Spiritual warfare

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. –Jude 1:3

Certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:4). Jude here addresses the conflict that was taking place amongst the saints. This spiritual battle was being fought within the walls of the church itself as satan had sent his agents of corruption into the body of Christ. These ungodly men came for the sole purpose of creating immorality and spiritual chaos. Their goal was to get those in the church to disown and deny Jesus Christ and have them turn their backs on the precious salvation they had given them.

Let us then look at this from a more personal perspective. We know that once we are saved, we become the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19) and, in essence, become the church building. Today is no different from the days of Jude, and we will find external forces are sent in to create an atmosphere of disbelief within us. Now it can be an actual person that satan uses, or his form of “internal attack” can come by infecting your mind. Satan knows that if he can control your mind, he has a good chance of controlling your life. So his agents of corruption today can come in the form of temptations or seducing thoughts intended to pull you away from Christ.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew how the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not (Jude 1:5). Jude recognized what was happening and knew what must be done to stop the division created by these invaders. You see, the body of Christ will be kept in perfect peace if its mind stays on Jesus (Isaiah 26:3), but when members begin to meditate upon fleshly desires, not everyone is in the proper focus. Remember that “fleshly desires” does not necessarily mean sexual perversion but can be anything that tries to draw your mind away from Christ and back to your old man and his carnal ways. So the remedy was to get everyone to focus on the same thing again. This focus would be to look back and remember their deliverance!

Making this personal again, we will find ourselves under attacks like these today. Our enemy tries to create division between Jesus and us by attempting to get us to follow through with the fleshly visions he implants into our minds. He wants us to focus more on these sinful thoughts than on the Word of God and what Jesus has done in our lives. Just like in the days of Jude, Satan wants us to again walk by our flesh and allow it to have all of its lustful desires fulfilled. Yet the solution is just as simple today as it was in times past. When you find your mind under attack, the best place to start is to cry out to Jesus and immediately look back on your life and see all the beautiful things he has done for you.

First and foremost will be the deliverance from sin that he gave you, which was purchased on the cross. You must earnestly contend for this common salvation and resist the devil because if you do, he has no choice but to flee from you (James 4:7)!