Entanglements

 

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about entanglements. 

But this scripture (Hebrews 12:1) shows us that while we as humans are concerned about entanglements with people, God is much more concerned about entanglements with sin. 

For instance, in Ephesians 6:12, the Bible says tells us that "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."

Yes, family, we wrestle with entanglements with evil and darkness. But we have a God who came to rescue us from our entanglements. And there's hope in that. 

Happy Tuesday!

God bless,

J.W.

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People (Part 5)

Why do bad things happen to good people?

I found myself asking that question a couple of weeks ago when the violence in Charlottesville took place.

After all the emotions and confusion, the anger and fear, disappointment and hurt, the frustration and just being plain fed up, ultimately, I landed on Ephesians 6:12:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Make no mistake, racism is wrong and should be confronted. But, at the same time, we must also remember that what happened in Charlottesville, and what’s happening all over our country, is much bigger than racism, white supremacy, and hatred.

Ultimately, we are in a battle between good and evil. Satan has his soldiers. God has his. Events like Charlottesville just make me want to become a better soldier for Him.

So, why do bad things happen to good people?

Ephesians 6:12 has your answer. We're in a battle. We need to start acting like it.

God bless,
J.W.

Spiritual Lenses

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." ~ Ephesians 6:12

Often times, as Christians, we forget about the spiritual nature of the world we live in.

We fall into the trap of thinking that every struggle that we have, every tribulation we encounter, every emotion that we feel, and every enemy we face is because either someone doesn’t like us, we don’t have enough money, or things just aren’t working out our way. We often blame some natural cause.

But the fact is that the things that happen to us in the physical realm often have a spiritual cause. At the end of the day, we are soldiers in a spiritual war between God and Satan. If we are truly children of God, the enemy will constantly seek to attack us. So, we must be prepared to look at things that happen to us through a larger, spiritual lens. Everything negative that happens to us is not just because of bad luck or happenstance. It’s because we have an enemy who hates us and doesn’t want to see us succeed. Likewise, every person who stands in your way isn’t necessarily acting on his or her own accord.

There’s always something larger at work. So, if you claim God and represent Christ, expect attack. Put on your spiritual lenses and see things for what they really are.

God bless,
J.W.

The Real Enemy

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." ~ Ephesians 6:12

Often times in life, we get paranoid.

We think people are out to get us, set us up, and take us down.

In short, we think people are our enemies.

However, Ephesians 6 suggests otherwise.

It suggests that people are not our enemies, but are rather used by our real enemy to attack us, throw us off our game, and distract us from accomplishing that which God has called us to do.

So, as you go throughout your day and people start to stress you out, don't react with carnal weapons.

This is a spiritual war and God calls us to use our spiritual weapons -

God bless,
J.W.