Spiritual Warfare and the End Times

I don't know about you, but lately, probably in the past few months, I have felt an ever-increasing sense of darkness and evil all around me.  I have mentioned it to a few friends and most of them have said they have felt it too. What is this dark force? I believe it is the Antichrist and the coming One World Beast System. I believe this dark shadow that will overtake the world is soon upon us. 

 

I'm not a person who gets depressed.  I never have been. That's why it's been so odd lately to feel a dark sense of sorrow and hopelessness come over me. At times it has been almost debilitating. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I keep aware of what's going on in the world, so I know about a lot of the evil things that are occurring.  Yet, I've been a watchwoman for years and have never felt the darkness this thick. 

 

The biggest attacks come at night when I lay my head on my pillow, when I'm tired and can't even think straight. Then I can almost feel the dark spirit come over me, taunting me with my deepest fears... the loss of a loved one, an accident, illness. a lost family member going to hell.. etc.. My heart squeezes and my pulse races and I do my best to fight it off. But I learned long ago the incredible power in the name of Jesus in those situations. One word, one command to leave in that name, coming from a committed Christian and the enemy cannot stay. 

 

Anyway, on the off chance you are feeling attacked these days as well, I want to give a few pointers I've learned over the years. 

 

1. The Armor of God 

 

You're probably familiar with the pieces of armor Paul lists in Ephesians 6. You've probably heard sermons on them. You might have even been told that when you get up in the morning, you need to mentally put these things on

 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

But, honestly, that's not true. These pieces of armor should ALWAYS be on you. You shouldn't have to mentally, spiritually, or mock-physically put them on. If you are a committed, obedient follower of Jesus who loves the Lord and has a relationship with Him and if you are growing in your walk with Him, you should already be fully armored with truth, righteousness, the Gospel, Faith, Hope, Salvation, and the Word of God. 

2. Pray without ceasing!

Right after Paul lists the armor, he says this.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

 

Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thess 5:17
 

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16

Prayer changes things. Prayer knits you and the Lord together in a close relationship. You want to fight off the enemy. Pray always! Have a running conversation with God.

3. Walk in the Light

 

I like to picture Christians as having a circle of light around them, like a bubble of light that can only be seen in the Spirit realm. My husband saw this when he first got saved. Christians encased in light. We stay in the light by living a life of love and obedience to God. If we decide to be disobedient and purposely sin, we step out of the light. When we step out of the light, we expose ourselves to the enemy's attacks. 

 

4. Read the Bible. 

 

Don't just read. Study it. Learn it. Look up words that connect to each other throughout the entire book. Study the original languages. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you. Read it each day. Don't substitute devotions or an online sermon for reading it yourself. Jesus used the Scripture to combat Satan when Satan tempted Him in the Wilderness. He could not have done that without knowing the Scripture. If God needed to do that, why do you think you don't? 

5. Have a close relationship with Jesus. Know the Lord

This comes out of praying and walking in the light and reading the Bible. If you do these things, they you will be in relationship with Jesus. You will know Him, recognize His voice and His leading.

Remember the 7 sons of the Jewish High Priest who tried to cast a demon out of a man? 

 Now there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this.  But the evil spirit responded and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?” And the man in whom was the evil spirit, pounced on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.  Acts 19:14-16

It's not enough to shout out the name of "Jesus". You have to be in relationship with Him! 

6. Be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit

Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you each morning and don't do anything that would grieve Him (such as purposeful sin). Listen to Him when He convicts you and repent immediately. The Holy Spirit can be a great friend to you. He can interpret Scripture for you, guide you, teach you, warn you, and nudge you when you need nudging. The Holy Spirit is the power cord that links you to Jesus. Stay plugged in! 

One thing to remember about our enemy is he knows your weaknesses. He knows the things that frighten you. He knows who to get to hurt you. He knows everything about you. He can see how much faith you have and how frightened you are. He sees where there may be holes in your armor. If he can't see an opening, he'll leave you alone and try again later. 

In other words, a committed obedient follower of Jesus who is in a close walk with the Lord, knows the Word of God, and is filled with the Holy Spirit, the enemy cannot touch. If he tries, a response from the Word of God and/or a simple rebuke in the name of Jesus will send him packing.

I've seen this in real life multiple times. One of those times was in Jamaica where demons were manipulating lights on and off in our hotel room and my husband was caught in a horrid nightmare. I simply sat up in bed, figured out what was going on and shouted. "Get out in the name of Jesus!" 

Bam. They left. It works. 

Spiritual Warfare doesn't have to be complicated or difficult. Jesus has already won the battle. We just have to walk in that victory and use the weapons He has given us. I hope this helps you, cause Lord knows, the warfare is getting intense and will continue in these last days before our Lord comes to get us!!

 

P.S. The picture above is how I hope I am seen in the Spirit Realm!  How about you? How do you hope you are seen?

 

What I'm Writing Next and My Friday Musings

 

 Hi Everyone!

 

Thank you to those of you who voted to help me decide what to write next! The options were

 

A Sequel to When Angels Cry

An addition to my Pirate series

A Pirate Time Travel

A new Medieval series

 

And the winner is:  A Sequel to When Angels Cry!

So, that is my plan and I'm currently doing some research (Into the Book of Revelation) and will work on a storyline soon.  I don't plan on making this book long, and I certainly don't want it to be dark and depressing. Let's face it, the Tribulation isn't going to be fun, but my idea is to make this story more about angels and victory and spiritual warfare and the brightness of the Tribulation church. I'm also including a love story, because heck, that's what I do!   

I'm thinking of one of these two titles. 

When Angels Fight

When Angels Battle 

Preference? 

After this sequel, my plan (God willing) is to write the 7th book in my Legacy of the King's Pirates series with a story about Gabriella, the third child of Charlisse and Captain Merrick. Since we have already had Alex's story (The Ransom) and Reena's story (The Reckless), I feel like Gabrielle needs her own story.  

This ALL is dependent on whether we are still here on earth for me to finish either book. The way things are going, I'm honestly not sure. But we must be about our Father's business, so that's what I intend to do.

I hope and pray you all are doing well in all the craziness. I have been praying for those states inundated with snow and ice and some without any power! Then there's the nasty VX which is killing hundreds of people, though they quickly scrub any posts about that from the internet. Then, we have the crazy political agenda which seems to be destroying jobs and freedoms with each passing minute. Not to mention the Great Reset coming up soon, the predicted economic collapse, the food shortages, the continual fear of new outbreaks of Covid, schools not in session, mega pastors falling, small businesses failing, and so much deception, we don't know what to believe.

I'm not trying to depress you. I'm trying to get you to see how close we are to the end. So, cheer up and keep clinging to Jesus! Hopefully, the Bride will not have to experience a great deal of persecution before we leave, but we should expect some. Along those lines I found these articles below interesting. Did you ever think to see something like this a year ago?

 

Pastor in Canada arrested and put in jail for the crime of holding a church service 

John MacArthur's men's conference canceled due to threats coming from CA officials 

Are you a Domestic Terrorist? Beware, the Government is coming for you

 

 I pray God blesses each and everyone of you and that you bask in His glorious loving and peaceful presence!

 

 

 

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! 

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 

Revelation 19:7

Behold, I am coming quickly! 

Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 

Revelation 3:11

 

 

 

 

Redeeming the Time Because the Days are Evil

 

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

 

If you're anything like me, you are looking at the world around you and cringing at the evil. Not just the evil you see and know about, but the evil you don't see, the evil you sense in your spirit. Yes, we are living in the last days. I would even venture to say the last minutes of the last day before God rescues His Bride and begins to pour out His wrath on an evil, unrepentant world. 

Honestly, I've always looked excitedly for the Lord's return, ever since I first got saved. I just never stopped to think about how bad things would have to get first. Yikes. I'm not just talking about the evil we see in our culture, the intense immorality everywhere we look, the greed, lust, pornography, child molestation, deception, thievery, murders... lies.. deception... etc. That's bad enough. I'm also talking about the evil that has invaded the church. We were told in 2 Thess 2 that there would be a great falling away from the faith, but I always just thought that meant people would denounce Jesus and leave the church. I never thought to see so much false doctrine and evil Inside the church. Honestly, it's very hard to know who to even listen to anymore. Recently, you may have heard about the fall of two very famous figures and leaders in the church, Ravi Zacharius and Max Lucado, whose writings I used to read. 

