There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. – CS LEWIS
Why should we acknowledge the existence of Satan and the forces of darkness? How have you seen and unhealthy focus on Satan and demons in the church? Why do you think we ignore the reality of spiritual warfare as Christians?
Spiritual Warfare is ultimately an issue of faith. Do you trust that God is good and will do everything that He said He will do. Do you take Him at His word and seek to follow Him according to His word. In light of this: What aspects of Christianity are the most difficult for you to embrace? What specific commands to you see in the Bible that are really hard for you to obey? How have you doubted the goodness of God?
In each of these areas we must stand firm in our faith. What are the way in which you can stand firm in your faith?
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?”..………The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’–what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’–instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God’ – Martyn Lloyd Jones
What practical ways can you implement into your daily life to make sure you are preaching the gospel to yourself instead of passively listening to yourself?
God promises we will be fully and finally restored and established in His grace forever. It is the severe experience of being broken in our sin that will make this restoration in grace all the more glorious in heaven. What circumstances have you endured that have made the grace of God all the more sweeter in your life? What suffering have you endured that have made God’s mercy in calling more glorious? What kind of suffering are you enduring and waiting for God to restore in heaven? Hows does this cause you to long for the grace of heaven even more?