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For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
2Cor10:4a Early in my Christian life while I was still battling mental illness I was made a chaplain in the Hudson County Jail successfully preaching the word and bringing inmates to Christ. I was even asked to take my ministry to Staten Island. Yet because I knew my illness was not under control and not willing to bring condemnation to my Lord I threw out my license and I never went back. Spending time in the word I began to teach and write and really made no physical contact with other people. I could teach and preach and facilitate Christian initiation and it was safe. Dealing with a spirit of lust which lasted thirty two years of my Christian life, I have spent the last fifteen giving a prayer service in a nursing home. Being neither physically attractive nor wealthy, the nursing ministry has been a “safe” ministry and God has blessed both my friends there and me for ministering to the widows. Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the orphan or the widow and keep oneself unspotted from the world says the letter of James. The bottom line is that I have avoided physical contact to avoid the arousal and the temptation to take my problem to a different level. My reward was deliverance some four years ago. God made me free and a week later I received the Blessing of Abraham, the Spirit of God like a mighty rushing wind. If and when you engage in spiritual warfare, the enemy is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. If there is a crack in your armor, if you are not clean on the inside and if you choose to engage in ministry which may exacerbate the problem Beware! The devil will wait for an appropriate opportunity to attack. The wages of sin is death. Through sin we were made subject to sickness, disease, lack, and death. When I came to the Lord I had all sorts of issues: fear, anger, lust, and timidity to name the most dominant ones. The temptations were almost unbearable at times. I would confess the word over and over again. For instance, I crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. In Adam all die, in Christ all are made alive. I mortify the deeds of the flesh. I also would confess my faults to those I could trust. It was because I didn’t deny my problem or succumb to it that eventually I became free. Whether you choose to ignore a problem or do not recognize that it is a problem, it is a gateway for the devil to infiltrate and if he does, you are in big trouble. The pleasures you may gain by yielding to sin in no way compensates for the damage the devil will place on you. You may think that nobody’s perfect, that everybody has faults, that I am a big shot, know scripture, and am well liked, a person of faith, whatever your excuse, it is sure bait for the devil. We are called to fight the fight of faith. Be sure you are wearing good armor: righteousness as a breastplate, your loins girded with truth, your feet shod with the gospel of peace, a shield of faith in one hand and the word as a sword in the other wearing a helmet of salvation because the enemy holds no punches. He will get you if he can. Amen |