Our greatest offensive weapon (the one that will be used to win the day) is Word-driven prayer. ALL kinds of prayer, at ALL times, with ALL perseverance for ALL the saints. Why is prayer so effective? Prayer brings God into the equation, enlists the resources of heaven, and does what God can do. Satan’s hosts are completely defenseless against God’s intervention. This is why Satan and his rulers do not fear us … until we begin to pray. 

How do we interpret the increasing evil around us? The depraved thinking that shouts wrong as right? The diabolical deception wrapping its tentacles around our children? The sexual depravity that is not only openly practiced but promoted, applauded, and exported? The rapid rise of violence and crime? Once beautiful and orderly cities spiraling into anarchy and chaos?
Ponder everything you see around you in its worst forms. Do you wonder why these things are happening? Things that were unheard of in our nation 50 years ago?
A Deeper Source
Our only hope in addressing and reversing this decline is to make the right diagnosis and remedy. If you seek to explain this godlessness, you might point to people, government, media and entertainment, the breakdown of the home and education. But you would be missing the real issues. These are the surface manifestations of a deeper, more diabolical, and determined Driver.
The Apostle Paul, under God’s inspiration, gives us a 2,000-year-old answer that is dead center.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
Dissect that sentence carefully for your understanding depends upon it. We are not in a battle against mere human forces. The ones who pull the strings of this great dilemma are from a lower realm. There is an unrelenting army of evil that is waging war against God and all He represents, led by His ancient enemy, Satan himself. He commands …
RULERS: They have the authority to accomplish deadly plans and they have realms over which they reign.
POWERS: They have a sphere to dominate and the power to do it. They are not weak and insipid but formidable enemies.
WORLD FORCES OF THIS DARKNESS: These are not merely local demons restricted to just your small neighborhood (although they are there). They are overseeing large areas of the entire world, bringing darkness wherever they work. It is a well-coordinated strategic attack, using everything at their disposal. They command people and policies, plans and resources. Much is at their disposal.
SPIRITUAL FORCES OF WICKEDNESS IN HEAVENLY PLACES: A great cosmic battle is raging. Satan has waged this battle since his fall from heaven, and it is unending. It is headquartered in the unseen realm but waged upon this earth. Satan and his hosts are 100% evil and are relentless in their attack upon God and all He represents. Their nature drives them to steal, kill, and destroy with no mercy.
While we may notice only the seen world, this battle in the heavenly realm is just as real as the earthly. Many dismiss this evaluation as fictional and childish, perhaps even comical. This is just as Satan desires. We must look deeper with Biblical insight and spiritual eyes. Wise men and women of God know that the true followers of Christ are both the objects of Satan’s attacks and the warriors in the King’s army.
What Do We Do in This Battle?
Paul alerts us to this warfare (and the reason for the darkness) and gives us all the necessary equipping to engage successfully. We need not lose hope or fade in the battle.
Read More
Related Posts:

Here is the daily, hourly question we should constantly ask: Am I walking by the Spirit? By His leading and by His empowering? If we are, He will lead us in all the right paths, empowering us with His sufficient strength. Nothing could be more clear or more gloriously effective.

There are some things that are so complicated that most of us cannot grasp them. And other steps that are so hard that we cannot possibly fulfill them.
But not the Christian life. It is simple and possible for even the youngest child or the newest believer. Paul boils it down to a simple phrase.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)
If We Live by the Spirit
Some people profess to be Christians, but they are not. They suffer under the deadly delusion that we must earn our salvation by our own good works. The tragedy, of course, is that this is completely impossible. The Bible makes that abundantly clear.
By the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified in His sight … for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. (Romans 3:20,28)
Read More
Related Posts:

The wisest among us are those who keep their hearts pure and their eyes open to see the manifested Christ. Who study His ways and keep their vision unclouded by the things of this world. Who deal with any spiritual cataracts that cloud their souls and keep them from seeing the manifested Christ. For they know the ultimate joy: to sit at the fire with Jesus.

It is the most significant reality that ever happens on earth. God has chosen to make Himself known. To manifest or reveal Himself. He has done this in undeniable ways: through creation, through our consciences, and (most completely) through Christ, who “became flesh and dwelt among us” so that we could behold His glory (John 1:24).
In the Most Common Places
Jesus did (and does) this in the most common places, surprising us with His passionate pursuit of His children.
After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. (John 21:1)
Peter and his buddies had gone fishing. Once again, they labored all night and caught nothing. Then, this unexpected encounter happened.
But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus *said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. (John 21:4-6)
Read More
Related Posts:

DISCLAIMER: The Aquila Report is a news and information resource. We welcome commentary from readers; for more information visit our Letters to the Editor link. All our content, including commentary and opinion, is intended to be information for our readers and does not necessarily indicate an endorsement by The Aquila Report or its governing board. In order to provide this website free of charge to our readers,  Aquila Report uses a combination of donations, advertisements and affiliate marketing links to  pay its operating costs.

