Our EVIL CONDUCTOR ... Passover Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart ... Ephesians 2:3

FAMILY SPIRITS

Meditations  for Pascha

(The Passover Season, 2016)

+  +  +

Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart

Now is My+ soul troubled;

and what shall I+ say ...

FATHER,

save ME+

from this hour ?

but for this cause

came I+ unto this hour.

FATHER,

Glorify Thy Name.

Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying,

I have both glorified IT,

and will glorify IT again.

John 12:27-28

+  +  +

Meditation Verse 

Ephesians 2:3

2:2 ...Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

2:3

 Among whom also we all

had our conversation in times past

in the lusts of our flesh,

fulfilling the desires

of the flesh and of the mind;

and were by nature

the children of wrath,

even as others.

Literal Greek:

... [ according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in  the sons of disobedience ] ...

By whom  also we all were conducted at one time or another by the strong passion of our flesh, doing the determinations of the flesh and the thoughts and were being  children, by lineage, of wrath, as even others.

+  +  +

Meditation

By our natural, inherited lineage, our fleshly, Adamic,  earth-centered, Self-centered man is going to inherit ONE THING: the wrath of GOD.

This verse tells us --- if the passive verb tense is translated accurately --- that we ALL were being conducted through life BY SOMEONE who is our enemy ... and the enemy of CHRIST JESUS. We all at some point in time were sons of disobedience.

This dark and wicked prince of the power of the air uses our AGREEMENT with him as the handle by which he manipulates us.

It is to the great detriment of our soul.

Let us re-read that passage:

... [ according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in  the sons of disobedience ] ...

By whom  also we all were conducted at one time or another by the strong passion of our flesh, doing the determinations of the flesh and the thoughts and were being  children, by lineage, of wrath, as even others.

Using the strong, unbridled passions of our fleshly nature, we actively DO what we DETERMINE TO DO. Our flesh and thoughts set out to do one thing:  to accomplish OUR OWN WILL. 

In short, we agree with the satan... whether our thoughts and flesh SEEM to be pursuing "good" ( humanly speaking)  or the evil side of life. 

In time past before we humbled ourself and came to CHRIST JESUS, we walked in the path in which the satan led us.  That evil created being led us by our own determined flesh to do our own will and live our life "our" way.

Because our lineage stems from Adam, we not only inherited his disobedient nature but we inherited something else: the wrath of GOD.

Now, having come to CHRIST JESUS, we are saved from this wrath ... if... if... if... we yield our will unto HIS+.

That BIG " IF " ...

That big " IF "  represents a huge gap between us and CHRIST.  The choice to yield unto The LORD occurs at every juncture, every crossroads , at every temptation and lure in our lives.

Now here is the reality of it all:  Yielding --- choosing JESUS' way instead of our own --- actually occurs daily , hourly, and for some, minute by minute.

Why is this? 

It is because our family spirits try to drag us BACKWARDS into being the "old" man instead of that New Creature in CHRIST.

These wicked family spirits never give up ! They make us snap at our spouses, turn a cold shoulder to others in need, desire earthly pleasures, and ignore the conviction of the HOLY SPIRIT .

These family spirits are our lineage.

If we stand for CHRIST JESUS in our hearts, sooner or later these wicked spirits will try to resume their influence.  They will try to re-conduct us BACK to acting un-CHRIST-like in thoughts and words and deeds.

 

Do we want to be the children of GOD'S wrath ? 

Do we want to inherit the torments that those family spirits are going to inherit in the Lake of Fire?

If we do NOT want that, then we must STAND AGAINST reverting back to the Old Man ways.  We must stand in the Name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST --- internally, in the midst of the testing --- against these beings.

+  +  +

Let us pray:

O Holy Heavenly FATHER,

I see I have not been watchful nor on guard.  I have fallen away from my steadfast determination to NOT GO MY NATURAL WAY.

It is my fault when I agree with these wicked spirits.   I  have been delivered, washed, and set free from their control by the BLOOD+ of the LAMB+. 

Help me to stay free of their influence, lure, and eventual control, now. Unmask their influence in my life.

O Mighty GOD, awaken me to their hidden workings in and about my life. 

I repent of listening to them. 

I repent of agreeing with them; they always try to make me lift up Self... my DEAD self.

I renounce these family spirits all, which try to make me act like my UnSaved family members.

I renounce each one of them in the Name of The LORD JESUS CHRIST Who+ told me "... the spirits are subject unto you."

Yes, His+ Words are Truth. Help me to cling to His+ Truth, O FATHER.

This I pray in the life-giving Name of the Unblemished LAMB+ of GOD, our LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who+ died to set me free from family spirits ... and is able to KEEP me free. Amen.

+  +  +

Worthy is the LAMB+.

Worthy is The LAMB+

that was slain.

Worthy is the LAMB+,

slain

from the foundation

of the earth.

Revelation 13:8

+  +  +

PRAISE and THANKSGIVING

be to The FATHER,

and to HIS Beloved SON+

JESUS CHRIST,

and to

the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT.

ONE GOD:

FATHER,

SON+,

and HOLY SPIRIT,

both now and forever,

world without end.

Amen.

Who's Doing the Tormenting ...NOW ?

Not Included...

EXcluded is another way of putting it. Being excluded can make me struggle in my heart ... even if I really don't want to be in that particular "inclusion." Does this make any sense?

I wrestled all day long with this seemingly nonsensical feeling of being left out of a situation which I really didn't WANT to be a part of, in the first place. So, I turned to The LORD, hoping HE+ would unravel the distress gnawing away at my peace and contentment.

As I typed out the situation to a Christian sister, the answer came: I was laboring under a false sense of REJECTION. It takes many forms with me. If I "see" it (a sense of rejection) coming, I can usually get the victory over it by standing on the Word and the preciousness of My Savior, the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Thus, this wicked tormenting spirit camouflages itself in many different ways. "You're not important," it sneers at me. I agree with it. Then, knowing that is true, I become more distressed. The tormentor then kicks me from the other way: "What a fine Christian you are... feeling bad if you are not important! Isn't that the sin of pride? What a fine Christian you are now!" And I agreed with it. My distress mounted.

I SHOULD have said the truth: "True, I'm not important in the eyes of man. But, I am important to The LORD JESUS CHRIST... simply because HE+ made me and loves me and saves my life from destruction."

But, since I wallowed on, not dealing with the entire truth on the first issue , I had a miserable day being tormented by these petty wicked spirits. And, they don't play fair; they gang up on me.

Thankfully, the LORD revealed the true indentity of the tormenting spirits and lo... in the name of The LORD JESUS CHRIST, they were gone ! Even at the end of a busy day working with the children at school, I felt a rush of Life+ enter my tired body and I could live again with no distress.

Have you similiar experiences with the oppressive torments which hound you? May the LORD strengthen you, then, to find out the TRUE IDENTITY of them and then, having done all, to stand firm in the love and Truth of The LORD JESUS CHRIST.

HE+ came that we might have LIFE+... and that, more abundantly.

Notice, the Scripture does NOT say more "abundance" but rather, more abundant LIFE. There's a difference. If you have that abundance of Life+ flowing from our LORD, you will find you have less need of "abundance" of things on this earth.

Amen.

Sister Judith Hannah

FOR WANT OF A NAIL...
The Battle with Discouragement

Ever wondered WHY discouragement is a battle? It is because there are wicked spirits involved which somehow creep through our protective barrier placed by The LORD to torment us.

Fighting discouragement is discouraging, to say the least. I do not recall one distinct time of facing this tormenting spirit or spirits head-on and winning. Whining is my usual mode when I am forced to face these nasty, tormenting spirits.

How is it that these spirits are allowed to pass through our divine protection and worry us as a dog worries a bone? How is it that we must wrest the promises of GOD with all our strength… yet barely keep from drowning in a sea of discouragement?

Again and again, the lesson book keeps opening to this chapter as The LORD insists on mastery instead of failure in this battle with these tormenting spirits.

Recently, The LORD, bless HIS+ Holy Name, has mercifully pulled apart this netting so that I can see some of the threads which tangle together to ensnare my soul. Here is what HE+ has shown me.

Lesson One ...

Sort it through, thoroughly.

Where do discouraging torments come from? To know what triggered discouragement off is step number one... but only step number one. Knowing is NOT routing these wicked spirits out of the vicinity, however. Beware of stopping at this step.

For me, I am tripped up when something earthly, temporal doesn’t go the way I planned... especially when I’ve been meticulous in planning and careful in the execution of the situation. This has happened twice in the last 3 days... one, with a cake I baked for company and the other, with my supervisor at school. I became discouraged because I followed the “rules” and it produced the opposite of what I wanted.[1]

In each situation, The LORD showed me that my work itself was not necessarily faulty. I felt bad because I thought my judgment was in error.

