"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will
lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come
like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives]." (Isaiah 59:19)
All of You who read my previous
articles and have been led to pray, I want each of You to know that
Your prayers have made a difference in what is happening in Estonia.
Literally each of Your prayer has been a weapon against the plans of
the enemy. Russia actually counted on European Union to call Estonia to
order, to disapprove of Estonia's actions... well, one has to try to
figure out what they could find to disapprove of... but instead EU has
condemned Russia's actions. No, Russians have not given up, they think
they can and will form an independent Russian state in Estonia.
Physically our enemy is Russia.
Physically we would have absolutely no hope of fighting and winning our
enemy... for it is hundreds of times greater than we are. But from the
Bible we know that our real enemy, an invisible enemy, is the devil.
Ephesians 6:12 says:
"For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with
physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers,
against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present
darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly
(supernatural) sphere."
So, as Christians we do not fight against Russia nor do we hate
Russians... we are fighting against our invisible enemy. 2 Corinthians
10:3,4 declares: "For
though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare
according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of
our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are
mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds."
Before we can fight our battles,
we will always have to identify our real enemy. Only then can we win our battles. It is absolutely senseless for a tiny
Estonia to start fighting physically against the humongous Russia. We
would have no hope whatsoever. Thank God we know who is our real enemy
and we will fight against him... well, Christians do... the world has
still to discover it!
Lately I heard Gloria Copeland say
something that really clicked. She said that she had heard so many
testimonies of the heads of governments promising wonderful things
before getting elected into the office... and then, after getting
elected, they suddenly had like blinders on, forgetting all of their
promises
and oftentimes doing things that were dangerous for their
country and nation. She said that suddenly she realized that the moment
a government is elected, the evil powers are released to work on them
and thwart the plans of God... hmmmm... makes sense to me! We as
Christians are called to pray for our governments. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
They need our prayers big time!
The Body of Christ here is
completely turning to God for help. We are also standing in the gap,
repenting for our own selfishness and pride... and repenting for the
sins of our country. I am learning a lot about spiritual authority. God
started to really bring this subject up in my life again a few months
ago. He does prepare us for the things to come. This Word has come to my heart over again:
"God sets Himself against the
proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those
who are humble enough to receive it). So be subject to God. Resist the
devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. Come close
to God and He will come close to you." (James 4:6-8)
One thing that I have truly
learned is that we cannot stand against the devil when we have not
first humbled ourselves before God. If we try to stand against the
devil and his schemes before submitting to God... we would be fighting
in our flesh against the spiritual enemy who is thousands of years old
and knows really well how to oppress a fragile human soul. He would
beat us up in no time! ...and we would turn in defeat. That is WHY we
need to turn from pride and self reliance and thinking that we can do
it on our own. The truth is, we can't. We are living in a battlefield,
all of us... whether it is just a spiritual battlefield or it is also a
physical battlefield... but we are all living in a battlefield. John
10:10 declares clearly that the devil's plan with each human being is to "steal and to kill and to destroy"... and he uses spiritual weapons against us... so, we too need to rise up in spiritual power.
When we have a known sin in our
lives and we try to stand up against the devil, we will fail... for we
have not humbled before God which means that we can't rise up in God's
power. We can use the name of Jesus against him but until we repent and
turn from sin, he is still at us. Sure, God is merciful and He doesn't
condemn us to hell for having this little sin in our lives... when we
die we still go to heaven... but we will not have the power and
authority to speak the word and change things. We have no spiritual
authority without first submitting to God by admitting that He is right
and we are wrong. We can't expect to live the way we want and then
expect Him to move powerfully on our behalf. It is pride... and God
sets Himself against the proud... for where there is pride, there is a
foothold to the devil. He fell through his pride... and so will we.
Sometimes
pride in our lives is so subtle that we do not even notice it. If we
do not know the Word of God, we won't recognize the pride in our
lives... for every thought and action that opposes the Word of God is
pride... because every time we choose our way instead of God's way, we
are saying, I know better than God. I think my way works better than His way. Of course we do not do it consiously, but this is what our actions say.
