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Bible Study Notes:Spiritual
Weapons: # 15 |
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These notes are from a
transcript of the postings during Bible Study on Thursday Nights at 8 PM at Bible Study
Chat at churchusa.com. |
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Praise the Lord for the many blessings He heaps upon us daily! I've learned that the more I know, the more I know that I don't know. Kinda humbling, ain't it? So just lean on the Lord, welcome to walking by faith! I really lean on the Holy Spirit, particularly when I'm teaching. He was sent to testify of Jesus, and I trust Him to lead me in the right path.
I understand your confusion - there are so many conflicting opinions out there... We tend to polarize ourselves, don't we? Instead of trying to agree? But we can agree to love one another, even if our beliefs aren't identical. I believe that it is in the loving of one another through the Holy Spirit that the truth becomes clear. Truth is more than just a mental arrangement of facts. In the Body of Christ it is an active loving and acceptance of one another as men/women for whom Christ died. There is a dynamic to truth beyond a theology or statement of doctrine. Does that make sense? Cast all your care upon Jesus for He cares for you. The anxiety about doctrine is just another care that Jesus wants to carry. Father God we adore you and praise your Name. We are so delighted to be tonight in your presence. We trust that your Word is truth and that it will be manifested in our Jesus we thank you for your marvelous salvation. When we are stressed and in a mess, let us look toward the cross and meditate on such sacrificial love.satan you are defeated and bound, cast out of this place set aside to worship God over the Word. In Jesus Name you will not interfere in any way with this study. Holy Spirit, we invite you as our teacher and guide and trust that you will lead us into all truth as we meet over the living Word. In Jesus Name AMEN Jesus we declare you Lord of all and desire to know you better. Holy Spirit of grace teach us about the mind of Christ, what it is and how we can receive and utilitize it in our Christian battles. In Jesus Name AMEN We've been studying spiritual warfare for several months and besides the spiritual armor discussed in Ephesians 6:10-18, we have covered 15 weapons in the Word with which we can defeat the devil. So now we have been studying the Mind of Christ as one of our armaments. We went into some depth about suffering, and are about halfway through the topic of humility... For several weeks, we've been looking at the mind of Christ as a spiritual weapon. First of all we discussed the place of suffering in the Christian life. Our attitude to suffering makes us realize that it is necessary to perfect or mature our faith, and sooner or later in the Christian life we will face some suffering. We learned that suffering is not a sign of failure or lack of God's love, but a GIFT given to help us grow. We also found that suffering is an outcome of the Christian life because we have an enemy who seeks to use suffering to destroy us. And we looked at the life of Christ, who is our example, and saw that He actually learned obedience through the things He suffered. Another attribute of suffering is that it cleanses us from sin and makes us be done with it. We learn the consequences of following our lusts - which eventually leads to suffering of some kind or another - and no longer live for them, but seek to live for the will of God. Then we began to talk about ARMING ourselves with Weapon #15 The Mind of Christ: 1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, ARM YOURSELVES also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. If we arm ourselves with the attitude, mind, understanding, manner of thinking and feeling that Jesus had, we will be victorious over the enemy of our souls. If we are ARMED to expect suffering, we will receive it with rejoicing, knowing all of the good character traits that it is developing in us. Besides suffering, there are several other components that the Holy Spirit has testified as being part of the mind of Christ. They are humility, sacrificial love, acceptance, submission to the Father's will, unlimited intellect, and power, dominion over sin and authority over the devil. We'll look at each one in depth.
PM you're in the just the right place at the right time for that! Hallelujah! Last time, we began talking about humility and how it is part of having the mind or attitude of Christ: Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. We learned that the opposite of humility is selfish ambition or vain conceit. A person who is walking in selfish ambition will do whatever it takes to get to the top, no matter who he/she has to step on and hurt. A person filled with vain conceit wants the praise and honor and glory whether they deserve it or earn it or not. They want the "high place" and are never willing to take a place lower than they esteem themselves worthy of. Humility means to have a humble opinion of one's self , a deep sense of one's (moral) littleness, modesty, humility, and lowliness of mind. It doesn't mean to think NOTHING of yourselves, as if you are a lowly worm or piece of dirt. But we should consider ourselves worthy of God's grace because God considers us worthy and has given us all the measure of faith. But don't think of yourselves MORE HIGHLY than you ought to. Be sober in your judgements of who you are in God's kingdom. There are two extremes here. One is to think of your self TOO LOW - that is decrepit, useless, worthless, inferior, degraded, etc. The other extreme is to think of yourself TOO HIGHLY - that is you are conceited, boastful, puffed up and proud. Humility is taking the middle road and seeing yourself as who you are where God has placed you. We talked about receiving our self-worth from the Lord, not from our performance, or looks, or wealth. What truly shows us what we are worth is the price that Jesus was willing to pay for us: His own life. We discussed the fact the God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humility begins with a decision, "God I WILL submit to you". As you will yourself to submit to God, and to the godly leadership He has placed you under, you will develop that humble, submissive spirit that is of great worth in God's sight. However, if you are proud and rebellious, God will OPPOSE all you do. What a frightening thought! Isn't life hard enough without God coming against you? It's not wanting God to be on MY side, I want to be on HIS side and please HIM with a humble, obedient heart. OK this brings us up to date from last week. James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Is the devil on your tail? Are you having a hard time with the troubles and trials that have come upon you? Don't "tuck your tail" and run! Submit yourselves to God, come near to him, and He will come near to you. THEN you can resist the devil and HE WILL FLEE! Paul had a hard time with humility... as we discussed last time as well ... and for him it took a lot of tears and weeping to achieve it. James says something similiar: James 4:9-10 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.If disobedience is a problem with you, if your heart was become hardened with sin's deceitfulness, and you have wasted your life in sensual pleasures without regard to God. Or if you have been haughty and proud, and think you're better than anyone else, some tears and grieving may be in order. Like Paul, you may have much weeping before you are able to fully surrender to God's will for your life. But if you abase yourself this way, God WILL exalt you in due time. If you seek the Lord with an earnest heart, you WILL find Him and He will deliver you! James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.James refers to wisdom and understanding as a product of humility, which will in turn produce a good life full of good deeds. Proverbs also lists some results of a humble mindset: Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 22:4 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life. So according to Proverbs, what are some benefits of humility?
Besides being commanded by God, what are some of the benefits of being humble? According to the book of Proverbs, humility brings wisdom, honor, wealth and life! Now the world will tell you the opposite way to obtain these things - through pride, selfish ambition, vain glory and disregarding God. Whose report will YOU believe? Mark 10:42 -45 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." The way to go up in the kingdom of God is to go down. To be a servant, like our Master was. Not to "lord it over" our brothers and sisters. To become humble and have a servant's heart is the key to success in the Kingdom of God. Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." --Mark 9:35 Phil Ware in the daily devotion for 1/29/99 had these "Thoughts About Today's Verse... Last? Nobody likes to be last. We have a hard enough time settling for second place, much less last place. Jesus reverses the rank. The person who is most important to him is not the person seeking the status and notoriety. The most important person is like Jesus himself: willing to give up rank and status and importance to serve. For Jesus, last means first in service and first in the eyes of God. " Titus 3:1-2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.The word translated humility here is prautes {prah-oo'-tace} meaning mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, or meekness. Meekness is strength under control, a heart reigned in with peace. This is another side of humility - the face that the world sees is gentle, mild, meek without, with the anger and passions under control within. One reason that humility is so unpopular is that it involves that dread word SUBMISSION. Nobody in American likes to submit do they? We all, if we are honest, want our "rights", our way, to be free of authority and control. So when Paul tells Titus to REMIND us to be subject to rulers and authorities, it kind of "rubs us the wrong way".
hopin it comes with time and growth ... as God's love transforms us we can let the anger go... be patient... be patient with your heart ... the Lord is not in a hurry ... He's always just in time... as He heals all those years of wounds, you will be able to let that anger go and forgive.
Submission is the part of humility that I had tons and TONS of trouble with! LOL I'm certainly not perfect yet! I used to think that insubordination was a POSITIVE character trait! LOL Man did I cause myself a bunch of grief with that one.
So I lost quite a few jobs because of my insubordinate attitude! Good jobs too. Sigh, why do we have to learn things the HARD way? 1 Samuel 15:23a For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
And that ugly old attitude of rebellion creeps in! But the Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and we as believers don't want to be guilty of that! Humility is necessary to be able to submit. If you have the idea that you are better than anyone else, you won't be able to submit to and obey anyone, will you? And if you have the idea that you are inferior to everyone, you will be so submissive that you will even let the devil knock you out of "your place" in the kingdom. Again, humility takes the middle road - showing you your proper place of obedience and submission, where you "fit in" in God's kingdom. Romans 12:4-5 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Paul uses the analogy of the body to refer to the relationships of the believer's in Christ. We are all part of the same body and each one belongs to all the others. Each one also has a function, and all functions are important and should work in unity and harmony with each other. Romans 12:6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.We all have been given the measure of faith, and all have been given some gift to benefit the body. As we develop our faith, our gift is manifested in a greater and greater way for our mutual benefit. Romans 12:7-8 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.In this list we see several gifts mentioned: prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy. We all can find our place in one of these services and be useful in building up the Body! So find YOUR place in God's kingdom. Find what you are called to do. Submit to those God has placed in authority over you, and lead with love those that God has placed under you, if any. Humility doesn't think of itself higher than you ought, but puts itself where God directs. 1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."In our society, the young have not been trained to be respectful of those older to a large degree. And no wonder, for our culture worships youthfulness! But in the kingdom of God there is a godly respect and honor that we should give those older. For one thing, they have more wisdom, and we cannot learn from them if we are not submissive to their guidance and advice. They can keep us from many a snare if we would just listen! There is a sense in which we are under authority and are to submit to the leadership God has placed under us. There is also a sense in which we are submissive to each other, putting others needs first and allowing them equal status with us in the kingdom. Peter quotes from the Old Testament, that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Do you need more grace in your life? Are there problems that you cannot seem to overcome? Are you walking in humility to each other? Or are you "lording it over" someone you feel superior to? Are you being submissive to the godly authority Jesus has placed you under? The answer to these questions could guide you into becoming an OVERcomer. Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!Was Jesus humble? Oh yes, not only did He not think of Himself more highly than He ought, He deliberately took a lower position in order to bring us salvation. He did not grasp at equality with God - that is, He didn't say "Look here, I'm God too ya know. I'm not gonna go down there and become a MAN, take on that flesh, give up my godly powers and knowledge to live on planet earth. No, I have a RIGHT as God just to sit here on this throne. Let somebody else do it." NO Jesus didn't say that or even think that! He "made himself nothing" and took on the form of a servant to bring us salvation. And this is the same attitude we should ARM ourselves with. We should be willing servants of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, willing to associate with those of "low repute", willing to "roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty" if necessary, and willing to give up our pride and self-respect to win someone to Christ.
Yes PS, it certainly was! The Lord of all Creation lowered Himself to wash His creation's feet! Any questions about true humility? Colossians 2:18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Now there is such a thing as FALSE humility, that is a humble spirit misdirected. One cause of false humility is false doctrine. If you submit to the wrong authority, such as worshipping angels, you will be involved in false humility. False humility will "disqualify" you from any heavenly rewards. False humility also will puff you up with pride, and subject you to false visions and idle notions. It will take you into bondage, rather than setting you free. Now false humility SOUNDS reasonable, and the person caught up in this can give you many details about visions and "spiritual" things. BUT: Colossians 2:23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.This kind of worship is SELF imposed - not Spirit led. It also usually involves harsh treatment of the body and countless rules and regulations, which are not effective in restraining the gratification of the senses. In other words, a person caught up in FALSE humility will have a red flag waving - failure to control lust. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.There are false cults out there who claim to be led of God but have all kinds of doctrines not in the Bible. They claim to hear from angels, and have all kinds of visions and notions that are contrary to the Bible. They also have all kinds of rules and regulations, and actually abuse their bodys by either over-fasting or self torture (like whipping themselves or something) True humility comes from being led by the Spirit of God and is spiritually discerned. It does NOT come from idle notions or unspiritual visions. True humility lines up with the Word.
Right mom of 5! That is false humility. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.Rolling Thunder - rules and regulations...sounds like the definition of a cult? Justme - or a pharisee, rt imhersis - if you have a willing spirit, God will honor that Justme - exactly, imhersis.... we never come to God perfect.... Glory what a promise! What a revelation. We have the mind of Christ, being led by the Spirit, we can know God, know His will and be enabled to follow Him. What a gift!
That's right imhersis, if we could have done it ourselves, we wouldn't have needed Jesus!
So what does all this have to do with spiritual warfare? Recall that Peter said to ARM ourselves with the attitude or mind of Christ. We've already discussed Jesus' attitude towards suffering.
Quest I think it's a matter of allowing the Holy Spirit to search the mind of Christ for each particular need and draw out that knowledge into our minds. Tonight we looked a bit at humility. How would this be used as a defense weapon? Or in other words, what does having an attitude of humility protect you from?
Right Z, what else does humilty protect us from? How is humility a spiritual defense? How about such things as rebellion, pride, envy…? And on the other hand, humility also protects from inferiority, weakness, and self-hate. To know WHO you are in Jesus and to abide there brings GREAT peace to your heart!
Now humility doesn't seem like an offensive weapon, does it? After all, it includes submission and all that. How could humility be an OFFENSIVE weapon?