Then, the worse part hit me:

I “looked bad” in the eyes of man.[2]

The attack then intensified as the tormenting spirits of anger, bitterness, resentment and ... alas... self-pity came banging on the door, clamoring to get in. They pelted me with their lies and worse, another rotten spirit was coming down the road at full speed: Self-indulgence.[3] After all my hard work, someone has to make me feel better, n’est-ce pas? Unfortunately, something is ready and waiting to pet me with a self-seeking illusion just as soon as I want it.

Thus, now the battle is with a battery of vicious, wicked spirits who are stomping me on the ground and grabbing at my thoughts. My heart feels like it is in a vice and I can hardly breathe. My peace has fled and nearly my sanity, also. I am ready to scream and be mean to anyone in the vicinity. No-one can please me, at this point... although I demand that they do, in my heart.


LESSON TWO

Stop all wrestlings.

Return to the original situation and observe: what is out of line with The Word of GOD? Someone not in the thick of the battle can see it instantly. Fear entered in because of how I thought I looked before the eyes of man.
Well, that is wrong and worthy of a hearty repentance. At that point, the pack of dark, bullying spirits back off to the nearby bushes and I can breathe a little easier.

LESSON THREE

Behind most of my fear, I have learned with much pain and sorrow, lurks pride. I want to be seen as doing the best, working the hardest, and acclaimed much for so doing.

Aha! Now the real motive has surfaced. Basic, old Adamic pride which cloaks itself in virtue is at the root of this insistence to be valued by man. My fear of failure is NOT a noble virtue. Rather, this particular fear is a noble and hard-working slave of pride.

LESSON FOUR

May The LORD’S Name be praised! HE+ truly is our deliverer. HE+ is able and willing to deliver us from our enemies. But, we must do our part. We must sort through the tangled netting and see where we veered away from walking in the Truth of the Scriptures. If we get to the original situation and repent of leaving the Scriptural path, the skirmishes with the other tormentors will decrease and end altogether.

If we allow sin in our hearts (i.e., a veering away from the Words of Our LORD), then we cannot stand in the battle. Even praying mightily, we still cannot stand in these battles and we wonder why The LORD does not regard our cry.

HE+ does hear us, but HE+ wants us to walk through these situations His+ Way. HE+ will allow us to be soundly beaten in order to teach us to do so.

LESSON FIVE

Repentance, then, follows after being led by the nose to indulge Self in anger, bitterness, resentment, meanness of heart and my “brand” of Self-pity.

Now my anger is directed rightly:
at the tricks my Self, that old Adamic nature that is supposed to be dead, has pulled on my New Creature to make her leave the side of her Savior and be beaten by her own, old, sin-filled nature!

LESSON SIX

I have found my mortal enemy: my Self.

I myself have allowed the wicked spirits to run rampant in my soul and they mopped the ground up with me. They always do their job well.

I have no-one to blame but myself... and shame, on top of that.

LESSON SEVEN

What shall be done unto you, old filthy Self ? Penance is slightly out of vogue among Christians, even serious ones. However, physical chastisement helps one to learn the lesson better. Remember: children learn best by touch (tactile) and adults are only grown-up children. So, do what you can by way of fasting, additional prayer times, shut-down times with only The LORD, times of Holy Silence, etc. in order to teach your physical man that it must submit unto the New Creature, the Spiritual man, that you have become. Then comes that sweet, sweet VICTORY IN JESUS.

Amen, and Hallelujah.

PS… As a case in point, I have been so discouraged that it has taken me 2 weeks to get this on the page!

[1] This usually happens on the job with the public, something like this: my supervisor tells me to teach reading a certain way, using certain prescribed phonics programs. I do it with gusto ! But, I realize the children would gain more reading with another program entailing more actual reading . I do not want to displease my supervisor, so I continue to do what he says. Later, I find out other teachers have done what I wanted to do ... and have made greater gains and received commendations from that same supervisor!

[2] This “looking bad” may or may not be reality. It just seems so to me. Others have not said a negative word and , in fact, have said I was doing well. I cannot trust that, though.
[3] My self-indulgences usually take the form of fantasies, which end up making me feel drunk and emptier than before they started. Other people may turn to food and crave sweets ... or pizza. Some may turn to TV, movies, or music.