On June 26 I retired after being pastor of Main Street Baptist Church in Doylestown for 35 years. I’ve taken some time to look back at the main lessons God has taught me during that time. Here’s one:
When I started pastoring 40 years ago I never imagined I’d have a ministry in spiritual warfare. I didn’t even know what spiritual warfare was until about 25 years ago. I knew some Christians who struggled with sin and didn’t seem to have victory no matter how hard they tried or how much they trusted God. No amount of counseling helped. It seemed like something greater than themselves was controlling them. One of my own children was being influenced by something evil as well. God in his mercy brought some men into my life who taught me about spiritual warfare and deliverance from demonizing.
Paul says “we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices” (2Corinthians 2:5-11) but I was very ignorant. Since that time I have been ministering to those in need of spiritual warfare counseling. I have read many books and talked to lots of people. God has been teaching me and helping me learn how to help those who are attacked by Satan and his forces.
Being involved in this is very humbling but also very encouraging. Seeing God’s power at work in such a real way is simply awesome. Having a front row seat as lives are changed and people who have been defeated begin to live in victory is wonderful to see. The internet opens up many doors to minister and daily I hear from people throughout the world. I counsel them through email and a web site. I thank God for the privilege! I have no idea why He chose me to be trained and gifted in this but I’m glad He did!
Satan really covers his trail in our ‘sophisticated’ culture where his workings are given psychological terms and explained away as chemical imbalances or some such thing. But in the New Testament when Jesus ran into people with the same symptoms He cast demons out of them and they were instantly healed. As our culture moves further and further from a Biblical foundation the powers of darkness are getting a stronger hold and becoming more bold in their actions. Still, most American Christians don’t really take Satan and demons seriously until they run into their blatant work on a mission trip somewhere.
The greatest impact this has had on me personally is to deepen my faith in God and to better appreciate the power of the cross. All hail the power of Jesus’ name! (December 19, 2016 Doylestown, PA)
2 Corinthians 2:11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 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.
How aware are YOU of the enemies schemes against you, your family and your ministry?
If Satan were to oppose you or your ministry, what kinds of things might he use to discourage and defeat you?
What can you do to have victory over this?
For more information on the subject of spiritual warfare contact me at jerry@schmoyer.net and I’ll send you a free copy of my Spiritual Warfare Handbook.
INDIA UPDATE: Use of computers and the internet is growing very rapidly in India. The pastors we minister to are still far from being able to use these resources, but more and more pastors in the large cities are able to use the internet to help learn. We have an excellent web site, india.christiantrainingonline.org/, which has articles, books, sermons and many other helps for them. It hasn’t been updated in a long time and that is a skill I do not have. Also I would like to enlarge it and add training courses for pastors, videos of teaching sessions in India, audio messages of my sessions with the pastors, etc. It can be a great free resource for them and has been on my heart for some time. But I need someone able to develop web sites to help with it.
PRAY FOR God to provide someone with the knowledge, interest and time to update and help move our web site along. There is so much that can be done by the right person. I know God will provide in His time, but please pray for this need. Thanks!
Jerry Schmoyer
Christian Training Organization
india.christiantrainingonline.org/