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| The Nountaineer |
The Spiritual Gifts from The Holy Spirit are provided to believers when they receive Eternal Life through Faith in their LORD and Savior, Jesus The Messiah or The Word of God who set aside His Prerogative to remain seated on the Throne of Glory, at the Right Hand of The Father. He then Chose to be born a human being, who are created in the image of God. It was Love that caused Him to do this and pity for this vast sea of humanity who were like sheep without a Shepard, wandering to and fro without hope. Mankind had been cursed along with all of creation and without a sinless Savior to become the Final and most complete sacrifice, there was no hope for mankind. After Our LORD paid the Great Price for our salvation, He then returned to Glory and 10 days later He sent the promised Holy Spirit at the time of Pentecost which meant that Jerusalem was filled with those who chose to worship the God of the Jewish people. This was the beginning of the "Church" which is the body of Christ, Also known as the "Bride of Christ" who will someday be snatched away to meet The Lord in the air or upper atmosphere which is called the "Second Heaven". Actually, it could be anywhere, from where the clouds are to the outer atmosphere or "space".
Now back to the "Gifts of The Spirit". Each "true believer" receives at least one spiritual gift and these are available in the books of 1st Corinthians chapters 12, and 14, 1st Peter chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, Romans chapter 1, and of course in the book of Acts which describes the coming of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Today is a time like no other in the history of the Earth. The battle is raging for the hearts, minds, and souls of our children. The enemy of all mankind has conceived all manner of traps, snares, and deceptions to keep or prevent as many human beings from knowing the Truth which is God's Truth and no other. The battle is on Earth yet the primary players are in another realm or dimension. This takes an incredible amount of "Spiritual Discernment" as well as caution when defending against an invisible enemy who hates all of humanity because we are created in the image of God and God is their primary enemy. That which makes it even more difficult to understand is that the battle has already been won by "The Word of God", when He died on the cross and paid the sin debt for all who will believe a simple yet astonishing truth. "We are "Saved By Faith". All other religions are in one form or another, "works based" in their understanding of what is "good" and what is needed for atonement, of one sort or another.
The description of this spiritual battle in the Bible has proven to be absolutely true. I know this from personal experience yet it has taken decades for me to even begin to understand why I have seen and experienced all that I have. I finally turned to the Bible after God personally stepped into my life at the age of 30. There was a long interval where I was like a ship without a rudder because I received Christ as my Savior at the age of 6 and for a variety of reasons why, it took a long time for me to look to "The Book" for some answers. I was under Satans attacks for most of my life through great suffering and this kept me from being the soldier in the battle that God had planned for my life! I am now in "The Word" daily and have been doing so as much as possible for more than 20 years. It is now like daily food that is every bit as important as food for the body. The better the nutrition for the body then the healthier will be the body, and it is the same for our soul and spirit! Without daily feeding on God's word, we become not only malnourished but leave ourselves open to attack by "the enemy". This does not mean that we are not attacked daily any way, it means that we are better prepared to resist the attacks. I have found that for me it is necessary to listen to the audio Bible daily if possible and also listen every evening to as many of my favorite Bible expositors as possible. Since I live alone it is possible for me to spend most of my waking hours filling my mind with God's truths. It is something like an immunization. The enemy still tries to get a foot-hold in my life but when his attacks happen, I know why and do not turn and run but stand my ground, with the addition of spiritual armor from God and I can even use the LORD's offensive weapon which is God's Word! The Spiritual Warfare today is raging as much as ever in our country and world and we all need to turn from these worldly persuits as much as possible and turn to The Holy Spirit of Christ to empower us with the filling of The Spirit and the strength to remove the worldliness from our lives so that we can focus on the truly important aspects of this battle. As long as we are distracted by the worldly things like television, sports, personal pursuits such as seeking the pleasures of this life then we are almost useless to the Lord's work that He has established for each of us personally. We are to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior, and without that relationship then there is little evidence that we are even saved! The Bibe says that we are known by our fruits! These fruits are evidence of our spiritual condition! Are you really saved! If so then we need to show these fruits, first to our Lord in love, worship, praise, thankfulness and by truly adoring Him! If these "Fruits of The Spirit" are evident to the Lord then they will be evident to other "true believers" as well! Before we can truly fight this "spiritual battle", we need to get right with God and put on the "spiritual armor" of God that is enumerated in God's word.
The Church today has gotten soft and we are not much of a threat to Satan! A sure way of knowing that we are "right with God" and "In the battle" in a way that really counts is when we are under attack by Satan! If we are not a threat then Satan is going to focus his attacks on those who are truly a threat! Are you suffering under Satanic attick? If not, then that is a sure sign that you are not in the battle, and possibly not even saved! 
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