War!

"(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)" 2corinthians 10:4

Weapons, warfare, strongholds! We are left without a shadow of doubt from the terminology of the Bible, that God wants us to understand and remember - WE ARE AT WAR!

It is challenging to our minds to think that the Prince of Peace, who calls us to live peaceably with all men and to make our utmost effort towards loving and genuine, harmless cohabitation at a physical level, issues at the same time a very real, strong and serious call to us all, to fight valiantly in spiritual warfare.

We are soundly reminded in Ephesians Chapter 6 that our enemy is not “flesh and blood” and that is why we read here that our weapons cannot be those we might provide for ourselves by which we might deal with physical foes. They cannot be the weapons of the flesh for they cannot provide any benefit or defence in the battles of the Spirit. Such man-made weapons could never prevail in this conflict, regardless of how advanced or impressive they might be.

Nevertheless should we be able to see with spiritual eyes the mode of dress of true believers, we would see them in full battle armour, arrayed and ready for the enemy, should enmity arise anywhere, anytime. A description of the spiritual armoury we are able to receive from the Lord and use by His might and strength, is given in the same chapter of Ephesians and includes both defensive and offensive weapons. Many scriptures elsewhere also detail impressive spiritual weaponry which is available to the consecrated believer.

That we are at war therefore and in need to be well versed with the weapons of this conflict, is a fact well known and well accepted by every spiritually minded believer. Like the weapons, the battle is not fought in the ability of our flesh, though we live in this body. The fight is rather a spiritual one, a conflict between us as believers in Jesus and the powers of the spiritual world of darkness, sourced by our enemy - Satan.

These powers are arrayed against us and would want our destruction at any opportunity possible. God's answer to this is to equip us with an arsenal which is not 'carnal', that is - of the earthly or human kind, but is rather described as ‘mighty through God’.  Herein is a clue to the nature and the use of these weapons. They are powerful against our enemy, when triggered, launched, lifted, driven or in any sense handled by us ‘through’ God. Success in these armed spiritual encounters has little to do with our own physical strength, human ability or skill, and everything to do with the way and degree to which we are able to lean on Jesus through His Holy Spirit, in the use of these provided munitions!

 The weapons of the Spirit which God imparts to all true believers include: prayer and fasting, the name and blood of Jesus, God's Word, discernment, wisdom, faith and the fellowship of the saints. All of these and much more are the mighty, powerful and formidable armoury which God has provided and imparted to us and which can and will defeat our spiritual enemies, when used ‘through God’. We are blessed to be so well equipped for the fight and able in Jesus to vanquish our foes!

Our task then is to ‘wear’ at all times the armour God has provided; to be prepared ‘in the Spirit’ by practicing with each of the ‘weapons’ and being competent with them; but most of all to be totally and humbly reliant on the power, direction and wisdom of the Spirit of God, when faced with an enemy in a battle. It is only through Jesus that we are caused to triumph over the adversary, by tearing down the strongholds and destroying the grip and work of the enemy in our lives and the lives of others!



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Alert and Watchful

"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Matthew 24:42 

We have here a sobering reminder to be watchful and ready for the Lord's return.

Much contention and speculation has been entered into as to the ‘when’ of this glorious event, but Jesus here give us the ‘how’ we should behave in relation to the event. The exhortation to be alert and spiritually awake applies to each of us as believers and clearly the Lord intends to place the onus to choose this attitude and posture, on us.

The god of this world, Satan, wants to blind and numb our minds and hearts with the many distractions and the unending 'noise' of worldly and material things. It must come down to our determined choice and willing dependence on Jesus not to be lured or lulled into the death sleep of carelessness.

God gives us an assurance of His return without giving us an exact timing and that means we have to be ready at all times, because while we don’t know when, we DO know it is going to happen! There is therefore NO time when it is safe for us to be spiritually asleep and it ought to be our prayer and desire each moment of each day that we might by His grace be kept alert, awake and ready.

Prayer is the necessary companion to watchfulness and the only way and means by which we can remain spiritually attentive to the directions and leading of the Spirit and Word of God.

‘What hour’, is a date in God's mind and plan, and may also refer to a particular condition existing at the time of His coming, we don’t need to know the ‘when’. Our motivation for living a holy life which honours God and continues to do so faithfully ‘till the end’, should be our genuine love for God not so much the fear of missing our rapture appointment. True love for Jesus then and prayer are the correct spiritual conditions and preparations necessary for readiness.  

Let's pray one for another and for each member of our families that we might all be properly ready for the soon coming of Jesus.



http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion