Unclean Spirits

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  (KJV)

Eph 6:12  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.  (RV- Revised Version)

Eph 6:12  We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world.  (CEV - Contemporary English Version)

Eph 6:12  because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places (YLT- 1898 Young's Literal Translation)

The Spiritual battle is real.
Evil is real.

I read an article recently where a woman wrote about demons as if they were real- guess what- they ARE real. It seemed a little odd though to be reading someone say something along these lines: 

"Demons love it when we lie."

"Demons feast off our sinning."

Are they true statements? The Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies, and emphasizes that being a liar is a really bad thing, so if we believe that evil angels (demons) follow in the footsteps of their leader Satan then yes, I imagine it's true that demons love when we lie.  Do demons feast off our sinning? I don't know for a fact they feast in the sense that we imagine feasting, but we do know the Bible tells us this-

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.

Jesus Himself is talking about unclean spirits and why not, He cast out unclean spirits, he cast out demons and LOTS of them.  They were VERY real to Jesus and He recognized them as the enemy of mankind.

An unclean spirit, an evil angel, a fallen angel, an evil spirit being inside a man.
Taken out of a man that spirit is walking in DRY places.
And here's a point that seems moot when we know that angelic beings - evil and good - have no need of rest.  But it's not moot because nothing Jesus says is. The unclean spirit is seeking rest and finds none. This cast out unclean spirit was used to living inside a man and once cast out the life of that unclean spirit has altered, there is a void that cannot be filled. So this unclean spirit returns to the man he was cast out of and finds it better than it was when he'd occupied it before so not ONLY does he return but he take seven more unclean spirits, spirits more wicked than him and they ALL entered into that man to live.

Now this is a parable, Jesus spoke a lot in parables and this is no different.

The parable of the wicked people of Israel who only make a show of repentance but never fully repent and ultimately their rejection of the TRUTH of God leads them to an evil more wicked state than ever. 

This parable does NOT negate that fact that real unclean spirits exist, just as the parable of the fig tree doesn't speak as if the fig tree isn't real.

Just reading the following tells us that Jesus believed in REAL unclean spirit beings--

Mar_5:8  For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

Do you think it's possible for a person to be cleaned of unclean spirits and then receive them back again at a later date?  I do.

Read the following--

Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
Mar 9:19  He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
Mar 9:20  And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
Mar 9:21  And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
Mar 9:22  And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
Mar 9:23  Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
Mar 9:25  When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Jesus - REBUKED the foul spirit- saying unto that SPIRIT- Thou DUMB and DEAF spirit, I charge thee COME OUT OF HIM and ENTER NO MORE INTO HIM.

Would Jesus have had to say- 'and enter no more into him', if it were not possible for unclean spirits to come and go from a person? No, He would not have had to say that.  This deaf, dumb spirit was being PERMANENTLY EJECTED from this young man.  'Enter no more into him.'  That young man would never, ever be bothered by that unclean spirit again. The unclean spirit was not destroyed, he was ejected.

People love to say the boy was probably just suffering from epilepsy and in the dark ages etc they used to believe that people had unclean spirits, demons in them but the truth is they had a medical condition that is easily treated nowadays with medicine.  It is true that there was a time when people believed a lot of medical conditions treated today were caused by demons and they tortured and killed those people believing they were in league with the devil- they had to be if the devil was inside them.  People in the time of Jesus did NOT torture and kill those who were possessed. We read more than this one account of demons inside people who were obviously allowed to live as normal a life as possible, not tortured. They were victims and recognized as such.  Jesus came and HEALED the physically, mentally, and spiritually sick. Jesus knew when a condition was caused by an unclean spirit and when it wasn't.

Luk 8:43  And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luk 8:44  Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
Luk 8:45  And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luk 8:46  And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Luk 8:47  And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
Luk 8:48  And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

Did Jesus cast an unclean spirit out of this woman? No. But she was healed.

Mat 11:5  The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Mat_12:22  Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw

Mar 8:22  And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
Mar 8:23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
Mar 8:24  And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
Mar 8:25  After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.

Not every healing was the result of a cast out unclean spirit.

But there was healing when unclean spirits were cast out, because those unclean spirit COULD cause illnesses. Simply because we have a disease that mimics the symptoms of demon possession does NOT negate possession.

One blind and mute man could be so as a result of a demon, another blind and mute for other reasons. To say all have to be the same would be ridiculous.