The important thing is who you are submitting to … and being humble before God is a source of great spiritual power. As you yield to God in obedience, and draw closer to Him, you are increasingly empowered against the wiles and stratagems of the enemy. Humility towards God and your fellow believers strengthens our bond with each other and as we learn how to love one another truly from the heart, and present a unified front towards the enemy, we can begin to advance and take back the territory in our lives and families that the enemy has stolen! Father we truly and sincerely humble ourselves before you and submit to your will. We thank you that you have given us Jesus as an example, and pray that we will cast aside all pride, selfish ambition and vain conceit, and take on a servant's heart. We willingly and lovingly bow before you Lord and desire to be productive and humble members of Christ's body. In Jesus Name AMEN. So two attributes of the Mind of Christ that we have discussed are suffering and humility. Any ? or comments before we go on?
God values a humble heart ... and even if we submit to someone that's less than perfect in our eyes ... we still develop that humble spirit that is of great worth in God's sight. So how could we lose? Romans 5:5,8 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us… But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Another attitude that we should acquire is Jesus' attitude of sacrificial love. This love, agape, is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. It is a supernatural, unselfish, unconditional love that seeks the good of others above your own good. In the flesh, this is impossible - for we are always "looking out for # 1 = ME"! As we humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, we open up our inner man to be able to receive and give this agape love. Ephesians 5:1-2 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.Christ is our example of how to imitate or pattern our lives by God's love. He sacrificed Himself for us, and His demonstration of love was like an offering of sweet incense to God. When we have this attitude of sacrificial love, our lives also become fragrant offerings to God. 1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Love is the distinguishing factor that identifies us as being born of God. It is the basic essence of the new nature we receive when we are born again. For God Himself is love, and if we do not love, then we show that we do not know God.
Right TTW, we have to rely upon the love that the Holy Spirit pours out into our hearts! It fills us and overflows from us everywhere we go! 1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.God showed His love for us when He sent Jesus, His only begotten, unique, one and only Son, into the world FOR US. Because of God's love, we now have eternal life through Jesus. 1 John 4:10-11 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins [or as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away our sins]. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. There are a lot of religions in the world that offer pathways to God through ritual or ceremony. And many very religious people think that they are pleasing God by thus showing their "love" for Him. But the Bible says THIS IS NOT LOVE. True love is typified by God's example in sending Jesus as an atonement - or the sacrifice for our sins. Philippians 1:9-10 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,Did you ever stop to think that there is a knowledge and depth of insight in love? That the more you know about God's love and the more you strive to have the same attitude of sacrificial love that Jesus did, the more your love abounds? And the growing process of this love gives you spiritual discernment, so you can not only distinguish between good and evil, but between better and best! Father we ask in Jesus' Name that our love may abound more and more in knowledge and dept of insight, so that we may be able to discern what is best and be preserved pure and blameless until the day Christ comes again. Father we want to develop the attitude of sacrificial love that Jesus had. AMENJustme - Love is real.... not just an abstract notion that the world thinks it is..... but God's very essence is Love..... OK we reviewed the last few weeks lessons since we started talking about the Mind of Christ. First we discussed suffering and it's cause and purpose for the Christian. We discussed Jesus' attitude towards suffering. Then we began to talk about humility and the fact that it involves thinking rightly about oneself and your place in God's kingdom, bringing balance. Then we talked about Jesus attitude of sacrificial love. Next time we will begin with talking about acceptance.
Alice I have felt that way at times. First check out your heart and be sure there is no unconfessed sin lying around. If you know you haven't sinned, or if you have sinned and asked forgiveness, then look at your spiritual life. Are you spending time alone with the Lord, reading the Word, praying, worshipping, etc? If you are and still feel like you're prayers aren't getting thru, then you might be having what's called a "wilderness experience", a time in your life of learning and stretching your faith. It feels like you are in a dry hot desert, hurting and not getting through to God. But all the saints of old, including our Lord Jesus, went through these times of trial and suffering, and learned much about faith and resisting temptation from them. Father take the Word that has gone out tonight and bring understanding and wisdom to each heart. Plant the seed deep and bring forth a great harvest we ask in Jesus Name AMENOlePappy - Father, My God, My creator, I thank You for the knowledge You gave us tonight. Lord give us the wisdom to us it as You will in our lives. Lord I lift all the hurting and suffering to You that You may minister to those who suffer. Lord I lift the strife that You may remove it. Lord I lift the sick that You may heal. Lord I lift the lost that You may bring them to know Jesus. All this I bring before You in the name of Jesus. AMEN |
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Remember, whenever God gives us a revelation, the devil tries to steal it from us. Guard your hearts and meditate on what you've learned! And put it into practice. Back to Spiritual Warfare Contents |
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