ourselves to go out into things. What things the enemy puts up, to draw us out into them! He is busy setting traps everywhere, contriving situations all round us, always ready with something to upset us. How cleverly arranged it is, just at the time when we are least wanting to be upset. Go home from a time with the Lord amongst His people, feeling gloriously uplifted, and probably when you get across the doorstep there is something waiting for you!

How are you going to outwit the Devil, outmaneuvre him, defeat him? By not going out into things. It is not easy; but not to go out into things, not to be drawn into the realm of the old creation so as to become involved in it, but to stand upon the ground that the adversary has to meet the perfection of Christ, is the sure way of his defeat, though we may have to bear with the difficult situation, and endure the pain and pang of it for quite a considerable time. But our position is that Christ is more than that, Christ in us is stronger than that, and falling back upon faith within, reaching out to Christ within as equal to this situation, we must repudiate it. David comes to our rescue so much in this realm. You will remember that on one occasion he was saying all sorts of depressing, hopeless things because the situation looked so utterly impossible; and then he recollected himself and said, “This is my infirmity; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. 77:10). Today I have blue spectacles on! This is my way of viewing things! This is how things affect me! This is me, it is not the Lord! Let us attribute things to their right quarter, and give to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

I am certain that here is the key to everything; the key to everything is Christ in you, Christ in me, Christ in His Body, and that to be lived upon by faith. It is the key to the superior wisdom, to outwit and outmatch the enemy. He will be defeated if we live on Christ and refuse to live on our own ground. The Lord make it clear to us.

Brother Mike! What a feast here! I started reading this last night and came back to it this morning and could hardly wait to finish reading through it to respond.

This insight into the meaning and timing of this phrase the Lord spoke

[b][color=660033] Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him[/color][/b]

..this is deep!

Here is Judas representing one who has been brought into touch with the Lord, and to whom all the blessings are open that are open to the rest of the Lord’s own, and this is how he turns out.

...[b]It is a picture of man in himself[/b]

...[b]Is it not true?[/b]

...[b]The full development of old Adam, of the first Adam, in whom God does not dwell, is here shown to us.[/b]

Just at the point where this man is surrounded with all the advantages, all the facilities, all the blessings, all the opportunity, all that could have been his, just at that point he goes out to betray his Lord: “...and it was night” (John 13:30). There is a world of meaning in that.

but then the other side of this...

And just when that nature, that man, that race is seen in its full awfulness, its full outworking, lifting its heel in treachery against the God of all grace; just when that man reaching fulness goes out into the dark, the eternal night, God begins His new day by bringing in His new Man to take his place.

What is the secret? What kind of man will be glorified? We have seen the man who cannot be glorified, who goes out into the darkness. What kind of man is he who can be glorified? What is the principle and secret of His glorifying?

...[b]It is that God is in him.[/b]

And drawing back to the nature and subject of this thread in specific, is it not possible that this contrast between the earthly and Heavenly man is exactly what is in view in the purposes of God in the allowing of our being buffeted so often by Satan. Is it not so that, in coming up against one so much stronger than ourseveles, we will finally, and completely, and unreservedly, come to the end and relinquishing of all relliance upon our earthly talents and abilities and powers...to the place of the fullness of that mystery [i]Christ in us[/i].

These intelligences had been waiting for an opportunity to bring in their wisdom in this other Adam, this last Adam, and they could not get it. They were beaten and defeated at every point, and now the secret is out, and they see One over Whom they could gain no advantage.

...[i][b]Why was this? [/b][/i]

[b]Because of the Father dwelling in Him.[/b]

Oh that we could live upon the great reality, the great essential, the great secret of the very being of the Church according to God’s mind, that basic secret of Christ within; not upon what we are at any time, but what Christ is. If you take that position you will be in a position of wisdom that outwits all the cunning of the Devil, and outmatches all his power.

Praise God!

Ohh but how desperately do we want to cling to every last vesitge of the original creation in us. We do not want to part with even the feeblest of ability or talent that we may claim as our own for we know that in so doing we depart with our very last opportunities for glory, glory of our own.

This brings to mind so powerfully a qoute from an author I'm not famiiar with but whose writing has caught my attention in the random article at least twice. W.R. Inge says

If anyone in heaven were so bold as to call anything his own, he would immediately be cast out into hell, and become an evil spirit.

And herein seems the same kernel of truth which the Apostle sets forth by contrast where he says

[b][color=000000] But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God...[/color][/b]

...[b][color=000000]as having nothing[/color][/b]

...[b][color=000000]and yet possessing all things[/color][/b]

And drawing back to the nature and subject of this thread in specific, is it not possible that this contrast between the earthly and Heavenly man is exactly what is in view in the purposes of God in the allowing of our being buffeted so often by Satan. Is it not so that, in coming up against one so much stronger than ourseveles, we will finally, and completely, and unreservedly, come to the end and relinquishing of all relliance upon our earthly talents and abilities and powers...to the place of the fullness of that mystery [i]Christ in us[/i].

Wonderful statement brother! I must admit I am very thrilled to hear that this blessed you as it did myself ... I know these longer articles tend to disuade some and they can fall off into the abyss as it were. But to come back to your mention here, especially that last part about [i]coming to an end[/i] ... it amazes me still how slow it is to just do this, relinquish, even after so many ... beatings!
:-?

Fortunately Sparks also recognised this very astutely;

(it will take time, it will be progressive)

Just prior to that comment, this has sat very much in the forefront of thoughts;

How is the enemy to be defeated, to be nullified, to be robbed of his power? On the same principle as in the life of the Lord Jesus, by our living on the Father. We must live on the indwelling Christ. Our attitude will have to be continually toward the Lord: Lord, in me Thou art other than I am; Thou art not what I am; Thou art other than this mood, than this feeling, than this absence of feeling; Thou art other than all these thoughts, other than I am! I am dead, so far as my feelings are concerned, but Thou art other than that, Thou art living! I am feeling dark, Thou art the light, and Thou art in me! This is me, this is not the Lord! If only you and I will learn steadily (it will take time, it will be progressive) to live on in Christ, on what He is, on the fact that He is other than we are—not upon our experience of this, but the naked fact that He is within us—if we will steadily learn to live on that basis, by that great Divine reality, then the enemy has nothing in us. The Lord Jesus was able to say, “...the prince of the world cometh; and he hath nothing in Me...” (John 14:30).

The one verse that I don't think was mentioned here but has been also circulating around and seems very applicable;

[i]We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.[/i] 1 John 5:18

Other versions put it slightly different, but my thinking here is along the lines of [i]Who[/i] it is that cannot be touched.

How are you going to outwit the Devil, outmaneuvre him, defeat him? By not going out into things. It is not easy; but not to go out into things, not to be drawn into the realm of the old creation so as to become involved in it, but to stand upon the ground that the adversary has to meet the perfection of Christ, is the sure way of his defeat, though we may have to bear with the difficult situation, and endure the pain and pang of it for quite a considerable time. But our position is that Christ is more than that, Christ in us is stronger than that, and falling back upon faith within, reaching out to Christ within as equal to this situation, we must repudiate it.

Oh brother, there is so much wisdom in all this, I am just besides myself ... hey, maybe it's finaly taking root. ;-)

Brother Mike, I'm so blessed by this word and exchange. I thank God! Thank you brother!

...it amazes me still how slow it is to just do this, relinquish, even after so many ... beatings!

