Tag Archives: spiritual warfare

Never Forget We Are At War

Never forget we are at war. Hearts are a strategic objective—for us and the evil one. One of his primary aims is to make us bitter.

“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”
— Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness cannot be contained. You cannot hate people or desire their harm without poisoning the well that waters every other area of your life—including those you love most dearly.

Guard your heart. Fight to love everyone.
#spiritualwarfare #perfectourlove

A Table In The Presence Of My Enemies

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - A Table In The Presence Of My Enemies

Last week sometime, God made two things burn on my heart that seemed contradictory, but as I prayed into it and when He showed me their harmony, it blew me away.

They both flow out of “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” – Psalm 23:5.

The first revelation was “the treasure is in the trouble,” which means blessing (nearness to God) and strength come in the fire—representing the conflict, adversity, and hardship enemies bring. The challenge brings me closer to God and grows me (resulting in greater glory).

Said another way, when my enemies show up, I know I’m finna eat! Because “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

Hallelujah.

And the second revelation came from a question, “Why are enemies and the table He prepares for me in any proximity to each other?”

My enemies are there so they could be invited to eat.

I remember a table where our Lord sat and broke bread with His enemies. It’s a table that we continue to this day, where He shares not only bread and wine but His body and blood with us, His enemies.

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
— Romans 5:10

Or, said more accurately concerning those who believe, former enemies because He used His table to make us children of God.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!”
— 1 John 3:1

Oh, hallelujah! Bless Your name, Lord.

In a culture of clap-backs, punching people in the mouth and the appearance of strength this is hard to hear.

We are called to fight but not like that (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). If you want to fight so bad, fight toward communion.

That’s the call.
#perfectourlove #communion

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #5 – A Co-laborer

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #5 – A Co-laborer

In Week 5 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a co-laborer.

A man walks up to me in the gym and says, “I want you to know that I love your heart for the Lord and I want to encourage you to continue doing what you’re doing.”

We go on to talk about how we’re called to snatch each other as fellow believers out of the fire (Jude 1:23), but what stuck with me was his exhortation to do so with grace—expounding that it’s initially jarring to any of us to be faced with the prospect that we may be engaged in idolatry. “None of us wants to believe we have an idol and it takes us a second to come to terms with it.”

That man’s name was Joseph Horan. He’s a pastor at Bridgeway that I met through a men’s prayer group that goes to every school in our city and county, and prays for the teachers, staff, students and their families.

While that men’s group started with prayer, I’m delighted to testify that’s not where it’s ended. From that has sprung mentoring efforts, joint fellowship between churches, and meaningful relationships—communion. And its fruit is playing out in our interaction in the gym.

Moments after Joseph walked off, another man who overheard our conversation asked me about my faith, shared how he hasn’t been to church in years, how he wants to connect and shared his phone number.

This is The Way.

It’s the only way. And Joseph’s act of goodwill was deeply encouraging especially in our current climate. It reminded me of 1 Kings 19:18 where God said He had reserved for Himself thousands who had not bowed and who were not serving the idol of the times.

Joseph Horan reminded me that I am not alone. I am not the only one fighting for communion.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

How To Test The Spirits

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How To Test The Spirits

How is it that we all go to church, we all read the Bible, but we believe, think and move so drastically different and in opposition to one another?!

Are we being exposed to truth? Was what you heard, what you saw, what you participated in “church” even of God? Did you hear a good sermon today?

Here’s how to tell.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
— 1 John 4:1

Holy Communion is the cipher.

False prophecy divides and excludes; it obstructs the path to communion.

Even when the message decries oppression and injustices, if there is no Way presented to reconciliation, it is not of the spirit of God. God is a redeemer.

A true witness reveals the oneness that is already there and facilitates a greater enjoyment of Holy Communion.

Did it promote the bringing together, of the saved and those who are being saved, to the Lord’s table where we receive and celebrate His redemptive and atoning work to make us One? And, did it promote overcoming whatever attempts to hinder it?

That is good. That is of God.

When we come together, it should not be about the sermon anyway. It should be about Holy Communion, where we all participate, bringing something to give.

Purge The Leaven

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Purge The Leaven

Christians, God hates how we’ve put politics at the center of our discourse. It is now something we have to get around to get to each other. It is an idol. It is a spot in our Love Feast. Get it out! REPENT!

How we voted for an earthly government does not inform how the Kingdom of God operates. God is sovereign.

The means (method) is as important as the ends (mission). Our attempt to achieve heavenly ends with the corrupt means of politics is one and the same as Jesus taking Satan’s offer to fall down and worship him as a way to get back “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” in Matthew 4:9. This is NOT The Way.

You are nearing destruction. Judgment begins at the house of God.

REPENT!

