Keep Your Armor On!

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:10-18).

The opposition you face today does not have its’ origin in people or circumstances. It began with demonic forces seeking to trip you up. They want you to wallow in unbelief, fear, anger, self pity, selfishness, impurity, poverty, and the list goes on and on. They want to separate you from the Word and from the tenderness of the Spirit of God. Their goal is the downfall of the kingdom of God, and your failure.

The good news is they are already defeated! And it is our job as believers to demonstrate their defeat in our daily life and lifestyle. Every time you conquer fear, unbelief, anger, self pity, selfishness, etc, you show God’s power through the Word and through Jesus’ sacrifice for you!

We don’t take our armor off when we go to sleep at night! We wear it to bed! We are always on alert, ever watching lest the enemy to trip us up. We have the girdle of truth on our waist. Just as a belt holds your pants snug, the Word keeps the armor of God in place in your life.

The breastplate of righteousness guards your heart from condemnation and inferiority so that you are free to constant go into the presence of God with your needs and with your faith.

On your feet are the shoes of the gospel of peace. In every situation in life today, the Word is your guide. You don’t go anywhere that the Word doesn’t go.

The shield of faith is held in front of you and stops every attack of Satan dead in its tracks! You walk by faith, not feelings. You believe you receive from the Father in every area of life, and you never let down your shield in unbelief!

The helmet of salvation keeps your mind protected with the Word. Mind renewal is a lifelong process with you. Every thought that comes is processed through the filter of true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, positive, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). Every thought is submitted to the Lordship of the Word!

The sword of the Spirit is the Word spoken out of your mouth. You recognize the spiritual force behind the words that you speak, and you speak the Word over and in every circumstance.

This armor creates a powerful prayer life in you as a believer, and demonic forces turn and run when they see you coming. Keep your armor on at all time. You don’t fight against flesh and blood!

George Washington's Proclamation

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen for His inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. No king is saved by the multitude of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as we hope in You (Psalm 33.12-22).

We enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with our children and some wonderful folk from our congregation. Today, we’ll be in SC visiting our parents.

The following is George Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation from 1789. We need leaders today that will humble themselves before God in this way:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Thank you Lord

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies (Psalm 107:1-2)

Take some time today to reflect on your life, and in a heartfelt way thank God for His blessings. I turned 50 year old this year, and if you look at the list of folk I hung out with in my teen years, I simply should not have had a positive life. Thankfully through the prayers of my mother, God intervened.

My best friend from my childhood committed suicide in his late thirties. Another friend was imprisoned for selling cocaine. Another committed murder. Yet another committed suicide. And I really don’t think I would be alive today without God, bottom line.

I can take no credit for anything the Father uses me to do. For without Him, I am absolutely worthless. Outside of Jesus, I am a crude, selfish, arrogant bag of wind! But thank God, in Him I am a brand new person! My identity in life is wrapped up in Him. I am hidden with Christ in God! What I was has disappeared. Jesus Christ made me a new creature. The old things left, and He replaced all my mess with Himself. I diligently seek Him today and everyday, because I dare not look back to what I was.

The truth for all of us is that if you cease to walk in the light, darkness will fill the void. I cannot and will never look back. What I was will never be again, by God’s grace. I have family friends, a beautiful wife, wonderful children, a church full of some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. All because of Jesus Christ. All because of His great sacrifice for me.

Lord, thank you for your great and tender mercy on me. Thank you for not giving me what I deserve in life. Thank you for your grace that has taken my mess, wiped it away, and replaced it with your abundant and merciful blessing. All that I am, all that I have, all that I will ever be is in your hands. With all of my heart Lord, thank you for placing your hand on my life. Let me never take you and your blessing for granted.

A Nation in Peril

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths (2 Timothy 4:1-4- New Living Translation).

As we prepare for Thanksgiving, my heart is breaking for my nation. I am a US citizen. I love America. But I feel that I am now witnessing the slow and steady dissolution of my nation. Our nation was founded on the principles of self-government under the moral laws of God. Without moral law ruling civil society, breakdown occurs. And our culture is throwing morality to the wind.

The responsibility for what happens to our nation sits at the feel of the church. We the church are responsible to preach the Word of God in season and out of season. We are responsible to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Sound doctrine has in many church circles been replaced by itching ears preaching that is light on reproving sin and heavy on expounding on blessing.

As a believer, you and I are standard bearers in our community and circles of influence. Demon spirits tout politically correct speech so as to offend no one. Political correctness voids the truth of scripture. Our God given responsibility is to be SALT and LIGHT. Our goal should not primarily be to be accepted by people but to love them and by example show them the way to our Father God through His Son the Lord Jesus. Love stands for what is right and exposes darkness.

Let me say this again. The responsibility for the ills of our nation falls at the feet of the church. The ONLY answer to current problems is repentance and earnest prayer. Current problems are spiritual in nature and their answers are spiritual in scope.

Take time today in your personal prayer life to call on God the Father on behalf of our beloved nation. Confess your own sins and the sins of your nation before Him asking for His mercy.

Judgment is looming on the horizon of time. Prayer brings God’s mercy and justice on the scene. Let’s ask Him for revival in hearts and spiritual renewal in our nation. It is our nation’s only hope.

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14). Are we doing this?

Your Life Partner

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).

