Fight Like A Soldier, Prepare Like An Athelete, And Work Like A Farmer!

We are either progressing or regressing in our walk with God. If we are not passionately pursuing Him, then we are by default backing away. We must fight spiritual passivity.

In 2 Timothy 2: 4-6, Paul uses three excellent analogies of how we are to pursue our walk with God. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.

We are to conduct ourselves like a soldier. A soldier has submitted himself to his superiors. He is ready at a moment’s notice to act without delay. He has been trained to engage the enemy and win. He has learned how to work as a team with his fellow comrades. He has disciplined himself for hard times.

An athlete has disciplined his body through hours of exercise. He has learned to endure and to push himself beyond what is average. He strictly controls his diet and regiments his whole life in pursuit of his dream of winning the competition.

A farmer is diligent with growing his crops. He is up at sunrise ready to tend the fields. He sows his seed early and watches over it as it grows. He removes all obstacles of growth from the tender plants so that he can receive a full harvest in due season. He works hard!

So we are to fight like a soldier, prepare like an athlete, and work like a farmer. There is no place for slackness in the kingdom of God. Don’t allow yourself to be mediocre spiritually. Jesus shed His blood to redeem you from the world, the flesh, and from Satan’s dominion. Passivity dishonors His work at Calvary. Give God you best today.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14).

Don't Live An Unexamined Life!

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

The rapture of the church is in our future. In a millisecond of time, you will be involved with something here and then suddenly you will be in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Today, as everyday should be, is preparation day for my meeting with the Son of God. The fire in His eyes will try my works. All that I have done since making Jesus the Lord of my life will come under the scrutiny of His gaze. The results will be gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw added to my personal heavenly rewards.  

Understand that my works do not save me, but they do determine the rewards that I receive when I stand before Jesus and before His penetrating gaze. Everyday as I interact with life, my actions are storing up for me in heaven - gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. The reaction of gold, silver, and precious stones to fire is that they are refined even more. THe reaction of wood, hay, and straw to fire is that it turns into smoke.

I’m going to leave you with some challenging scripture to ponder today. The philosopher stated millennia ago the unexamined life is not worth living. Keep short accounts with Jesus.  Think about how life is lived. Why do I do what I do? What do I do with my time, my talents, my money? How do I treat people? Are my words uplifting or hurtful? Do I live so that God can receive glory through my life? Are other drawn to the Son of God through my actions? His coming is soon. Let’s together make it our daily goal to be pleasing to Him, and to make necessary adjustments when He deals with an area of life that is lacking.

For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing] (2 Corinthians 5:10- Amplified).

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:10-12).

Now if anyone  builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world (1 Corinthians 11:31-32).

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).

Inward Grace Trumps Outward Law Every Time!

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.  And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.  You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.  For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:1-6).

  

The believers in Galatia were encouraged by Paul to continue living in the grace of God and to not revert back to the keeping of the law to appease a guilty conscience. The Judaizers as we call them were demanding that these newly converted Jewish believers submit to circumcision and obedience to the law as well as to their faith in Jesus.

 

The purpose of the law was to reveal the weakness and inability of the flesh. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law could never save from sin. The law, with its demands for outward rigid performance, is impossible to keep without the indwelling of the Spirit.

 

Paul urges with great intensity and passion for those who are in Christ to remain free from the dictatorial demands of religion that places accomplishment of outward demands in the place of a living current relationship with the Father.

 

Here in Galatians, he contrasts the works of the flesh, or the works of the law with the fruit of faith, or the fruit of the spirit. One is cold and lifeless, while the other is alive and invigorating.

 

Life with Jesus frees us from the outward demands of the law because it creates a desire for closeness with the Father and a motivation to shun anything that would compromise that intimacy with the Most High. Walking in the grace of God creates a liberty that frees me to respond to the Father from within and literally cancels the yearning of the flesh!

