Category Archives: Spiritual warfare

Kept

Posted by pastorchrisjackson on

Kept: past tense of keep, verb.

  1. Held or retained in one’s possession; held as one’s own.
  2. Held or used for a set period of time.
  3. Held or reserved in a given place; stored.
  4. Maintained, especially in accordance with specific requirements, a promise kept or watched.
  5. Reinforced in a given position, state, course, or action.

Do you know that you are being “kept” today and that your “keeper” is the one who holds the universe together?

“He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word…” (Hebrews 1:3)

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:1)

In the middle of today’s fragile existence with its harried pace and endless demands, please remember Jude’s words: you have been called, loved, and kept by the power of Jesus Christ. He loves you. He is for you. And nothing can take you out of His hand.

Cursing the second voice

Posted by pastorchrisjackson on

Strikes to the head, even while wearing thick ...

I think the Lord spoke to me earlier this week. It started with a whisper in my soul, and then grew in to a confidence that God was encouraging me to dream bigger dreams, and believe Him for some significant answers to prayers. Later in the day a friend contacted me and said, “I’ve been praying for you that all of your wildest dreams would come true.”

I felt incredibly strengthened and encouraged.

My excitement didn’t last; however, because shortly thereafter a second voice chimed in, rehearsing my past failures and current limitations. Before I knew it I had built a case for why my wildest dreams were just that—wild, unrealistic daydreams.

There always seems to be a second voice that undermines God’s word of encouragement, hope, and promise.

  • The first voice says, “I want to use you for my glory!”
  • The second voice says, “That might have been true before you so royally screwed up.”
  • The first voice says, “I want to bless you in unimaginable ways.”
  • The second voice says, “That stuff only happen to other people.”
  • The first voice says, “Isaac will be your inheritance.”
  • The second voice says, “Ishmael’s as good as it gets.”

I think we should muzzle the second voice.

Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” but what if we’ve embraced as truth the lies from the second voice? If the nature of truth is to liberate, then the nature of lies is to ensnare.

If you can identify any areas where the second voice has trumped the first voice, it’s time for you to lace up your boxing gloves and go to work.

Job 5:3 says, “I saw the foolish taking root, suddenly I cursed (punctured, perforated, punched a hole through) its habitation.”

Fasting by accident

Posted by pastorchrisjackson on

I accidentally fasted on Tuesday, and I think God still counted it.

Last Sunday at Grace our church family committed to a week of collective prayer and fasting. We were each going to choose a customized fasting plan that ranged from fasting from one meal or activity to an entire week. The emphasis was not on how long we fasted or what we fasted from, but on whom we were fasting to and why we were fasting.

According to the Scriptures, we fast:

  • When Jesus seems absent…
  • When situations seem hopeless…
  • When injustice rules the land…
  • And when we want to engage in a deeper level of prayer and worship…

My plan was to fast on Wednesday. However, when I arrived at my office early Tuesday morning, I realized that I had left my well-packed Los Angeles Lakers lunch bag in the refrigerator at home, and I was facing the prospect of a day without instant oatmeal, bananas, and lentils. My first impulse was to run to Vons and stock up on protein, but then I thought, “Maybe I’ll just fast today instead of tomorrow.” So I reallocated my eating time in to a time of focused prayer…and I received one of the strongest downloads of insight and revelation from the Scriptures that I have received in months.

And I wasn’t even planning on fasting that day.

This silly little story is a reminder of the “accidentalness” of the Gospel. Sometimes even the random, unplanned details of our day can have a divine breath in them. As followers of Jesus, we should always have eyes to see and ears to hear because sometimes heaven is beckoning us…even in our accidents.

What Super Mario Bros. is teaching me

Posted by pastorchrisjackson on
New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Image via Wikipedia

In recent months my daughters and I have become addicted to the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. My wife laughs at us as we alternately cheer, scream, and groan while our respective characters, Mario, Luigi, and Lemon-head face off against giant mushrooms, poisonous fish, and nasty snapping turtles. We’ve gotten pretty good—we’re more than halfway through the entire game—and we’ve also learned an important lesson along the way.

Heroic fights can seldom be won alone.

Through our Mario Bros. exploits we have discovered the incredible power of synergy, and we’ve learned to rely on one another during the tougher parts of the game (Amber is the best at dodging falling rocks, and I’m the best at jumping on the giant frog at the end of each level). When we pool our strengths, and guard each other’s backs we progress much further than we could ever do on our own.

That sounds almost biblical doesn’t it? :)

The Bible makes it clear that life’s adventures should be tackled in community. Jesus never sent His followers out to do great works alone—at the very least he sent them out in pairs so that the power of unified synergy would accompany them. Leviticus 26: 8 says, “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”

The principle in that verse has proven repeatedly true in my life–and it will likely be proven again tonight when Amber, Maddie, and I attempt to conquer level 5.

Bloodsuckers

Posted by pastorchrisjackson on

Do you have any bloodsuckers hanging around your life right now? Any people or situations that are constantly swarming you and sucking the life and vitality from you?

Bloodsuckers are an inevitable part of life, and they seem to get even more aggressive when we decide to take great risks for God.

At this year’s men’s retreat I was reminded of a helpful truth about bloodsuckers: they can only latch on to us when we stop moving.

Before the opening session of our retreat, I went for a walk in the woods to pray and I was instantly overwhelmed with how thick the swarms of mosquitoes were. They were large, loud, and aggressive, and if I stopped walking for even a second they were all over me. When I kept moving; however, they had a harder time sticking their proboscis (nice word, huh?) in to my skin. They were forced to retreat and follow me from a distance.

It’s impossible to avoid bloodsuckers—there will always be things that drain and deflate us—but if we are wise we will minimize the amount of time that we spend dealing with them. Rather, we will adopt Nehemiah’s mentality as he rebuilt the broken down walls of Jerusalem. When the bloodsuckers tried to latch on to him he said, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3)

Sometimes the best way to deal with the bloodsuckers is to get back to work God has called us to.