'Christian soldiers, fighting the good fight of faith, have access to a place of retreat, to which they continually repair for prayer. "Praying always, with all prayer," is a clear statement of the imperative need of much praying, and of many kinds of praying, by him who, fighting the good fight of faith, would win out, in the end, over all his foes.
The Revised Version puts it this way:
"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications, for all saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am in bonds."
It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 63)
*******
'From start to finish, it is war.' TRUTH!
Satan loves to blind us with our own feelings. We feel love, we feel contentment and Satan allows us to believe this means we are right with God, when in truth our feelings do NOT matter at all!
Seriously, our feelings are irrelevant and yet we are told they matter so much more than anything else. If we aren't happy then leave our job, leave our spouse, search for happiness at all costs because we all have a right to it. That's NOT TRUE! It's a lie that Satan has fed us and we've devoured.
Step out of the Western world culture and into a third world culture and ask them about happiness. Yet we here in the Western world have a constitution that tells us we have the right to pursue happiness. And we've done that often at the great expense of many. It is NO lie that big corporations have become what they are through a lot of deceit. I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them have.
When we live for ourselves and our feelings we are living a life that Satan can toy with at his leisure. How easy it is to manipulate those who rely on their feelings for their guide through life. Induce a bad state of mind and instill doubt in them, perfect. Satan has an arsenal filled with such tactics, such weapons to use against us. And Satan is the head of his grand army of evil angels who have learned well from their master.
C.S. Lewis wrote of small book called, 'The Screwtape Letters'. Here read a bit about it from wikipedia-
'The Screwtape Letters comprises thirty-one letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood (named after a star in Revelation), a younger and less experienced demon, charged with guiding a man toward "Our Father Below" (Devil / Satan) from "the Enemy" (God).
After the second letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is chastised for allowing this. A striking contrast is formed between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book, wherein Wormwood is depicted through Screwtape's letters as anxious to tempt his patient into extravagantly wicked and deplorable sins, and often reckless. Screwtape, on the other hand, takes a more subtle stance, as in Letter XII wherein he remarks: "...the safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts".
In Letter VIII, Screwtape explains to his protégé the different purposes that God and the devils have for the human race: "We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons". With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: "(God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them".'
Pasted from
Satan most assuredly will do all he can to keep us from ever realizing we are in a war. Satan wants us passively going through life totally unaware of the great battle, the great controversy we are all immersed in daily.
Read this again-
'It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'
Wrestling, struggling, demands all our energy of the Spirit - that's what this warfare demands. It does not demand a blindness. If we are truly engaged in the war between good and evil - it is an ACTIVE warfare, not something that calls for absolutely no thought on our part.
Satan doesn't want us to realize him as a REAL enemy. Satan does NOT want us to recognize his tactics in our lives he much more prefers it if we attribute all of his tactics to something else, something we call ' that's life', or 'a bad break', or 'terrible luck', he does NOT want us to call him out for what he is- the destroyer who will stop at nothing to get us away from the love of our Savior.
Please Heavenly Father, please help us to comprehend the reality we live in, keep us from living blind lost to the true reality of the spiritual war that is our life until our Savior returns for us.
All by Your grace, Your mercy, Your amazing LOVE!
The Revised Version puts it this way:
"With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplications, for all saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me, in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am in bonds."
It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'
Quoted from- 'THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER By E.M. BOUNDS' (Excerpt 63)
*******
'From start to finish, it is war.' TRUTH!
Satan loves to blind us with our own feelings. We feel love, we feel contentment and Satan allows us to believe this means we are right with God, when in truth our feelings do NOT matter at all!
Seriously, our feelings are irrelevant and yet we are told they matter so much more than anything else. If we aren't happy then leave our job, leave our spouse, search for happiness at all costs because we all have a right to it. That's NOT TRUE! It's a lie that Satan has fed us and we've devoured.
Step out of the Western world culture and into a third world culture and ask them about happiness. Yet we here in the Western world have a constitution that tells us we have the right to pursue happiness. And we've done that often at the great expense of many. It is NO lie that big corporations have become what they are through a lot of deceit. I'm not saying all of them, but a lot of them have.
When we live for ourselves and our feelings we are living a life that Satan can toy with at his leisure. How easy it is to manipulate those who rely on their feelings for their guide through life. Induce a bad state of mind and instill doubt in them, perfect. Satan has an arsenal filled with such tactics, such weapons to use against us. And Satan is the head of his grand army of evil angels who have learned well from their master.
C.S. Lewis wrote of small book called, 'The Screwtape Letters'. Here read a bit about it from wikipedia-
'The Screwtape Letters comprises thirty-one letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood (named after a star in Revelation), a younger and less experienced demon, charged with guiding a man toward "Our Father Below" (Devil / Satan) from "the Enemy" (God).
After the second letter, the Patient converts to Christianity, and Wormwood is chastised for allowing this. A striking contrast is formed between Wormwood and Screwtape during the rest of the book, wherein Wormwood is depicted through Screwtape's letters as anxious to tempt his patient into extravagantly wicked and deplorable sins, and often reckless. Screwtape, on the other hand, takes a more subtle stance, as in Letter XII wherein he remarks: "...the safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts".
In Letter VIII, Screwtape explains to his protégé the different purposes that God and the devils have for the human race: "We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons". With this end in mind, Screwtape urges Wormwood in Letter VI to promote passivity and irresponsibility in the Patient: "(God) wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them".'
Pasted from
Satan most assuredly will do all he can to keep us from ever realizing we are in a war. Satan wants us passively going through life totally unaware of the great battle, the great controversy we are all immersed in daily.
Read this again-
'It cannot be stated too frequently that the life of a Christian is a warfare, an intense conflict, a lifelong contest. It is a battle, moreover, waged against invisible foes, who are ever alert, and ever seeking to entrap, deceive, and ruin the souls of men. The life to which Holy Scripture calls men is no picnic, or holiday junketing. It is no pastime, no pleasure jaunt. It entails effort, wrestling, struggling; it demands the putting forth of the full energy of the spirit in order to frustrate the foe and to come off, at the last, more than conqueror. It is no primrose path, no rose-scented dalliance. From start to finish, it is war. From the hour in which he first draws sword, to that in which he doffs his harness, the Christian warrior is compelled to "endure hardness like a good soldier."'
Wrestling, struggling, demands all our energy of the Spirit - that's what this warfare demands. It does not demand a blindness. If we are truly engaged in the war between good and evil - it is an ACTIVE warfare, not something that calls for absolutely no thought on our part.
Satan doesn't want us to realize him as a REAL enemy. Satan does NOT want us to recognize his tactics in our lives he much more prefers it if we attribute all of his tactics to something else, something we call ' that's life', or 'a bad break', or 'terrible luck', he does NOT want us to call him out for what he is- the destroyer who will stop at nothing to get us away from the love of our Savior.
Please Heavenly Father, please help us to comprehend the reality we live in, keep us from living blind lost to the true reality of the spiritual war that is our life until our Savior returns for us.
All by Your grace, Your mercy, Your amazing LOVE!
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