 

When I think of work, I think of sweat, hard toil, tiredness, and labor. The Father has freed me from a works consciousness that does to please. Now I am what I am by the grace of God! The liberty of grace working in me produces fruit. When I think of fruit I think of refreshment, of a meadow full of trees bearing all sorts of delectable treats that awaken my being and bring delight! Fruit is easy. It comes natural. And the fruit of the spirit are borne from my personal intimacy with the Father.

 

When I was about a year old in the Lord, I decided that needed to fast a couple of days a week to discipline my flesh. A few weeks into this regimen, the Lord very abruptly told me to stop fasting. He told me that I was doing this as a form of works to be pleasing to Him. And He told me that it was producing spiritual pride in my life as I looked to see if others were as disciplined as I was. I stopped the regular fasting for a long time. I had to grow spiritually before I could fast with the right heart motive and not to gain favor with God.

 

The grace He has given us cost the Father so much that He is never pleased when we turn to the flesh and outward things to prove our rightness in His eyes. The grace provided by Jesus’ sacrifice more than enables you and me to stand in the presence of the Father fully pleasing to Him.

 

Stand fast in your liberty from religion today and your freedom from outward performance in order to please. His Grace is enough!

 

As A Believer, Jesus Has Made You Righteous!

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

My own righteousness is like a filthy rag when I stand before God. I can’t do enough good works to be right with Him and He knows that! So the Father has imputed the right standing of Jesus to me. Jesus became what I was so that I could be what He is to the Father.

  

To be righteous means to be able to stand before the Father as though sin and condemnation had never existed in your life. It’s just as though you had never done any wrong! The Father made us righteous in Jesus so that we could have full fellowship with Him twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

  

Notice Isaiah 43:25: I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. To the person who has been made righteous, there is no record of past sins!

  

When a believer sins and confesses the sin to the Father, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). It’s important when you sin to bear your heart to the Father and confess it before Him.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). And when sin is confessed it is as though it never happened! Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17).

  

Satan traffics in condemnation and inferiority. He wants you to think and feel as though you’re not quite good enough to approach the Father for fellowship and requests. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down (Revelation 12:10).

  

Refuse the character assaults that Satan brings your way. Forget what God has forgiven! Your sins have been cast into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Condemnation and inferiority are the chief enemies of your faith life, and it’s your faith that overcomes the world. See condemnation and inferiority to God as an attack of the enemy to hinder your faith, and to rob you of your boldness before God. Stand your ground against these assaults and see yourself as the righteousness of God in Christ!

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1). And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death (Revelation 12:11).

God's Promises Will Test You!

Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him (Psalm 105:19).

  

The above verse refers to Joseph. He had a vision of his family bowing in obeisance before him as a leader. He was 17 years old at the time. This did not come to pass until Joseph was 30. The in between time was difficult. He was sold as a slave by his brothers and his father was told that he was killed by wild animals.

  

The ruler’s wife thought Joseph was so handsome and she lusted after him. He refused her advances and she accused him of trying to rape her. He was sent to prison for many years. It looked as though God’s promise was untrue. For years he remained imprisoned though innocent of the charges.

 

Joseph eventually became what we would now call the Prime Minister of Egypt. The whole land was under his authority. Only the Pharaoh was mightier than he.  His family came from Canaan starving for food during a famine and during their visit the Word of the Lord to him was fulfilled.

  

Yes, the Word of the Lord tested Him. Did God speak or not he may have thought during those years of misery. But no word from God is void of power (Luke 1:37)!

  

So here you are in the middle of some tough circumstances that just don’t let up. Nothing that the Word declares seems to be true in your life. You’ve prayed. You believe that you receive. You’ve stood your ground against the circumstances that tell you repeatedly that you prayers are unanswered and that your faith is not working. The test is on!

 

Are you going to believe the promise of God, or are you going to yield to the pressure. That’s what Joseph faced all those years. But he knew that if God spoke, then that Word from Him was surer than the rising of the sun. Joseph’s faith kept him for 13 years while the Word of God worked itself out in his life.

 

If this can work for Joseph, a man under the old covenant, can it not work for us, whose faith is established on a better covenant with promises that are even more sure? We must persevere as Joseph did against the negatives that life brings. Joseph kept his focus on the promise of God and received and so will we! So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18- NIV)

Walking With My Father God

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:33-34)

My Father reigns supreme over all. When I’m lonely or confused I go to Him and pour my heart out. He knows exactly how I feel and infuses me with courage and strength.

When unrelenting fear comes, I go to Him and He brushes the fear away and points me to my faith in Him. He replaces the fear with a knowing that things will work out well for me. He always causes me to triumph in Christ.

 

When I’m faced with financial loss or lack, I go to Him and He provides wisdom for the next step. He assures me that He is my supply, and urges me to look away from the foreboding circumstance and keep my focus on Him.

 

When the enemy attacks with sickness, my Father urges me to stand my ground on His word and never cower or back down. He and His Word are one. He sent His Word and it heals me, and delivers me from my destructions.

  

When a friend turns his back on me and forsakes the relationship we’ve had, My Father takes me in His arms and comforts me. He shows me that though others may fail me and bring disappointment, He is a safe place for my emotions and my thoughts.

My Father has proved His love for me over and over again. When I get involved with something that would eventually bring me pain, harm, or hurt, He pulls me aside and talks to me about it. And then He shows me the proper way to deal with the issue.

 

He shows me when my motives are wrong, and allows me to pour my heart out to Him about it. He never threatens or loses patience with me. He calmly listens, then I can He His soft voice beckon me to obedience.

He always leads me towards peace. He is the tenderest person I have ever met. I feel safer with Him than with any person I have ever known. I often wonder what it will be like to actually meet Him for the first time face to face. In my mind, I see myself just melting to the ground in awe of Him. Then I see Him pick me up and hold me to Himself as He brushes away insecurity and self-consciousness. I see Him infusing me with His own nature through and through, finally releasing my soul from every trace of debris from my past. He looks away and points into the future. There I see the ages to come, where in eternity I experience what it means for mortality to be swallowed up by life.

  

So that for all future time He could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7 – NCV).

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed (1 Corinthians 2:9 – Amplified).

 

 

Praying In The Spirit (Tongues) Brings Rest and Refreshing To The Believer

Praying in the spirit or in other tongues is a gift that accompanies the baptism with the Holy Spirit. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God (Acts 10:44-46). Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied (Acts 19:6).

It is the will of God that every believer has the ability to pray in the spirit.  I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification (1 Corinthians 14:5).

With the Holy Spirit baptism comes a greater degree of the presence of God in your life. And by praying in the spirit, there comes a deeper intimacy with Him.

 

Isaiah 28:11-12 reads: For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," and, This is the refreshing...Talking to the Father from your human spirit brings rest and refreshing! It’s a wonderful thing to be able to sit quietly in His presence and pray from your spirit. In this way intimacy with the Father is available to you twenty four hours a day anywhere in the world! During times of difficulty and emotional and mental turmoil, you can turn to your Father and pour your heart out to Him in words that He alone understands.

 

There’s just something about being totally real with someone that releases stress from your life. When you’re involved in challenges all around, praying in the spirit can take you to that place of solace where the Father can minister His rest and peace to your spirit!

 

As you work today you can quietly pray in the spirit and commune with the Father under your breath. As you shop, or as you mow the lawn, or whatever you do, you can enjoyed uninterrupted communion with the Father of spirits . Take advantage of this “closet experience” throughout the day and you’ll find renewed strength for the task at hand.

He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak (Isaiah 40:29). Praying in the spirit will enable you to wait on the Lord through your busy day today. Take advantage of it!

Praying In Tongues Increases Spiritual Sensitivity!

As I mentioned in my last post, the Baptism with the Holy Spirit enhances your ability to connect spiritually with the Lord. Let me go into more detail on what I mean.

 

When I pray in the spirit, my human spirit is talking to the Lord without the involvement of my mind. This direct spiritual connection to the Lord is so vital to effective prayer, for it enables you to pray the perfect will of God over a person or situation. It’s make prayer limitless!

