Navigating Spiritual Mine Fields

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16)

Take away the frightening warning sign, and the beach pictured above looks completely harmless, peaceful, and serene.

But when someone planted explosive mines along this beach, they did not post any signs warning people of their presence. That’s the purpose of hiding land mines—to catch your enemy off guard and destroy him.

Such are the pitfalls in the spiritual world—the unseen realm.

Many Christians will concede that there must be a Devil, because the Bible says so. But most, it seems, fail to acknowledge his existence and destructive presence in their personal lives. And in so doing, many have already lost the spiritual battle, because they failed to acknowledge there is a battle to begin with.

The Apostle warns us:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

Satan is not just an adversary. He is your adversary. It’s personal with him. He is out to destroy you and yours. Jesus said of Satan:

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” (John 10:)

However, many people today seem to have forgotten these warnings in Scripture. Since they can’t see the Devil they act like he doesn’t even exist. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Watch out.

Satan has placed carefully hidden spiritual land mines in the areas of your life where he knows he can hurt you the most. And he knows that he will eventually get to you because most people aren’t looking for them. We carelessly stroll along the beach of life, oblivious to the schemes of the wicked one, and the warnings given of him in God’s Word.

Is it any wonder that so many of us are getting our spiritual butts kicked?

The Apostle Paul gives us this stern admonition:

“So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Eph 5:17)

Some of Satan’s most effective land mines, carefully disguised to destroy God’s people are: lust, greed, envy, pride, division, idolatry and unforgiveness. In the Garden of Eden, Satan had three primary arrows stashed in his devilish quiver, ready to unleash against God’s people: "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Doubt and unbelief are also very effective weapons Satan is using against God’s people. “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1)

What is the “will of the Lord” that Paul admonishes us to understand?

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph 5:1-2)

Jesus loved us by sacrificing Himself, and by warning people of Hell, and He told us to repent and turn from our sin. He did not condemn people, but He also never told people that their sin was okay. Jesus came to save us from our sin. Love always tells people the Truth of God’s Word.

After telling us what to do, Paul warns us what not to do:

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph 5:3-7)

I believe one of Satan’s most effective weapons used against many Christians today, is to deceive them through empty words—watered-down teaching, diluting and diminishing God’s Word, rationalizing some sin as okay because it is so acceptable in today’s twisted culture. “Well, (that sin) is a gray area, and I don’t want to judge.”

This is the same lie that Satan used in the Garden: “Did God really say?” He convinced God’s people to doubt His Word. And this is happening today more and more. Paul warned us that a time is coming, and now is, when people will no longer endure sound doctrine, but will, because of their desires, find themselves teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. (2 Tim 4:3)

“Everything exposed by the light becomes visible.” (Eph 5:13)

We’re told in the New Testament to expose false doctrine. Light exposes darkness. It’s not “love” to let people go on believing a lie because we don’t want to risk offending them. God’s wrath comes on the disobedient, not on the obedient.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” (James 3:13-16)

You see this in so many divorce battles today. Bitter envy and selfishness are accompanied by disorder and every kind of evil behavior and hypocrisy. Someone who is hell-bent on destroying their spouse is usually living the most sinful lifestyle imaginable, and through their greed and disobedience, will bring God’s wrath on their life.

But the person whose life and actions reflect goodness and humility, have demonstrated that they are truly wise and understanding. They know what the will of the Lord is.

“The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:17-18)

Peace will be upon everything you do, if you walk in the wisdom of God, which is always pure, peaceable and gentle, willing to yield, and devoid of hypocrisy.

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor 10:3-5)

Part of waging spiritual war, is to first ask God for His wisdom of what spiritual strongholds are present in your personal life, family, and even in the culture of your city and country. And to acknowledge that these strongholds must be pulled down and demolished.

Then, only through using our spiritual weapons which are mighty in God—namely; prayer, love, fellowship and God’s Word—can we begin to pull down and demolish spiritual strongholds that can never effectively be fought against using fleshly or worldly methods.

I recently watched a very moving television special about the many soldiers suffering from serious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The interviewer asked a large group of men, by a show of hands, if given the chance, how many would want to go right back to the fight? All the men but one immediately shot up their hands. The interviewer asked, “Why?” One soldier said, “Because of the camaraderie; because you were with your band of brothers day and night.” The soldier then said, “But once you lose that, you can never get it back.”