I know what you mean! Just now the thought of weeds comes to mind, something which I would suppose is a part of the curse upon the earth; they have a special reputation for their tenacity in holding onto life and also for choking out other, more desireable things.

A word which has lingered with me of late is this from the Prophet Isaiah

[b][color=000000] Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.[/color][/b]

and then just now, to tie in with your refrence to our [i]beatings[/i] I think of the verse which says

[b][color=000000] Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.[/color][/b]

ahh...and then something which brother Greg posted in another thread just may tie it all together...

Pride is a sin which of all sins, makes a person most like Satan. Pride is Satan's disease. Pride is so base a disease, that God had rather see His dearest children to be buffeted by Satan, than that in pride they should be like Satan.

[i]Taken from here:

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=13960&forum=45&0]Satan's apes - brooks[/url][/i]

Wow.

Continuing on...

...this has sat very much in the forefront of thoughts

Out of that portion you qouted, a particular phrase stood out especially to me also, where he writes...

We must live on the indwelling Christ.

It is that...[b][i]live [u]on[/u][/b][/i] that stands out so much to me. It gives me the sense of the flowering bud drawing nutrients from the vine, of a total and absolute dependence for its very life. To [b]live on[/b]... to [b]live on[/b]... to [b]live on[/b]...!

Ohh brothers, do we? Do we live upon Him?

As I have been absorbing and chewing on these things my mind was cast back to an obscure article that I read on Sermonindex sometime ago. It probably had come up in the random article but a few lines from it had stuck with me and then I thought how much they bear upon this we have before us. I took some time and actually managed to find the aritcle using google to search the site.

Rather than try and summarise what the article is about I'll just copy the title, which, being somewhat lengthy, should give you an idea of the subject matter. It is called

[i]A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE SUFFERINGS OF THOSE VALIANT MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL CATHARINE EVANS AND SARAH CHEEVERS Who for Nearly Four Years Endured The Cruelties of the Inquisition in Malta As Related in THE HISTORY OF THE RISE, INCREASE, AND PROGRESS OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD CALLED QUAKERS By William Sewel[/i]

The qoute which so strongly stands out comes from a series of questions and answers which the women give to their inquisitors. Here is the qoute

The friar said, "If we do not eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, we have no life in us." They replied, "The flesh and blood of Christ is spiritual and we do feed upon it daily, for that which is begotten of God in us can no more live without spiritual food than our temporal bodies can without temporal food."

[b]The flesh and blood of Christ is spiritual
and we do feed upon it daily, for [u]that which is begotten of God[/u] in us [u]can no more live without spiritual food[/u] than our temporal bodies can without temporal food[/b]

[i]Taken from here:
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=4098]Short account of Sarah Cheevers[/url][/i]

Well? Isn't this the issue before us? Are we feeding upon the Lord...[b]daily[/b]? I do not mean the [i]things of God[/i], but of God Himself, in Christ, the Living Bread.

[b][color=660033] I am that bread of life.[/color][/b]

[b][color=660033]Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.[/color][/b]

[b][color=660033]This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.[/color][/b]

I ask myself, how do our Chinese brothers and sisters survive so many years in prison without even a Bible? How is it that the communist are said to have destroyed every visible sign of Christianity in China only to find years later that instead of wiping Christianity out, it flourished!

Our author goes on to write

Now, of course, we come to feel the benefit and the power of this, when it is transferred from the personal Heavenly Man to the corporate Heavenly Man....This Body, so created and living upon that fact, is as indestructible as Christ Himself, is as certain of victory as was Christ. On the principle that Christ dwells in the heart by faith, this Body can enter into wrestling with principalities and powers, world rulers of this darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies, and come out victor on the field.

Indestructible life! I think of what the prophet said of Christ here, where He is called...

[b][color=000000] ...a root out of a dry ground[/color][/b]

How does it grow!? Where does its life come from!?

[b][color=660033]For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself[/color][/b]

Ohh my brothers and sisters. I need that life. We need that life - this life which should make the world marvel and say, [i]how do they grow[/i] and [i]where does their life come from[/i]?

Brother Mike, I'm so blessed by this word and exchange. I thank God! Thank you brother!

Chris, I can hardly respond to all this just yet, still just absorbing it ... I am truly being blessed by this exchange as well!

Just now the thought of weeds comes to mind, something which I would suppose is a part of the curse upon the earth; they have a special reputation for their tenacity in holding onto life and also for choking out other, more desireable things.

[i]That[/i] is just an incredible analogy ... and [i]stubborn[/i]! I might add. Now the opposite comes to mind ... Having this tenacity of faith!

[i]Though he slay me ...[/i]

It so happenes that an article on [b]Spiritual Warfare[/b] by [i]T. Austin-Sparks[/i] came up in the random article a short while ago, and rather than let it slip out of view I wanted to at least post a link to it here, so that we could perhaps come back to it.

I'll share a few select qoutes and the link:

[i]...heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us.[/i]

[i]...it is in the Church and in relation to the Church's destiny that the whole kingdom of Satan is to be met and overthrown.[/i]

[i]The exercise and preserving of true heart fellowship with all other Christians - not just with those whom we like but with all - is a field of constant conflict.[/i]

[b][i]Fellowship is not just something that happens. We must fight for it. It is a great factor in the spiritual battle.[/b][/i]

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=1471]T. Austin-Sparks: Spiritual War[/url]

Forgive my mischievousness, having noticed brother Paul up at the moment ... Guess I am wondering of your thoughts here to all this brother. Do wish to return back to the emphasis, though I think it is not far from it.

Chris, what fascinates me often in these things is the different aspects that will grab us. Yours completely enlightening as they are looking at a different faucet. I still am processing Sparks emphasis on that one solitary word;

"Now".

It is just amazing the things we can glide over even after having read a passage numerous times. "I had never thought of that!" The instant reaction ... it is those pleasant surprises that always keeps God's word so ... [i]living[/i], breathing ...

Of the out take just earlier that I had put up, to confine it even a bit more;

Lord, in me Thou art other than I am; Thou art not what I am; Thou art other than this mood, than this feeling, than this absence of feeling; Thou art other than all these thoughts, other than I am! I am dead, so far as my feelings are concerned, but Thou art other than that, Thou art living! I am feeling dark, Thou art the light, and Thou art in me! This is me, this is not the Lord!

Already this is finding an etching into the soul and the mind. It has already been put to practice as the threats and suggestions have come. Have long ago forsaken the practice of having conversation with the enemy or his minions ... Ah, wish I could say that is always true, the things we can get drawn into before we are even aware. Better to state it as, [i]when[/i] I am aware of it and the Lord is before my attention predominantly ... My these things are difficult to express adequately. Sometimes the great lengths that can be applied to just not give way to temptation, to not sin against the Lord. Times when it is seemingly effortless, a certain mental practice is often a 'slamming the door' the instant the notion arises, a purposed turning away, a distraction, anything but to begin to allow the consideration to even form .... Thinking along the lines of;

[i]But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.[/i] Jam 1:14

To just block the entrance.

Other times it is far more subtle and sinister, a drift, a being caught up in particular circumstances, agitations, frustrations ... things creep in and before long the whole tone and movement of our being is being ... well, played with as Sparks put it.

This world has the uncanny ability to draw us off our spiritual moorings by presenting everything as 'reality'. What I mean is, that which is 'seen' is really all there is. It just dawned on me something I had written down next to a particular Psalm, went back to find it. It is marked 5/11/02 at the end of Psalm 27, verse 14 being underlined at;

Psa 27:14 [u]Wait on the LORD[/u]: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: [u]wait, I say, on the LORD.[/u]

Next to it had written;

"The real reality is in what we cannot see, the problems are not the issue, they are only distractions."