Read this--

Joh 9:1  And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.
Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Joh 9:6  When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
Joh 9:7  And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Illnesses and medical conditions are not always the result of someone's sin, yet they can be.

Exo_20:5  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me

This CAN happen, but it isn't something that would automatically happen, just as Jesus said.

Satan wants us deceived at all costs, this is his desire for every human being, deceived.

Demon possession is real.

Demons- evil angels-  love lies and all sins.

God alone can protect us, He is our ARMOR against all the fiery darts.

More tomorrow by the GRACE of GOD!!!!!!!

Put On Christ

The Armor of God

Girt Loins (protective girdle)- Truth
Breastplate - Righteousness
Footwear - Peace
Shield - Faith
Helmet - Salvation
Sword - Spirit - Word of God

The whole armor of God.

Truth- Joh_14:6  Jesus …I AM  the... Truth

Righteousness- Mat_6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness…

Peace- Joh_14:27  ...my peace I give unto you

Faith- Gal 2:16  ...by the faith of Jesus Christ

Salvation- Luk 19:10  For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Spirit Word of God- Joh 1:1,2  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.  Luk_11:28  But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. Luk_4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Do you catch the picture here? The BIG picture.

Jesus is- truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.

Our armor, the Whole Armor of God is JESUS CHRIST our LORD and SAVIOR He is OUR Protector!  Do you see why we have to have the Whole Armor or none? You can't have just a part of Jesus, you have to have ALL of Him! You have to believe in ALL that He is, was, and will be. 

The only way we have of being protected against all that the evil angel Satan will throw at us is if we truly have our Savior as a REAL part of our lives, a PROTECTOR. He WILL be our protector but we MUST PRAY ALWAYS.  We cannot forget this part…

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

Praying ALWAYS.  Why do we PRAY ALWAYS? We pray always because that is HOW we live in contact with our Savior. Prayer is the communication channel, the SPIRITUAL communication we have with our Savior!

Faith- believing in the unseen. BELIEVING.

We have to BELIEVE. We have to CHOOSE to BELIEVE and HE is ALL THINGS!

Put on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Put on CHRIST.

Here is Adam Clarke's Commentary on this concept-

'As many of you as have been baptized into Christ - All of you who have believed in Christ as the promised Messiah, and received baptism as a public proof that ye had received Christ as your Lord and Savior, have put on Christ - have received his Spirit, and entered into his interests, and copied his manners. To put on, or to be clothed with one, is to assume the person and character of that one; and they who do so are bound to act his part, and to sustain the character which they have assumed. The profession of Christianity is an assumption of the character of Christ; he has left us an example that we should follow his steps, and we should, as Christians, have that mind in us which was in him.'

Put on Christ.
Put on the Whole Armor of God.
Put on Christ.

We have to have Jesus as our PROTECTOR and believing that HE is our PROTECTOR is something imagining the ARMOR of GOD can allow us to do in a more visual manner.

God is our protective girdle.
God is our protective breastplate.
God is our protective footwear.
God is our protective shield.
God is our protective helmet.
God is our defending sword.

And we have to CHOOSE to make HIM a REAL part of our lives. He will protect us as long as we allow Him to, He'll never force His protection upon us, never.

ALL BY HIS GRACE! ALL THROUGH HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

The Whole Armor or No Armor

Physically we can HAVE these in our possession-

Girt Loins (protective girdle).
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

Spiritual we MUST have these in our possession-

Truth.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Faith.
Salvation.
Spirit of the Word of God.

Do you suppose it's important to note what piece of armor represents which part of the body? We know that physically there are parts of our body we cannot live without, right? So I really don't think this is part of the issue. Why? Because walking in the Gospel of Peace is of the utmost importance and to say we can live without our feet  and equate that to living without the Gospel of Peace would be ludicrous.

There is an element of analogy to the armor, but the most important thing we have to remember is all these Spiritual pieces of armor come from ONE source- OUR SAVIOR!

There is NO truth without our Savior!
There is NO righteousness without our Savior!
There is NO peace without our Savior!
There is NO faith without our Savior!
There is NO salvation without our Savior!
There is NO Spirit of the Word of God without our Savior!