For Christians, we have to get that kind of brotherhood back. We can’t afford not to. Too many guys are going Lone Ranger out there. Suffering from spiritual PTSD, they have pulled back, isolating themselves from fellowship.

Spiritually, we’re in the foxhole of life together. We need each other, to hold each other up. To pray for one another, for our families, and for God’s wisdom. To watch each other’s backs.

As my good friend used to say often:

“This is life or death.”



—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Spiritual Awakening Part 2

"Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?" (John 14:5)

To be spiritually awakened, you must first take an honest assessment of where you're at in your relationship with Jesus Christ right now.

Do you know?

I think for many people, their stance is, "Hey, if things are going okay for me, why rock the boat?"

And so, like the proverbial frog in the kettle, many of us end up settling for a benign, but comfortable lukewarmness, unaware of the perils of our true spiritual condition.

Knowing that Jesus often used the analogy of a relationship between bride and groom to speak of His relationship with the Church, what do you suppose a marriage would be like if the bride and groom never spent any time together? Never spoke to one another? Never got to know each other on a deeper level? Never experienced any spiritual, emotional or physical intimacy together?

That would be one boring, lifeless marriage, to be sure. 

And so God (our Bridegroom) commands us with the following incredible invitation, which has an even more incredible promise attached:

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." (James 4:8)

Isn't that what we all ultimately want? To have God draw near to us.

So why aren't we experiencing Him on a personal level more often, if at all?

Because He tells us we have to make the first move.

The directive is clear and conditional: Draw near to God and (then) He will draw near to you.

We just sit there on the bench waiting for God to ask us to dance. But He wants us to want Him. He wants us to ask Him to dance.

Do you get it?

He wants sincere, passionate, devotion and worship from us. He doesn't want to be treated like He is merely a dutiful obligation, like there are a bunch of other things we'd much rather be doing than worshiping Him.

Going back to the analogy of a bride and bridegroom, if you had laid your life down for your spouse, constantly going out of your way to bless them with every thing they need, showering them with kindness, love and affection, and he or she never showed any gratitude or affection, never loving you in return, what kind of marriage would that be?

A joyless marriage for sure.

And one that would wither to the point that the marriage would likely end in divorce, like over half of all marriages sadly do today.

This is exactly why so many people lead a lifeless and joyless spiritual life.

We sit comfortably on the throne of our life, and we neatly arrange all the things we have around us; marriage, family, job, material possessions, finances, hobbies. And oh yeah, God is down there somewhere, in a place where He won't take too much of our time away from the other things we enjoy. Somewhere where He won't inconvenience us too much.

And we wonder why our life feels so spiritually dull, or dead.

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)

If God laid down His life for us, and goes out of His way to bless us with everything we need, showering us with His kindness, love and affection, why should He have to command us to love Him in return?

It's because we're selfish, self-centered people, who would rather take than give. Who would rather do our own thing, and stay on our own throne, and conveniently arrange all the aspects of our life, including God, to suit us, according to our own likes and dislikes. According to our own understanding.

And by so doing, we have created a "god" to personally suit us. 

I'm not casting stones at anyone here.

Because I have done this to God many times throughout my life as a "Christian." I'm not judging you by writing this blog today. It was intended to convict and awaken me first, because I need to hear it, and heed its message.

To the lukewarm church in Laodicea, Jesus gave the following command:

"So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." (Revelation 3:16-18)

Jesus goes on to say to the church at Laodicea:

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Revelation 3:19-21)

And in case you might think that this rebuke and command was only meant for the church at Laodicea, 2,000 years ago, Jesus lets us know that this rebuke and command was meant for all the churches:

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 3:22)

This painful rebuke and chastening was given by Jesus to the people He loves. As many as He loves, He rebukes and chastens. And He said, If a man loves Me he will keep my commandments."

It's all about love.

If you, if I, truly love Jesus, we will obey His commands. If we love Him we will choose to draw near to Him daily. moment by moment.

And His amazing promise is that He in return will draw near to us.

If you have ears to hear, you will hear Him gently knocking on the door of your heart today. 

Now, will you open the door of your heart to Him and invite Him in?

The promise of fellowship and intimacy with God is right there to you in His Word.

—It's your move...

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Spiritual Awakening Part 1

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled."

—Jesus

Those who are empty are they who hunger. Those who are parched are they who thirst.