The funny thing is, every time I have come back across it, I would think, "Well, that's not very profound, what did I write that there for?"

But to try and draw back to what I am thinking here, it is amazing those times when the mind is clear and with a backward glance, these attacks and temptations, whatever they may be, anything from lust to unbelief ... just how much they actually backfire! Instead of dragging faith down they end up being the proving ground. That rush of revelation that, "I didn't cook this up!" I was being assaulted! This world has that strange ... 'comfortability mode' that tends to lull everything into a deep sleep by the way it is presented. For all that is obvious and sinister and outright evil, most days don't find a great upheaval. Arise and go to work. Eat. The sun is shining (generally here in California). Very nominal, common duties. Circumstances vary wildly (meant to say widely ...) and have given up the whole prediction business, that particular pet peeve of mine (presumption) by and large.

But the surprises come from all over the map. From the Lord in great wonder and amazement, appreciation and thankfulness. I have some nefarious worry wart like attributes that stay buried deep within still. My beloved cat. Everyday she shows back up is met with great praise and "Thank you Lord" for her protection. A multitude of seemingly minor matters ... maybe I am still just under this conviction and amazement that I ought to have been destroyed long ago and some days I just stagger after some failure at why He still withholds His hand. It's not paranoia, it's just ... Good grief, we are such fools! I am certain of my own ... Digressing here.

But these times when there is a laughter about it all, when it is recognized that the very thing set out to destroy faith comes redounding back to ... "This is the Lord!" or even paradoxically almost a thanks to the devil himself for ... showing me the [i]real reality[/i] of things. Isn't there a very subtle intimation that goes on in the mind sometimes that wants to make all our spiritual understanding crowded into an area labeled "abstract"? Almost to a perverted idea of "You know these things aren't real", that tendency and mingled mixture of the natural mind and who knows where to fix it particularly often times (the devil\\the world - the devils world).

Maybe what I am trying to say is when it suddenly dawns on me that, "Hey, this isn't my thought!" "Where in the world did that come from?" Do I really need to be convinced otherwise when the whole great appearance of things already has this sheen on it? Besides, it often comes completely out of nowhere ...

We do indeed wrestle [i]not[/i] .. but [i]with[/i]

Not flesh and blood, the natural, all that Sparks describes or assimilates as "Judas"

[i]but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.[/i]

Think another unfortunate problem in our day is the preponderance of truly appreciating passages such as this from just sheer ... overuse, or perhaps it's abuse. The sheer reality of this is incredible.

As often is the case am a bit disjointed trying to distill all this. But rather like very much this "[i]Thou art other than[/i]" as a fixed understanding. Looking forward to more of this exchange brother, still pondering your thoughts on "[i]Living[/i]" and lastly;

Indestructible life!

That passage I believe in Hebrews ... To apply this rightly to the Lord's death and resurrection, to all that the devil attempted, to everything ... to

Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Have often mused on those words ... staggering! Wonderful! Incredible!

(Edit* Too longwidned, notice Paul is gone, but Chris is up :-) )

Brother Mike,

Forgive me for not reading all the comments on the post thus far. Been quite busy, head cluttered, and I want to do all of these gracious contributions justice with an intelligent commentary. Many times I'll come on here and just read - and this is done puposefully. I have in the past regretted many, many postings which were done in haste, without fully comprehending what I was objecting to or commenting on, but to merely get my [i]point across[/i] and say something of vague worth. Alas, pride lurks beneath the surface of such motives, as well as the folly of impetuousness in wanting to be heard for the sake of interjection. This is something the Lord has been impressing upon my spirit on a personal level; namely: read more Paul, meditate more, and pray more - but post less if you can afford to.

Brother, I'll tell you that I'm eagerly awaiting to read the entire Sparks article with diligent care and an intentive spirit. Sparks, to me, is one of those titans that I can not approach as an easy, quick-fill read. I pray give me time, and, Lord Willing, I will soon contribute to this powerful discussion!

In the meantime, I must commend you on your new Spurgeon signature. It's very, very powerful. Thank you!

Brother Paul

I have in the past regretted many, many postings which were done in haste, without fully comprehending what I was objecting to or commenting on, but to merely get my point across and say something of vague worth.

Dear Paul, understood brother, very much so.

Hi again all and welcome into the boat, so to speak, brother Paul West. We're out into some pretty deep water here... :-)

I wonder if the image of little children gorging themselves on sweets that fell of the back of a pastry truck, right in front of them, does not seem appropriate, almost :-)

Brother Mike,

But these times when there is a laughter about it all, when it is recognized that the very thing set out to destroy faith comes redounding back to ... "This is the Lord!" or even paradoxically almost a thanks to the devil himself for ... showing me the real reality of things.

As I was reading this I thought of something that I read in a Voice of the Martyrs newsletter of all places. It was a short word from Pastor Wurmbrand where he mentions this saying, which I think is Latin: felix cupla. It means something like 'blessed guilt'. I thought I'd see if I could find anything on Sermonindex related and came up with this...

To an able woman building on such a weighty basis as that on which Lady Boyd had for long been building, Rutherford was quite safe to lay weighty and unusual comforts on her mind and on her heart. 'Christ has a use for all your corruptions,' he says to her, to her surprise and to her comfort. 'Beata culpa,' cried Augustine; and 'Felix culpa,' cried Gregory. 'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox. 'I find advantages of my sins,' said that most spiritually minded of men, James Fraser of Brea. Those who are willing and able to read a splendid passage for themselves on this paradoxical-sounding subject will find it on page xii. of the Address to the Godly and Judicious Reader in Samuel Rutherford's Christ Dying and Drawingto Himself.

[b]'Christ has a use for all your corruptions,' he says to her[/b]

[b]'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox.[/b]

I think the full expression of that phrase [i]felix culpa[/i] is something like [i] O blessed guilt, which has given us a Savior[/i].

And now, to pull this up to the point here of the purposes of God in our being buffeted, as we said earlier, the place I found these qoutes goes on to say

What Rutherford was bold to say to Lady Boyd about her corruptions she was able herself to say to Trochrig about her crosses. 'Right Honourable Sir, —It is common to God's children and to the wicked to be under crosses, but their crosses chase God's children to God. O that anything would chase me to my God!'

[b][color=000000]O that anything would chase me to my God![/color][/b]

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=11960]Alexander Whyte: Lady Boyd[/url]

And we know, that [b]all[/b] things work toge.....

In the meantime, I must commend you on your new Spurgeon signature. It's very, very powerful. Thank you!

Hi Paul, it was taken from,
[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=10733&forum=34#107293]Pride and Humility[/url]

Towards the bottom of the thread,

[b]Pride the Destroyer[/b]
C.H. Spurgeon

... to give it some more context.

There is a bit of irony here ... :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris,

Had one of those senior moments apparently earlier, thought I had responded to something here and ... well it never showed up!

...heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us.

[i]When, in New Testament language, we speak of heaven, do not let us think of that which is remote and far away, somewhere in or beyond the clouds. No, heavenly warfare is in the atmosphere all around us. The Devil is called "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). Now the air is not all above the clouds, but it is where we are as we breathe it now. The heavenlies are wrapping us round all the time and the spiritual conflict is in this very atmosphere. There is an illustration of this in the Old Testament story, when Elisha prayed: "Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see" (2 Kings 6:17), and the young man had his eyes opened to see how near as well as how real were the unseen armies of God. Because we have a spirit, which is the medium of connection with that which is spiritual, this evil atmosphere is not always outside of us but sometimes seems to make the conflict inward. In one way or another, the spiritual conflict is very real and for it we need the Spirit's sword.[/i]

This, taken from the other article ... Have been very much convinced of this reality and more and more everyday. That word, 'atmosphere'. Think I have mused on it here before in regards to revival, the Lord changing the atmosphere, even if this is something I would be supposing never having been in a true revival. But the oppressive atmosphere, the work atmosphere, home, the variance and changes, even our own response whether good or bad effecting ... I can't but help wonder how overtly 'spiritual' that might sound to some ears. I am not certainly thinking of this as in a measurable or a calculated looking into things but just an awareness or a intuition almost, taking notice of it ... ah, all these qualifiers, guess I am just concerned about others getting the wrong idea.

Just as well, different from moodiness or picking up things from those around you by their body language and such ... Indeed "in the air". It's quite noticable in our Lord in how He reacted or didn't react to situations ... "Get thee behind me, Satan" even in speaking to Peter. Could go on and on about this, it is quite incredible.

From there you had highlighted;

[b]Fellowship is not just something that happens. We must fight for it. It is a great factor in the spiritual battle.[/b]

Brother I do not know of anything that could better summarize the attempt here, in this forum. It is very much this.

[i]We meet spiritual antagonism in seeking to win souls for Christ, because it is only in this way that the Church is born. When, however, the full thought of God is brought into view, then the greatest challenge of the forces of evil is registered. This is because it is in the Church and in relation to the Church's destiny that the whole kingdom of Satan is to be met and overthrown. Hence, of course, the tremendous significance of corporate life. Even by small and seemingly insignificant means, moodiness or trifling disagreements, Satan breaks up the flow of fellowship among the saints. [u]It seems strange that the vital power of the Church should be weakened by the moods and temperaments of God's people but so it can be.[/u] If the Devil cannot succeed by such simple methods he has many other ploys and complex strategies, all aimed at the destruction of the relatedness of God's people. So spiritual fellowship becomes a real battleground.[/i]

The truth of this ... !

I wonder if the image of little children gorging themselves on sweets that fell of the back of a pastry truck, right in front of them, does not seem appropriate, almost

:-) Funny, the earlier senior moment is what I had written along those same lines. But this is just too ... important? Helpful perhaps?

'My sins have in a manner done me more good than my graces,' said holy Mr. Fox.

Oh, speaking of qualifiers!

Those who are willing and able to read a splendid passage for themselves on this paradoxical-sounding subject...

It is common to God's children and to the wicked to be under crosses, but their crosses chase God's children to God.

Brother, you are digging up some incredible gems here.

[b]"He That is Spiritual"[/b]
[i]by T. Austin-Sparks[/i]

[b]Chapter 2 - Spiritual Warfare[/b]

[i]"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out"[/i] (John 12:31).

[i]"I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me"[/i] (John 14:30).

[i]"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might... For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"[/i] (Eph. 6:10,12).

[i]"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil, and Satan the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them"[/i] (Rev. 12:7-12).

Our occupation is with the content and outworking of a little fragment from 1 Cor. 2 - "He that is spiritual." We were occupied earlier with the centre of that so far as we individually are concerned, that is, the reconstituting of believers on a spiritual principle and basis. We were really turned in on ourselves - always a difficult and sometimes a dangerous thing. But we were seeing the nature of the new creation in Christ as being solely spiritual, and our great governing statement which covers all that we have to say was, and is, that spirituality is the key to everything that is of God; and that begins with a spiritual state or a new spiritual being, brought into life by new birth. We worked that out at considerable length. What follows now is an outcome of it. We are going to turn from the inward and individual, right out to the circumference of it.

[b]Two Creations under Rival Authorities[/b]

The Scriptures we have read touch the realm in which we are going to move. It is the circumference of spirituality. The great all-encompassing facts are these. Firstly, there are two creations active, an old and a new, which represent two kinds of man: what the New Testament calls the soul-man and the spirit-(or spiritual) man. "Now the soul-man" - that is the literal meaning of the phrase translated "natural man" in 1 Cor. 2:14 - "Now the soul-man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." "The soul-man"; compare this with "he that is spiritual" in verse 15. What is in view is a likeness after which the being is constituted. You know the meaning of "ikon" (Gr. [i]eikon[/i]). An ikon is an image, a likeness, a figure; and here in the New Testament we have three Greek words derived from [i]eikon[/i]. The word is changed to [i]ikos[/i], which implies "to take the likeness of." So you get this word [i]psukikos[/i], which means soul-likeness, after the likeness of the soul. That is what is referred to here in 1 Cor. 2. "Now the man of soul, the soulman," the man who is constituted soul-wise, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." That is the man to which 1 Cor. 15:45 refers. "The first man Adam was made a living soul," the [i]psukikos[/i] man. Then there is another word - [i]sarkikos[/i] ([i]Sarx[/i] means flesh). That is the man who is constituted wholly on the principle of the flesh. But then there is this other word so often used - [i]pneumatikos[/i]; and he is the man whose likeness is of the spirit, the spiritual man. It is to him that such passages refer as "He that is spiritual": "The last Adam a life-giving spirit." just that by the way.

To get down to this matter of two orders, the [i]psukikos[/i] and the [i]pneumatikos[/i] orders, or the soul-order and the spirit-order. These are the characteristics or natures of two creations, the old creation, and the new creation in Christ Jesus. We are saying, then, that there are two creations, representing two orders of man, active, and very active. Of course, you know that in yourself personally that is true. There is an active old creation order or soul life. You know also, that, if you are a born-again child of God, there is another Man in you active, and these two do not get on well together, and that is largely the root and cause of all your trouble. But in the wider realm, this is true of the whole two worlds.

The second thing is that, over those two creations, there are two lords. There is the one of whom we have read, the prince of this world, the great ruler of this world, darkness with his hosts, his hordes of evil spirits - Satan, the Dragon, the Devil, and his angels. They are there over the old creation and governing it. On the other side, there is the Lord Jesus Who is Lord of the new creation.

[b]Two Realms in Conflict[/b]

Thirdly, although we do not always feel it to be so inside of ourselves, there is nevertheless from God's standpoint and in God's mind an absolute divide between these two. They are split apart by nothing less than the Cross of Christ, and that Cross is immense. It puts things in two entirely separate realms. Later we shall come to see the working of that, but just for the moment I anticipate by reminding you of the object that the Apostle Paul had in view when writing to the Corinthians. At the beginning of his first letter he said "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom... for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (2:1-2). The object which he had in view in that deliberate determination was to put two worlds asunder in Corinth. They had come too near and were interfering with each other, and everything was upset because of the overlapping of those two worlds - the realm of the natural (you see how much Paul says about it) and the realm of the spiritual. We never get anywhere until this mix-up has been put right. So he said in effect, I determined to put the Cross right in there between these two things and split them asunder, put them apart. The Cross makes the great divide between these two creations, these two natures, soul and spirit.

Now another thing - and this is where we get very near to the point of our present meditation - the medium used by the prince of this world in the old creation is the soul of man; that is his line of action, his basis of operation. On the other hand, the means, the basis, the instrument of the Lord Jesus in the new creation is the spirit of man - of course, renewed in new birth, quickened and raised and joined with the Lord one spirit, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Man's spirit is the vessel of His activities. So you find that there is a continual conflict between soul and spirit in the individual; but also in the larger world, the whole world, it is like that.

[b]Satan Always Works Through the Soul[/b]

All Satanic activities are soul-wise. That is a key which will unlock a vast realm of things, if only you get it into your hands spiritually. Satan's activities are all soul-wise. He assailed the soul of man in the beginning. You know what the soul is - mind, heart, will: reason, emotion and volition. Satan came arguing and reached man's mind; he came appealing and seduced his heart; he came driving and forced his will. So he got that creation soul-wise into his hands, and ever since then all his activities have been soul-wise. He is a spirit, an evil spirit, but he works soul-wise. This whole world is run by Satan on the psychological basis; it is all psychology. We have had perhaps the greatest exhibition ever given to this world of that fact during the recent years. More than anything else, it has been a psychological warfare. But we have seen through the psychology so much that is absolutely Satanic. You may call it a "war of nerves." What is that but a psychological war? But so it is apart from wars; this world is run on the psychological basis. Everything commercial is psychological; so are all the secrets of good business. You will never have any success in business if you do not know the psychological moment and the psychological method, and all that. All the secrets of good teaching lie there - in your psychological acumen to know the psychology of the child. This world is all on that level.

But let us come to this. Have you not recognised that the activities of the Devil are always like this - in some way to stir up the soul? When there is some interest of the Lord in view - a conference is coming, or something which has spiritual values wrapped up in it - have you not found again and again that, in advance of it, there is a drive made on your soul to provoke you, to get you bad-tempered, to do anything to get your soul stirred up? You know when that has happened you are out of position, you have to get quiet with the Lord and get the seething inside calmed down. It is extraordinary how it happens; it comes from nowhere; very often there is no explanation. You take on provocations that do not exist, interpret looks and words in a manner never intended; there are phantoms about all the time stirring up your soul. So often it is not coming from anything at all that you can trace - it is not anybody, it is nothing said - but somehow your soul is getting worked up and you are being put out of spiritual position; the seething of your soul like a ferment overflows your spirit and destroys its poise and strength and grip. Sometimes the method used is to depress. You feel terribly depressed. You cannot explain it, but something has happened in the atmosphere and registered upon you, depressing your spirit. Yes, all the Lord's people have known that. David knew a lot about it. "Why, art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him" (Psa. 42:5). Sometimes you have to talk to your soul like that. You know the depression of the soul to take your strength away, to sap and drain your spiritual vitality. Sometimes the method is to bring the soul into darkness. What onslaughts the Devil made on Martin Luther along that line, to bring into the darkness of accusation and condemnation, where his assurance of justification and salvation was undermined and weakened! Many of the Lord's people know a lot about that, the darkness, the overclouding, when it seems that the soul is in a dark dungeon.

Sometimes the means is to inflate the soul, and, oh, what a lot of success the Devil has gained along that line. Nebuchadnezzar was the very embodiment of this whole principle of soul life. "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?" (Daniel 4:30). That is the spirit of Antichrist inflating the soul. The word of the Lord is, "If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing" (he really is, from God's standpoint, nothing) "he deceiveth himself" (Gal. 6:3). How many people there are deceived along that line of self-importance! You know what this world is like in this matter. But the tragedy is that the very realm of the things of God, the work of God, has become the playground for that sort of thing, people exhibiting their own self-importance, and bringing themselves into prominence - all the expression of an inflated soul life. You find absolutely nothing of that in the Lord Jesus when He was here, but the exact opposite. "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29). "He poured out his soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12).

Well, there are many other ways in which the enemy works soul-wise. Sometimes he seeks to affright. How often he has tried to get us frightened, as he did in the days of Nehemiah - and in the days of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib came and started his demonstration around Jerusalem.

[b]The Answer to Satan Through the Spirit[/b]

On the other hand, all Christ's activities are spirit-wise, and there you open up another whole realm of Scriptures; e.g., "born of the Spirit" (John 3:8) "renewed in the spirit..." (Eph. 5:23); "strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16); and - touching spiritual understanding - "the eyes of your heart enlightened" (Eph. 1:18). So you bring in the Scriptures, all bearing upon this spirit-wise activity of Christ. And this quickened, renewed, energised, indwelt spirit, is up against this soul of ours, and this soul world.

When we speak of spiritual warfare, let us not think in terms of the abstract. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." What do you take that to mean? - that they were a people of a phraseology about the blood and they started hurling their phraseology at the Devil? Well, phraseology, even about the Blood, has no effect on him. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." Whom did they overcome? - the Accuser of the brethren, who accused them day and night. How do you overcome an accuser? Only by having a better case than he has. You have to have a good case, and the Blood of the Lamb represents that in a mighty way. Our legal standing because of the Blood of the Lamb puts the enemy out of court if only faith will hold to it. And we must not think in geographical terms of Satan being cast down from somewhere high up and coming crashing to the earth. This is [i]spiritual[/i] warfare. We have to get this spiritual sense and idea of things. Our soulical mentality is always drawing pictures of places, positions, spaces, but we have to understand that this is a spiritual matter - that Satan can, in effect, be cast from the highest heights to the lowest depths without any geographical factor coming in at all. You may have a person against you who lays a charge at your door, and thinks he has a very strong case. But you happen to have a case which undercuts that and tears it to pieces, and he goes down before you in utter collapse; he comes from a tremendous soul height to a very great depth. That is not a geographical thing but a spiritual. This is spiritual warfare, not geographical. "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:12), it is not in the realm of the physical and geographical at all. It is spiritual - you can call it moral if you like - and the Blood represents a legal case, and Satan can be cast down from heaven countless times in one day. You cannot do that literally: it can only be understood spiritually. A million people all over this earth may cast him down in one day at different moments of the day. As they stand by faith on the case that the Blood provides, they have a mighty and triumphant answer. That is how spirituality works out in warfare. Christ works spirit-wise. Soul cannot cast out soul, and the soul cannot cast out the Devil because the Devil has already got it in his hand. Satan has obtained ground in our souls, but in our renewed, born-again spirits he has no place. The evil spirit behind everything can only be overcome by a spirit strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, and that means by a subduing of the soul to the spirit.

[b]The Subjecting of the Soul to the Spirit[/b]

Now we have touched a new aspect. The Lord spoke figuratively when He said that we should take up our cross and deny ourselves; and later He went further with that in a little fuller explanation when He said "Whosoever would save his soul" - that is the word there - "shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake, the same shall save it" (Luke 9:24). The whole soul life, the whole natural life of ours, has got to be brought into subjection to our renewed spirit before the enemy can be cast out. If we are actuated by natural, soulical interests, we have no power over the Devil; he has ground. It is only when our reasoning and desiring and feeling and willing have been brought into subjection to the Spirit of Christ in our spirit as something inside of us, by our own determined and deliberate choice, that the enemy can be defeated. The enemy can make havoc in a life that is lived on the soul level, as he did at Corinth - even though it be the life of a believer. The degree in which our natural life influences us is the degree in which we are powerless over the enemy, and, let me repeat, it is in that realm that things matter. The real issue of life is in the spiritual realm. Our accountability, our worth, our value, is measured by the degree in which we count there. It matters not what we are here in this natural world. We may be important people here naturally but we do not count for anything really beyond a few passing years, and then it is [i]Sic transit gloria mundi[/i] - so passes the glory of the world. It is how much we count in things spiritual that is our real value.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Demands Faith[/b]

