| If
you've read through the main-points Bible Study (on home page) and you believed
it, then you're ready to start living what you believe. But how and where do you start??? You need to learn the Rules of
the Game.
 Do you ever wonder why
movies, games, and books with tales of alternate universes are so popular? Ever wonder why
the idea of man struggling against supernatural beings is used again and again and again,
and people don't get tired of this storyline?
You know why. It's because deep down inside
we all know it's true. There IS an alternate universe - a spiritual world;
even though we can't see it, it's more real than what we see.
The same theme is in every culture, year
after year, century after century because it's a reality. But if we ARE in a battle with
unseen forces, then realize most of the movies, books and beliefs about the supernatural
have been twisted by our enemy to throw us off!
If you really believe the Good News that
Jesus loves you, died to pay YOUR debts, was raised from the dead to forgive you of your
sins and live inside you through his Holy Spirit, then you're called a
"believer".
A believer has been rescued from the prison
his spirit was in. He was dead spiritually, but now he's ALIVE. If you're a believer,
Satan can no longer control you.
However!
The battle isn't over. In fact, it's just
beginning! When you decided to believe, all the forces of evil freaked out.
 In this real-life game, your objective is to grow up (you're
a spiritual baby!) and move forward, toward VICTORY and the amazing life God
has for you, and to let God use you to rescue others from Satan's prison and the prison of
their own sinful nature.
Your enemy's objective is to lure you away
from Jesus (who is protecting and empowering you) and get you trapped up in sins again. He
knows that Jesus is protecting you and that if you are full of the Holy Spirit, you're
serious trouble for "his kingdom" and that you'll steal his prisoners. But he
also knows that if he can trick you, confuse you, keep you like an ignorant baby or tempt
you in to sin, you can be defeated and stuck in a pit.
We know you can be free from your guilt,
bad behavior, self-destructive habits and the pain of things that happened in the past. We
know you can win this game. How do we know? Because we've been there, and we've
experienced victory! (And also because Jesus promised it.)
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Your FIRST and most powerful weapon is humility. Humility
means to submit to someone out of love, respect, fear or all three. You have to lay down
your pride so God will fight your battles for you!
You have to get to a point where you admit
you're no match for your bad habits, or for the past OR for evil forces. If you're
struggling now, that means you are trapped and need helping getting free:
". . . for a man is a slave to
whatever has mastered him." (2 Peter 2:19b NIV)
"But he
gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:6-7 NIV)
"What benefit
did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in
death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the
benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:21-23 NIV)
". . . Jesus said, "If you hold
to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free." (John 8:31b-32 NIV)
"The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
handed to [Jesus]. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's
favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back
to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing." (Luke 4:17-21 NIV)
Your SECOND most powerful weapon is
the TRUTH:
Jesus calls himself THE TRUTH. His words
and the scriptures are TRUTH. You must read the Bible, regularly. As if your life depends
on it. Why? Because we're living in a time when Satan runs more "Christian
Churches" than God does. We know this because the majority of "Christian
Churches" now teach and believe things that are the OPPOSITE of what God's Word
says is true. Read Matthew
13:24-28 and 13:36-43.
To escape the traps and lies of Satan,
you'll need to know for YOURSELF what the Bible says.
START STUDYING! I recommend you begin in
the New Testament, with the book of JOHN and read through the entire New Testament before
you tackle the Old. Anytime you approach the Bible, stop first and ask God to OPEN
YOUR mind to what it's saying.
"Then he [Jesus]
opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This
is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and
repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:45-47 NIV) |
 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God so that you
can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so
that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand.
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your
feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield
of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the
Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep
on praying for all the saints."
(Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV).
"Guard
your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to
offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
As a dream comes when there are
many cares,
so the speech of a fool when there are many words. (Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 NIV)
"The one who sows to please his
sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the
Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for
at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of
believers." (Galatians 6:8-10 NIV) |
What's next? PRAYER! More than a
secret weapon; not just another "power-up" -- prayer is your LIFE FORCE.
Poor old prayer . . . it's
been so badly misused and misunderstood. When you hear the word prayer, do you imagine
something like this: five times a day you turn toward the east, chant the "our
father" and wave a burnt banana in the air????? That's NOT PRAYER. That's
called "ritual".
Imagine for a minute that
you're a guy named Jack. Okay? You met a girl named Jill, went WOW and asked her to
marry you. For whatever reason, she said yes. From that day on, your dating or courtship
or whatever you might call it went something like this:
Monday: called Jill
twice today and asked her to help me because my roommates were being jerks. Stayed on the
phone with her for 30 seconds each time.
Tuesday: didn't need to
call Jill today because it was an easy day; my friends and I hung out at the lake and had
a blast.
Wednesday: had to go
over to Jill's house and beg her to help me today because my rent is due and I don't know
where I'll get the money. Stayed for 30 whole minutes at her place!
Thursday: sent Jill an
email asking her to forgive me because I've been dating someone else on the side and I
just realized that wasn't nice. I wonder exactly how much/what types of things Jill would
consider "dating". I'll need to ask her. I'm sure she doesn't want to spoil my
fun.
Friday: had a great
day. Didn't need Jill's help once.
Saturday: my whole life
is falling apart. I was on the phone on and off with Jill all day. She's such a good
listener. I don't think I ever stopped talking, except to take a breath now and then. It's
cool that Jill loves me. I'm so glad we're engaged; it's going to be great being married
to Jill!
Sunday: I went over to
Jill's house today and listened to her talk for 45 minutes. It was fine and I learned a
lot. I wanted to stay longer, but had to go to lunch with my buddies.
Does this sound kind of like
your relationship with God? Poor him! Christianity, as described in the Bible (not
as distorted by human cultures!!) is a divine romance! Does that seem strange? God CREATED
romantic love (as in a marriage between two people who are loyal to each other) to
illustrate his desire for our relationship with him. It wasn't the other way around
(God seeing how marriage works and then wanting to imitate it).
PRAYER is not a ritual that
saves you . . . it isn't a crisis hotline . . . it isn't a mystical power-up.
Prayer is all about having a relationship with your creator. Be sure you remember this
when you pray.
Pray without ceasing.
("Listening" is part of prayer!)
IS THERE MORE?
If you're PRACTICING the things above,
you're going to win this game.
Will it be easy??
Of course not. THIS IS A BATTLE! Be on your
guard. EXPECT difficulties, attacks and traps! But take a lesson from the dogs:
PERSEVERANCE, DETERMINATION and the power of the Holy Spirit are the answer.
Do you know what the word GAME means?
Game: adjective
1 a: having or showing a resolute unyielding spirit
<game to the end> b: willing or ready to proceed <were game for anything>
I know it stinks living in this world, and
sometimes we'd rather just be done with everyone and go off and live alone in the hills.
But God called us to be the salt (preservative) and the light in this dark world. And that
would be hard to do from the hills.
Besides, you can go to the farthest hill,
live in a cave even, and not escape. Because the things that hurt us, that hurt a family,
come from inside us....
If you're practicing the things above, God
will protect you from the outward stuff. But who will protect you from your own self? That's
where the battle is won or lost. Main point, ask Jesus to fill you with his Holy
Spirit and live HIS life through you each day.
Take a lesson from the dogs; never grow
weary in doing good. In due time, you'll reap a harvest if you do not give up.
" The eyes of the Lord
search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to
him. "(2chronicles 16:9)
It's your move. |