And the empty and parched are called blessed by Jesus, which in this context literally means "happy." Happy are you—the empty and parched—if you hunger and thirst for righteousness—for you shall be filled.

How counter-intuitive this is to the world's thinking. 

The world would call you "blessed" if you make a million dollars a year and would say you "have it made."  If you're the author of best selling books and conduct popular seminars on the power of positive thinking the world would say you "have arrived." 

But if you hunger and thirst for Jesus' righteousness, the world will say you're a joke, a miserable wretch—a deceived little "sheeple" who blindly trusts in religious fairy tales.

David wrote the following Psalm when he was in the wilderness of Judah:

“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

As a fifty five year old man who has known Jesus as my Lord and Savior for over two decades, with each passing year, month, and week, I keep coming more and more to the painful realization that nothing of this world brings lasting satisfaction, peace, joy, or happiness. 

And godly sorrow over this leads me to repentance—to turn from all the things in my life that I have made into idols. To turn from the things that I have looked to, to fill up the empty and parched places in my soul: which have only left me even more parched and empty.

And in much brokenness, with tear-stained face, looking upward, beholding the Lord Jesus in His kindness, love and mercy, I look fully to Him—the author and finisher of our faith.

Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

The "poor in spirit" Jesus refers to here, are the broken people who see their absolute, and desperate need for God.

Today I asked the Lord for forgiveness, for my looking to other things and other people to fill up the empty places in my soul. For making other things and people idols in my life. For allowing other things and people to take His rightful place in my heart.

Some of the most challenging words in the Bible is Jesus saying to the multitudes:

"Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:33)

A wonderful truth and wisdom in Jesus' directive to His followers that they cannot be His disciples unless they forsake all, is that He knows that nothing of this world can bring us peace, joy or fulfillment. Only He can fill up our hearts and souls. Only He can quench our spiritual thirst. Only He can satisfy our spiritual hunger. And He will not take second place to anything or anyone else in our lives. Until we get off the throne of our life, and invite Him to rule and reign from His rightful place on the throne of our heart, we cannot be His disciple. 

Jesus didn't command us to forsake all and follow Him to make our lives unhappy. He wants to set us free from all of the lifeless things that will ultimately only make us unhappy.

Sadly, much of modern Christianity is spiritually asleep at the wheel—living busy lives they call "blessed" because they are living the American Dream. Big house, nice family, great careers, nice cars, vacation house, lots of toys, boats, jet skis, big 401-K accounts. They think they "have it made" because they have filled up their lives with all the good things life offers. The "blessings."  

But inside, so many who claim to know Jesus, are unfulfilled. They do not know lasting peace or happiness. There is no joy in their hearts. Marriages are crumbling, dying, or already gone. Relationships are superficial at best. Most people are simply going through the motions, unaware of spiritual warfare, going to church once a week, listening to Christian music, and praying at dinner time; but with no real purpose or power in their Christian walk.

Jesus said:

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

Our much needed spiritual awakening must include:

1. Contrite brokenness, hungry and thirsty for God's righteousness. 
2. An honest confession that the things of this world cannot fulfill.
3. Repentance to God for making other things idols in our lives.
4. A sincere profession that without Jesus we can do nothing.
5. Passionate commitment to draw near to Jesus Christ every day.
6. Ask God daily for wisdom and anointing power of the Holy Spirit.

What is the "anointing power" of the Holy Spirit?

Jesus said:

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

Without the daily empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we will spin our wheels in the fruitlessness of trying to do things in the futility of our own strength.

True spiritual transformation will never come through just going through the motions of going to church. And what most people think is the "American Dream", in reality, is an anchor around your soul, and will only take you down.

With Holy Spirit-breathed wisdom, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church:

"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:11-12)

Those who have awakened out of their spiritual slumber, are Jesus-focused, and others-focused. We are not self-focused or self-absorbed. We realize that we are aliens in this fallen world, just passing through, but with a God-given assignment to fulfill during our temporary stay here.

We are to be like arrows pointing towards Heaven—empowered by the Holy Spirit—pointing people to our loving, merciful Savior Jesus Christ.

Getting your piece of the so-called American Dream is not God's purpose for putting you on this earth.

It is high time we awaken out of sleep...

"Holy Fire, burn away, my desire, for anything, that is not of You, but is of me, I want more of You and less of me. Empty me...empty me. Fill me... with You, with You."

(To be continued...)

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.