by David Brenneman
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete." 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.
"Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves." James 1:21-22.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:10-20.
When we read in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.".
There's a purpose under Heaven for what we go through in life whether or not we agree with going through with it is on each of us. We either hold fast to the Lord going through these things and continue in obeying with what we've been given or we go our own way. There's only two directions in life. God's way and our way. When we've grown enough in Christ the two should be the same. Our way aligning with His way.
We read in Ephesians 6 of putting on the whole or full armor of God. I found it amazing that that particular clarification was put in there by Paul. We don't pick and choose what parts we will put on and what we will not. We are not to choose to not pick up the Sword of the Spirit. We are not to choose to not put on the helmet of salvation. We are not to choose to not put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Put it all on...and learn how to live life that way. As Paul often used soldiers as a metaphore he's also right (obviously as the Spirit lead him) to point out what that means to each of us. The determination to please the One whom we belong and are being trained to serve.
Are you determined to please the One whom you have pledged to serve, that is the Lord Jesus Christ?
These passages took me to thinking about the here and now and the 1,000 year reign of Christ on the Earth. What will be missing that's in our world today? What will still be there?
Well the Scriptures give us more than enough clues if we but look.
Many many occupations won't be around anymore that are here now.
There will honestly be no need for some that seem so critical today.
Some, today, are things that the god of this world has used to blind the minds of the believing. Not even realizing that they've taken what belongs to the Lord and given it to other persons, places and things.
You must understand that Satan and his minions will take even a slightest, most marginal, of a success in getting you to do anything contrary to the Word of God an declare it a victory on their part.
If you're trying to stay in the whole armor of God and he gets you to let your guard down even for the slightest of moments and compromise...he sees that as a victory. Things of that nature.
We likely won't have celebraties during that 1,000 year reign. Won't have most if any of anything coming out of Hollywood. Won't have hospitals or funeral homes or a need for the police or of a standing army. We won't have politicians. Much will be different when all that people will get to know is the Lord and how to live the way that mankind was supposed to live. Yet with all this God given peace mankind will still rebell at the end of the 1,000 years. As the sands of the seashore in number. After experiencing all the goodness of God for 1,000 years they will still side with the devil.
in this here, this now, though...we have a job, a responsibility, to obey the Scriptures from a willing heart and to see the fruits thereof.
We may be comforted to know that while our struggles seem to be unique to each of us...they're common to man. The nuances might be different but the struggles are the same. The Scriptures say so.
Persistance is probably considered to be of more importance than patience. A soldier gets better and better by persisting in his or her training. By staying battle ready. While books and specific materials are at the beginning of worldly military training...the point by graduation is to have it memorized and be so much a part of the soldier that they don't need to refer to them. They'll just know what to do and when to do with all confidence.
We have a God-given amount of time in the day and the enemy of God's aim is to get us to waste it on frivolous things. A soldier gets better when their focus stays on what they're to be learning and doing.
When we come to Christ we have something that's for us to be doing in this place and time in human history that's ours to be doing...that's ordained by God.
We don't choose what parts we are going to do an what we are not. It's on us to learn what it is we're to be doing and to do what we do as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24).
When we have plenty of time for our interests and hobbies but haven't given the Lord honestly the time of day outside of maybe remembering to thank Him for the food we ate we're NOT living up to our reponsibilities and HAVE given the devil a foothold in our lives.
Are you at all interested in what interests the Lord about you? Are you wanting what He wants to see flourishing in you? Are you wasting precious minutes each day because something else you made more important than your training in righteousness that the Spirit wants to do with you?
We're not suggested to stand firm in the Lord. We're commanded to.
We're not suggested to flee this or that that's taking our focus and attention off the work of the Spirit of God in us. We're commanded to.
We're not suggested to set our minds on the things that are above and not on the things that are of this world. We're commanded to.
We're not suggested to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit. To love your neighbor as yourself. We're commanded to.
We're not suggested to take up our own cross to follow Jesus. We're commanded to if indeed we are followers of Christ.
Too many people claiming to be Christians today are taking the Word of God as optional suggestions and not commands that lead towards their sanctification. Too many have been lulled into a false sense of security about life so as to not at all try to put on the whole armor of God nor to see to it that it stays on them.
Too many don't know of the Word of God because all they've done is follow someone else's repetition on a Sunday and have never cracked the book open during the week.
Scripture says that God's will for us is to become more like Christ.
What are you doing to please God in your life to bring this about?
Are you living for Jesus a life that is true. Striving to please Him in all that you do?
We have much to learn and to take in concerning the righteous life that God desire for each of us. All the Disciples of Christ gave up their personal interests to learn what all they could from Jesus on being who they were to be in Christ. Are you willing to do the same?
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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