2002-12-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Before a soldier can be of use to the armed forces, he must go through basic training. Someone once told me that the word Bible stands for “Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth.” Time and time again I write about how important it is to God that we study the Scriptures daily and open an active two-way channel of prayer with Him where He speaks first. While my exact words may not be used in the Bible for this, it is certainly clear from many passages that these two pieces of God’s full armor [EPH 6: 10-20] matter greatly to Him, just as all them do. God wants us to be so well equipped as His soldiers in spiritual warfare against the forces of evil that we will have the joy described in 2 COR 2: 14. “But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ’s victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.” When Paul described himself in RO 1: 1 as “a bondservant of Christ set apart for the Gospel,” he was giving us the picture of what God wants each of us to be.
Part of our “spiritual boot camp” is learning the strategy that God, our Commander-in-Chief, gives us in the Bible for fending off the enemy’s fiery darts aimed at our minds. The first step is to: 1) evaluate the thought. To properly defend himself a soldier needs to know what kind of incoming dart is on its way. Then, he can select the most effective defense. PHIL 4: 8-9, “In conclusion, my brothers, fill your minds with those things that are good and that deserve praise: things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honorable. Put into practice what you learned and received from me, both from my words and from my actions. And God Who gives us peace will be with you.” Think about it; if we know the God’s words well, when some “incoming” that doesn’t reflect His righteousness arrives, we will recognize it for what it is-another of Satan’s lies. I know a lot of people, including myself in the past, reject the idea of memorizing Scripture. If that were being done alone without any effort to understand it or put it in context, that would seem like fruitless and difficult work to the point of aggravation. It’s hard, but nothing really worthwhile that we do is easy. However, when we take the time to memorize Scripture through repeated usage learning its meaning and context, we have allowed the Holy Spirit to give us a powerful weapon that can be drawn against the enemy any time we need it. I don’t profess to have the entire Bible memorized, but I will say that by spending the time that I do with it, if I don’t have a particular citation already memorized, I can most often easily find exactly where it is. God communicates to us by taking us back to certain citations so many times that He is telling us, “This one is so important; it’s time that you memorize it now.”
When we have evaluated the thought, then we are ready to take the second step: 2) reject the thought, if it isn’t in conformity to God’s teaching. 2 COR 10: 4b-5, “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.” We were told in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect.” Herein lies the formula for successful warfare against the enemy-the ability to know God’s will. False arguments are often wrapped in very appealing packages. Only a real working knowledge of God’s will through the Scriptures and prayer will allow us to discern what this “incoming” really is.
The third step is: 3) Keep God’s bigger plan in mind at all times. The devil would like to convince us that God will abandon us. He wants us to think that God won’t keep His promises. Don’t believe that for a New York minute! Don’t stand for the devil putting up his smoke screens, hoping we will forget JER 29: 11-13. “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will see Me, and you will find Me because you will seek Me with all your heart.” These are not the words of an Entity trying to lie to His children, although Satan would like us to think so. IS 26: 3, “You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You.”
The fourth step is: 4) Always trust and obey the One True God. IS 26: 4, “Trust in the Lord forever; He will always protect us.” In case one objects to this on the grounds that so many people have been martyred for their faith in Him, we must remember that the loss of our physical lives in this situation is really no loss at all in comparison to the salvation of our spiritual lives for eternity. God has promised in REV 6: 9-11 that all the martyrs will receive honor and glory just as those who died in faith without being martyred will. Our God never lies. We have the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as the greatest proof of that, along with the promise that He is the “first among many brothers” in RO 8: 29. So, Dear Ones, we each need to reflect on how these basic principles of warfare apply to our individual lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we were asked to evaluate the incoming thought, You were giving us illumination on Christ’s words in MT 6: 19-21. “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” When this passage is first read, we tend to think only of material things. But careful inspection of it reveals that it really refers to intangible things including the kinds of thoughts and attitudes we have and upon which we act. For it is clear from 1 JN 2 :17 that “the world and everything in it that people desire will pass away, but he who does the will of God lives forever.” Those who know the will of God and act on that will be taking actions that reflect trust in and obedience to Him. They will be producing the spiritual fruit that will rebuff Satan’s attacks and bring others to faith in You. Dearest Abba, it is clear to us that acceptance of an unholy thought leads to evil action, which creates an appetite for evil action and becomes a weakness. We must bear in mind that weakness lays us open to oppression from the enemy who hates You and also hates us. Today we utter the words of David in PS 31: 1-5, which express the content of our hearts. “I come to You, Lord, for protection; never let me be defeated. You are my righteous God; save me, I pray! Hear me! Save me now! Be my Refuge to protect me; my Defense to save me. You are my Refuge and Defense; guide me and lead me as You have promised. Keep me safe from the snare that has been set for me; shelter me from danger. I place myself in Your care. You will save me, Lord; You are a faithful God.” We humbly confess our sins and offer Your our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanks and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
The Holy Spirit leads me to begin discussing a subject very important to us all in tomorrow’s message. It is Satan’s phenomenal track record in breaking down families. Hopefully this will give us the insight the Spirit so badly wants us to have in how God directs us to interfere with that trend. Since trusting the Lord is such an important strategy in stopping Satan’s fiery darts aimed at our minds, the Spirit leads me to cite one of my favorite verses from Isaiah dealing with it. IS 40: 31, “But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise up on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak.” How revealing this verse is of the love our Abba has for us! He will not abandon us or allow Satan to wear us down, if we will only learn to rely on Him and obey His commands. When He is giving us battle strategy, He is equipping us to be able to endure in our faith and not be defeated by Satan’s malevolence and deceit. Each and every one of us, no matter how important we or other people think we are, is one treasured by the Father. What happens to each of us matters enormously to Him. He is with us all the time and is aware of our needs even before we are. Our loving Abba eagerly desires us to seek Him out as often as the Spirit prompts. He is always there for us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn