Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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April 6, 2010
    Good morning, dear seekers.
    And by "seeker" I mean the Matt. 6:33 type.
    Lots of cold and wet and wind out there.  In our Portland community, there are still a lot of people without electricity due to the wind storm of yesterday that messed up power lines.  There were a lot of houses and vehicles crunched by falling trees too.  Not good.  But, as you can understand, trees falling down is really no problem for a guy with a bunch of chainsaws and a portable sawmill...any more than your tooth ache is a big problem for a dentist.  Right, Al?
    Well...places to go, people to see, things to do again...so until tomorrow, be blessed...thought it's quite OK for you to be blessed beyond that.  In fact, I would like that.
    Love and prayers.  Dad/Ray

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6 April 2010
Passage:  Mark 4:1-20
Focus:  “As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”  Mark 4:15

            If we have ever been given insight into the nature and reality of spiritual warfare, we have it here.  Believing that Jesus is Who He and the Bible claims He is, it only stands to reason that His view and understanding of the realm of spiritual evil is accurate.  Here we are informed concerning the universal aim and strategy of Satan and his forces.  Any time the Word of God is planted in a person’s heart, the enemy will do everything possible to render it ineffective.  Very often he accomplishes this not necessarily by removing the Word altogether, but by removing its effectiveness with neutralizing additives.
            If we accept this as a true description of the battle, we will have little difficulty understanding what needs to be done in order to root out the enemy’s strongholds and pockets of influence in our own lives.  It requires serious inspection of all thoughts…maybe we could call it serious mind control.  Paul describes the basic need in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.  “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
            While this spiritual battle is universal in the sense that virtually no one is exempt, the actual combat is very much personal and individual.  But praise God that He does not abandon His people to face the enemy alone.  Jesus said, “All power is given to me…Go therefore…I am with you” (Matthew 28:18-20).  John encourages fellow believers saying, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 Jn 4:4).  Paul testifies, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13).  Paul also discloses, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.  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” (Eph 6:10-12).