Now, let me say further and again, things that are seen, things that happen, are not alone, they have spiritual factors behind them. Oh, young people, try to get hold of this. Ask the Lord to help you to get this really registered in your hearts, not as a part of your religious education or information, but really as a working principle in your lives. Your difficult situations, hold-ups, frustrations - they are not just alone by themselves. If you are a child of God, there is a spiritual factor and a spiritual intelligence behind, and you will never get through until you can get behind the thing and deal with that spiritual factor; until you know how to deal with the enemy, the things will not be loosened. The Lord's answer to these challenges may not always be in the same way, but always on one certain principle. Paul said, "I would have you know that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel" (Phil. 1:12). That is one way in which the Lord answers the enemy - He sovereignly turns the work of the Devil to His own glory and to the fulfilment of the very thing which the Devil intended to prevent. The Lord's answer is not always in the direct way of casting out the Devil, nor a direct rebuke that brings the enemy's work to nought or stops him from working. The Lord very often allows him to work but answers him in many ways, and the ultimate issue is with the Lord, not the Devil. But always the Lord works to one principle, and that is the principle of our faith. Paul met the situation; he saw and felt the things that were happening. Do you think that in his heart he capitulated to Satan and said, The Devil has things in his own hand, it is of no use our trying to do anything? Not a bit! Paul's attitude was - the Devil sees we are having some success and he is working; he is apparently doing a lot of harm, but the issue of this thing will be with the Lord and not with the Devil. So, because of an attitude taken like that on the part of His servant, the Lord was constantly, in different ways, answering the Devil and getting the issue into His own hands. But the instrument of the Lord in defeating and casting down the Devil was the spirit of the servant of God standing strongly - and you do marvel how strongly Paul's spirit stood. Though Satan often seemed to have things his way, in the end the Lord triumphed every time.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Through Discipline[/b]

We have spoken of our feeling of grief over the lost impact of the Gospel, and of the Church, and of Christian life generally; but where does impact begin? It does not really begin upon men, nor upon things, nor upon the world. Impact really begins upon the spiritual forces behind, and if you have not the spiritual strength, all your assaults and all your endeavours will be in vain. Are you in the Lord's work? Unless you can get behind people and things to the spiritual factors and forces, you may as well close down. You are not, in the long run, going to have much to show for all your labours. You are dealing ultimately with spiritual things. If you are going into the work of the Lord, remember you cannot get this equipment by mere Bible study or by any kind of soul-training. You can only get this along the line of the discipline of the soul and the strengthening of spirit, and that is why there should be a predominant element of practical life in all training for the Lord's work. For instance, to know how to live triumphantly in spirit with difficult people. You will never go out to meet the power of the enemy behind this world unless you have learned how to meet him in your own spirit and under discipline. So the Lord puts us through a severe gruelling before He really commits to our hands spiritual responsibility.

Let me say at once that the soul is not to be annihilated. We are not wrong in having souls; our souls have to be won, to be mastered and brought into charge of the spirit so that the self-element is eliminated and the soul serves the spirit and serves the Lord, and not ourselves.

You see the nature of spiritual warfare; you see the realm in which things matter most. Well, this takes us back to our earlier message - the reconstituting of us and the building of us up in an inward way, the increase of spiritual measure. May the Lord use this meditation to secure for Himself the instrument that He needs for casting out the prince of this world, for establishing and extending His true spiritual kingdom and reign.

[b]The Servant In Battle[/b]

O Lord,

I bless thee that the issue of the battle
between thyself and Satan
has never been uncertain,
and will end in victory.
Calvary broke the dragon's head,
and I contend with a vanquished foe,
who with all his subtlety and strength
has already been overcome.
When I feel the serpent at my heel
may I remember him whose heel was bruised,
but who, when bruised, broke the devil's head.

My soul with inward joy extols
the mighty conqueror.

Heal me of any wounds recieved
in the great conflict;
if I have gahtered defilement,
if my faith has suffered damage,
if my hope is less than bright,
if my love is not fervent,
if some creature-comfort occupies my heart,
if my soul sinks under pressure of the fight.
O thou whose every promise is balm,
every touch life,
draw near to thy weary warrior,
refresh me, that I may rise again
to wage the strife,
and never tire until my enemy is troffen down.
Give me such fellowship with thee
that may defy Satan,
unbelief, the flesh, the world,
with delight that comes not from a creature,
and which a creature cannot mar.
Give me a draught of the eternal fountain
that lieth in thy immutable, everlasting love
and decree.
Then shall my hand never weaken,
my feet never stumble,
my sword never rust,
my helmet never shatter,
my breastplate never fall,
as my strength rests in the power
of thy might.

- [i]Author unknown[/i] taken from [i]The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions[/i], edited by Arthur Bennett

from War on the Saints...

"It is crucial to understand that being decieved by Satan the evil one, does not end when a person becomes a Christian and recieves the regenerating life of God. Satan's ability to blind our minds is frustrated only by the degree that his deceptive lies are driven away by the light of truth. Even though a believer's heart is renewed and his will has turned to God, the deeply ingrained tendency toward self-deception and, in some measure, the presence of the blinding power of the Deciever on his mind, still manifest themselves in many forms, as the following statements from Scripture show:

1) A person is decieved if he is a hearer...and not a doer of the Word of God. (James 1:23)

2) He is decieved if he says he has no sin.(1 JOHN 1:8)

3) He is decieved when he thinks he is something when he is nothing. (Galations 6:3)

4) He is decieved when he thinks he is wise with the wisdom of this world. (1 Corinthians 3:18)

5) He is decieved by seeming to be religous, when an unbridaled tongue reveals his true condition. (James 1:26)

6) He is decieved if he thinks he will sow and not reap what he sows. (Galatians 6:7)

7) He is decieved if he thinks the unrighteous will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9)

8) He is decieved if he thinks that contact with sin will not have its effect on him. (1 Corinthians 15:33)"

Saints, if anyone is interested, I put an audio recording of "Battle Scars" on my blog which can be accessed via my SermonIndex profile. I believe 2008 is going to be a pivotal year for many of us, a year of growth and casting off poor habits - especially those pertaining to Bible reading and prayer time. These two are the primary areas Satan would attack and impede upon, and we should not be ignorant of his devices.

Such areas of elevation are not given without a bloody fight.

Brother Paul

Bumping this, "sometimes the method used is to depress. You feel terribly depressed. You cannot explain it, but something has happened in the atmosphere and registered upon you, depressing your spirit. Yes, all the Lord's people have known that."

\tThis whole discussion from start to finish has been like a stream of fresh water to me. Thanks all who participated in it years ago...William Witt

Re: Spiritual Warfare
by crsschk on 2007/1/10 15:58:35

[b]"He That is Spiritual"[/b]
[i]by T. Austin-Sparks[/i]

[b]Chapter 2 - Spiritual Warfare[/b]

[i]"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out"[/i] (John 12:31).

[i]"I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me"[/i] (John 14:30).

[i]"Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might... For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places"[/i] (Eph. 6:10,12).

[i]"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil, and Satan the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them"[/i] (Rev. 12:7-12).

Our occupation is with the content and outworking of a little fragment from 1 Cor. 2 - "He that is spiritual." We were occupied earlier with the centre of that so far as we individually are concerned, that is, the reconstituting of believers on a spiritual principle and basis. We were really turned in on ourselves - always a difficult and sometimes a dangerous thing. But we were seeing the nature of the new creation in Christ as being solely spiritual, and our great governing statement which covers all that we have to say was, and is, that spirituality is the key to everything that is of God; and that begins with a spiritual state or a new spiritual being, brought into life by new birth. We worked that out at considerable length. What follows now is an outcome of it. We are going to turn from the inward and individual, right out to the circumference of it.

[b]Two Creations under Rival Authorities[/b]

The Scriptures we have read touch the realm in which we are going to move. It is the circumference of spirituality. The great all-encompassing facts are these. Firstly, there are two creations active, an old and a new, which represent two kinds of man: what the New Testament calls the soul-man and the spirit-(or spiritual) man. "Now the soul-man" - that is the literal meaning of the phrase translated "natural man" in 1 Cor. 2:14 - "Now the soul-man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." "The soul-man"; compare this with "he that is spiritual" in verse 15. What is in view is a likeness after which the being is constituted. You know the meaning of "ikon" (Gr. [i]eikon[/i]). An ikon is an image, a likeness, a figure; and here in the New Testament we have three Greek words derived from [i]eikon[/i]. The word is changed to [i]ikos[/i], which implies "to take the likeness of." So you get this word [i]psukikos[/i], which means soul-likeness, after the likeness of the soul. That is what is referred to here in 1 Cor. 2. "Now the man of soul, the soulman," the man who is constituted soul-wise, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." That is the man to which 1 Cor. 15:45 refers. "The first man Adam was made a living soul," the [i]psukikos[/i] man. Then there is another word - [i]sarkikos[/i] ([i]Sarx[/i] means flesh). That is the man who is constituted wholly on the principle of the flesh. But then there is this other word so often used - [i]pneumatikos[/i]; and he is the man whose likeness is of the spirit, the spiritual man. It is to him that such passages refer as "He that is spiritual": "The last Adam a life-giving spirit." just that by the way.

To get down to this matter of two orders, the [i]psukikos[/i] and the [i]pneumatikos[/i] orders, or the soul-order and the spirit-order. These are the characteristics or natures of two creations, the old creation, and the new creation in Christ Jesus. We are saying, then, that there are two creations, representing two orders of man, active, and very active. Of course, you know that in yourself personally that is true. There is an active old creation order or soul life. You know also, that, if you are a born-again child of God, there is another Man in you active, and these two do not get on well together, and that is largely the root and cause of all your trouble. But in the wider realm, this is true of the whole two worlds.

The second thing is that, over those two creations, there are two lords. There is the one of whom we have read, the prince of this world, the great ruler of this world, darkness with his hosts, his hordes of evil spirits - Satan, the Dragon, the Devil, and his angels. They are there over the old creation and governing it. On the other side, there is the Lord Jesus Who is Lord of the new creation.

[b]Two Realms in Conflict[/b]

Thirdly, although we do not always feel it to be so inside of ourselves, there is nevertheless from God's standpoint and in God's mind an absolute divide between these two. They are split apart by nothing less than the Cross of Christ, and that Cross is immense. It puts things in two entirely separate realms. Later we shall come to see the working of that, but just for the moment I anticipate by reminding you of the object that the Apostle Paul had in view when writing to the Corinthians. At the beginning of his first letter he said "And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom... for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (2:1-2). The object which he had in view in that deliberate determination was to put two worlds asunder in Corinth. They had come too near and were interfering with each other, and everything was upset because of the overlapping of those two worlds - the realm of the natural (you see how much Paul says about it) and the realm of the spiritual. We never get anywhere until this mix-up has been put right. So he said in effect, I determined to put the Cross right in there between these two things and split them asunder, put them apart. The Cross makes the great divide between these two creations, these two natures, soul and spirit.

Now another thing - and this is where we get very near to the point of our present meditation - the medium used by the prince of this world in the old creation is the soul of man; that is his line of action, his basis of operation. On the other hand, the means, the basis, the instrument of the Lord Jesus in the new creation is the spirit of man - of course, renewed in new birth, quickened and raised and joined with the Lord one spirit, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Man's spirit is the vessel of His activities. So you find that there is a continual conflict between soul and spirit in the individual; but also in the larger world, the whole world, it is like that.

[b]Satan Always Works Through the Soul[/b]

All Satanic activities are soul-wise. That is a key which will unlock a vast realm of things, if only you get it into your hands spiritually. Satan's activities are all soul-wise. He assailed the soul of man in the beginning. You know what the soul is - mind, heart, will: reason, emotion and volition. Satan came arguing and reached man's mind; he came appealing and seduced his heart; he came driving and forced his will. So he got that creation soul-wise into his hands, and ever since then all his activities have been soul-wise. He is a spirit, an evil spirit, but he works soul-wise. This whole world is run by Satan on the psychological basis; it is all psychology. We have had perhaps the greatest exhibition ever given to this world of that fact during the recent years. More than anything else, it has been a psychological warfare. But we have seen through the psychology so much that is absolutely Satanic. You may call it a "war of nerves." What is that but a psychological war? But so it is apart from wars; this world is run on the psychological basis. Everything commercial is psychological; so are all the secrets of good business. You will never have any success in business if you do not know the psychological moment and the psychological method, and all that. All the secrets of good teaching lie there - in your psychological acumen to know the psychology of the child. This world is all on that level.

But let us come to this. Have you not recognised that the activities of the Devil are always like this - in some way to stir up the soul? When there is some interest of the Lord in view - a conference is coming, or something which has spiritual values wrapped up in it - have you not found again and again that, in advance of it, there is a drive made on your soul to provoke you, to get you bad-tempered, to do anything to get your soul stirred up? You know when that has happened you are out of position, you have to get quiet with the Lord and get the seething inside calmed down. It is extraordinary how it happens; it comes from nowhere; very often there is no explanation. You take on provocations that do not exist, interpret looks and words in a manner never intended; there are phantoms about all the time stirring up your soul. So often it is not coming from anything at all that you can trace - it is not anybody, it is nothing said - but somehow your soul is getting worked up and you are being put out of spiritual position; the seething of your soul like a ferment overflows your spirit and destroys its poise and strength and grip. Sometimes the method used is to depress. You feel terribly depressed. You cannot explain it, but something has happened in the atmosphere and registered upon you, depressing your spirit. Yes, all the Lord's people have known that. David knew a lot about it. "Why, art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him" (Psa. 42:5). Sometimes you have to talk to your soul like that. You know the depression of the soul to take your strength away, to sap and drain your spiritual vitality. Sometimes the method is to bring the soul into darkness. What onslaughts the Devil made on Martin Luther along that line, to bring into the darkness of accusation and condemnation, where his assurance of justification and salvation was undermined and weakened! Many of the Lord's people know a lot about that, the darkness, the overclouding, when it seems that the soul is in a dark dungeon.

Sometimes the means is to inflate the soul, and, oh, what a lot of success the Devil has gained along that line. Nebuchadnezzar was the very embodiment of this whole principle of soul life. "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built?" (Daniel 4:30). That is the spirit of Antichrist inflating the soul. The word of the Lord is, "If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing" (he really is, from God's standpoint, nothing) "he deceiveth himself" (Gal. 6:3). How many people there are deceived along that line of self-importance! You know what this world is like in this matter. But the tragedy is that the very realm of the things of God, the work of God, has become the playground for that sort of thing, people exhibiting their own self-importance, and bringing themselves into prominence - all the expression of an inflated soul life. You find absolutely nothing of that in the Lord Jesus when He was here, but the exact opposite. "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:29). "He poured out his soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12).

