This week's teaching with
Tom Hallas on Spiritual Warfare is probably my second favorite week in lectures
so far. This great man of God, who has been with YWAM for many years, taught
with the wisdom and experience of grandfather who loves stories. After a week
of struggling to learn something in the lectures, it was time to be refreshed.
Spiritual Warfare to me in my imagination was a huge war going on between God
and the Devil, they were constantly warring with each other. My role in this
battle was to be a member of God's army, but what could I do? Now I know that
spiritual warfare is actually a battle of ideas, and bringing them under
submission to God. Ideas about God, about others, about myself, about angels
and demons, and about the truth, etc. According, to many of our teachers over
the last few weeks, spiritual warfare is best portrayed through the book of
Ephesians.
Ephesians 1-3 is about sitting.
Sitting is the act of knowing our place beside Jesus and sitting with Him at
the right hand of God. How is this possible? Because, each one of us have been
adopted into God's family so that we are able to walk in authority. (But, we
aren't on walking yet so hold on!) God longs to be our Father, and Jesus made
this possible through the Cross by allowing us to become righteous in His eyes.
Our sin was removed so that Christ could extend his title as the eternal Son of
God to us. We have been, and are called sons of the living God. But, why sons?
I'm not a boy. It has nothing to do with gender, and everything to do with
authority! (Galatians 3:26-29) We are no longer slaves, but heirs of the
Kingdom of Heaven through Christ Jesus! Live as a son of God and a co-heir with
Christ and find your identity within that framework.
Ephesians 4-6:10 is about
walking. There are six basic points to follow as you walk:
1. Humility: be willing to acknowledge the truth and help others find the truth.
2. Unity: Have common agreement with one another amidst the diversity of how we think.
3. Tongue: Everything rises and falls on what you say, how you say it, and the result therein. (Content + Process = Result)
4. Sexual Freedom: We have identity beyond our gender! Find liberty in the fact that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14). By surrendering everything to God and thanking him for how each one of us is created, we can be kind and polite to one another.
5. Submission: You are no longer a slave through the authority you receive in God. Learn to acknowledge appropriately the roles that the people around you play in your life. (This has been a huge lesson for me.)
6. Honor your parents: The Bible tells us that we will be blessed with a long life and health when we honor our parents. Tom put it in a very clear framework: "have humility concerning your origins; if you reject your origins, you reject your life." This is a key foundation to finding freedom. [Yes, mom and dad I am growing in this. :)]
7. Authority Figures: We need to be overflowing with love and free of a judgmental spirit. I have been learning to respect all authority figures in my life, because when I disrespect one with my attitude they are all affected.
1. Humility: be willing to acknowledge the truth and help others find the truth.
2. Unity: Have common agreement with one another amidst the diversity of how we think.
3. Tongue: Everything rises and falls on what you say, how you say it, and the result therein. (Content + Process = Result)
4. Sexual Freedom: We have identity beyond our gender! Find liberty in the fact that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalms 139:14). By surrendering everything to God and thanking him for how each one of us is created, we can be kind and polite to one another.
5. Submission: You are no longer a slave through the authority you receive in God. Learn to acknowledge appropriately the roles that the people around you play in your life. (This has been a huge lesson for me.)
6. Honor your parents: The Bible tells us that we will be blessed with a long life and health when we honor our parents. Tom put it in a very clear framework: "have humility concerning your origins; if you reject your origins, you reject your life." This is a key foundation to finding freedom. [Yes, mom and dad I am growing in this. :)]
7. Authority Figures: We need to be overflowing with love and free of a judgmental spirit. I have been learning to respect all authority figures in my life, because when I disrespect one with my attitude they are all affected.
Ephesians 6:10 onwards is
about standing. We need to learn how to be witnesses for God and represent his
character and nature. A good example of this is the book of Job. Job is used as
the basis of many sermons for many different reasons, but one thing I learned this
week is what a great example of a court this book gives us. We are the judge as
readers of this book, God is the defendant, Satan is the accuser, and Job is
the witness. In between the beginning and end of this lengthy book we have a
whole lot of bad theology handed out by Job's friends, but that need not be our
focus. Job cried out to God concerning what happened, but God could not fill
Job in because in order to be a true witness of who God is Job had to be
clueless. The way this was portrayed gave me a new perspective on the book of
Job. Am I willing to be a witness for God, regardless of the circumstances? Are
you?
If you would like to support
me please email me at amyt.dr@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading!
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