2002-09-20
Good Morning Treasured Friends,
Yesterday, I mentioned how putting on our "Gospel shoes," i.e. being ready and willing to witness to the truth of the Gospel, is one way of being able to stand firm against Satan's fiery arrows. A passage found in Paul's defense of his ministry that I will no doubt want to cite more than once in this segment, really puts the spot light on how this is accomplished. 2 COR 10: 3-5, 8, "It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ...For I am not ashamed, even if I have boasted somewhat too much about the authority that the Lord has given us-authority to build you up, not to tear you down." The world doesn't care about eternal life; all its cares are seated in feeding the desires of the flesh. Long-term goals don't matter to the world, only living for the moment. The weapons God gives us are those in EPH 6: 10-20, His full armor, which He wants us to don and use to fight Satan. These are things like truth, salvation, faith, righteousness, readiness to witness to the Gospel message of peace and salvation, the word of God, and prayer. The world has no idea how much more these weapons are effective than theirs. The world's motives are the same as Satan's: lies, deception, bodily appetites, temptations, meanness, greed, and the like-all kinds of evil. That is why Satan is called "the father of lies" and a murderer in JN 8: 44. A lot of believers don't realize that it's okay to boast about the things of God, but not okay to boast about the things of mankind. God has given believers the same authority to use His weapons that Paul and the apostles had. In other words, He has equipped us well for the spiritual warfare we must wage, putting us on the winning team-His team.
God has spoken clearly and eloquently about how we should stand firm against the devil. EPH 4: 3 is an example. "Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together." I have written my opinion before that it is my belief that the Lord never intended for us to split the church apart into denominations. That is the reason I had so much difficulty with the result of a recent event. A representative of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod spoke at an ecumenical event in Yankee Stadium in response to 9-11. Afterward, he was suspended by a small group within the leadership of that denomination for having done this. Many thoughtful leaders of the LCMS agree with me that this was a mistake, but they couldn't stop it from happening. It is this kind of ghettoized thinking that separates believers from each other and from God. In my view, all true believers belong to the Family of God, and thus, should not be held apart from one another by theological or political squabbles over human agendas. I have seen the kind of unity God intends for us within our huge diverse congregation of 3200 souls that is produced when Christ is in leadership. When a new pastor must be called, it's no easy task. And yet, when Christ is in leadership in the process, a wise decision can be made in an orderly process. I can witness to that first hand.
God has more to say in EPH 6: 23-24. "May God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give to all Christian brothers peace and love with faith. May God's grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with undying love." While this is the ending comment in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, there is a great lesson in these words for all of us. You'll notice the word "all" in both of these verses. That didn't mean only some and not others. All too often, we have the tendency to want to take care only of our relatively small circle of friends, or just our congregation, or just our denomination. That doesn't make true the directive that is here in the Scriptures. Recently, there was some criticism leveled at our prayer chain (which I coordinate and for which I write the requests). The criticism is that we had too many prayer requests, because our chain has 141 prayer servants from three congregations and Cursillo (the 4-day spiritual retreat program, with which Peter and I are so active). These critics didn't understand that the others and I were obeying a clear directive found in EPH 6: 18, "Do all this [don God's full armor] in prayer, asking for God's help. Pray on every occasion as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God's people."
The only way we can really demonstrate our true belief is to know God's teaching, practice it in our own lives, and be unashamed (as Paul was) to share it with others. We should examine our own lives to see if anything exists in our thinking that would block this process. If we have old prejudices, we need to expunge them from our lives. If we have believed Satan's lies in the past, we need to identify them (using the discernment we get from the Scriptures and God's directions in prayer), and replace them with the truth. If we have been too embarrassed to speak out about God or thought we weren't able to do it, we need to understand that this is the "Moses Syndrome" that is generated by Satan [EX 4: 10-15] and not in keeping with God's will. God asks each believer to put on the "Gospel shoes."
PRAYER: O Lord, how powerful and magnificent is Your ability to take ordinary people and equip them to do extraordinary things! We must believe in this, as we have seen it over and over again, both in the Scriptures with Moses, Jeremiah, Paul and others and in our own lives. We utter these words to express Your righteous power. PS 96: 1-2, "Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the world! Sing to the Lord, and praise Him! Proclaim His glory to the nations, His mighty acts to all peoples." I attest to the truth of this by offering this personal experience of Your power. A lady who had stuttered all her life got up to express the blessings You had showered on her at a recent Cursillo weekend. She spoke without stuttering once and spoke eloquently, touching every heart in that church sanctuary that day. These words tell us just how great is Your supremacy and compassion for us. PS 98: 1-3, "Sing a new song to the Lord; He has done wonderful things! By His own power and holy strength He has won the victory. The Lord announced His victory; He made His saving power known to the nations. He kept His promise to the people of Israel with loyalty and constant love for them. All people everywhere have seen the victory of our God." Your love, Dearest Abba, is for all who love you, not only the people of ancient Israel. RO 8: 1, "There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus." Because of Your unselfish sacrifice of Your only Son on the cross, we can be saved with our repentance and faith in Him. Because of Your gift to us of the Holy Spirit, we can understand Your word and be convinced to have an active prayer life with You. We can see You at work in the circumstances of our lives. You never tire of being eager to bless us. We stand before You today to humbly offer You confession of our sin, to thank You for the ability You give us to fend off Satan's attacks using Your full armor, and to praise You for Who You are in our lives and what You do for us. You have our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, glory diligence, honor, praise, and thanksgiving for eternity. In Christ's name, amen.
God has much more to say about what we must do to put on our "Gospel shoes." I am led to continue sharing that in tomorrow's message. How very blessed we who spend time daily in the Scriptures are! We get to see all of God's teaching on what is important to Him and how to carry out His commands. The "peace that goes beyond human understanding" spoken of in PHIL 4: 7 is a special gift He gives us to let us know when our obedience is pleasing Him. His presence when we find our beliefs under attack and the words He gives us to say in response are manifestations of His love for us. We are not left to stand up to the critics of our faith alone and never will be, if we endure in our faith and live "in Christ." When God tells us to pray for all of our fellow believers or for others who might potentially come to faith, He does this for the most loving of all reasons. He wants as many of us as possible to share joy and fellowship with Him eternally. Bask in the warm glow of His love today and always, for He is always there for us, ready for us to turn to Him with our needs, victories, troubles, and prayers of any kind. Peter and I also send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn