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Posted on 09/28/2014 2:49:18 PM PDT by NYer
THE DEVIL, OUR ancient enemy, really exists. Jesus talked about him a lot. The Catechism emphasizes the reality of this fallen angel, who is interested in interfering with the adventure of love we are called to live:
Evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil is the one who ‘throws himself across’ God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. (CCC, 2851)
And the devil knows the truth…that God is faithful, that divine grace will never fail us. The devil knows that he cannot obstruct the flow of God’s grace at its source. He can, however, clog up the channels by which we normally receive that grace. He can confuse and distract the minds and hearts to which God’s grace is directed, turning us into bad receivers, bad cooperators, irresponsible partners. This is his strategy.
Enemies of Our Spiritual Growth
And our ancient enemy has powerful allies: the fallen world (all the corrupting and wounding influences that come from the proliferation of sin in human society and culture) and our fallen human nature (our own internal divisions and insecurities that make us vulnerable to temptation). Because of these, we have built-in tendencies that continually nudge us away from God’s grace and disturb the spiritual docility needed for that grace to be fruitful in our lives. St. John refers to these negative influences when he warns the early Christians:
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16)
The fallen world in which we live—though good in its essence because it was created by God—can be a snare for us fallen human beings. This is why the Church has never ceased to remind us that the spiritual life is, at least in part, also a spiritual combat:
Therefore man is split within himself. As a result, all of human life, whether individual or collective, shows itself to be a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness… The whole of man’s history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day. Finding himself in the midst of the battle- field man has to struggle to do what is right, and it is at great cost to himself, aided by God’s grace, that he succeeds in achieving his own inner integrity.*
An Interior Battle
This spiritual combat doesn’t happen with guns and swords and tanks and missiles. It takes place much more subtly, often invisibly, in the intimate arena of human freedom. It has to do with our daily choices, whether large or small. It has to do with how we use the gift of free will that we have received.
God, as well as our better self, wants us to use that freedom to choose, step after step, the path of union and friendship with Christ, the path of abundant life, the path of obedience to his wise and loving plan for the human family: “I came sp that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd” (John 10:10–11).
Our enemy and our fallen nature, on the other hand, want us to use our free will in order to choose a different path, a path strewn with false promises (that we can somehow be fulfilled without God, for instance) and false ideas about God and ourselves (we are unloveable, God is untrustworthy, holiness is beyond our reach, it’s not worth trying anymore, etc.).
This path often appears to offer easier and quicker access to happiness, but in fact it leads to interior disintegration and emptiness, because the devil is “a murderer…a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, RSV) and because sin always has evil consequences: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, RSV).
Spiritual combat is the ongoing battle between these contrary forces: Which will we choose to follow? St. Peter sums it up vividly in his first letter.
Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith…
The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ [Jesus] will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. (1 Peter 5:8–10)
Sometimes our choices are stark and obvious, as when the Israelites abandoned God in the wilderness by worshipping the golden calf, or when David laid his life on the line by going out to face Goliath.
Yet, although some individual choices may be stark, the process by which we make those choices is complex. We arrive at big-decision moments with a predisposition for self-giving or self-centeredness, for docility or resistance to God’s action in our lives. The gradual formation of that pre-disposition is the real, day-to-day spiritual battleground. The predisposition is built up from many little, seemingly insignificant choices that gradually fill in our spiritual profile: choices about how we spend our time; whom we befriend; what we say and how we say it; and how we react to unforeseen opportunities, difficulties, or temptations.
Through the exercise of our free will in the little choices we make, we are either furthering Christ’s kingdom and growing in spiritual maturity, or we are inhibiting that kingdom and stunting our spiritual growth. As Jesus put it:
The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trust- worthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones. (Luke 16:10)
Small Battles Prepare Us for Bigger Battles
Jesus illustrated the relationship between the many small choices that pre- pare us for bigger decisions by using a construction image. He likened the spiritual life to the construction of a house. We build gradually, through choices in or out of harmony with his wisdom. Then comes a storm, a stark choice, a big decision, a decisive temptation. Our response to the storm is conditioned by all the small choices that went into building up our spiritual edifice:
Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who lis- tens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined. (Matthew 7:24–27)
Spiritual Responsibility
Before he became bishop and then pope, St. John Paul II was known for his wise advice in the confessional. But he was also known for the delicate respect he showed to those who came to confession. After helping them sort through their confusion and their trouble, and after identifying some possible next steps, he would always say, “But now it is up to you; you must choose.”
* Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 13, 27. 23
God allowed for the rebellion. Without it, there would be no choice.
The word says plainly that Satan has access to the throne room.
Why would you doubt it?
Perhaps you do not understand that those that reject his commandments also reject all else of his kingdom.
He would not have said that few will find his gate if it were not so.
No man has been through his gate.
John 3:13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
Matthew 24:13
“He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved”
Are you "born of the spirit?
