Spiritual Toughness

 

INTRODUCTION

     The bottom line to salvation for Christians is the willingness to supress what we want to do in order to do what Jesus wants us to do.  Through continual submission, most of our desires will eventually come close to matching His.     

     Demons pull us away from doing Jesus’ will.  To stop them from hindering us, we need to bind them and/or cast them out.

     When we combine the continual willingness to submit our will to His will, along with attacking the demons who try to hinder that process, we become a disciple.  

     The same process that makes a disciple is used to develop spiritual toughness.   

 

PART 1 - TAKING ABSOLUTE RESPONSIBILITY

     Demons are experienced and organized.  They heavily influence non-believers and most Christians. They can bring intense, prolonged trials to disciples.  

     When we are mistreated, we feel negative emotions.  If we fail to see these negative emotions as demonic bait, and we think we are entitled to hold onto them, we can easily have those demons enter us.  Disciples recognize the demonic bait and quickly reject it.  If we accept those negative emotions and allow them to blossom, they are harder to deal with. 

     When mistreated, the initial negative feelings we experience are pretty universal except maybe for a seasoned disciple.  But there is only one person in the world who decides if we are going to wallow in those negative feelings or reject them...OURSELF!  That’s the bottom line.  There is no excuse to wallow in negative emotions.  It doesn’t matter how terrible you were treated.  We are NOT ENTITLED to hold onto negative emotions.  It’s against God’s will; therefore, it is sin.  If we wallow in our negative emotions, we are sinning and opening ourselves up to demonic influences.  “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27)(NIV). 

     By taking absolute responsibility for ourselves, we remove all excuses why we aren’t obedient to the Word/Jesus.  When we refuse to blame any person, organization, government, or circumstance for anything, we are set free.  When we accept complete responsibility for ourselves, the Holy Spirit will show us how to break the demonic snares that grip us.  Never having an excuse and always looking for the spiritual remedy is spiritual maturity.  It’s also liberating.    

     Always accepting complete responsibility will change our general mindset.  We will know we are NOT victims.  We don’t EVER accept self-pity.  We no longer will throw our hands up in the air and get emotional when something unfair or rude or offensive or mean happens to us.  Instead, we’ll take a bad situation in stride and, while looking through spiritual eyes, DO something about it.  This usually means practicing our authority and power over demons.

     So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  

     The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:16-21)(NIV).

 

PART 2 - NOBODY OWES US ANYTHING

     A disciple must remove all feelings of entitlement.  Nobody owes us anything!  Not our momma, not the government, not white people...nobody.  When we don’t feel like we are entitled to something, we won’t get upset when we don’t receive it.  The devil will have a harder time influencing us.  We’ll be able to continue being led by the Spirit and enjoy the peace He gives us.  

 

PART 3 - BECOMING OFFENSE PROOF

     A non-believer or a Christian can believe it’s OK to regularly be annoyed, frustrated, angered, and easily offended.  We know people who get offended at the drop of a hat.  Their life is an emotional rollercoaster full of drama...and they try to get people around them to get on for a ride!  

     A disciple doesn’t think this way.  Just like anyone else, a disciple can get negative feelings when wronged, but he quickly lets those feelings go.  He doesn’t take the demonic bait.  He strives to become OFFENSE PROOF!  A disciple thinks to himself, “I can’t get offended,” and lives his life accordingly.  He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32)(NKJV).

 

PART 4 - A FICTIONAL CASE STUDY  

     A Christian man has attractions for other males.  He refuses to sin by acting on it, but he does sin by fantasizing about it.  The man suffers in silence.  Self-pity gets a grip on him, which opens the door to frustration, shame, depression, reclusiveness, and feelings of self-harm.  Eventually, he starts ignoring the Holy Spirit’s conviction and starts acting out on his urges.  He starts a homosexual relationship and eventually marries someone of the same sex.  

     At first, the man’s actions grieved the Holy Spirit so the Spirit gave him conviction, but the man ignored it.  The man continued to ignore it and when it became clear that the man didn’t care about the Spirit’s conviction, the Spirit withdrew it.  The man was no longer being led by the Spirit.    

     Years later the man died and it was time for judgement.  Jesus asked him, “Why were you disobedient?”  The man trembled at the question.  He threw his hands up in the air to signify that he was treated unfairly and said, “I didn’t have any choice, you made gay.”  Jesus said, “I clearly say in the bible that I hate homosexuality and that no one practicing it will be accepted into my kingdom.  Why would you think I would make you that way?”  The man said, “Because I’ve been attracted to other males my whole life, as far back as I can remember.  Since I was a kid!”  Jesus said, “Your grandfather was molested as a child and a homosexual demon came into him at that time.  That demon has come down your family line.  That same demon was causing the problems you were having.”  The man sighed in relief, knowing that without such knowledge, Jesus couldn’t hold the homosexual issue against him.  The man light heartedly said, “Really?  Huh, I didn’t know about such things.  Wish I would have!” while cracking a small smile.  Jesus looked at him with sad eyes.  Jesus says, “Your lack of knowledge isn’t justification for what you did.  All the knowledge you needed started in the bible.  If you were to have obeyed my commission for you, you would have learned to let the Holy Spirit lead you.  He would have revealed all truths to you.  The fact is, YOU didn’t take the responsibility to learn the Word YOURSELF and YOU didn’t choose to let the Holy Spirit lead you.  This responsibility falls squarely on YOUR shoulders and YOUR shoulders alone.  Because YOU have chosen to reject my Word, which is the same as rejecting me, which is the same as rejecting My Father, I now reject YOU.”  