This is truly the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD, because we cannot possess any of it without GOD. In fact we really cannot possess one piece without the other. We cannot put on the helmet of salvation without having the girdle of truth. We cannot have our feet shod with the gospel of peace and not have the shield of faith. This armor is a complete SET of armor and it does NOT exist without any one of the pieces.

Put on the WHOLE armor of God, or none.

One or the other and it makes sense because the choice we are to make is between God and Satan, God and Selfishness, God and any thing that separates us from God. We are not going to be able to choose to keep a little bit of our selfishness as if it's something good and won't really hurt us. We CANNOT choose to keep a little bit of evil anything! Yet we go about as if our faults are no big deal. That it is fine because we're human and cannot help but have faults.  Yet we are TOLD over and over to sin no more. We don't like to equate our faults with sin, yet aren't they sins? Anything that would keep us from God, anything that would keep us focused on our selves, any fault that is accepted as a part of us and NOT surrendered to God is something we will have to account for. We have to surrender ALL of ourselves, this must be the choice we make, a full surrender. 

It is ALL or nothing.

All of the armor of God or none.
All God or none of God.

This is something we have to truly consider, to think about, to dwell on because Satan wants us to walk the fence straddled between both worlds and on neither side because HE KNOWS that fence people are upon is HIS FENCE!

This armor must be thought of as a WHOLE most definitely NOT as something that is haphazardly assembled.

Let's dwell on this seriously, let's take time to contemplate all of this and by the GRACE of our LORD we'll study more of this tomorrow!

All in HIM, always in HIM!

Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands...

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Yesterday we talked a bit about Greek armor, we also got a bit of information from Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary. At the end of that commentary bit was this--

'1.    That the ancient Greeks and Romans went constantly armed'

The Greek soldiers were CONSTANTLY armed.

They didn't go about unarmed because they needed to have their armor and weapons on, they were soldiers.

When a soldier is in a war he NEVER goes about unarmed. I've seen a few documentaries on tv that explain how our soldiers are in their full gear even when sleeping when they are in the thick of things.

We ARE in the THICK of THINGS.

This spiritual war we are all involved in is constantly being waged. 

The Devil does not sleep, he does not take time off, he doesn't let his own soldiers - all those evil angels that chose to follow him- 1/3 rd of all the angels and we know that God has --

Rev_5:11  ... many angels ...and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands

Ten thousand times ten thousand  =  100,000,000 and thousand of thousands.  The number of angels is uncountable to us.  And 1/3 of all the angels are SATAN'S.

We cannot truly begin to fathom the number of evil angels that are doing the work of their leading evil angle, Satan.  We can be sure that Satan isn't going to rest, he doesn't have to rest, angels don't get tired. Satan isn't going to rest and he's not going to stop attacking us in any way he can.  We are NEVER out of the thick of things in this spiritual war, not ever.  We cannot rest, we cannot take off our armor, not ever. 

We have to put on the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD and NEVER take it off, NEVER! We are spiritual soldiers in a spiritual war and our spiritual armor must become a part of us. 

Physically we can imagine these-

Girt Loins.
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

Spiritual we MUST believe in these-

Truth.
Righteousness.
Peace.
Faith.
Salvation.
Spirit of the Word of God.

We must have all of these as a REAL part of our lives, a very real part.

More on these tomorrow all by the grace of our GOD!

All in HIS LOVE!

HIS righteousness!

HIS truth!

HIS peace!

HIS faith!

HIS Salvation!

HIS Spirit.

HIS Word!

The Armor

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Continuing our study of the WHOLE armor of GOD it is worth noting that this is the second time we are told to TAKE THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD. Why is it worth noting? Because obviously if we are being told something more than once it MUST be important. The WHOLE armor of GOD and our TAKING it is extremely important and yet this is something not very many in the grand scheme of things seem to think worth bothering about.

The spiritual realm.

I hope you believe it is a reality and as such that it is working around us all the time day and night affecting us constantly for good and bad.

Here in this verse it is mentioned that the reason for taking this WHOLE armor of GOD is so that we will be able to withstand in the EVIL DAY- having done ALL to stand.

The EVIL DAY.

What would you think if I told you this--  "Take your umbrella to protect you in the rainy day."