Paul encouraged the believers to experience God’s grace, to walk in love, and to walk in harmony with the Holy Spirit. The word communion in this verse is the word koinonia and according to Kenneth Wuest's Studies in the Greek New Testament koinonia means a joint participation, a belonging in common to, a partnership, an association, an intercourse, a sharing, a relationship between two individuals which involves a common interest, and a mutual active participation in that interest, and in each other.

The Holy Spirit wants to be our partner in life. He dwells in us and has an ambition to make Jesus real to us so that we can grow to be like Him! The Holy Spirit also has a strong ambition to use us to bless others.

For us to experience this communion, this koinonia with the Holy Spirit, we must be on the same page in our lives that He is! We must ask ourselves; do I have a major ambition in life to be like Jesus? Do I want to change? Am I pursuing the goal of changing things in me that are unlike Jesus? Am I asking the Lord to make me a blessing to others? Am I open each day to be a conduit for God’s love? Am I actively seeking to hear the Holy Spirit and be used by Him to minister to those around me?

To be a partner with the Holy Spirit, you must fall in love with the Word of God! He is the Spirit of Truth. The more you involve yourself with the Word by reading and meditation, the more the Holy Spirit will witness to your own spirit. If you’ll decide and purpose to be a doer of the Word, the Holy Spirit will begin to show you many things about your life and will begin to manifest in you the nature of the Son of God.

Once you choose to follow this path in life, joy that you have never known will engulf you. But for this to happen, you must give yourself away to your partner, the Holy Spirit.

I want to leave you today with a quote from Kenneth Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, volume III. Here he quotes a man by the name of G.D. Watson who obviously came to know the Holy Spirit very well:

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle. Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven.
(from Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament, Copyright 1940-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Copyrights © renewed 1968-73 by Jeannette I. Wuest. All rights reserved.)

Don't be Stubborn

If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up hid cross and follow me (Mark 8:34 – Phillips Translation).

In my message yesterday I mentioned that we must be willing to give ourselves and our willpower over to the rule of the Holy Spirit. We are the custodians of our will. Our will is a sacred thing that God will not overpower. The Holy Spirit has the ability to aid us in every department of life, but He waits for us to yield our will to Him. If we don’t, carnality will reign.

The largest challenge in any believer’s life is yielding their will to God and His Word. We so want our own way!

In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul was commanded by God to totally kill the Amalekites because of their wickedness and dealings with the Israelites in the past. Instead of doing exactly what God said, King Saul spared the best sheep and cattle to sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord, and he kept the Amalekite King Agag alive.

The prophet Samuel came to King Saul and made some very sobering statements when he found that Saul has deliberately disobeyed God in his stubbornness: So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22).

The Samuel said something that applies to us today if we choose to stubbornly and willfully disobey God: Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols (1 Sam 15:23- NLT).

When we choose to stubbornly go the way of the flesh when the Lord is clearly dealing with us to avoid it, and when we know what the Word says to the contrary of our premeditated action, then we are actually opening up a door for demonic intrusion into our lives! And that can bring deception that will callous and blind us to God and His ways.

This is happening all the time in our day. I’ve been walking with Jesus now for over 32 years, and I’ve watched as friends and associates over the years have chosen their own stubborn way instead of the way of God’s Word and will. There seemed to be no repercussions initially. But over a period of time, their calloused heart drew them away from God, and into one calamity or another. Life was never the same for them.

If their remains in you a stubbornness that must have its own way at the expense of God’s will, now is the time to deal with it before its costs you dearly. Go back and read the whole of 1 Samuel 15, and learn the sober lessons of King Saul. Disobedience and stubbornness will bring ruin.

As Michael Brown says: Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay! Yield you will to Jesus and ask Him to deliver you from willful disobedience!

A Yielded Will

The only thing that stands between the Christian and obedience to the Father is that believer’s will. Jesus cleanses us from sin in the New Birth. Then the soul and body must then be submitted to the Lordship of Jesus through the Word. The body has been trained to yield to certain appetites and desires that if partaken of after the New Birth, will break their fellowship with the great Father God. The body must be controlled. The mind has been filled with ideas and beliefs that are contrary to the plan and purpose of the Father. The mind must be renewed. The emotions have been trained to yield to the carnal and selfish appetites.The emotions must be submitted to the Born Again human spirit. And the human will has been accustomed to yielding to call of the body and of the un-renewed mind. This unharnessed will must be submitted daily to Jesus and His Lordship.

Jesus addresses the will of the believer in every Gospel, appealing to us to yield ourselves willingly to God and His plans. Listen to His strong appeals:

Don't think I've come to make life cozy. I've come to cut — (35) make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law — cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. (36) Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. (37) If you prefer father or mother over me, you don't deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don't deserve me. (38) "If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. (39) If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me (Matthew 10:34-39 – The Message). Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. (25) If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it (Matthew 16:24-25 NLT). If anyone wants to follow in my footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, take up hid cross and follow me (Mark 8:34 – Phillips Translation). Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters — yes, even one's own self! — can't be my disciple. (27) Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple …(33) Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple (Luke 14:26-27, 33 – The Message).

All of us must be willing to yield our thoughts, plans, and ideas to the Word of God and to Jesus the living Word! If we fail to do this, we will miss God’s highest and best and open an avenue for Satan to work in our lives. Tomorrow I will give you an illustration of this in the life of King Saul.

Take time today to recommit your will to Him who loved you and gave Himself completely for you.