Two realms ONE solution

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Ephesians 6:11‭-‬20 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.6.11-20.NIV

Recently, Hugh and I attended a pastoral situation where we had to deal with someone who had very real demonic attack. Honestly, I felt underprepared. How does one prepare for anything like this?

For the past two days, I've also been attending a training with the Presbyterian consultancy group that helps struggling churches with different issues and sometimes conflict. We learnt about conflict management and talked about a current conflict that is happening and how we can help the parties to reach a reconciliation or agreement at the least. It's messy and a lot of high emotions. How does one go about this conflict?

When we approach a problem in our own strength and understanding, thing can get overwhelming and impossible to solve. Thankfully, God is always faithful and He reminded us that we have all the necessary tool that we need in Jesus. We are not the strong man, He is! Regardless of what troubles you have, may it be spiritual, physical, emotional, social, He is the solution to them all. It doesn't mean that He takes the problem away, but He gives the strength to face these problems with hope and assurance. He is the only armour we need. "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests"

So ,I as I was thinking about these two different situations, I was convincted and reminded of the importance of the spiritual disciplines that we've been taught and constantly encouraged to do, the armor of God that we were called to put on. I am reminded of the importance of prayer because there is a realm beyond what I can see that one God has the power to deal with. May it be a demonic attack or a high emotional situation. I do believe the same enemy is behind them all. So keep praying. Pray on all occasions with all sorts of requests. Pray for one another. Pray and tap into Him because He cares and will do these things for us. 

So when we went to the first situation, we prayed and we went only with the Bible and Gospel in our hands. We didn't bring incense or sage or 'holy water', we brought ourselves and the assurance that the Holy Spirit is within us and will give us the word to say and strength to handle what's given to us. And He did! 

So friends, please keep praying. Pray for us so that we might be bold. Pray for the people who are in battles and are struggling to keep up with the attack that they will be strong. Pray for yourself that you too will be bold and strong in your faith. Don't stop because our battle is not against flesh and blood.