You'd most likely think that I want you to be prepared for a rainy day- any rainy day, right? This EVIL DAY spoken of is any day that is EVIL.  We don't know when we will be attacked spiritually. We could be attacked daily, hourly, minutely, or maybe weekly, monthly, yearly. We just don't know when or where an attack will come from. Not only don't we know when or where, we don't know what sort of attack it will be- some are much more blatant than others. One thing we can know is when we are struggling with ANYTHING, we can be sure that there is an unseen battle going on around us.

No, I’m not using this as an excuse, no one can use it as an excuse because WE ultimately make the choices of how we handle the attacks. We can succumb to them and let them destroy us- many, many people do. We can overcome them but ONLY by the power of our SAVIOR, any other any sort of overcoming is false and oh so very deceptive.

There isn't a single struggle, not a single bit of strife that isn't egged on by the unseen spirits.  We can ignore the unseen spirits working around us and most people do, but we aren't told to ignore them, are we? We are told to put on armor - in fact the WHOLE armor of GOD so that we can stand.

Now let me ask you a question, if we are told to put on armor so we can stand do you suppose it's to simple stand still, to be like one of those empty statue suits of armors that never, ever move?  Is this armor a reality? Is it useful armor in being more than protective - which is a GREAT THING don't get me wrong.  What exactly is this armor of God's we are to wear so that we are doing EVERYTHING within our own power to stand.  I say our power because of this one action- CHOOSING to put on the armor- that's totally ON US, our CHOICE, all the rest of the power is in GOD'S armor and it is by HIS power alone the armor exists and works in our favor.

The ARMOR-

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness

Girt loins.
Breastplate.

Grecian armor-

'The Girdle; this went about the loins, and served to brace the armor tight to the body, and to support daggers, short swords, and such like weapons, which were frequently stuck in it. This kind of girdle is in general use among the Asiatic nations to the present day.' -- Clarke

'The Breast-Plate; this consisted of two parts, called pte???e? or wings: one covered the whole region of the thorax or breast, in which the principal viscera of life are contained; and the other covered the back, as far down as the front part extended.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace

Footwear.

'Greaves or brazen boots, which covered the shin or front of the leg; a kind of solea was often used, which covered the sole, and laced about the instep, and prevented the foot from being wounded by rugged ways, thorns, stones, etc.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Shield.

'The clypeus or Shield; it was perfectly round, and sometimes made of wood, covered with bullocks’ hides; but often made of metal. The aspis or shield of Achilles, made by Vulcan, was composed of five plates, two of brass, two of tin, and one of gold; so Homer, Il. U. v. 270:' -- Clarke

'Of shields there were several sorts:
Ge????? or ?e??a, the gerron; a small square shield, used first by the Persians.
?a?s?????, Laiseion; a sort of oblong shield, covered with rough hides, or skins with the hair on.
?e?t?, the Pelta; a small light shield, nearly in the form of a demicrescent, with a small ornament, similar to the recurved leaves of a flower de luce, on the center of a diagonal edge or straight line; this was the Amazonian shield.
T??e??, the scutum or Oblong Shield; this was always made of wood, and covered with hides. It was exactly in the shape of the laiseion, but differed in size, being much larger, and being covered with hides from which the hair had been taken off. It was called ???e?? from ???a, a door, which it resembled in its oblong shape; but it was made curved, so as to embrace the whole forepart of the body. The aspis and the thureos were the shields principally in use; the former for light, the latter for heavy armed troops.' -- Clarke

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Helmet.
Sword.

'The Helmet; this was the armor for the head, and was of various forms, and embossed with a great variety of figures. Connected with the helmet was the crest or ridge on the top of the helmet, adorned with several emblematic figures; some for ornament, some to strike terror. For crests on ancient helmets we often see the winged lion, the griffin, chimera, etc. St. Paul seems to refer to one which had an emblematical representation of hope.' -- Clarke

'The Sword; these were of various sizes, and in the beginning all of brass. The swords of Homer’s heroes are all of this metal.' --Clarke

Girt Loins.
Breastplate.
Footwear.
Shield.
Helmet.
Sword.

And Clarke also had this note-

'1.    That the ancient Greeks and Romans went constantly armed;
2.    That before they engaged they always ate together; and
3.    That they commenced every attack with prayer to the gods for success.'

--Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

By the GRACE of our LORD-- more on this tomorrow!  All in HIS LOVE.

We have to believe, we have to choose!

Flesh, Blood, & Spirit

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

We WRESTLE.

We all know what it means to wrestle with someone or something don't we?