The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Kingdom Of Heaven Is At Hand

How is the one sitting on the throne of your life doing? How is that government working for you?

If you’re weary of unjust, oppressive, and ineffective government, and are yearning for a better homeland—a government of righteousness, with the peace, harmony, and wellness that results—the good news is “the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.

My previous king constantly led me to death and disappointment. He was corrupt and an unwitting vassal of another kingdom.

I’m referring to my former self.

But now, I couldn’t be more pleased with Jesus, my Savior and King.

He leads me well.

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
– 2 Corinthians 2:14

The triumph He always leads us to is experiencing the kingdom of God more.

I commend Him to you.

Denounce your government, and defect to Christ: Repent.

Know this: it’s not easy. It is the hardest thing you will ever do.

Defection will make you an enemy of the state. It costs everything, but His kingdom is unquestionably worth it.

Obedience Makes It Real

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Obedience Makes It Real

Church service after church service.
Bible study after Bible study.
Book after book.

We read.
We read.
We read.

We hear.
We hear.
We hear.

How many times have we heard a Word from God and said, “Ooh that’s good!”, only to revert five minutes later back to the way we were before?

So, how do we make it stick?

How do we lodge what we’ve read or heard of God’s Word in our souls, so our hearts stay lifted and the heaven it brings remains on earth?

We eat.

Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
— John 6:53

And what does it look like to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ?

Jesus gives us an example:

My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
— John 4:34

Jesus is soul-food.

“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”
— John 6:55-57

To “eat” is to make what you’ve consumed a part of you by walking it out—application is mastication.

Because, faith without works is dead.

The problem is we don’t eat it, we lick it.

We get a quick taste, say, “Ooh, that’s good!”, and immediately abandon it for the next thing that commands our attention.

“Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
— Mark 4:18-19

We don’t drink the Word deep by dedicating time and space to it, sitting with it, exploring it and attempting to live it out. As a result, it never becomes real to us and nothing comes of it.

It’s just an idea that someone has to get us excited about over and over again.

“These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.”
— Mark 4:16-17

But, those who received the Seed and bear good fruit, the ones in whom the Word took root, they operate after their own kind, Jesus—the true vine.

What does that look like?

It looks like people taking up their cross and following, Jesus.

It looks like people concerning themselves with what Jesus concerned Himself with, preaching the gospel, seeking above all the Kingdom of God and its righteousness.

It looks like the ministry of reconciliation, making straight the path for the lost to be reconciled to communion with God through Jesus Christ.

Listen!

Luke 9:49 gives an account of the disciples who came across a man who heard Jesus and immediately got to the business of waging war against demonic occupation, and confronting them in the name of Jesus.

The problem was, he didn’t go to seminary, he wasn’t ordained, he wasn’t known among the establishment and the disciples forbade him.

But how did Jesus respond?

“But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.’”
— Luke 9:50

Why?

Because he was showing us how to make the Word stick.

He took up his cross and followed Jesus.

He got after the Father’s business.

He walked it out.

He ate.

We should do likewise.

I Will Not Let Fear Stop Me

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - I Will Not Let Fear Stop Me

You know what?

I’m going to stop trying to anticipate when someone might hurt me.

I’m not going to let fear of what someone might do stop me from doing what is in me to do, and what I am eager to do, which is to love fully without holding back. (2 Timothy 1:7)

If and when you hurt me, I’ll deal with it then.

I can take the hurt.

And I know I CAN because of the power of Christ that is within me—power that allowed Him to take the hurt, power that can even raise the dead. (Hebrews 12:2, Philippians 4:13)

There’s nothing you can do to me that Jesus can’t heal. In fact, all you can do is make me stronger. (Romans 8:37-39)

Here’s how “[His] perfect love casts out [my] fear.” (1 John 4:18)

I will not let fear stop me from enjoying His wonderful love.

#perfectourlove

How To Experience God

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How To Experience God

How do we help others who have not yet experienced God relate to a God we cannot touch, taste, see, smell or hear physically?

Ironically, it is by touching, tasting, seeing, smelling and hearing—but spiritually.

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
— Psalm 34:8

People are spiritual.

Have you ever encountered a bitter person?

In many cases you don’t even need any physical indication that they’re bitter; it’s a spirit you can “sense” that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

I believe we are all built with the capability—the spiritual receptors to perceive God.

Could this be what the Apostle Paul is referring to in Romans 1:19?

“because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”
— Romans 1:19

But our nerve endings are dead, numbed by sin, their sensitivity suppressed under layers of the filth of this world—what we’ve come to believe and accept as truth rather than The Truth, the ways we’ve come to operate rather than The Way and the value systems that we’re governed by rather than the Kingdom of God—ways that are own ways and government that is lawlessness.

