10/17/2019 — We, the Church, are in the midst of a war between the spirits of God and the spirits of darkness, which are attempting to destroy America. And we are largely ineffective to fight, because we are rotting in our sin.
 
God is calling each of us to rise far above what normal "church people" have become. It's revival or ruin, Christ or chaos. The good news is, we get to decide whether we want to get in the fight or sit on the sidelines! But to fight, we need to become sold out for the Kingdom of God. We need conversions, not just decisions and confessions.
 
 
1 John 3:4-10
“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness [ignoring God’s law by action or neglect or by tolerating wrongdoing—being unrestrained by His commands and His will]. You know that He appeared [in visible form as a man] in order to take away sins; and in Him there is [absolutely] no sin [for He has neither the sin nature nor has He committed sin or acts worthy of blame]. No one who abides in Him [who remains united in fellowship with Him—deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin. No one who habitually sins has seen Him or known Him. Little children (believers, dear ones), do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who practices righteousness [the one who strives to live a consistently honorable life—in private as well as in public—and to conform to God’s precepts] is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin [separating himself from God, and offending Him by acts of disobedience, indifference, or rebellion] is of the devil [and takes his inner character and moral values from him, not God]; for the devil has sinned and violated God’s law from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, because ^[a]God’s seed [His principle of life, the essence of His righteous character] remains [permanently] in him [who is born again—who is reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose]; and he [who is born again] cannot habitually [live a life characterized by] sin, because he is born of God and longs to please Him. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are clearly identified: anyone who does not practice righteousness [who does not seek God’s will in thought, action, and purpose] is not of God, nor is the one who does not [unselfishly] love his [believing] brother” (Amplified).
 
Matthew 16:13-20
"When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
"They said, 'Some say that You are John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'
"He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?'
"Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
"Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then He commanded His disciples to tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ" (MEV).
 
Luke 22:24-31
"There was also rivalry among them concerning which of them was to be counted the greatest. He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But you are not so. Instead, let him who is greatest among you be as the younger, and he who rules as he who serves. For who is greater: he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? But I am among you as He who serves. You are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I appoint to you a kingdom as My Father has appointed one to Me, so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'
Then the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to have you to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have repented, strengthen your brothers'” (MEV, emphasis added).
 

• The challenge facing the Church is to take seriously the spiritual warfare in which we are engaged and take the side of the forces of God. Unfortunately, indifference is the hallmark of this generation.
• We are fighting a real devil and his demons, but too many of us fail to take him seriously.
• We need to go back to basics - among them that to be a Christian, actively fighting the forces of darkness, is a high calling to which many of us have not responded because we take the things of God too lightly.
• We believe we are born again because we have made a decision or a confession. But God's Word makes clear that what He requires is a conversion. This is the responsibility of preachers; we have faulty conversions because we preach a faulty Gospel.
• A decision is a conclusion after consideration.
• A confession is a formal statement admitting guilt.
• But a conversion is a process, changing something from one form to another. Scripture says when we are truly converted - truly born again - we will become new creations, something that has never existed before!
• A careful examination of the Gospels underlines the importance of conversions as opposed to mere decisions in the Kingdom of God. Jesus re-named Simon, symbolically calling him the rock of the Church Jesus was building. But at the last supper, hours before His crucifixion, he address the disciple as Simon, and noted that his conversion to the cause of Christ was yet to come.
• If a disciple of Jesus could be with him for three years and not yet be converted, why would we believe that a simple "yes" would give us the same standing before God as a disciple?
• To face today's spiritual warfare, we must be born again to the bone - converted!

 
Heavenly Father,

Thank You for Your plan to use Your people for spiritual warfare. Make me fully Yours so that I may be an effective warrior for Your Kingdom. More than anything else I wish to be fully converted, not merely someone who has made a decision or a confession. Make me fully Yours!       

Show me Your ways so I may be more fully Yours, and so I can be a more effective evangelist, sharing Your love with others. My greatest desire is to be an instrument of Your peace so that the works of my adversary the devil may be wholly ineffective in my circles of influence.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ – Jehovah Joshua Messiah – I pray. Amen!