I say someone or something because we can wrestle with problems that aren't physical in nature. We wrestle with ideas, we wrestle with decisions, we wrestle with a lot of things. If people can understand the concept of wrestling with an idea they surely should be able to understand the concept of fighting against things that are NOT flesh and blood.

It sounds strange, doesn't it?

I'm not asking anyone to believe in ghosts as in dead human spirit beings, but I am asking everyone to believe in spirit beings that were created to be spirit beings- angels.

And I'm not just asking everyone to believe in spirit angel beings, but I'm asking everyone to believe in spirit angel beings that are evil,  as well as those that are not evil.

These beings can be around us at all times and because they are REAL they have influence upon us.  It doesn't matter if you believe in them or not for them to be real, they're real even if you don't want them to be. You can say till you're blue in the face that spirit beings do not exist but that would be like saying the very air we breathe isn't real.

The evil spirit beings are real and they are NOT flesh and blood in any real form, though they might choose to appear as a human being.  These beings are principalities, these beings are powers, these beings are rulers of darkness, these beings are wicked- and we wrestle with them.

Wouldn't it be something if we were all allowed to get a glimpse of a spirit being? It'd be awful frightening too.  Some people do see them, some people search for them and some invite them into their lives. The problem with toying with the spirit world is that we cannot truly begin to comprehend the power behind that world.

The Bible tells us that evil spirits can POSSESS a human being.
The Bible tells us that evil spirits  can live inside a human being.

This means that the evil spirit can live inside us who are flesh, blood, and spirit. 

We truly have a spirit within us, our spirit being, and it's this part of us that we have in common with our Spiritual Father, our Spiritual Holy Spirit, and our Spiritual-Flesh-Blood Savior as well as the spirits that are angels- those who are God's angels and those who follow the fallen angel  Lucifer.

We can comprehend the spirit world when we comprehend  we are part spirit, can't we?

Spirit beings incased in flesh and blood- made by God this way.  We are NEVER meant to become just spirit without flesh and blood, yet we ARE meant to become spirit with UNCORRUPTED flesh and blood.

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

We cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven in the degraded flesh and blood we've become since sin changed us and stripped from us the covering of our God's righteousness. When Eve and Adam sinned they were instantly notably naked in a way they'd never been before- they'd LOST the covering of the LIGHT of GOD's RIGHTEOUSNESS, it was instantaneously GONE!

What was left was a sinful, naked, vulnerable flesh, blood, and spirit being.  Our very flesh began to degrade from that moment. We were corrupted in that moment, our flesh, our blood corrupted by sin. We were NO longer the beings that God first created, we were NO longer the beings we were MEANT to be! 

And this corrupted FLESH, this corrupted BLOOD, our corrupted beings will NEVER inherit heaven.

We will be CHANGED- our flesh and blood will be changed just as our SAVIOR'S flesh and blood was changed when He was raised from the dead and ascended to His Father.

So, no, our corrupted flesh and blood will NOT inherit heaven, but our CHANGED flesh and blood WILL inherit the kingdom of heaven!

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

We will NEVER become simply SPIRIT, never.  To become simply a spirit being would make us like the angels and we are NOT going to become angel beings. Our SAVIOR took on our FLESH and BLOOD, not so He could turn us into angels, but to SAVE us as HUMAN BEINGS!

The Spirit world exists and I know I keep going on and on about it, but I have to, because WE ARE wrestling with evil spirits in the world whether we like it or not.  You don't have to admit it, the evil spirits love it when we don't admit to their reality. 

We wrestle against evil spirits and the ONLY way we can defeat them is through CHRIST, and CHRIST providing us with the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Yes, it's true people go about without concerning themselves about Jesus all the time. And it's equally true that all those people are vulnerable to the evil spirits in the world. Does this mean that they are all demon possessed and lunatic? Not at all. The most deceptive evil spirits are those who appear to be good even though they are evil through and through. 

We NEED the armor of God, the WHOLE armor of God or we will be unprotected and very vulnerable to the evil all around us. 

More tomorrow all by the GRACE of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!

Spiritual Battlefield

Told to be STRONG in the POWER of HIS might, we are told to put on HIS ARMOR!

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.


The WHOLE ARMOR of GOD.

Whose armor?

GOD'S!

How much of the armor?

The WHOLE armor!

