Jesus Revealed Pt. 17 - Abandoned - Really?Sample

Judas Betrays Jesus  

Thoughts on the Passage

Judas betrays Jesus.

That is just so hard for me to understand. Why would anyone betray Him? Then I look more closely and realize that all the disciples abandoned Jesus this day. Jesus mentioned it earlier and now it happens. 

Judas betrayed Him actively – the other eleven betrayed Him passively (that means that they chose to do nothing rather than be active in their support). Peter tried to be supportive by attacking with a sword. The problem is that Jesus did not want (or need) that kind of support. Jesus wanted the will of the Father – and that meant that He had to suffer and die. Jesus was prepared for that, but the disciples were not. It is hard to support someone when we do not understand what they do and why they do it.

So how do we fight the spiritual battles? How do we know what God wants when we face difficult times? 

First, our battles are not physical in nature. They are always spiritual – even when they have physical people involved. Paul makes this clear in 2 Corinthians 10. Our enemy is not physical. Our weapons are not physical. Our victory will be complete when we deal with the spiritual strongholds – even if the physical does not show anything. Jesus looked like He was failing – but He was winning, because He was fighting the battle spiritually.

Second, some of the things we face are directly spiritual and sometimes they are spiritual barriers built up in people. Yes, there are spiritual forces we face (remember that satan entered Judas). Judas was under demonic control. That is something we will face. We overcome these demonic forces by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony – and at times it will cost us our physical lives (Revelation 12).

Most of the spiritual battles we face are spiritual barriers that people have built up in their understanding against Jesus. There barriers are not taken down with physical or mental battles – forcing people to believe, or trying to convince them with logic. We fight these battles with different weapons.  We fight with weapons that break down the lies that satan speaks (and that they believe), that destroys the bondages that people have (setting them free), and that speak God’s truth into situations and thinking. These are done in the power of the Spirit and the authority of the Word of God. 

These weapons are powerful!

Application

Peter tried to use physical weapons for spiritual problems. Have you and I tried to do that? Put away our swords!

Ask God to reveal the spiritual battles that we need to face today. Bring spiritual weapons to bear against them – prayer, the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus, our testimony of forgiveness, our authority over the kingdom of darkness.

Time to Pray

Father, open my eyes to see where I am trying to bring physical weapons to a spiritual battle. Show me the difference between trying to use logic and human wisdom instead of speaking Your truth. Show me where I see people as the enemy – and not the demonic realm. Show me how to humbly walk in Your will – just as Jesus did. Even when the path may take me through difficult times, I know that You are with me. You have a spiritual victory for me that I will see – even if the physical world seems to think I lost.  Help me today, I ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.