The condition is referred to spiritually as “hardness of the heart”, a condition that progresses to a point that the Apostle Paul refers to in Ephesians 4:19 as “being past feeling”.

And nothing accelerates this condition more than fake church and false religion (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Jesus said to Pharisees who claimed to “see”, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9:41)

The degree of the hardness of the heart is a measure of how much territory Satan controls in our heart. Said another way, the degree of the hardness of our hearts is a matter of how much we believe Satan—which is anything other than God, and it is a matter of how much we’re governed by anything that is not the Kingdom of God—which is anything other than Love.

And it is this hardness of the heart that prevents us from perceiving and experiencing God.

The remedy is believing God, being washed by His Word.

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
— Romans 10:17

But God, even in our deadness, sent The Word to us that we might be made alive, that we may know Him and be made sensitive to His presence.

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;”
— Hebrews 1:1-2

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:5-6

”And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’”
— Luke 9:35

Do you want to experience God? Then, do not harden your heart.

Humbly and consistently expose yourself to the Word, crying out to the Holy Spirit for illumination.

A wonder I regularly observe is people who close the doors, shutter the windows—barricading themselves in Satan’s house, and then ask, “Where is God?”

I was one of them.

But, God.

Thanks and glory be to God that He came for me, that He broke through, that “God commanded light to shine out of darkness”, and has shone in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:5-6)

Hallelujah.

He’s been coming for you. It is why Christ came.

He’s coming for you right now. It is why I preach Christ daily, to make God known to you.

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:

‘Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

In the day of trial in the wilderness…’”
— Hebrews 3:7-8

Do not harden your heart.

Today, I am challenged to identify and abandon indulgences that dull my senses and to confront and war against demonic occupation in my heart—the obstruction of lies, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for everything besides God that makes it so I can’t hear and experience Him (Mark 4:19).

I count all things loss that I may know Him (Philippians 3:8-10).

As you read this, do you taste that?

It is the residue that mists up from the implanted Word in my heart that is living and powerful, residue that collects on the heart of believers like dew—manna that is sweet to the taste, that provides nourishment, that manifests in a form we can share with others, Bread from heaven that is Spirit and Life.

Taste that?

That’s Christ.

This is how we and how we help others experience God.

#tastimony

Dealing With The Debt Of My Offense

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Dealing With The Debt Of My Offense

Man, it cuts deep when someone I care about thinks poorly of me, especially because of sin I’ve committed—sin I’m deeply sorry for, that I’ve since confessed and turned away from. Yet, they continue to hold it against me, refusing to let me escape its condemnation, and won’t receive me.

The Apostle Paul, grieved by his former persecution of Christ and His followers, knew a little something about this. God’s word written through his experience guides me.

Though this specific passage is written in the context of warding against boasting in man and thinking more of someone than is warranted (the error of “I am of Paul” or “I am of Apollos”), it is equally effective in warding against thinking less of myself than I should (because I’ve thought about the assessment of others more than is warranted).

I believe Paul, in this passage, has both in view with the intention of helping believers navigate either:

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord.”
— 1 Corinthians 4:3-4

In short, I am the Lord’s.

“It is a very small thing that I should be judged by you”
It matters little whether you think well of me,

“or by a human court.”
or whether you condemn me.

“I do not even judge myself. For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this”,
It’s not even about what I think of myself or about me finding reasons to feel better about myself,

“but He who judges me is the Lord.”
but at the end of the day, it is about who I serve—the Lord and He has the final say.

I am the Lord’s.

And you know what? My Lord will love me to where I need to be.

“… being confident of this very thing, the He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
— Philippians 1:6

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ …”
—2 Corinthians 2:14

I am the Lord’s.

That’s the conclusion concerning me—about who I am, what I’m worth and where I stand.

So, though others may condemn me, in Christ I am free, and though others may reject me, I am accepted in the Beloved.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
— Romans 8:1

“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
— Ephesians 1:6

I am free.

I am free to forgive unforgiveness and love them compassionately because hurt and lingering resentment is the consequence and nature of sin when I’ve offended another.

Jesus warned how unreconciled offense causes this, snowballing into a seemingly insurmountable debt (Matthew 5:23-26).

When I’ve offended another, I don’t get to dictate how or when they should have healed, or when they should release me from the prison of separation and suspicion, and restore me to relationship. This is why we actively seek to avoid sin at all cost, and seek to reconcile it as quickly as possible when it occurs.

Until those I’ve offended release me, I am free to love them, undefined by their unforgiveness.

As my pastor Gregory Jones was fond of saying, they’ve drawn a circle to exclude me, but I’m making a bigger circle to draw them in. I will minister the inexhaustible riches of God’s grace that He has lavished on me toward the debt that they hold against me.

My ultimate hope in doing so is to win a brother or sister in Christ because I am the Lord’s.

#christesteem