 

Then, of course there's the false doctrine of HyperGrace that will send many "believers" to hell. The Scripture refutes this false doctrine over and over. And even in Ephesians 5, Paul starts out with a list of sins for which God will judge the "children of disobedience". 

 

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.  v 11-12

Paul's urgent words were written the CHURCH at Ephesus, not to unbelievers. He ends the chapter with instructions to be wise, to submit to God, to allow God to sanctify (or change you into His image) you. He uses the illustration of marriage and how husbands and wives should love and submit to one another... yet he ties it all in with the marriage of the church to Jesus. 

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.  v 25-27

We see this beautiful Bride in Revelation with her gorgeous gown. And here we see the gown itself is clean and white and made by the "righteous acts of the saints!"  

Let’s rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself.”  It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:7-8

Yes, we are at the end. If I were to give my personal opinion, I'd say the Tribulation will start within a year. That is based on what I see happening around me when I compare with Scripture. Regardless, we should be about our Father's business.... which is "Redeeming the time" . In other words, since we don't have much time, we must make the most of that time. How do we do that?

Paul tells us clearly in this chapter, which I encourage you to read. Here's his advice

 

• Do not commit purposeful sin
• Stay away from those who do
  
• Walk in the Light
• Be filled with the Holy Spirit and grow some Fruit!
• Find out what the will of God is for your life
• Singing worship songs and making melody in your heart to God
• Give thanks in Everything
• Submit yourselves to one another in the fear of God
• Ask God what "righteous acts" you can do so you won't show up to the Marriage naked! 
  

And I will add. Pray. Pray often and always, and pray for the Lost. I've created a "Salvation List" of people who I pray for every day to be saved. I encourage you to do the same. Prayer is powerful and God hears and answers the prayers of the saints!

MaryLu's Friday Musings - Our Satanic SuperBowl

I hope and pray that this week was kind to you and that you felt the presence of Almighty God. As the days grow evil, now more than ever we need to cling to Jesus. By cling, I mean spend time with Him, talk to Him all through your day, pray, read the Bible often, memorize Scripture, and keep your thoughts on things above.  I'm not one prone to depression, but I have to admit that recently with all that's going on, I've found myself down. As much as I want to know what's happening in the world, too much bad news can affect us. When that happens, the best thing to do is take a break from it all and spend time with Jesus. Put on some worship music, praise Him, and keep your thoughts on your wonderful future. We are only passing through this evil world. Ambassadors are always called home when war breaks out! 

So, why am I showing you these things below? Because I think most of the world and many Christians live completely in the dark about the immense evil that surrounds us. The evil elite of this world have hidden it well up until now, but it seems they no longer feel the need to completely hide their beliefs and their intentions. Knowledge of these things is good so we can react appropriately and be prepared. But don't dwell on these things.

 

I hope you take a few minutes and watch the video below. This may be new to some of you, but the "secret societies", "Satan Worshipers", a.k.a. Globalist, Illuminati, FreeMasons, etc. all have secret colors, patterns, hand signals, etc...  It depends on how far up the chain of command they are and how much they are allowed to know, but they can identify each other through various signals, symbols, etc. If you can't watch the whole thing (even though it's short), just check out after 9 minutes. You'll be shocked.

 

I did not watch the SuperBowl, but apparently the HalfTime show was a parade of Satanism. See for yourself!

Here are some other articles to check out 

Creepy Halftime Show was Satanic

SuperBowl Halftime show flashes "Satan" in sinister imagery  

A History of Superbowl HalfTime shows Satanic imagery

Anthony Fauci and NWO Elite hand signals  

Masonic Hand Signals Exposed

 I pray you all have a wonderful weekend!

Keep looking up, for your Redemption draws closer than ever!