Just over a century ago (in November 1907) when the Pentecostal revival first reached these shores a woman by the name of Jesse Penn-Lewis wrote to Alexander Boddy a vicar from Sunderland who was known as the Father of Pentecostalism in England cautioning him: “Other spirits” are at work in your midst, which will get the upper hand and bring upon you, and the work of God, terrible trouble.”
About the same time an internal review concluded that “much of what had occurred in its intensity during the 1904 - 1905 Revival in Wales, should correctly be attributed to demonic activity.” Penn-Lewis’ assessment was that “the Revival in Wales, which was a true work of God, revealed numbers of ‘honest souls’ swept off their feet by evil supernatural powers which they were not able to discern from the true working of God.” I suggest that the same is true today.
I have been a Christian for 20 or more years. In that time I have witness to three so called ‘revivals’: Toronto, Pensacola & most recently the ill-fated Lakeland. All of which has left me convinced that we are living in the grip of Amos’ famine [Amos 8:11-12].
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
We are duty bound to exercise more discernment than ever. In post modernity, we must neither confuse cynicism for discernment, nor gullibility for an openness to God. As much as anyone I am seeking a “true Pentecost”, but am acutely aware of the satanic counterfeit [2 Cor. 11:14] and believe that the church is in need of spiritual directors who are able to guide believers through the labyrinthine realm of the Spirit. Our new series The Weapons of our Warfare is designed to help in that process.
In this series we are interested to:
• discover whether we believe that there are dark forces at work
• understand their operation
• be able to deploy the weapons of our warfare
• learn how to protect ourselves and our communities
• understand what authority we as believers have over them.
• discern between the authentic and the counterfeit
• flow in the gifts of the spirit
SPIRITUAL WARFARE DEFINED.
Spiritual warfare is the battle to prevent Christ from being fully formed in us. Either to prevent Christ’s life from being fully effective in our lives or to limit the effectiveness of our lives for Christ.
Just because the devil was unable to prevent you from being affected by the Gospel doesn’t mean that he will not go to great lengths in order to ensure that you are not effective for the gospel.
When we were saved we were given a new heart (Ezk 36:26) and now with that heart we must renew our minds (Roms 12:2) Renewal is an inside-out process (my spirit informs and conforms my mind); Temptation is an outside-in process (evil spirits injected into my mind to deform and confuse my mind). Renewal is less a form of healing than a form of relearning. God gives us a new heart and renews our minds: Regeneration x Renewal = Restoration. Regeneration deals with transference from death to life; renewal deals with the transformation from the seared mind of man to the sanctified mind Christ.
As a grace teacher I have come to realize that it is one thing to get the children of Israel out of Egypt, but it is quite another thing to get Egypt out of the children of Israel. That is because sanctification is not a progressive rectification of our behaviour, it is a progressive recognition of our identity.
The key issue we will have to address is to do with the degree of influence that demonic forces can or cannot have in the life of a believer. I want to state my position up-front. I don’t believe that a Christian can be possessed by demons/evil spirits. I do however recognise that the bible clearly teaches that we can be harassed by evil spirits and that we are engaged in a war.
The principle front on which that war is being waged is in my view in the mind of the believer. The mind is the engine room of our thoughts.
And as James Allen once said, “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts will take you.” So it is to the mind we go free to de
2 COR 10:1FF
1 I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away! 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking in the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
FREED FROM THE P.I.T. (PASSIVITY, IGNORANCE & TEMPTATION)
Passivity: Accepting or submitting without objection or resistance; submissive: a passive acceptance of one’s fate.
Ignorance: The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.
Temptation: To try to get (someone) to do wrong, especially by a promise of reward. To entice.
If you're not able to join us in person on Sundays as we discuss this topic then you can always listen online. Messages will usually be posted Monday/Tuesday of the following week on http://www.gracelondon.com/audio-messages/
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