Basic Training

God is raising up His army. Truly, we are in the last days and you can feel a shift. We are experiencing an intensifying of darkness throughout our world while simultaneously seeing a rising up in the body of Christ.

For myself, there was a dissatisfaction of the “status quo,” a longing and sense of “there has to be more” propelling me to dig deeper and rediscover King Jesus in a way I never knew Him before. Over time, I realized that not only was I not living a life of victory as a believer in Christ, but was also bound up with chains of fear and despair.

Enemy Invasion

God began to open my eyes to the realization that the enemy had come into my camp and taken ground, and it was imperative that I get on my knees and take it back.  The Word of God refers to our offensive weapon of choice as the sword of the spirit and the way to inflict serious harm on my adversary, the enemy, is through none other than humility and repentance.

He’s calling for a cleansing intended to prepare us for His plan for our lives. Sadly, only a smaller remnant will listen to His call although He is calling out to so many.  The word He speaks to me over and over again is, “Repent. Examine your heart.”

In the past Satan attempted to attack this process through his weapons of shame, condemnation and fear of going before Father God with my sin although God knows all anyway.

We can’t hide our hidden innermost thoughts from God. I may have been able to hide them from others but God knows me intimately, and this is a good thing because God already knows and continues to love me.  What I had to understand is that He knows all my junk and loves me unconditionally.

Satan’s Plan Exposed

Satan wants to keep us bound and unable to fight Him because sin and shame weaken us. My prayer for each person reading this who may be struggling as I was will be set free in the name of Jesus.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” ~ Romans 8:1-2

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” ~ Romans 8:13

Let’s face it, this is a scripture that we can all rejoice in because our misdeeds can be many.  My freedom came through the Lord’s blessing of allowing me to visualize the ground I was losing to the enemy through my unrepentant sin.  Satan is counting on us to continue giving him access. He has a few choice weapons he especially prefers to use.

The biggest weapons the enemy was using against me to keep me blind to my sin and afraid of the sins I did recognize were fear, condemnation and justification.

Once I realized the price I and those I loved were paying for because of my areas of disobedience, I became desperate to rout it out of my life. Friends, I’ve learned from hard personal experience that we cannot afford to give the enemy a foothold in any area of our life.

This is a daily process of being led by the Holy Spirit.  Daily I must die to my flesh and live according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Unforgiveness has to go. I can’t afford to hold on to offense. The enemy wants us to feel justified in holding on to the offense, but Jesus says we must pray for our enemies; we must bless them.

I have had to ask the Holy Spirit for the power to help me to do this – I couldn’t do it in my own strength. I’ve had to intercede for them and humble myself. As I have humbled myself, He has lifted me up. Only as I asked God to remove my sinful old nature and replace it with more of Christ have I truly been given the strength to fight these battles.

When I began examining the parts of myself that hadn’t been submitted to Christ, I didn’t like what I saw. As I hid them in shame, I gave Satan and his demons access to my life. I am now seeing disobedience to God for what it truly is (SIN) and my desire to root it out of my life in a methodical and relentless manner has been solidified.

The Dangers of Unconfessed Sin

When I truly began to experience the results of unconfessed sin in my life, I began to realize what a serious thing it is. I don’t have the luxury of excusing sin in my life. The results are too devastating. Do I really want to give the enemy access to my life and home?

Our job as believers is to repent of sin and then turn to God with a clean heart, asking the Holy Spirit to help us overcome sin and have eyes to recognize the fiery darts that Satan is launching at us.

Satan wants to whisper justifications of sin in our ears. He wants us to believe we are justified in harboring resentment and unforgiveness, etc. He wants us to feel this way because when we feel this way and hold on to these negative emotions, we are giving darkness access.

We don’t have to fear exposing each and every sin to God’s light which will illuminate it for what it is. But as we illuminate it and release that sin we, in turn, can ask God to send the Holy Spirit to move in and fight our battles.

Less of me and more of Him. May we begin to be so full of Him that our light will BLAZE and illuminate a very dark world that desperately needs that light. And may we also be the spiritually strong warriors that He is calling us to be, reclaiming the ground the enemy has taken!

Originally Posted: January 14, 2017