Weapons of Warfare

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2 Corinthians 10:3-5

“For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds.  We tear down arguments  5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.”

2 Timothy 2:23-25

But reject foolish and ignorant controversies, because you know they breed infighting.  24 And the Lord’s slave must not engage in heated disputes but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient,  25 correcting opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance and then knowledge of the truth.

2 Corinthians 10:4

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”

Isaiah 54:17

“No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed; you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you. This is what the LORD will do for his servants–I will vindicate them,” says the LORD.”

It is difficult to live in this body of flesh and live for the LORD.  Fatigue and worldliness creep in easily if we are not watchful. Sometimes I can be lulled into a false perspective that being Christian is to be “nice” and flexible, tolerant of everyone and everything.  I can become disillusioned when I think salvation is equated to being loved by all and living a trouble-free life.

While we are called to love everyone, that does not mean we should expect reciprocation.  It also does not mean that we ought to condone sinful lifestyles or give in to the philosophies of this world.  Paul, who had previously zealously persecuted Christians, was a fighter.  He knew that to be faithful to God meant to be vigilant with our thoughts, faithful to seek God and spread His word.  He recognized that this Christian walk is a battle and he armed himself for the task at hand.

But we all do not have personalities like Paul.  I confess that I am naturally a shy person and a peacemaker.  I would rather avoid conflict, but sometimes it is necessary.  On one hand, I will not seek it out and waste energy on controversial arguments, but on the other hand, I want to be ready at all times to give an answer when someone is truly seeking.

Timothy strikes me as a more gentle soul, wanting to shepherd those around him, but equally as faithful to disseminate the word of God.  I love his heart to keep what really matters in perspective – winning one precious soul with gentle correction. It wasn’t about being right, but about caring for the other person enough to be unpopular with them while the truth was lovingly shared.

We have all perhaps seen hostile arguments over faith and even tearing down of fellow believers because their style or personality was different.  We might have even done so ourselves.  These are not the weapons we are to use as believers. Pride and vanity can cloud our view and cause us to see things from a merely human point-of-view, but love can clear the fog.  Not the world’s definition of love, but God’s Agape, unconditional love, which speaks the truth completely in love.

Boldness from God consumes me and causes me to see my need of God and to fulfill the calling He has on my life.  I just want to be faithful.  Sometimes we can be about the work of God and suddenly find ourselves under attack.  (Which, by the way, should not surprise us, but being that my short term memory is lessened a great deal, I am surprised every time).

Even fellow believers can nip at our heels and judge the work we are doing in the LORD.  What weapons should be use in our arsenal?  Prayer.  Forgiveness.  Love.  When persecution or judgments arise, they are opportunities to walk after the Spirit and not the flesh; to cry out to God, not man; to read His Word and apply it in our lives.

The stumbling blocks of fear and self-preservation can inhibit us from using the weapons God prescribes for use in spiritual battle and from trusting in God to fight for us.  He is our Deliverer and able to accomplish far more than we ever could with our human tools.  His weapons are not of this world and the battles we face are not, either.

Lord, thank you for being our Defender.  Help us to recognize that every we battle we face in this life is a spiritual encounter, not a physical, fleshly one.  You have overcome all!  Help us to use the weapons You have given us, that many will be saved and healed.

Thoughtful Thursday: What It Means To Follow Jesus

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Job 23:8-12

“If I go to the east, he is not there, and to the west, yet I do not perceive him. In the north when he is at work, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I see no trace of him. But he knows the pathway that I take; if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion.”

1 Corinthians 11:1-2

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” 

John 10:27

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

1 Peter 2:21 

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”

Job says he does not see God, nor what He is doing – yet he has followed Him closely.  How is that?  How are we to follow Jesus when our experience of Him has been in faith?  Job understands – He followed God before Jesus came.  We follow God after Jesus came.  Both are in faith.  We were not there when He rose from the dead, nor when He walked among man, yet today we can hear His voice and follow Him.

His voice might not be audible to others around us, but to our souls it is clear.  God speaks to us directly to our spirit, through other people and through His word.  Sometimes it is when we least expect it and other times when we are seeking Him it seems hard to hear anything at all.  In either time, it is our will that is set to do God’s will that makes all of the difference.  When God seems silent, like Job, we can admit that we do not see His activity, but trust that He sees us completely.  Job obeyed God and he treasured His word, even when the chips were down.  That is what it means to follow God.

As a parent, I hope more than anything that my children will see that my love for God is genuine.  How will this be evident to them, that I am a follower of Jesus?  They see me seeking Him daily, but they also need to see the hands and feet of Jesus, lived out in me.  They need to see integrity and selflessness, they need to see character.  These attributes cannot be faked or put on – that would be religion – they become part of us the more time that we spend with Jesus.

When troubles come as they did for Job, people need to see in us that we are not a sunshine follower, but a follower and believer in God in all times of life.  Following Jesus includes following Him into dark valleys, trusting that He will use those places of suffering for our good.  He was acquainted with persecution and hardship, in fact He chose to walk that path.  We who follow Him must be willing to follow in all aspects of life.  When we are afraid to follow, we can ask him to give us courage and strength to do so.  Our following might not look perfect, but that is where a true follower acknowledges their faults and glorifies our perfect God in those moments.

Seeking to honor God with our lives and letting others see Him through us is our goal, but we are often wandering off the path and do not perceive it.  I am so grateful that God sees it all – His Holy Spirit reveals when we are off track and need reminders.  If we listen to that inner voice and choose to obey rather than just go our own way and rationalize, there is the sweetest peace and fellowship with God that beats by far following our own way.

Lord, help our lives to be hidden in You.  May our relationship with You inspires those who come behind us to know You, worship You and seek You fervently.  Your way is perfect – help us to follow You even when we do not understand.  

If the words of this blog have ministered to you, perhaps the songs I have written will, too.  Learn more at: http://www.pledgemusic.com/seeingdeep.  Thank you and God bless you!

Conviction’s Conviction

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Romans 14:3-6; 12-13, 23

3 The one who eats everything must not despise the one who does not, and the one who abstains must not judge the one who eats everything, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.  5 One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day does it for the Lord. The one who eats, eats for the Lord because he gives thanks to God, and the one who abstains from eating abstains for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.  12 Therefore, each of us will give an account of himself to God. 13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. 23 But the man who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not do so from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.

When I was first saved twenty-six years ago, one of the first things the LORD convicted me of was that I was not going to celebrate the pagan holidays of our culture.  I was to come out and be separate.  Little did I know at that time how much persecution I would get for such a small decision that truly was only intended to impact me.  Similar convictions that I have held have included abstaining from alcohol, home education, monitoring media, parenting decisions and dressing modestly. Definitely swam against the current of mainstream in some of my decisions, but fully convinced in my mind about them.

I have also been on the other end where friends have had convictions that I have not had and I respected them for it. Some convictions are spelled out in Scripture for all believers while others are very personal, given by the Holy Spirit to individuals. When you set out to do something different than you have done before, even though it is between you and the LORD, it can make others around you very uncomfortable.  I am a peacemaker by nature, so I never wanted anyone to feel uncomfortable around me, but realized in time that it was something I had to trust the LORD with.

I was baffled why people would become angry at times when I chose silently to abstain from wine, for instance.  Unkind comments and judgment abounded and I had not said a word.  I realized then that my personal conviction was convicting another.  I had not judged the other person’s decision to imbibe their choice of alcoholic beverage, but they were judging mine to refrain.  Why?

Ultimately, we all want to believe we are “ok”; taken to an extreme, we want others to respect us for our life’s decisions. Heaven forbid that we would make a mistake.  The thing is, we all do.  Somehow, when another person is walking before God in a perceived more “orthodox” manner, the natural fleshly response is to judge that person as if they are weakened by legalism.  Ironically,the judgment given causes us to sin.  We can begin to dumb down convictions because they are uncomfortable and think that judging those with convictions we do not have will make us feel better, but it does not. Likewise, the one with a personal conviction can begin to become self righteous in that conviction and it can become sin, as well.

Over time, some of the earlier convictions we held might change.  I had such an occasion last summer.  Surrounded by neighbors who all might have interpreted my abstaining from alcohol as religiosity, I was taken aback by a stirring in my soul to take a couple of sips – to be relateable in that circumstance.  Far removed from the college party scene where peer pressure and alcohol were a temptation, this moment I was more effective to partake.  For those of you wondering, no, I have not imbibed since then, but I was fully convinced in my mind with my decision in that moment.  You see, I do not want to be legalistic about my convictions, either.  Much like a missionary eats what is put in front of them in a different culture, my desire was that they would not feel judgment, but love and acceptance from me in that moment.

Iron sharpens iron.  If we ever grow comfortable enough in our faith to think we have arrived or have more freedom than others, God help us.  Our freedom in Christ came at a high price – not so we could indulge in worldliness, but so we could be free from it.  We need to ask God how we are to walk before Him.  John the Baptist’s convictions were different than Jesus’, but both were obedient to God.  We can learn from one another’s convictions and encourage one another to draw nearer to God.  The conviction itself is not to be worshiped – but a tool to guide us to be faithful to our Savior.  We are not meant to be cookie cutter believers, but to have an intimate walk with God who knows us best and knows our weaknesses and strengths.  He knows what we need to avoid and what we need to cling to, and we answer to Him alone.

Christmas Countdown day 5: Peace

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Luke 2:13-14

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Fridays are my busiest days of the week, so finding time to blog is very difficult, but I hate to break the Christmas countdown! So here it is, 10 minutes before midnight and I have had this thought on my head all day: peace.  Tumult, troubles and protests are breaking out in multiple cities across our country and zealots threaten to wipe Jewish and Christian folk alike off the face of the earth.  How can I say peace?  Because He said it.

A serene scene by a still lake; a porch swing overlooking a sunny day; children laughing and playing, snow quietly falling on tree limbs.  An elderly couple walking hand in hand.  All of these images evoke the idea of peace to me.  But stones create ripples in the water, sunny days give way to wilder weather, snow melts and we all eventually fade away.  Peace is not lasting as prescribed by the world, anyway.

But we who have accepted the free gift of Jesus can have peace – not as the world gives, but as God can give.  A peace that brings a security and a hope, which are not dependent upon circumstances or emotions. Busy times, hard times, Christmas preparations, hardship, persecution – none of these things can rob us of peace unless we let them.  Right now, where you are at, quiet your mind and heart and focus on what Christ came to bring – peace to our souls.

From the time he came as a baby, peacefully in the midst of chaos, to His ultimate sacrifice on the cross, Christ accomplished peace with God.  Not perfect comfort on this earth, but complete peace.  Many will cry out for peace in this world, thinking that a leader or a country could bring lasting peace, but they will never achieve it.  True peace is only found in a relationship with God.  Search for peace, and you will not find it, but search for God and you will find peace.

Peace to you all this Christmas season.

Lord, quiet our souls and help us to rest in You at all times.