It is no secret that there is a battle for our souls happening 24/7. If you are just even a little awake and aware, you would see that all things either point towards LIFE or towards DEATH. In some areas it is more obvious than others and for this we ask Abba Father to give us a sharper discernment to spot the differences when the lines are a bit blurry.
As a human species, we are social beings that are created in the image of God and in His great design, everything is relational. We serve a relational God who even at the beginning of time said “Let US make man in OUR image”, supporting the nature of God which is to be connected and in relation. In scripture we also see that the enemy raises himself above God by idolising himself and claiming a position of higher authority as an “I”. In life we can quickly decipher when things are of God and when they are of the enemy simply by the practical filter of testing its nature. Is this for the benefit of the “I” or is this for the benefit of the “US”.
The day God made man in His image, the enemy became voraciously revengeful, with one single focus in mind. To steel, kill and to destroy. It is also no secret that the way to go about this strategically calculated plan of action is to create separation. Separation in relations brings about weakness and strife.
Each of us have been positioned in different relationships in our lives. Each of these are important and are a direct result of our first and most important relationship - with Abba Father. This is now possible because Christ paid the price so we can have direct access into unity with our Abba Father again and step into a place of authority and kingship in all other areas of our lives.
These relationships, I call the 4 Pillars of Relations, starting with our relation to Abba, our relation to ourself, our relations to others (our neighbours) and our relation to nature. Investigating this deeper, we get to see and understand that our proximity to God allows for a more abundant overflow of identity (our relationship with ourself), a more abundant position of influence (our relationship with others) and a more abundant position of responsible stewardship (our relationship with nature). But none of the other relationships will thrive unless your 1st love is in place.
In Matthew 22:37 - 39 we read: “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
We see that the priority order in which our should relationships flow are:
Love God with all of your subconscious mind, your thought life, your decision making and choice of attitude in all situations;
Love yourself (to be kind, gentle, loving, patient, encouraging and respectful towards yourself), then you will also
Love (treat) others the way you are towards yourself.
All of this happens in the spectrum of our first ever commandment of stewardship and guardianship of this planet.
In all of these areas we are positioned in relation to… We are in relation to (and with) the Trinity (Abba Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit), we are in relation to ourselves (this reflects even in our physical bodies), we are in relation to those around us and we are in relation to nature. All of these work together from spirit, to our soul to our physical world.
You can then understand the massive attack that has been on us when you look at the state of this planet, the state of our relations to those around us, the disconnect we have with ourselves (that we don’t even understand how our own bodies and minds work) and then the big bullseye goal of the enemy - to remove us out of relation to our Abba Father. Every industry in this world has been contaminated with plans of destruction to affect and disconnect us in all of these different areas so that we can be isolated and destroyed.
In the weeks ahead, we will unpack each of these areas to equip and empower us with knowledge and application on how we can recognise the plans/attacks of the enemy in our relationships. This will enable us to step back into God’s original design to walk in the victory that we have through Jesus that paid the price for our freedom.
Until next time.
Marilu
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