     As the man tembled, Jesus said, “Satan has done a good job removing knowledge of his evil kingdom from the seminaries and bible colleges.  He also removed the knowledge of how to fight against his kingdom.  As a result, most pastors, and of course the churches they lead, are ignorant of such things.”  Jesus continued, “I will deal with the church leaders who allowed this to happen.  But you must know that ignorance of such things is no excuse.  ALL responsibility falls on the shoulders of each individual.  I’ve given them the Word, which says they move from the curse of the law to grace when they choose to be led by the Spirit.  I reveal my deeper truths through the Holy Spirit.  If He isn’t leading you, you will never know about such things such as generational curses, how to break them, or how to cast demons out.  Because you chose to live in ignorance, because you ignored the Holy Spirit’s conviction and chose to not let Him lead you, you backslid and moved from grace back to under the curse of the law.  Law equals death.”  The man immediately fell into hell for eternity.    

     Now let's go back to the beginning.  Let’s say this Christian man has an attraction to the same sex.  He knows his urges aren’t sin.  It’s only sin if he fantasizes or acts on them.  He has recently matured into a disciple.  Now he lives his life looking through spiritual eyes.  Now he sees his battle being a spiritual one.  He knows God didn’t make him attracted to other men; therefore, demons must be the culprit.  Even though his church didn’t teach him anything about deliverance or spiritual warfare, he read the bible himself and knows that deliverance is part of the great commission.  Therefore, he took it upon himself to learn about it.  The Holy Spirit saw his child-like faith and gave him the revelations he was seeking.  After having learned about deliverance, he put himself through it and got that homosexual demon casted out.  Now he has no homosexual urges so he will never fall into that sin.  When the man eventually dies and has his talk with Jesus.  Jesus will say, “You trusted in the Word, which means you trusted in Me, which means you trusted in My Father.  Well done and welcome to our eternal family.”  

      Instead of having a victim’s mentality that most Christians have, the man chose a mentality with no self-pity and went to battle...as a disciple does.           

 

PART 5 - THE ULTIMATE TOUGHNESS

     It’s always easier to deal with trials and tough times when we know they’re only going to last for a season.  If we can just hold-on long enough, the trial will pass.

     A mature disciple isn’t afraid of death like other people.  Death to a disciple means being removed from this fallen world and the start of eternal joy.  A mature disciple sees their life in this world as only a season.  This allows a disciple to go through an entire lifetime of intense trials and be OK.  A mature disciple has his eyes set on heaven and the rewards he’ll receive there.  This world is the battleground.  Heaven is where the victors receive their spoils.  

     This mindset takes much faith and a full commitment to the Lord.  When this commitment is made, there is no trial that can break the disciple.  He may at times be on his knees in agony, but he can’t be broken.  Like a good soldier, he will rise again and carry-on, bringing God’s will into this world.       

     As the end times approach, those we love the most may lose their love for us.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matthew 24:12-13)(NIV).  Be prepared.  Brutal, prolonged trials lay ahead.  We must keep the Lord our focus.  Only He can carry us through our final season of battle.  Always keep in mind that heaven is where we will receive our reward.

 

PART 5 - SUMMARY

     People, organizations, governments, or circumstances will do things to us that are mean, unfair, rude, and offensive.  This will always be the case.  Much of this can’t be controlled.  What we can control is our response to it.  

     It’s normal to get the initial feelings of anger, frustration, self-pity, and taking an offense.  We must quickly see this as demonic bait and refuse these feelings.  This usually means telling them to leave in Jesus’ name.  If we were to accept any of these feelings for a period of time, a demon may get into us.  We must then repent and cast it out.  

     When wronged, we have a choice.  Are we going to choose the world or the Holy Spirit?  There is no gray area.  It’s one or the other.  If we feel as though we are justified to hold on to an offense, then we’ve chosen the world.  If we reject the offense and deal with it like the second paragraph describes, we’ve chosen the Holy Spirit.  If we choose the Holy Spirit, we are on the path to spiritual toughness.

     Disciples walk out the full gospel.  Not only do we spread the Word, but we also prove the Word is true by demonstrating the Holy Spirit’s power.  In the process, we turn from weak Christians into spiritually tough disciples.  Disciples learn all problems are fixable through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Being led by the Spirit is the key to spiritual toughness.  With the Spirit leading us, having a defeatist, victim’s mentality just doesn’t make sense.  When we allow the Spirit to lead us, we’ll ENJOY being obedient to God.  Even during brutal trials, we will remain obedient and will receive long-suffering and peace from the Spirit.  Great peace is to those who love Your Law, and there is no stumbling block to them (Psalm 119:165)(KJ3). 

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