THE HERALD

HERALD: AN OFFICIAL MESSENGER SENT BY A SOVEREIGN COMMANDER
OF AN ARMY!

"The Peace That Warfare Brings"

Shalom in Jesus Name!

    Praise the Lord! He is ever faithful to reveal himself to us! I would like to share with you some thoughts about peace. It is my hope that if the Lord has not already aligned your thinking with Him in this area, that He might use this information to bring you into a place of real peace. Often, to understand what something is we must first understand what it is not ( undo incorrect thinking ). In the western world and most of the United States in particular we have a lifestyle that teaches a kind of peace called detente-(pronounced day-taunt). This peace can be defined simply as "you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone, you stay in your place and I by agreement will stay in mine." We have been groomed all our life to get along and accept that somethings are different than us and that we should leave it alone and not rock the boat. This kind of mentality has shown up not just in western culture, but permeates the western church and how the church thinks. When a friend of mine interviewed several pastors and church elders about what Jesus meant when He said " The gates of hell shall not prevail against it ( the church)", the answer he received was the same from every person. The answer given was it means that satan cannot get to us and attack us and or invade our space. Unbeknown to them they were saying that the devil had to stay in his place so we could stay in ours and not be disturbed. Detente style peace was clearly governing their thoughts. It is in this condition that the church has stood by and watched the enemy completely invade our society. We let prayer in schools stop, we let abortion in, we let rampant fornication/pornography in, and we have allowed principalities and powers take over our cities all while taking a position that things were not bothering us personally so we left the enemy of the gospel alone to do as he wanted! Now it has progressed so far that whether or not you approve satan is in many of our homes and lives. We are still for the most part stuck on only taking care of our own situations and even our so-called own ministries. We have cried peace peace when there is no peace. Now we are being forced to fight.
    Now I would like to share a little about Gods kind of peace! The most common Hebrew word for peace is shalom. Shalom means things like salvation,wholeness, healing, well being and safety. Like most Hebrew words it has a picture behind the definition which is: " To have your foot on the neck of your enemies ". Here are some examples of shalom style peace: 1."The Lord said to my Lord sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. ( Psalms 110:1 ) 2. "I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. ( Psalms 18:37-38 ) These examples show us a kind of peace that most of us are not familiar with. A peace that has hunted down its enemies and struck them until they could not rise. Spiritual warfare was never meant to be defensive! We were never meant to keep ourselves protected! Jesus says "If you will save yourself you will lose your life! But if you will lose yourself for His sake and the Gospels you will save yourself." ( Luke 9:24 ) We are suffering unnecessary losses because we made spiritual warfare out to be us defending our own position. We have prove the word true. WE HAVE TRIED TO SAVE OURSELVES AND FAILED. More Christians in this country are bound by sickness, disease, torment, and addiction and the situation is not getting better it is getting worse! The love of many has already waxed cold and many have just fallen away. These are not acceptable losses. Jesus said to His Father "Those that thou gavest me I have kept " (John 17:12)". We are now at a crossroads of life and death! We must choose life! The life we choose should be to obey Christ command to lose ourselves for His sake, and it is only in this that we shall live! The gates of hell are stationary and don't attack anything! Satan is afraid right now that the Bride will discover her true identity and start invading his territory! We must seek the Lord as to his daily tactics for battle and only do what he shows us and we must do it together if we mean to affect our regions. We need to rediscover life, and the peace that passes understanding! The peace from having the Lords enemies under our feet. We should pursue His enemies until they cannot return. David had this mentality and after his successful long term warfare campaign his son Solomon had the longest natural peace that Israel has ever seen. Are you ready for a successful long term warfare campaign? Solomon is a type of shalom and his name meant peace. His very name is taken from the word shalom! Church lets rise up in unity and take the promise land. We need to pray, but if we pray only and do not pursue, don't be alarmed if nothing happens! The promise land has occupants and God expects us to dislodge them. Prayer is the tool for preparation to go and to do. Jesus only did what he saw the Father do and He only spoke what He heard the Father speak. We need to see the through the lie of defending ourselves and how the devil has used this lie to keep us victims instead of victors!
    Finally I would like to share a scripture with you from Isaiah 26:3 " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." The place where all His and our enemies are defeated is in His Presence! If we stop fighting battles that we were not sent to fight, and start staying and abiding in His presence we will never be defeated. We like Jesus will go into the camp of the enemy and plunder his goods. The lost will come in! We will have sweet worship! The demons will shriek when you come near them! This is a part of who we really are and the enemy wants it kept a secret! This peace is better than a peaceful feeling, it is a real Peace, a lasting peace. It is the peace that Jesus will bring at His return. It is a peace that we are called to walk in today! So to every warrior the Lord calls: Abandon your defense and I will defend you. Follow me to the defeat our our enemies. Do not accept loss! Refuse it! Contend for the faith ( Jude 3 ) Shalom!!!
 

May God richly bless you as you follow Him,

Pastor Steve Anderson

P.S. When the Son of man comes will He find faith on the earth?

May your foot be on the neck of His enemies!