John 3:8
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
Have you walked invisibly through any rooms lately?
Many of the things "Christians" say, they would not say if they knew his word.
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“Perhaps you do not understand that those that reject his commandments also reject all else of his kingdom.
He would not have said that few will find his gate if it were not so.”
Jesus said many things. He also said to the disciples when He sent them out,”The things that I do and more you too shall do in my name.”
He said “Ask and you shall receive.”
I prefer to look at the whole glass and with hope in the truth of His message, find that the glass is always more than half full.
Others take the legalistic interpretation of a few of Jesus’ teachings and the glass is always half empty or less by holding onto fear of not being good enough.
This is the message in Galatians 5.
Remember, God’s Love is there for each of us and Jesus said many times that He came to save and not to judge. By accepting Jesus as my savior and my strength, I trust using Him as my beacon to find the gate and pass through, again.
By my actions, others may also find truth in Jesus and find the gate no matter how well it is hidden.
“Have you walked invisibly through any rooms lately?
Many of the things “Christians” say, they would not say if they knew his word.”
Nothing is invisible to God.
Many Christians think they know His word, but it is not until you know and experience Jesus that you truly know His word. There are many levels of “knowing.” Some come only from the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Very few Christians understand the process of being “Born of the Spirit.” When this happens it is as much a change as being born out of the womb and utilizing your five senses to perceive the life around you. When you are truly born of the Spirit, you commune with Jesus and as such can say paraphrased what Jesus said after the temptation, “I am One with Jesus and through Jesus, “My Father and I are One.””
When this happens your perception of the reality around you changes as you begin to perceive not just from your five senses but from the Holy Spirit within you. The invisible becomes visible as other people’s thoughts and memories become physical tangible objects. You begin to see other people’s prayers, but also their sins. You develop a compassion and empathy that is beyond words as you can see the spark of God in all souls no matter how well it is hidden.
I physically died, went to Heaven and experienced His Love. Regretfully I was not allowed to stay and was sent back here for many reasons, some which I do not know. But one thing I do know is that we can experience Heaven here on earth, just as Jesus taught us to petition for in our Father’s prayer. This is all real and experiential, not just theoretical.
I am on the same journey fighting the same battles as everyone else. Having tasted the fruit of the vine I just crave to have the fruit again a little more than most. When you get a full blown experience of God’s Love and then come back her, it is as though your heart it ripped out and the best friend in your life just died and departed you. You will never miss anyone so much. Jesus taught us the path to find it while we are still here.
In response to your question, “Have you walked invisibly through any rooms lately?, when the Holy Spirit is active within your soul, you do not have to walk to be in a room, or even multiple rooms at one time as you become One with our Father who is omnipresent. You are no longer just a hand but realize that you are One with His Body.
Reread John 17 as there is much truth and wisdom in these scriptures that is hidden from most. If I am in Jesus then His Father that is in Him is also in me.
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John 3: 11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
When the Holy Spirit is within us and we are One with Jesus, "the one who descended from Heaven" is within us, thus you know "about heavenly things." The Tower of Babel concept is real and when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you no longer have need for words to communicate. When you become one with Our Father, communication is more like an "epiphany" when you are one with the experience rather than learning something externally from yourself. To find Our Father you must go within.
I do go to confession. Why do you ask?
Job tells us that Satan had free rein to make accusations in Heaven BEFORE the death of our Saviour. This act exposed Satan (and his accusations) for what they were worth. Satan will once again be allowed admittance one last time so that Scripture may be fulfilled that every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
bkmk
Yes. God created all of us. He gave us free will to follow him or to sin.
We make the choice to sin. Perhaps we are influnced by Satan, but we make the choice.
We need to blame ourselves and be thankful for God’s mercy and his graces.
God’s Peace be with you.
>>And that is why God gave His One, True, Church the Sacrament of Confession. Do you take advantage of this Sacrament?<<
You won’t get a sparring match from me tide. I since you may be the type of fella that chastises young acolytes for wearing tennis shoes with their cassock rather than black dress shoes.
Not being disrespectful, just been around the block a few times.
Nothing has changed yet for Satan, it remains as it was in the beginning.
The change comes in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week.
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You have plainly demonstrated in this thread that you do not know heavenly things, so what now?
Does that mean that you have been rejected? Or does it simply mean that you are not reading his word cogently?
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>> Very few Christians understand the process of being “Born of the Spirit.” <<
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No one has yet been “Born of the Spirit!”
That is what Yeshua was trying to tell Nicodemus in John 3.
It happens to all of the elect “At the Last Trump,” and no other time. That is the end of this age, as he said in Matthew 24.
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No, that is not the ‘message’ in Galatians 5.
The question was addressed to your Protestant friend, who has refused to answer.
Please pray for me that I may always be guided to the true meaning of scriptures.
It is, especially so now in this time of Grace, unless we place limits on God thus limiting what we let God show us.
Or, we place ourselves off limits with our rebellion and sins.
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