We are NOT told to put on our own armor. We are not told to put on some of the armor. We haven't been instructed to take just the boots and put them on, and we haven't been told to just pick up the shield, and maybe grab the helmet.  We are told quite plainly to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD.

This isn't just any ol' armor. This isn't armor we can manufacture all by ourselves and yet we really do believe that we can fight protected by ourselves. We do! Don't deny it! We believe we can fight the battle ourselves, off our own accord. We believe we have to fight all by ourselves and yet we are NEVER told to do that, not once!

When a person fights physically they have to use their own strength, their own cunning, their own smarts. A person who is jumped from behind is at a disadvantage and yet we have self-defense classes that can teach someone how to fight, even when they are jumped from behind. Some people train a lot to become great fighters. We can watch many television movies depicting great fighters, some unbelievably so. These fighters seem to be able to defeat enemy after enemy, taking a few licks here and there but overall they are victorious. Yet you have to ask yourself this one question- would they be any good at fighting had they not trained their bodies and minds to fight? How many people are just naturally amazing at fighting? Not too many. You might get the huge guy who knows how to swing his might into knocking out someone in one punch, but even he would fall victim to the trained fighter, right?

We can agree that a really good fighter is one who is trained, yes? There isn't a whole lot to debate there. To say the trained fighter wouldn't be very good compared to the untrained would be kind of crazy.  So if we can agree that someone who fights physical battles needs to be trained, why can't we agree that someone who fights spiritual battles needs to be trained?  Seriously. Spiritually trained for the spiritual battle.

The thing about physical fighting is that the majority of people I know do not have to EVER engage in that sort of fighting, not ever.

However, every single person I know HAS to engage in the Spiritual warfare taking place all around them.

The thing is- with spiritual warfare- often the ones who are losing this battle don't appear to even be the least bit injured and that's because it's a spiritual injury unseen, just as those we are battle with are unseen--

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Not flesh and blood. We aren't out there with our fists facing a flesh and blood enemy. Some of the deepest spiritual cuts will leave a person spiritually dead but thriving physically.  We can't tell when someone has been killed spiritually, we often don't have a single clue when a person has been spiritually wounded and is near spiritual death.

While we fight in this battle of the Spiritual kind, we are not allowed to see the spiritual bruises upon each other. Those living in the spiritual realm- God, His Son, the Holy Spirit, and the angels- good and evil- they see, they know, they can spiritually discern our spiritual state of being.

We are unique beings truly unique- flesh/blood/spirit beings.  Not a single angel will ever have true flesh and blood, they may take on the appearance of such, but they will never be real flesh and blood. God the Father has never taken on flesh and blood, but through His Son He knows, truly knows all it means to be flesh and blood. God the Son took on human flesh and blood, becoming flesh, blood, and spirit like we are.

We have to truly realize the spiritual aspect to our lives. Satan would have us ignore it completely as if it doesn't exist at all, but God tells us differently.

We are even told we will fight against those in the spiritual realm, those who have gone bad and desire to destroy our spiritual life.

So while we cannot see these spiritual foes, we can know they exist.  Is it an unfair fight because we cannot see our enemy? No. It's not unfair because we equally cannot see our ADVOCATES, our champions, our helpers.

We are told we must align with the ADVOCATE, the ONE who secured our victory.

We will be beaten and bruised but we can never lose the spiritual war not if we are aligned with our CHAMPION.  Yes, we will be called to fight against the spiritual evil that would tear us away from our alignment with the Spiritual Champion. It is only by staying aligned that we have hope and the spiritual evil wants to sever that alignment.

You'd think it'd be a cinch, putting ourselves on the side of the winners, when the war has been won. But we are on the battleground and we are at risk of being taken away from the winning side.  Spiritually seduced away from that winning side and made to believe that the losing side is really the winning side. In fact many will tell you how it seems the evil cheaters, liars, corrupt people seem to have a lot more wealth and prosperity than those who are not corrupt, cheating liars.  Many will say that their lives seem to be much easier when they aren't fighting against evil, and it's true their lives may seem to be better, easier, less stressful, but that's an awful evil façade of the spiritual evil one.

We live upon a spiritual battlefield and we can't let the spiritual evil lull us into blinding ourselves to that TRUTH.

By the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR more on this tomorrow.

All in HIS AMAZING LOVE! By HIS GRACE and MERCY, HIS FORGIVENESS, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!!!!!