In 1967, I entered the U.S. Army and was transported to Fort Polk in Louisiana. Basic training was the first order of business to get each of the young recruits prepared for the inevitable warfare going on in Viet Nam. To send us into battle without training would have been so very wrong.
The Bible tells us that we are in a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10ff) where we are instructed to put on God's armor. Notice that it is His armor, not mine or yours. Putting on my own armor, which is weak at best, would be devastating. Therefore, we are to follow God's directions and use His tested and proven armor. The Apostle Paul instructed his young protégé, Timothy, to get ready for the work of God (which includes "spiritual warfare") by studying God's Word. He told Timothy to do more than just read the Word...he said, "...dissect it..." (2 Timothy 2:15).
James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church and half-brother of Jesus, knew that this process of spiritual warfare would be next to impossible for us, so his solution was for each of us to "Submit to God (in doing so, we then would be able to) resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7) This might seem a bit simplistic unless we understand the depth of the process of "submitting." In verse 8, James continues the instruction by telling us that we (he is talking to believers here) are to be contrite concerning our sins...cleansing our hands and purifying our hearts and devoting ourselves to being single-minded (focused on God alone). In this way, we can "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (us)." John wrote in his first letter, "If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:9).
A clear understanding of James' teaching reveals that the church in Jerusalem had factions that were at odds over various issues. What he is trying to tell them (and what we can learn for ourselves) is that the only way to live the Christian life, and to have victory over Satan's evil intentions, is to confess our sins daily and focus on God alone. He is the "Captain of heaven's armies" (Joshua 5:14). In the U.S. Army, we were taught to focus on the orders of our commanders and in doing so, we would be victorious. In the spiritual realm, we must do the same thing...focus on Jesus who has already given us the victory (1 Corinthians 15:57).
One of my favorite Bible study resources, as many already know, is GotQuestions.org. They have a number of topics for us as answers that speak to the issue of spiritual warfare. If I have piqued your interest, a perusal of these topics might be very helpful for you. The link is:
http://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_query=What+can+I+do+when+I+am+under+spiritual+attack&search.x=59&search.y=21
May God guide each of us as we face the very obvious spiritual warfare issues against the powers of darkness which surround us at this very hour. Those evil powers will not give up easily, however we just need to remember that, in Christ Jesus, we are already victors.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Thursday, May 14, 2015
You've Gotta Be Kidding!
Of the prophets of God in the Old Testament, Malachi is the last. The chronological order of the prophets is not necessarily the order we find them in our Bibles, however Malachi happens to be the last one in both cases. Coming some 60 or so years after Haggai and Zechariah, his message is presented as a dialogue between God and the people of Israel, with Malachi taking the role of a mediator between them.
I can never come to a reading of Malachi with chuckling a bit thinking back to a young man in our church in Fort Morgan, Colorado, who called him Ma-la-chi. No matter what he is called, the study of Malachi (Mal-a-cai) is a study in understanding how the Jews were treating the God who had proved Himself as the One who cared for them by setting them up to have a personal relationship with Himself. He did this for no one else before Jesus came to earth.
Still these people became so complacent with that relationship that they began to elevate themselves to a place of self-aggrandizement. When presented with their attitude by God, their response was, "Really! You've gotta be kidding. What have we done to ... (whatever the charge might be against them).
Two hundred years earlier, their ancestors were thumbing their noses at God as if to dare Him to bring any judgment upon them until He finally was forced, by their attitude and refusal to repent, to punish them by means of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. When they confessed their failure (70 years later), God brought them back to their home ... Jerusalem.
Now, here we are again...they are once more thumbing their noses at God. By grace, He is trying to give them another chance, but they keep on rejecting His overtures of love. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?
This is where America is today. Once a humble nation, Christian in her origin, we are thumbing our noses at God and daring Him to do anything about it. As a pastor friend just recently pointed out, the Apostle John wrote about this in his first letter. 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
We have become complacent in our blessed status having been protected by God for so much of our nation's existence. But we, like the Jews of old, are thumbing our self-righteous noses at Him. In His grace, God is challenging America while we are saying, "Really! What have we done wrong?"
America, we are way overdue for God's correction. We are way past our time to turn back to Him and plead for His forgiveness. What America needs is a changed heart and God is the only one who can force that change. Our leaders have failed us and we have failed our leaders not holding them accountable. We cannot expect God to stay His judgment forever. 2 Chronicles 7:14, an oft quoted passage, needs to be repeated again and again, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
This message was to the Jews of King Solomon's day but the principle applies to us today. Turn back to God America before God sends judgment. We are way overdue!
I can never come to a reading of Malachi with chuckling a bit thinking back to a young man in our church in Fort Morgan, Colorado, who called him Ma-la-chi. No matter what he is called, the study of Malachi (Mal-a-cai) is a study in understanding how the Jews were treating the God who had proved Himself as the One who cared for them by setting them up to have a personal relationship with Himself. He did this for no one else before Jesus came to earth.
Still these people became so complacent with that relationship that they began to elevate themselves to a place of self-aggrandizement. When presented with their attitude by God, their response was, "Really! You've gotta be kidding. What have we done to ... (whatever the charge might be against them).
Two hundred years earlier, their ancestors were thumbing their noses at God as if to dare Him to bring any judgment upon them until He finally was forced, by their attitude and refusal to repent, to punish them by means of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. When they confessed their failure (70 years later), God brought them back to their home ... Jerusalem.
Now, here we are again...they are once more thumbing their noses at God. By grace, He is trying to give them another chance, but they keep on rejecting His overtures of love. Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?
This is where America is today. Once a humble nation, Christian in her origin, we are thumbing our noses at God and daring Him to do anything about it. As a pastor friend just recently pointed out, the Apostle John wrote about this in his first letter. 1 John 2:15-17, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."
We have become complacent in our blessed status having been protected by God for so much of our nation's existence. But we, like the Jews of old, are thumbing our self-righteous noses at Him. In His grace, God is challenging America while we are saying, "Really! What have we done wrong?"
America, we are way overdue for God's correction. We are way past our time to turn back to Him and plead for His forgiveness. What America needs is a changed heart and God is the only one who can force that change. Our leaders have failed us and we have failed our leaders not holding them accountable. We cannot expect God to stay His judgment forever. 2 Chronicles 7:14, an oft quoted passage, needs to be repeated again and again, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
This message was to the Jews of King Solomon's day but the principle applies to us today. Turn back to God America before God sends judgment. We are way overdue!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)