Tag: Persevere

Angels of Opposition

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“Daniel, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayers ever since the first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding. I have come in answer to your prayer. The [evil] angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief angels, came to help me, because I had been left there alone in Persia” (Daniel 10:12-13).

                This piece of scripture points out that there existed an angel over Persia that was in opposition to the angel of God. We must see the significance of the evil angel that opposed the work of God accomplished through His angels from Heaven. This concept is huge. We know from Ephesians that: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Ephesians 6:12)

                Imagine with me that for every blessing God has for His children the deceiver has the ability to send one of his demons (fallen angels) to oppose that blessing, resulting in a spiritual battle. This battle exists around believers constantly. We walk in the peace and joy of the Lord and then find ourselves beat down by worry and doubt that results in depression and despair. We start to question God’s involvement when in fact it’s the actions of the deceiver through suggestion that cause us trouble. We are called to have faith in our Lord so that we can combat the seeds planted by the deceiver. We are called to put on the full armor of God to protect ourselves for his flaming arrows and then fight against him with God’s word as Jesus did in the wilderness.

                Don’t lose heart when you struggle. Those struggles only exist because the deceiver sees you as a threat worthy enough to require attention. If God wasn’t using you for an important purpose the devil would have no need to concern himself with you. Always reassure yourself that the troubles that attack you as you walk in faith are attacks from the enemy and not an absence of God. Use these attacks as a opportunity to ‘fine tune’ your armor and grow closer to God. As your faith matures along with your relationship to God, the deceiver will see that attacks on you become fruitless because the fruits of God’s Spirit abound in your life.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. (Revelation 12:7)

Able to Persevere

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How many times have we seen a child of God broken down when life becomes difficult? We know that God puts difficult times in our lives to draw us closer to Him as we rely on His provision. What if God puts hardship on the shoulders that He trusts to carry it? What if God tries those that He knows hold the faith to overcome that situation? In fact, that’s what the entire Book of Job is about. When things grow difficult we can know that God trusts that our faith will endure and persevere in order to bring about His will. Maybe we are meant to show what reliance on Him looks like to people outside the faith. God has an amazing way of braking down our self-sufficiency and defeating our pride. He does this because His strength is found in our weakness. His glory is found in our reliance on His provision.

(2 Corinthians 12:9) “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Spiritual Maturity (Perseverance)

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2 Peter 1:7-9

This step involves being able to maintain a foundation founded in the first four steps when adversity comes, as it inevitably will. Being able to fold fast to your faith, live out the goodness of God, continually seek knowledge of God’s will, and control sinfulness; while the world tries to bring you low is where we develop perseverance. People fall to the easiest path. In this case it’s the most comfortable path. It’s the path that soothes their human/sinful nature. When you live in a way that glorifies God you will make these people uncomfortable as their sinfulness becomes evident to them. They are unwilling to seek God for comfort but instead lean on the fading/ lesser comforts of this world. Instead of seeking God’s way they will attack your way. This is where you must resist the pull toward comfort and continue your walk with Christ and toward sanctification. You must persevere in this spiritual battle. (Ephesians 6:12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.