 

But another part of this is that when I pray in the spirit, it helps me to tune into the voice of God in my human spirit. Notice again 1 Corinthians 14:14 (Amplified): For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit by the Holy Spirit within me prays, but my mind is unproductive; it bears no fruit and helps nobody. You see the Holy Spirit is in my spirit. That’s where He contacts me. His first contact with my human person is not with my mind, but with my spirit. And praying in tongues regularly helps me stay sensitive to my human spirit. And since the Holy Spirit is in my spirit, I become sensitive to Him too by praying in tongues.

Here another interesting tidbit about praying in tongues. It also helps me sort out the will of God in general for my life as well as the details of daily choices. 1 Corinthians 2: 9 (J.B. Phillips) reads: For who could really understand a man’s inmost thoughts except the spirit of man himself. How much less could anyone understand the thoughts of God except the very Spirit of God. God’s Word Translation of this verse reads: After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit. My spirit intuitively knows things that my mind does not know, because the Holy Spirit is in my spirit. So praying in tongues helps me tap into the wisdom of God for life’s particulars.

 

1 Corinthians 14:13 tells us to ask for the interpretation of what we need to know when we pray in the spirit. Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. So I regularly remind the Lord that I want to know what I’m praying about when I’m praying in tongues when He desires to tell me.

 

Back in November of 1993 I was praying in tongues one morning and thinking about what the Lord wanted me to do in my future. At the time I was pastoring a church for a pastor while he took a year away to start a church in another country. His time to come back to his church was approaching and I was wondering what the Lord had for me. After I finished praying in tongues for an hour, the words already existing church just seemed to float up to my mind from somewhere. I knew this came from my spirit and that the Lord was talking to me about my future after this pastor came back.

I kept this phrase already existing church in my heart for six months and it evolved into you will go to pastor an already existing church. And that already existing church is where I having been pastoring for over 20 years! How did this come about? It happened because I took time to pray in the spirit and ask the Lord to let me know when He wanted to about what I was saying when I prayed in tongues.

Don’t underestimate the value of praying in tongues. Making it a daily practice will tune your spirit to hear the voice of God more clearly. And if you keep it up, then one day your future and God’s plan for your life will l blend into one!

Let's Talk About Praying In Tongues

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20).

 

One of the great benefits of receiving the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the ability that comes with the experience to pray in tongues or pray in the Spirit. Praying in tongues is God’s method of bypassing the human mind in prayer and allowing spirit to Spirit communion with God.

Some people would lead you to think that there is little value in praying in tongues. But let me ask you a question; is there any value in talking to God? 1 Corinthians 14:2(Amplified) reveals: For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the Holy Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding.

Praying in tongues provides a way for the believer to talk to the Father about things he would otherwise know nothing about.

 

I pray with my mind throughout my day in English. But I also take time throughout the day to pray in tongues. When I exhaust my limited understanding of how to pray for a person or situation, I tell the Lord that I’m going to pray about that in tongues so that I cover anything that my mind didn’t know about the situation.

Notice Romans 8:26-27: Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (this is a reference to praying in the spirit or in tongues). Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Praying in the Spirit or in tongues provides a way to pray the perfect prayer!

Praying in tongues will build you up or edify you spiritually. 1 Corinthians 14:4 reads:

He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

The word to edify in the Greek means to build up. A car battery is built up by the alternator while the car engine is running so that it has energy for the next time you need to start your car! Praying in tongues provides similar spiritual edification or building up. I pray in tongues for a couple of hours before I minister the word because it produces the necessary spiritual building up I need before I preach. I get up every morning and pray in the spirit to build myself up spiritually for the day.

 

Some people question the validity of praying in tongues, saying that it is an emotional experience that produces no fruit. I say that a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument! I’ve benefitted so much over the years that it’s a mute point to discuss with those who don’t or won’t believe in this experience. My life has been dramatically altered for the better as a result of praying in tongues every day!

I’ll talk about this awesome experience more next time. Take time today to pray in the spirit!