During the Christmas season, what happens in many households is often the opposite of what the season is supposed to reflect. Stress, anxiety, worrying about finances, running here, running there, who to invite, who didn't invite you, bad traffic, no parking, mad shopping, etc. All these things lead to situations where we find ourselves confronted with the reality of HALT.
As many of you know, HALT is the acronym for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired. It is under these circumstances that the enemy comes, because it is during these times we are at our weakest, not wearing the full armor of God and allow ourselves to become subject to the attack of the enemy.
Pastor Mario Flores spoke in our church this past Sunday and he described it in terms of Elijah after a great victory, eventually finding himself in a cave. More often than not, spiritual attacks occur right after a great accomplishment or a victory because this is when we are less likely to expect it and as a result, we are not alert as we would normally be.
Spiritually speaking there are all kinds of caves, doubt, fear disappointment and so on. It’s up to each person to recognize when we're in a cave and as Pastor Mario said, it is up to each person to know how to use the weapons of warfare God has provided us so we can get out of those caves as soon as possible. Too often we resort to the flesh and give in to negative emotions and too often we wait too long before recognizing we’re under a spiritual attack.
One of the most common spiritual attacks is the Leviathan spirit. An article published in Charisma magazine describes it in this way. “The Leviathan spirit sets fires that devour love and covenant, ultimately robbing God's people of hope and weakening their influence in the world. One primary means Leviathan sows this destruction is to distort perceptions of what has been said, causing those under its influence to hear innocent things in a twisted way. People then pass their twisted perceptions to one another, now cloaked as truth, thus injecting poison into relationships and weakening bonds of love and unity. A single word, or a single fact out of several, might be altered in some way as to turn an innocent statement or well-intended act into a perception of something unholy or defiling.”
The apostle Peter gives us this advice, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8
Jesus tells us that as soon as we hear the word of God, Satan comes to take it away.
Mark 4:15 Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Paul tells is that we shouldn't be unaware of the devils devices and schemes
2 Corinthians 2:11 in order that Satan should not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
The Good News is God has provided a solution to all the strategies of the enemy by giving us " The weapons of our warfare which are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
Dear friends, Jesus birth represents the Acceptable Year of Our Lord and the Day of Vengeance of our God (see Isaiah 61:1-3) The Acceptable Year speaks of a time of favor, a time when God's Grace is freely available to all would come to receive Jesus into their hearts as Lord and Savior. The Day of Vengeance speaks of God's victory over the evil one. We are already victorious, we are already overcomes, we are more than conquerors...so long as we stay suited up with the whole armor and utilize God's Divine weapons, no weapon the enemy forms against us will ever prosper!
Dear friends, tis the season to be mindful that Jesus is our greatest gift!
It is because of Him we can lift our voices in victory, its because of Him we overcome by the of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony and its because of Him we have authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the powers of the enemy!
