InsidOut311

We’ve talked about some important issues the last few weeks on Wednesday night at InsideOut and I wanted to make sure I give you an opportunity to have some of the notes and scriptures for your own personal use.

The scripture I’ve used a lot is Proverbs 23:7.  Now if you look at different versions of this scripture, you’ll see a couple of different ways this scripture has been translated over the years.  But looking at the original translations, you’ll see the scripture we’ve been using lately.  I’ve used the New American Standard Bible.  And the same words (and meaning) are also used in the King James Version.  (The NASB and the KJV are highly regarded as the most-accurate versions translated from the original Hebrew and Greek.)

The scripture goes like this:  “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”  It’s what you carry on the inside of you that determines who you are and who you’re becoming.  It’s your thoughts, it’s your attitude, it’s your understand and eventually your words that determine who you are.  

When I’m struggling with something, it’s often that all I really need to do is adjust my understanding of the matter.  Most often, our ability to adjust determines the degree of hardship we experience.

Last Wednesday night, we talked about how this generation has learned a whole new form of communication.   We use text messaging on a regular basis to communicate with friends and family members.  Each week, I rely on texting as I make sure members of the Sunday morning Praise Team have the right information.  I’m constantly texting my wife… even sometimes when we’re both at opposite ends of Walmart.  Some people can roll through 5000 text messages a month pretty easy.  It’s a normal way of communicating these days.

But this new form of communication has required an adjustment.  The concept is so foreign to many people… people who haven’t had to rely on text messaging.  They’re from a generation that generally depended on other forms of communicating.  However, they were also a generation that ushered in new technologies that at the time were new and unfamiliar with the generation before them.  And one day (soon), you’ll be part of the older generation who might struggle with new technologies.  It’ll probably depend on how well you adjust.

One area that we must adjust ourselves in is the understanding of our place on earth.  We are at war.  Plain and simple.  But we are not at war with people.  We often feel tormented by people in our lives… even when they’re not within 5 miles of us.

The scripture to memorize is Ephesians 6:10-12:

"Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places."

We’re clearly in a war… a spiritual war.  Satan is after you, to kill you.  He doesn’t want to just slow you down, he wants to destroy you.  He wants to shatter all of the dreams and desires you have within you… the things that God has placed inside of you.  He’s not interested in just confusing your mind so that you might struggle with explaining your understanding of the things of God… but he wants to completely shut you down, to devastate you and leave you slaughtered.  He wants you out of the picture completely.  

The enemy’s scheme is to paint a picture in your mind that conveys an image of incredible power… to create fear in you.  If he can get you to believe that you’re powerless against his mighty dominion, then he’s won and you’ve lost.

But Jesus said in Luke 10:18-19:  “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning!  Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them!  Nothing will injure you.”

When Jesus saw him get booted from heaven, He witnessed more than just a change of address for Satan, but the devil was removed from his place, his authority and his power.  He was stripped of all favor and right standing with God and now we’ve been given the authority.  We have right standing with God.  We have the power to "stand firm against all strategies of the devil!"

The reason for the cross was so that we can walk in the given-authority here on earth.  Jesus made it possible.  This is our place.  It’s our understanding.