Alexa: The Voice of the Enemy?
Purity 460 07/02/2021 Purity 460 Podcast
Good morning
Today’s photo of Gouverneur beach’s white sand and
aqua waters under a blue sky with a cloud formation that looks like a “happy face”
comes from my brother’s wife as they are vacationing in Saint Barthelemy with
friends. Maybe I am just seeing what I
want to see with that happy face in the clouds, but I couldn’t think of a
better photo to share to bring us into what I pray will be a happy Independence
Day weekend for all.
As I have stated before I firmly believe that,
because God is sovereign over all time and space, the Lord puts signs and
wonders in our everyday experience to encourages us and to give us peace and
joy. If we live our lives by faith and
keep our perspective on the things above, we will have experiences that will
reveal the Lord’s care, concern, and love for us.
However, there is also a kingdom of darkness to
contend with. Our lives of faith aren’t necessarily going to be all God and angels. The spiritual forces of darkness are opposed
to us as scripture reveals that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and
destroy.
Last night I taught from chapter 6 of Neil
Anderson’s The Bondage Breaker, and I was reminded that our evangelistic efforts
to bring people in the kingdom must be supported by prayer. I know that most Christians understand that
we are to pray that the lost would come to have faith, but Anderson pointed out
that our prayers for the lost may need to be “in the Spirit” in terms of
aligning with the word of God.
I know when I lose focus I tend to offer a lot of
general prayers for people that come to my attention even though I understand
that we should be specific in our petitions.
We do this for two reasons:
1.
So we will be asking for the exact needs of those we are
praying for in hopes of a solution to their particular problems.
2.
So, we can know whether the Lord answers our prayers.
Anderson pointed out that in our evangelism we may
need to pray specifically for two things:
1. For the spiritual eyes
of those outside of the faith to be opened.
2. To bind the demonic
forces of darkness that are holding the lost in bondage.
In my prayers for those outside of the faith, I
often phrase my prayers to request that the Holy Spirit come and open the eyes of
the spiritually blind to see the truth of the gospel, but I really haven’t
prayed for the enemy to be bound and to release those he has captive.
So this morning, I decided to start praying with commands to bind Satan and his spiritual forces that may be holding specific people in bondage. And when I did, I got an unexpected response.
In the midst of praying out loud about binding the
enemy, I was interrupted by a voice that that “I don’t know that”
Alexa in my Amazon Echo chimed in during my
prayers for deliverance. To my knowledge,
I didn’t say anything remotely like Alexa to prompt her participation, but her
response was in opposition to what I said.
I didn’t think much of it, so I continued in
prayer. Suddenly my “older” I-phone –
that doesn’t have cell service and that I just use for music- sprang to life –
and said, in Alexa’s voice: “The enemy by blah blah blah is whatever, and I cannot
purchase it on this device”..
This took me by surprise, so I told Alexa, on my
phone – which I never use to talk to Alexa, to stop it. To which she said something like “I can’t do
that.”
What?
Well after that I finished my prayers without
further interruption.
As I write this I was trying to remember everything
Alexa said and decided to check the history through the Alexa App on my
phone. It may surprise you that the
dialog from Alexa during my prayer session wasn’t listed in the history. Also now my Echo is having trouble connecting
to the Wi-Fi that is operating without interruption!
So do I believe the enemy decided to voice their
opposition through my electronic devices?
I know it’s a possibility and the fact that the
responses were timely and appropriate to the situation, added to the disruption
in the service of the echo, along with no history of the responses in my phone are
too much for me to dismiss.
The enemy has caused disruptions in my sleep and dreams
as of late and I have had some other suspect things happen that could be from
the demonic realm, so I think this is just more of the same.
So am I afraid? Will I stop teaching about the enemy’s
tactics or stop proclaiming the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
No, because I am a born-again child of God through
my faith in Jesus Christ, I know that I have the Lord’s protection and
authority to deal with anything demonic or otherwise that comes my way. The benefits of my covenant relationship with
the Lord far outweigh any troubles I may experience along the path of Christian
Discipleship.
So stand strong in your faith, if we are in Christ we have all power and authority over the forces of darkness and we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to lead us in the way we should go as we cultivate the fruit of the Spirit.
This morning’s meditation
verse is:
Romans 13:11 (NLT2)
11 This is all the more urgent, for
you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is
nearer now than when we first believed.
Today’s
verse reminds us that time is of the essence in terms of our repentance.