I am
starting to understand WHY nations have had to first repent of their
sins before they have been able to ask God to fight their battles! It
is the same with individuals. If we expect God to fight our battles...
which He is more than happy to do, we will have to repent first which
means not just feeling sorry for our sins but really turning from our
sins. All our battles and struggles are first in the spiritual realm
and then only do they manifest in the physical realm. We will have to
first fight the battles in the spiritual realm. Whether we are
Christians or not, all of our enemy is the devil. And he doesn't
care whether people worship him or not, he still has the same final
plan with every soul - to kill and to destroy. We do not fight with our
natural weapons against him. We fight with the name that is above every
single name and at Whose name every knee shall bow in heaven and earth
and under the earth, the name of Jesus Christ, Who won the perfect
victory over the devil on the cross. When we declare His name, we
declare His victory... we declare that we are not on our own, God
Himself is backing us up.
Colossians 2:15 says that
"[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against
us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing
over them in Him and in it [the cross]."
Christ through His death and resurrection broke all the power of the
devil over us. He no longer has power over us, we have power over him
in Christ. The only power he has over Christians is the power we
ourselves give to him through our pride and not trusting His Word.
Colossians 2:10 says:
"And you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life [in
Christ you too are filled with the Godhead - Father, Son and Holy
Spirit - and reach full spiritual stature]. And He is the Head of all
rule and authority [of every angelic principality and power]."
When we are saved, we are filled with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Who is the Head
of all rule and authority. We have God's own power within us. But in order to work God's power within us, we
need to first submit to Him. Sin in our lives gives a foothold to the
devil and greatly weakens God's power in us. The word "ECCLESIA" means
RULING BODY... the church was originally a ruling body in a country. We
need to rise up again and rule over situations and circumstances that
are not right. We have been given the Name, the power and the
authority. Think about it, Jesus Christ's name is
"far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name
that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in
this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are
to come." (Ephesians
1:21)... no one else's name will ever be exalted above His name. No one
else's name will bring us victory over the power of the evil one. Every
time we use His name, the enemy is reminded of the perfect victory that
Christ won for each human being on the cross... and he will have to
back off.
One thing we can be sure of,
unless we know that we are right in God's sight only through the blood
of Christ shed on our behalf, we will allow the devil to come and
accuse us of multitude of sins, especially our past sins... but we will
have to know that our past sins are all paid for and under the blood of
Christ, completely forgotten by God. He has promised us in Colossians
2:13,14:
"And you who were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your
flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal nature), [God] brought to
life together with [Christ], having [freely] forgiven us all our
transgressions, having cancelled and blotted out and wiped away the
handwriting of the note (bond) with its legal decrees and demands which
was in force and stood against us (hostile to us). This [note with its
regulations, decrees, and demands] He set aside and cleared completely
out of our way by nailing it to [His] cross." So, one thing is sure, if we have submitted to God:
"Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of
wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after
the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit." NO condemnation! Perfect victory in Christ!
I think it is a time for the whole
body of Christ all over the world to step out of our comfort zone. A
lot of negative things are happening because we have been so
comfortable and have not stepped out, using the authority given to us.
I think it is time to change. We sure have no choice over here IF we
want God to fight our battles... which we do. We are shaken out of our
comfort zones... we are becoming alive! Hey, some shaking is not that
bad after all! Our faith is becoming alive! We are not just going about
our own daily business, we are becoming alive as a united body of
Christ. Wow! And You know what, we will win and this victory is not
just the victory of our little country, this is the victory of the
whole body of Christ... for this victory will only come through our
united prayers. Thank You all, who have been led to pray, for Your
prayers. They ARE changing things. It doesn't matter in what part of
the world we are, we ARE ONE BODY and we change things through our
united faith, bringing Glory to God! Wow! God is Good!
So, whatever our battles may be, lets all "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from us." (NASB)
Many, many blessings to You all,
Eve Juurik
Body-Mind-Spirit Health, Fitness & Beauty in Organic Way
Eve Juurik is a writer and speaker. She has
taught style and make-up to young models at a modeling school, written articles
for health and beauty magazines in Estonia, including Style and Health
Newspaper. At present Eve is a Health and Beauty Editor of a US based My
Walk With Jesus newspaper and website. She is a regular speaker at women's events.
Eve has been
invited to write for Recipes 365,Connecticut Herb Association’s
Newsletter and US
certified fitness expert Amy Lundberg’s Aim For It Newsletter. For 5 years she has been
teaching the Bible through weekly spiritual-inspirational articles. Eve
regularly writes for a US Christian newspaper and website My Walk With Jesus, website HandMaidens, and Estonian internet magazine The Voice of
Victory.
Eve promotes and sells certified organic skin-, body-, hair-, oral-,
men's-, home-care products through her website: www.TheSpringOfLife.net
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
