Understanding the Art of Spiritual Warfare: Part I

We are in a war and please believe that the lines have already been drawn. Your choices determine which side you will be on. We must understand, just as no commander lays out his strategy to the enemy, that our Father doesn’t make his word plain to those who are not his.

         As Isaiah prophesied seeing they won’t perceive and hearing they won’t understand. (Isa. 42:20) It’s like speaking in morse code, yeah anyone can hear the code over the air waves but only those versed in that code will get the message.

Yehoshua tells us that all things which he has heard of his Father he has made known to us. (John 15:15) This doesn’t apply to the world, but to the believer. This is why an Evolutionist can look at the same thing a Creationist look at and come up with two different conclusions.   Only those who are spiritual can understand spiritual things, the carnal man cannot know the things of the spirit. For no man knows the things of the spirit, but by the spirit. (1 Cor. 2) It is given unto us to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, not to the masses. (Matt. 13:11) Think of it this way, the Captain only give orders to the soldiers on the field. Though the soldiers protect a nation of people, the Captain doesn’t give his strategy to the nation. He gives orders to those who are committed to follow him.

So, have you made your commitment yet or are you sitting on the sidelines in the valley of decision?

                That is why those who lack wisdom are instructed to come to God, it didn’t say come to the word, because it is the Father that must reveal his will, and then the instructions to complete his will is found in his word. (Jas 1:5) Orders must first be given by the Commander and Chief before they can be written. As it is with Yah so it is with us, it is out of our will that we speak and write.  All things must be done decently and in order. First one must think, before they write or say. Now the latter two can be done in either order and with modern technology at the same time, but you can’t write or speak without first thinking.

Understanding the Art of Spiritual Warfare: Part II

There is a potential for Judas to exist in every camp, but, this revelation didn’t take the Messiah by surprise. Your Judas’ and Benedict Arnold’s serve a purpose, and if for nothing else other than to show that the enemy can transform himself into an angel of light, to keep us grounded in recognizing that we ought not to trust in man, but only in God. (2 Cor. 11:14) As the scripture doth also says, “have NO CONFIDENCE in the FLESH.” (Phi. 3:3)  Yehoshua stands as an example for us that if we are divinely hooked up to the Master the presence of the enemy in our camp won’t hinder Yah’s will from being accomplished. As with Judas even the enemy has a script. (Psa. 41:9)

 In Godfather II, Michael Corleone was coined saying the above quote. It has erroneously been ascribed to the teachings of Sun Tzu in the Art of War, but regardless, it is a quote that is widely used, yet doesn’t represent the life I would want to live.  Our enemy is the world, and I really don’t want to keep the world that close to me.  But my husband is my friend, by this logic, I would need to keep the world closer to me than my husband.  Therefore, I want to upgrade this quote to more accurately paint the picture I see in scripture;

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies close enough to hear, without being close enough to reach.”

While that is an original quote from yours truly it bears the sentiment I see in the word.  We can’t be ignorant of satans devices. (2 Cor. 2:11)  If we are we give him an advantage over us.  The more you know about your enemy the better prepared you are to fight, and know that often times that enemy is the war within your own member.  The same flesh led decision that Eve made, we are all subject to making, and our greatest enemy is our ignorance of Satan’s schemes.  For we do not fight as one who beats the air, we know how the enemy will target us, and for that cause we must keep under our flesh so we don’t get swept away with him. (1 Cor. 9:26)

The bible instructs us to be as wise as serpeants yet harmless as doves. (Matt. 10:16) Consider the wisdom of the serpent, he was able to convince Eve out of something she already had. If she had acknowledged him as an enemy, she would have made a wiser decision.  Let’s face it, how much advice would you take from someone you knew was out to destroy you? Yet Satan has persuaded many people to love him, and to hate God. Thus broad is the way that leads to destruction and “many” there be that find it. (Matt. 7:13)

Take note: the flesh always looks for one who will cater to it, and what is wrong will always put the needs of the flesh before the Spirit, and therefore what feels right is often wrong, and what feels wrong to the flesh is usually that which pleases the Spirit. (Rom. 7:19)  The world is our enemy, the scripture teaches us that.

These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. (Joh 15:17-21)

Lack of knowledge of Him who sent Yehoshua (which is the heavenly Father) will be the cause of this hatred. However, we are instructed to preach the Gospel to the lost, knowing that some will receive, some will refuse, and others may attack you for your faith.

If the world was our friend he wouldn’t tell us to be of good cheer for overcoming it. Who do you think the devil will use to cause us tribulation? (John 16:33) Who did he use during the time of the Holocaust? Constantine? Martin Luther? Civil Rights movement? It’s all the same, it was people. Why should the devil use new tricks when the old ones still work? The price of selling your soul to the devil is embracing the spirit of hatred that he has embraced through self deception.

          

Understanding the Art of Spiritual Warfare: Part III

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

Notice what our weapons are not, what they are, and what they can be used against. Pay attention always to details, God doesn’t use idle words, every word is powerful and impactful if utilized strategically as He has provided. They are not carnal, so if you are using your flesh as the weapon of choice, know that this is not the weapon that God has given you, in other words you’re on your own. At least as it relates to pulling down strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing (not person) that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Who are these weapons used against? Whose thoughts are you targeting your arsenal at? Your own. When do these weapons have to be used? When we are walking in the flesh, and leaning towards siding with the flesh over His spirit. The context is clear, you have no authority to bring anyone else’s thought into captivity but your own. There is a battle going on everyday and many of us are losing it because we don’t even know that we are the greatest enemy to God’s work being done in our lives. Simply because we haven’t recognized the Judas in us, we haven’t brought our thoughts into captivity, we haven’t cast down our imaginations, and the high things that we exalt against the knowledge of God. If we haven’t done that for ourselves we are in no way prepared to handle the next instruction that is required of us in this text in 2 Cor. 10.

(2Co 10:6) And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

            

Understanding the Art of Spiritual Warfare: Part IV

          It is only after we have pulled down our strongholds are we able to be ready to revenge all disobedience. So the question is, have you fulfilled your obedience?   Are you walking according to the instructions that God has laid out in His word? Right now, Yah is calling us back to that place of obedience. Back to the beginning, to not eat the things he said not to eat, to guard his Sabbath, feast days, etc… He is returning us to the ancient paths. (Jer. 18:15)

The prodigal son is being called out of the hog pin to return to the King. It’s time to really understand what the scripture means by not to forsake the assembling of ourselves, in context of scripture and not our Western misinterpreted mindset which has equated the Holy Feast days and the required convocations thereof with the weekly one person speaks while you sit quietly from a pew looking at the back of each other’s heads. No, there is only one way to know those who labor amongst you and it won’t be done in a public setting, as it was with the Messiah so shall it be with us, it is only those who “come and see” privately that will get the personal revelation. In public it is in parables that our Lord will speak, because as stated earlier, Yah doesn’t expose His plan to the enemy. (1 Cor. 2:8) The prince of this world knows not the details of God’s plan.   Our God doesn’t cast his pearls amongst swine, nor give that which is Holy to dogs. (Matt. 7:6) Therefore, the carnal man won’t know the plans of God, and therefore only the Spirit man will be in tune to the details of God’s mission.

Now is the time, for the battle is on, to get in the Spirit, so that you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and become a casualty of war.

What Does Yah Expect of Father’s?

Strength of the House

The two characters that make up the word Father in Hebrew is Aleph () which is the picture of an ox’s head.  One characteristic of an ox is his strength and that is the meaning of this character.  The second character is Bet () which is the floor plan of a house or tent and it means house.  Together the word means, “Strong House” or “Strength of the House”.  This is the expectation of the Father to fulfill, to be the strength of his house.

This is an awesome responsibility that one should consider when he marries, since the purpose of marriage is to produce fruit for His kingdom.  Sex would be the means by which multiplied seed would be brought into the world, but it is only through Father’s imitating the proper example will we see that seed of the house come to fulfillment. Consider it, Fathers have the distinct honor of filling the shoes of mirroring before their children the image of the Heavenly Father. I believe this is why the enemy torments men so, because he knows the buck stops with them. The enemy used Eve to change the course of human history but don’t forget that she was not the target, just the bait or means to the target which was Adam. This is still the case today. The enemy uses the daughters of Eve to push his agenda to Adam. The bible teaches us that military strategy is simply this, in order to take a house, you must first bind the strong man. (Matt. 12:29) Yehoshua who was of Hebrew ancestry would have known that the ancient characters reflect the image of the strength of the house being the Father. Malachi 4:6 tells us that the lack of hearts of Fathers not being to children and hearts of children not being towards the Father leads to a curse. Lack of Father’s in the home means we have weak homes. This is not my personal opinion but numerous scriptures reflect that the woman is the weaker vessel and for that reason extra care and understanding is expected of a man in regards to how he deals with her. (1 Pe 3:7) You simply cannot have a strong home with out the Father.

The distinction of this role is so vitally important to understand. Yehoshua reinforced this, let’s look at the following scriptures:
(Mat 12:50) For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

(Mar 3:35) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Pay close attention to who is mentioned and who is missing. Yehoshua didn’t miss words, while those who do the will of His father can be equal to a brother, sister, or mother, notice he never equated them to being equal to the father. This designation outside of our earthly father’s or himself was only given to one other earthly man, and that is Abraham. Who is described as Father Abraham.

(Mat 23:9) And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Notice this scripture clearly states to call “NO MAN” Father, for only one is your Father. Did you know the word “Pope” means “father”. Do you understand why it is vitally important to understand this rule? The Father is the Head how many can you have in a home? How many husbands can you have in a home? Only one is acceptable, so if we realize this then we should consider the gravity of ascribing to anyone who didn’t produce us the designation of a position that is held only by one. Think about it, your last name comes from your, father, not your mother (normally). When you marry your last name is changed to your husbands. This is because we can only identify with one and we don’t get our identity from our mother nor does a husband get his identity from his wife. What makes this important is because if we don’t understand natural things and how they work we will make the same mistake spiritually. We will ascribe attributes that can only apply to the head of the Church (Christ) to the church itself (His body). Such as calling his (body = people) a building and thus once we change that definition we can then put our name on it, and what we do with the building we will do with his people. Hence, many ministers are with their mouths and actions taking ownership of the bride of Christ as though they belong to them. This is a grave error and judgment is coming for making that error.

When the strong house is taken down you have nothing left, this is why it is important that we preserve the needed position that the Father possess in the home and do all we can to support and lift them up. As 1 Timothy 2:1 admonishes so that we can live a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

If we pay attention to the life of Abraham and what the scriptures teach concerning him we will see that the Father is looking for one who will,

• Command his children and household after him.  (Gen. 18:17-19)
• Focuses on looking for a city whose builder and maker is Yah (the heavenly Father). (Heb. 11:10)
• Believe God.  For without faith it is impossible to please him. (Heb. 11:6)

I encourage every Father to seek the will of the heavenly Father that the blessings of Abraham shall come upon you and those of your household.

Ancient hebrew characters used from Jeff Benner’s Ancient Hebrew Research Center

What Does Yah expect of you?

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
(Mic 6:8)

A reasonable question to ask, being that like anything we create there is a purpose for which we intend it. Yet, it is a question that is best answered in picture form, in fact the picture that Yah has given us in nature itself. For Romans 1:20 reveals that the invisible things of Yah is clearly seen by the things which he has made. We are fearfully and wonderfully made so much so that he compares us to the beauty which we see in flowers. (Matt. 6:28; Luk 12:27) For which of the birds of the trees or the lilies of the field did our Messiah willingly lower himself from the throne to save? He came as a man to redeem humanity from the utter destruction we have doomed ourselves too.

This softly poignant question was breathed ever so gently into my spirit like an archaelogist on a quest to discover some valuable artifact, or like the merchant man who found the pearl of great price, in which he willingly sold all he had to buy it. (Matt. 13:46) Until a few years ago I didn’t have a clue how to answer this question which only speaks to the timing of Yah that this question would be in my spirit only when I had the tools and understanding; how we all as human beings were created to point to the Messiah Yehoshua.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
(Ecc 3:1)

This verse begins a series of truths that is based on serving YHVH who has already declared a purpose for everything that he has created. Do we really believe we who was formed at the crown of creation was left out? Encoded in the ancient Hebrew language is the function for everything and everyone that Yah has created. Deep within the relationships between us if perfectly carried out we see the dimension of Yehoshua (Jesus) worked out in our lives who perfectly walked out these roles in His flesh, and as the bridegroom who currently is preparing that perfect place for his bride.

Journey with me through this study in understanding how the ancient Hebrew language reveals the function of God’s character in us through the words that reflect our purpose in relationship. Discover why the Father is the strength of the house and the Mother is the strong glue that holds the family together. Understand the duality of how this definition not only reveals our function, but also reveal our understanding of how we are created in the image and likeness of Yah our Creator.