The “This”
in the phrase “This is all the more urgent” is referring to the previous verses
that are expounding the need to turn from our sins. Scripture makes many references to the fate of
those who sin as those who will face God’s wrath and as those who have no part
in the kingdom of God.
The Apostle
Paul doesn’t know the condition of the hearts of those who will read his letter
to the Romans or who will hear this message and he is stating in no uncertain
terms that people need to come to Christ and demonstrate their faith in the
Lord by turning from their sinful ways.
As
Christians we are to be examples of the grace of God by the transformation that
occurs when we go from death to life by placing our faith in Christ. The “day of our ultimate salvation”, when
Christ returns or when we join Him victoriously in eternity, is closer every
day.
The Apostle
Paul is warning those outside of the faith to come to Christ and at the same
time is encouraging those who have placed their faith in Jesus to turn from the
darkness of their former ways and to start representing the kingdom of God by
conforming to the image of Christ.
So if you
have areas of sin you still struggle with, wake up to your salvation and ask
for the Lord to grant you the grace of repentance and begin the work of
renewing your mind to live according to God’s ways.
When we
live by faith, we turn from sin and turn towards God. The further we walk away from our former
darkness the more we grow the fruit of the Spirit and experience the peace,
love, and joy that comes from our harmonious relationship with the Lord that only
comes through faith in Jesus Christ.
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue with Dr. Neil Anderson’s Victory
Over the Darkness, beginning Chapter 6.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase Dr. Anderson’s books for your own private study
and to support his work. If you need this title you can find it online at several
sites for less than $15.00:
Chapter 6
The Power of Believing the Truth
Nearly 60 years ago outside
Nashville, Tennessee, a little girl was born with major health problems that
left her crippled. She had a large, wonderful Christian family. While her
brothers and sisters enjoyed running and playing outside, she was confined to
braces.
Her parents took her into Nashville
periodically for physical therapy, but the little girl's hope was dim.
"Will I ever be able to run and play like the other children?" she
asked her parents.
"Honey, you only have to
believe," they responded. "You have to trust in God because with God
all things are possible."
She took her parents' counsel to
heart and began to believe that God could make her walk without braces.
Unbeknownst to her parents and doctors, she practiced walking without her
braces with the aid of her brothers and sisters. On her 12th birthday, she surprised
her elders by removing her braces and walking around the doctor's office
unassisted. Her doctors couldn't believe her progress. She never wore the
braces again.
Her next goal was to play
basketball. She continued to exercise her faith and courage—as well as her
underdeveloped legs—and tried out for the school basketball team. The coach
selected her older sister for the team, but the courageous girl was told she
wasn't good enough to play. Her father, a wise, loving man, told the coach,
"My daughters come in pairs. If you want one, you have to take the other
also." Reluctantly, the coach added the girl to the team. She was given an
outdated uniform and allowed to work out with the other players.
One day she approached the coach.
"If you will give me an extra 10 minutes of coaching each day, I'll give
you a world-class athlete." He laughed, then realized she was serious. He
halfheartedly agreed to give her some additional time playing two on two with
her best friend and a couple of boys. Before long her determination started to
pay off. She showed tremendous athletic skill and courage, and soon she was one
of the team's best players.
Her team went to the state
basketball championships. One of the referees at the tournament noticed her
exceptional ability and asked if she had ever run track. Of course she hadn't!
The referee, who also happened to be the coach of the internationally famous
Tiger Belles track club, encouraged her to try running. So after the basketball
season she tried out for track. She began running and winning races. She also
earned a berth in the state track championships.
At the age of 16, she was one of the
best young runners in the country. She went to the Olympics in Australia and
won a bronze medal for anchoring the 400-meter relay team. Not satisfied with
her accomplishment, she worked diligently for four more years and returned to
the Olympics in Rome in 1960. There, Wilma Rudolph won the 100-meter dash, the
200-meter dash and anchored the winning 400-meter relay team—all in world-record
times. She capped the year by receiving the prestigious Sullivan Award as the
most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. Wilma Rudolph's faith
and hard work had paid off.
When you hear inspiring stories of
faith such as Wilma Rudolph's, do you sometimes wonder, Is faith really the
critical element that allows some people to rise above seemingly incredible
odds and achieve things others cannot? Can faith also do great things for me?
Victory Over the Darkness: Realizing the Power of Your Identity in Christ.
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
God bless
you all!
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is
also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Audible.com.
Email me
at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be
encouraged.
Encouragement for the Path of Christian
Discipleship
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