Well, there are many other ways in which the enemy works soul-wise. Sometimes he seeks to affright. How often he has tried to get us frightened, as he did in the days of Nehemiah - and in the days of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib came and started his demonstration around Jerusalem.

[b]The Answer to Satan Through the Spirit[/b]

On the other hand, all Christ's activities are spirit-wise, and there you open up another whole realm of Scriptures; e.g., "born of the Spirit" (John 3:8) "renewed in the spirit..." (Eph. 5:23); "strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man" (Eph. 3:16); and - touching spiritual understanding - "the eyes of your heart enlightened" (Eph. 1:18). So you bring in the Scriptures, all bearing upon this spirit-wise activity of Christ. And this quickened, renewed, energised, indwelt spirit, is up against this soul of ours, and this soul world.

When we speak of spiritual warfare, let us not think in terms of the abstract. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." What do you take that to mean? - that they were a people of a phraseology about the blood and they started hurling their phraseology at the Devil? Well, phraseology, even about the Blood, has no effect on him. "They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb." Whom did they overcome? - the Accuser of the brethren, who accused them day and night. How do you overcome an accuser? Only by having a better case than he has. You have to have a good case, and the Blood of the Lamb represents that in a mighty way. Our legal standing because of the Blood of the Lamb puts the enemy out of court if only faith will hold to it. And we must not think in geographical terms of Satan being cast down from somewhere high up and coming crashing to the earth. This is [i]spiritual[/i] warfare. We have to get this spiritual sense and idea of things. Our soulical mentality is always drawing pictures of places, positions, spaces, but we have to understand that this is a spiritual matter - that Satan can, in effect, be cast from the highest heights to the lowest depths without any geographical factor coming in at all. You may have a person against you who lays a charge at your door, and thinks he has a very strong case. But you happen to have a case which undercuts that and tears it to pieces, and he goes down before you in utter collapse; he comes from a tremendous soul height to a very great depth. That is not a geographical thing but a spiritual. This is spiritual warfare, not geographical. "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood" (Eph. 6:12), it is not in the realm of the physical and geographical at all. It is spiritual - you can call it moral if you like - and the Blood represents a legal case, and Satan can be cast down from heaven countless times in one day. You cannot do that literally: it can only be understood spiritually. A million people all over this earth may cast him down in one day at different moments of the day. As they stand by faith on the case that the Blood provides, they have a mighty and triumphant answer. That is how spirituality works out in warfare. Christ works spirit-wise. Soul cannot cast out soul, and the soul cannot cast out the Devil because the Devil has already got it in his hand. Satan has obtained ground in our souls, but in our renewed, born-again spirits he has no place. The evil spirit behind everything can only be overcome by a spirit strengthened with might by the Spirit of God, and that means by a subduing of the soul to the spirit.

[b]The Subjecting of the Soul to the Spirit[/b]

Now we have touched a new aspect. The Lord spoke figuratively when He said that we should take up our cross and deny ourselves; and later He went further with that in a little fuller explanation when He said "Whosoever would save his soul" - that is the word there - "shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his soul for my sake, the same shall save it" (Luke 9:24). The whole soul life, the whole natural life of ours, has got to be brought into subjection to our renewed spirit before the enemy can be cast out. If we are actuated by natural, soulical interests, we have no power over the Devil; he has ground. It is only when our reasoning and desiring and feeling and willing have been brought into subjection to the Spirit of Christ in our spirit as something inside of us, by our own determined and deliberate choice, that the enemy can be defeated. The enemy can make havoc in a life that is lived on the soul level, as he did at Corinth - even though it be the life of a believer. The degree in which our natural life influences us is the degree in which we are powerless over the enemy, and, let me repeat, it is in that realm that things matter. The real issue of life is in the spiritual realm. Our accountability, our worth, our value, is measured by the degree in which we count there. It matters not what we are here in this natural world. We may be important people here naturally but we do not count for anything really beyond a few passing years, and then it is [i]Sic transit gloria mundi[/i] - so passes the glory of the world. It is how much we count in things spiritual that is our real value.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Demands Faith[/b]

Now, let me say further and again, things that are seen, things that happen, are not alone, they have spiritual factors behind them. Oh, young people, try to get hold of this. Ask the Lord to help you to get this really registered in your hearts, not as a part of your religious education or information, but really as a working principle in your lives. Your difficult situations, hold-ups, frustrations - they are not just alone by themselves. If you are a child of God, there is a spiritual factor and a spiritual intelligence behind, and you will never get through until you can get behind the thing and deal with that spiritual factor; until you know how to deal with the enemy, the things will not be loosened. The Lord's answer to these challenges may not always be in the same way, but always on one certain principle. Paul said, "I would have you know that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel" (Phil. 1:12). That is one way in which the Lord answers the enemy - He sovereignly turns the work of the Devil to His own glory and to the fulfilment of the very thing which the Devil intended to prevent. The Lord's answer is not always in the direct way of casting out the Devil, nor a direct rebuke that brings the enemy's work to nought or stops him from working. The Lord very often allows him to work but answers him in many ways, and the ultimate issue is with the Lord, not the Devil. But always the Lord works to one principle, and that is the principle of our faith. Paul met the situation; he saw and felt the things that were happening. Do you think that in his heart he capitulated to Satan and said, The Devil has things in his own hand, it is of no use our trying to do anything? Not a bit! Paul's attitude was - the Devil sees we are having some success and he is working; he is apparently doing a lot of harm, but the issue of this thing will be with the Lord and not with the Devil. So, because of an attitude taken like that on the part of His servant, the Lord was constantly, in different ways, answering the Devil and getting the issue into His own hands. But the instrument of the Lord in defeating and casting down the Devil was the spirit of the servant of God standing strongly - and you do marvel how strongly Paul's spirit stood. Though Satan often seemed to have things his way, in the end the Lord triumphed every time.

[b]Spiritual Ascendancy Through Discipline[/b]

We have spoken of our feeling of grief over the lost impact of the Gospel, and of the Church, and of Christian life generally; but where does impact begin? It does not really begin upon men, nor upon things, nor upon the world. Impact really begins upon the spiritual forces behind, and if you have not the spiritual strength, all your assaults and all your endeavours will be in vain. Are you in the Lord's work? Unless you can get behind people and things to the spiritual factors and forces, you may as well close down. You are not, in the long run, going to have much to show for all your labours. You are dealing ultimately with spiritual things. If you are going into the work of the Lord, remember you cannot get this equipment by mere Bible study or by any kind of soul-training. You can only get this along the line of the discipline of the soul and the strengthening of spirit, and that is why there should be a predominant element of practical life in all training for the Lord's work. For instance, to know how to live triumphantly in spirit with difficult people. You will never go out to meet the power of the enemy behind this world unless you have learned how to meet him in your own spirit and under discipline. So the Lord puts us through a severe gruelling before He really commits to our hands spiritual responsibility.

Let me say at once that the soul is not to be annihilated. We are not wrong in having souls; our souls have to be won, to be mastered and brought into charge of the spirit so that the self-element is eliminated and the soul serves the spirit and serves the Lord, and not ourselves.

You see the nature of spiritual warfare; you see the realm in which things matter most. Well, this takes us back to our earlier message - the reconstituting of us and the building of us up in an inward way, the increase of spiritual measure. May the Lord use this meditation to secure for Himself the instrument that He needs for casting out the prince of this world, for establishing and extending His true spiritual kingdom and