There are some, for sure, who make great displays of worship for their own recognition. But not the Marys among us. She was thinking of nothing but Jesus, and she cared not what others thought. Jesus knew, and as He did with the little children who had come to Him earlier, He didn’t rebuke true worship but rebuked those who would try to suppress it.

Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)

There’s something unsettling about unhindered worship. About those around us who worship the Lord with absolute abandonment.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus’ sister, was like that. Days before Jesus was to be crucified, He had come to their home, as He often did. With the risen Lazarus reclining at the table beside her Savior, Mary was overcome with love for the one who had done so much for her family.

Overwhelming love drove her to take a perfume worth a year’s wages and anoint Jesus’ feet. Then, with no thought of public shame, she loosened her hair and used it as a towel to wipe His feet.

The Fragrance

… of extravagant worship floods a room and ascends as a sweet, smelling sacrifice to the Father. It so pleased Christ that He made sure John recorded it for all time. He wanted everyone through human history to see the high bar of unrehearsed, unhindered worship.

The Objection

There are always miserly people who will be upset with such a display. Judas blurted out an objection.

But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” (John 12:4-6)

Related Posts:

Whispering gossip is powerful. It doesn’t just bounce off the surface but is delicious like candy to those who hear it, and if consumed, it will “go into the innermost part of the body.” It becomes a part of them, false or true. To them, it’s the truth, and they begin to live in light of what they’ve heard, and you can’t change their minds. I’ve seen more churches destroyed through gossip than almost anything.

Years ago, I ministered with a traveling team. Holly and I and our family lived in a trailer, but the single team members stayed in the homes of church members.
 One of our team members burned up part of a church member’s house. When I asked him what happened, he said, “Well, I was grilling out on their grill, and I just took the charcoals and threw them in a trash can by the edge of the house, and I guess, somehow, it caught on fire and then caught the house on fire.”
 “Was there anything in the trash can?” I asked.
 “No,” he said, “It was just filled with dry leaves.”
The Worst Kind of Fire
Fire can be deadly and destructive. But something else is even more dangerous: gossip from a contentious man or woman.
 Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts of the body. (Proverbs 26:21-22)
 Read More
Related Posts:

Such refreshment comes from an unselfish heart that is genuinely more interested in others than themselves. That is so concerned for the purposes of God and the needs of others that they hardly ever think about themselves at all. And it is a deliberate choice, a consciousness that our lives, words, and demeanor affect those around us.

For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. (1 Corinthians 16:18)

You love to see them coming. There are some people that are simply refreshing to your spirit. They bring joy, encouragement, wisdom, and spiritual perspective. To be around them is to be energized and helped. They carry the life-giving fragrance of Christ.

There are others, however, who seem to have (as one man said) the “spiritual gift of deflation.” “The mouth speaks of that which fills the heart,” Jesus said. You cannot be a refreshment to others if you are not filled with refreshment yourself. A heart filled with the Holy Spirit is the key to producing the fruit…

Read More
Related Posts:

DISCLAIMER: The Aquila Report is a news and information resource. We welcome commentary from readers; for more information visit our Letters to the Editor link. All our content, including commentary and opinion, is intended to be information for our readers and does not necessarily indicate an endorsement by The Aquila Report or its governing board. In order to provide this website free of charge to our readers,  Aquila Report uses a combination of donations, advertisements and affiliate marketing links to  pay its operating costs.

We will find compassion if we “confess and forsake” our sins. The Lord loves us, and His convicting hand is His loving hand, designed to pressure us to release what is hurting us and others. He will rush to our aid if we get transparent with Him and others. Are there sins that you are covering and hiding? 

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. (Proverbs 28:13)

All of us want to be liked, well thought of. If we are not careful, we will give a better impression of ourselves than is really true. Our driving desire is to be loved by others, and we think the road to this acceptance is to act like we have no problems. Because of this desire, our natural tendency is to cover and hide our sins and failures. When we need to be transparent and honest, we usually conceal or blame others.

God is honest. We are made in His image, and He wants us to be honest also. Our dishonesty is usually based on a vain desire to preserve or build a reputation at all costs. And God will not honor this. He cannot because it is not like Him … and He is in the process of conforming us to the image of His Son.

And He also knows that our security and joy comes from knowing and believing the “love God has for us.”

Read More
Related Posts:

A man or woman with the proper view of themselves can be a strong yet humble force for the kingdom of God. What a mighty creature we can become when we realize who we are in Christ … and that all the glory goes to Him!

Bill Wellons, one of the finest leaders and pastors I’ve ever known, once told me that perhaps the most important leadership trait we must possess is self-awareness. Many people are clueless. They think they are more than they are and are filled with pride. Or they believe they are less than they are, and are timid and lack courage. They don’t realize the source of all they have, and so they are proud. And on and on.

For many years, I kept this verse on my desk.

“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:3)

This verse helps us. It balances us with several truths. If believed and understood, it gives us a proper view of ourselves. Self-awareness.
I Am Nothing Without Christ!
I have seen my life without Christ. It’s not pretty. I am sinful and selfish. Capable of the worst. I need to remember this. When I walk away from the presence of God—which I can easily do—

Related Posts: