Sin Does Not Have to Control Us

    When a pastor or leader falls, the message of the gospel gets mocked, stomped on, and ridiculed, but who is at fault?  God? The Word of God? NO!  Satan loves nothing more than to undermine the effects of the gospel in  our lives and man after man fall prey to Satan's tactics because their guard was not fully enacted.
    We must, as children of God, lift our guards against the devil at all times an not let them down.  We must dwell on good things, right things and honest things.  We must dwell on the character of God, and the character of God will become a part of our life.  God wants us to live , and He has given us the strength to live above reproach.  Let us lay hold of our salvation and live in the truth and righteousness of God!

What Is Life?

1.     What is life and where does it come from?
2.     Who is responsible for protecting it?
3.     Who determines the quality of life?
4.     Is there such a thing as a poor quality of life?
5.     What makes life in mankind unique?

    The "germ" of life is programmed into the various elements of creation which include physical elements and the elements of the laws of that God has set up to sustain life.

    Evolutionary scientists have yet to understand what life is.  They are coming to research with a skewed view on the origin of life, therefore, they can not understand it.  Life has been dubbed as the "germ" that evades being found out, but does it really evade them or are they just blind to the truth because their skewed view?

    These evolutionary scientists think that if they were to take two atoms and smash them at high rates of speed, life would emerge.  There is even talk of a "god particle" that they need to find to complete this experiment.

Let Us Look At Where Life Began

• Genesis 1

    God created the earth and it appeared empty and mysterious.  This was before life as we know it entered the equation.

    "The Spirit Of God moved upon the face of the waters".  The beginning of Life is a direct result of being energized by the Creator.  He has endowed part of who He is to His creation giving it life.

    We could talk about the significance of life in animals, birds, and the rest of creation, but I want to focus on the significance of life in mankind.

• Genesis 1:26-27
• Genesis 2:7

    As God created mankind He needed to breathe into man's being to bring him to life.  A lot went on in that episode that we can only begin to understand.

    God, when He breathes on something, makes it become alive because He imparts His living self to the object.  In this case, however, God puts part of His Spirit within man as a means of setting up mankind as a spiritual, relational, emotional as well as physical being.  These are all characteristics of God that He imparted to mankind on that initial encounter.

    The key aspects to human life are:

1. Spiritual (a never dying soul)
2. Relational (able to correspond and show you care)
3. Emotional (able to laugh or cry)
4. Physical (we have a body that allows our spirit that is alive to move and physically serve others)
5. We are able to rationalize (think)
6. able to build things that have not yet existed
7. We have the capability of blessing or cursing others.

    There may be many more aspects to human life but this gives an idea of how unique we are in the creation of the world.

Who is responsible for Protecting Life?

• Genesis 4:9

    While the sacredness of human life was established at creation, very soon afterward man chose to disregard life, even if it was the life of his brother.  Cain killed his brother Abel and tried to cover up by asking whether he had to know where his brother was.

    Cain as a murderer that was unrepentant was driven from the presence of all other humans with the exception of his wife.  It is evident that God values life and will not allow murderers to go on killing/ destroying life that God specifically imparted to the individual.

• Genesis 9:5,6

    Mankind had become so debased that God sent a global flood to get rid of the debauchery, the murders, the infamous men who were destroying God's plans.  After this flood, God gave instructions to those who were left, not to allow anything human or animal who had taken a human's life co-exist with mankind.

    God has given the responsibility of protecting life, whether adult, child/ unborn baby to the fellow humans that populate this sphere.  Inasmuch as they are alive, they have been imparted with the very character of God and carry His seal upon their life.

Who determines the quality of life?

    There is a lot of talk these days about the quality of life, but I raise the question, Is there anything such as a poor quality of Life?  The fact that God has imparted His life to us as His creation should speak for itself.  We may be physically or mentally impaired but the quality of life never changes.  God does not withhold His life from anyone nor does He desire that anyone should suffer alone. 

    God has given life and He alone determines whether life as we know it should cease.  We as humans have no business interfering with God's plan for life and must recognize that life does not end with death.  Life is eternal and the carriage for the spirit gets transferred.  Pain does not end with physical death so suicide will not alleviate your pain.

    Suicide is always sin... it is nothing else than a disbelief in the grace of God to be with you in what you are going through that is carried out in murdering yourself.  God may be asking you to go through a hard time so you bring Him Glory through it.  If what you are going through is His will, and it is, then to step out to avoid it is to step out of His will.

• Ecclesiastes 7:17

    Do not take your life in your own hands, to do so is to set yourself up as God.

Life In The New Birth

• John 1:11-13
• John 3:1-8

    To deepen the mystery of life, God has called each one of us to partake in eternal life.  Our souls and spirits were made for eternity, but to experience it to its fullest we must make choices that are conducive to the favored eternal destination.

    When a person is born of God, his spirit is conceived of the Holy Spirit producing a spirit that will change the behavior of the soul and body.  To be born of God is to have God impart yet a bigger part of Himself to you, making you completely alive.

    To turn your back on Christ in you is to commit spiritual suicide and to commit spiritual suicide is to desecrate the life of God within you.

    When we have been born of the Spirit of God, our desires will be different.  We will desire to continue to partake in the goodness of God, fashioning our lives after the likeness of Christ.  Our desire to serve our flesh will be diminished as we become more like Jesus.

May God Bless you with a full life as you live in the Spirit.

The Invitation

God has given each one of us an invitation. “Come Ye Let us reason together”

What does it mean?
In our fallen state, God desires fellowship with each one of us and invites us to fellowship while determining that we are indeed fallen and that we need Him to escape the last death (hell). No other religion has a god that seeks out people for worship of itself. No other god offers himself as a means of connecting with mankind, but rather requires that mankind comes crawling to him. All other religions are about pummeling its subjects into submission while the True God gives mankind the power to meet His demands.

 
Sin that is as scarlet is very visible yet God promises that He would provide a way to cleans it as white as snow. In other places in the Bible, God promises to remove it as far as the east is from the west. God is Merciful and wants us to have complete victory over our sin and willingly removes any power the sin had over us.

 
Who receives it?
John 3:16
The entire world is to receive this invitation and God speaks this invitation through His people and His creation. The entire universe including the stars speak of this invitation. “God is not willing that any should perish, but have everlasting life.”(2 Peter 3:9) God knocks at the door of our heart waiting for us to heed His invitation. (Revelation 3:20) 

Who resists it?
Romans Chapter 1
The people who are lifted up in pride, think they are self sufficient and are constantly looking for a way to put God down or out of the picture.

Who accepts the invitation?
John 1:12
Those who are willing to put their trust in Jesus Christ are the ones who accept the invitation.

What is in it for those who accept it?
John 1:12
John 3:16

God gives them power to be His children and eternal life in a home in Heaven.

What is in store for those who refuse it?
Revelation 20:14,15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Hell or the second death is in store for those who refuse the gift of the invitation.

The Foundation

    When there is no fear of God it will result in major compromise and disregarding of the Word Of God causing then a dissolution of trust and dependence on God.

    -Psalm 86:11-  David gives a desperate plea, he is desperate to know the way of God.  He makes the statement that once he knows the way of God; he would walk in that truth.  This would be similar to wrapping it around him like a belt.  David notices next that his heart is divided.  He wants to follow God but yet his flesh stands up. This reminds me of (Romans 7:15,23,24).
    The temple of Apollo at Didyma took 800 years to build and one column took 57 years.  The vision, the devotion it took for the various men to band together and unite just to hear a word from their god is incredible.  The ones who started it did not see the plan realized but rather would have spent their entire life carving/ building one column from stone.
    -Psalm 119:105- Proverbs 6:23- Hebrews 4:12- The flame of the lamp is alive spreading enough light for the next step.  A key point is that the lamp must have clean oil in it to make the clearest possible light.  Often we refer to the Holy Spirit as oil and when inside a clean vessel will illumine the path or way directly.  The Holy Spirit, who is alive, has brought to us the Word Of God or Jesus Christ revealed (the Light of the world), and will dispel all darkness from before the man, woman, or child who avails themselves to this spiritual light.
    -Psalm 19:7-11- The law of God is perfect to the point it will regenerate or make new the sin worn soul.  The magnificence of creation shows us our woeful state before an Almighty God.  When God's glory is declared, mankind is pointed to Him.  God's instruction makes the simple wise by showing them the plan of salvation.  We are taught through this instruction, we are corrected and trained to live in righteousness.  All this is done so we as children of God can be perfect in the righteousness of Christ (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
    God in a sense has given us two books that reveal Himself to us:  the Word Of God,  and the pictorial book of the universe.  To a large degree, we see the written word being played out in reality in the pictorial book.
    The Psalmist says "the fear of the Lord is clean".  This insinuates that some fear is not clean but perverts the soul.  Since the fear of the Lord is the only clean fear or the only fear that comes through a purified and rebuilt soul from a transformed mind, it is the only fear to be reckoned with.

• The Law is perfect converting the soul
• The Testimony is Sure Making wise the simple
• The Statutes are Right Rejoicing the heart 
• The Commandments of the Lord are Pure Enlightening the eyes
• The Fear of the Lord Is Clean Enduring Forever
• The Judgments of the Lord are True and are Righteous Altogether
• 
  
• They are more to be desired than silver or gold
• They are sweeter than honey or the honeycomb
• We are warned by it
• And we are rewarded when we keep it.

Worldly Love

Love from the world is not love at all, but is really a selfish, lustful love.  Man can not love at all except the he knows the love of God that cares enough about someone else that he would die for them even if they are his enemies.  The love the world has to offer is all about what can be done to benefit me, but true love that comes from God thinks about the good of the other person.  This works in social relationships as well as the relationship with your spouse.
Love from the world is also jealous, causing people to swell in envy and producing anger, bitterness, and then hate and then ultimately murder when is felt like the rights of the individual have been infringed upon.  Mankind will only love someone else if they feel they can get something out of the relationship unless they know and feel the love of God in their hearts.
John 3:19

Love for God

We love Him because He first loved us.
Our love for God comes after we realized that He loved us enough to die in our place.  We can only love as much as we have been forgiven for our sins. A beautiful picture of love that man can give to God is in Man’s obedience to God’s laws.
We can also show our love to God by becoming intimate with Him.  He wants to spend undivided time with Him so He can share more of Himself with you.  The more intimate we become with God, the more we will become like Him.  
-Brotherly Love
Our willingness to glorify God ( or make Him look good) will result in our unrestrained obedience, praise of His holy name and lifting His name as a banner for the myriads of people who are drifting into the sea of despair.  God’s mission for you here on earth is to be His hands and feet to the many needy around you.
As God’s character of love fills our life, we begin to love in deeper, fuller way; and as our love for God increases the love we have will spill out into other areas such as to mankind.
We cannot choose to ignore loving our fellowman, because God has said that for others to know that we love Him, we would show our love to each other.

Love

-What Is Love?
--Love is the epitome of who God is.  Love is the means by which fear is cast out.  Love covers a multitude of faults.  Love will put others needs before its own.  Love does not get jealous. Love is patient.  Love sorrows over sin.
     Love is a choice, not a feeling.  If love is a feeling then it is not true love, but rather some kind of selfish love that will dissipate when you feel defrauded against.  The kind of love that God  has toward us is “AGAPE”.  This is the purest form of love and is offered without first being loved or having the promise of being loved back.  This is what would cause a man or woman to die for the sake of someone else who had mistreated them so they could find God.  When Jesus Christ came to earth this is exactly what He did for us and as His disciples, he has imparted this love to us so we can pass it on.  This is not the only way that agape love is shown, but is the fullest way.

The Love Of God

7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Romans 1:7 (KJV)

11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. 

2 Cor 13:11 (KJV)

37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; 

Deut 4:37 (KJV)

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 

1 John 4:7-11 (KJV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Gal 5:22-25 (KJV)

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 

1 John 3:16-17 (KJV)

    There is no boundaries on the love of God

-Love for Lost Man

17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. 

Isaiah 38:17 (KJV)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

John 3:16 (KJV)

8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

Romans 5:8 (KJV)

     It is very clear that God loves us individually.  If we can not grasp this, there is no hope for us, because in this and this alone do we have hope for the hereafter.  God is Love, and for this reason, He gave man the ability to choose to fall vs. to serve Him as a robot.  God knew that if man would indeed fall, then He could then show mankind the actual depth of His love.  There really was no other way to show the extreme love that He had to give.  God has a host of angels that serve Him without choice and they will never personally know the depth of His love.  As close as they can get to it is seeing His immense love being poured out on a fallen mankind.

    The Love of God is unmatched by any other love.  He loves you as a Father, Mother, Brother, and Sister.  He cares very deeply for each one of us.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? 

Luke 11:9-13 (KJV)

     God wants the very best for each one of us and will not give us anything less than the best.  This being said, we may not, at the time recognize God’s gifts to us as being the best; but they mold us, and shape us to being all He wants us to be.

Satan's Distractions

Satan’s Distractions

Job 1,2
Acts 16:14-40

Daniel Boone had a town  where he was living and the Indians came to attack it.  Their method of attack was very similar to the way the devil attacks us today.  they took arrows; dipped them in oil, then set them on fire and shot the burning arrows at the fort and houses.  It is very difficult to fight fires and indians both.  The indians used this to be a distraction so the settlers would be hindered from using the entire village against them.
Ephesians 6:16
Satan wants us dead, but not every time he comes against us is he going to end our spiritual lives.  He often sends distractions so we give up ourselves.
     Satan came against Job with various circumstances that could have caused him to lose focus, but Job did not curse God and die.  We too, can be strong in the Lord through any circumstances and every time we come out on top of the trial, our faith will be stronger than before.
Paul was preaching, and healing in Philippi and because what he did offended the devil, the devil then rose up and caused them to be thrown into jail.  Paul and Silas could have gotten discouraged but they did not allow this distraction stop them from praising God.  Their faithfulness to God resulted into at least one more family being saved in that town.
 
Paul felt called by God to go to Macedonia and went specifically to the town named Philippi and stayed there a few days.  the sabbath day came and they went out of the city to the river to pray where the local women would gather.  Paul and Silas began to speak to the women that had gathered there.
A woman named Lydia, who would prepare fancy clothes; and also worshiped God, heard us and god opened her heart to the gospel so she listened closely.  she wanted to become a disciple of  Jesus Christ, and was then baptized in the name of Jesus.  Every one in her entire house became a Christian through the testimony and preaching of Paul and Silas.  She was excited about being hospitable to the and begged them to stay a while with her.
Paul and Silas continued to move toward prayer at the river, but as they continued; they noticed a young slave girl who was filled with an evil spirit that allowed her to tell the future, by which her masters had gotten a lot of money.  She followed them many days, crying out, “These men are servants of the most high God, and will show us the way to salvation”.  Paul was made sad in his spirit seeing her in this way so he said to the spirit “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her”.  The evil spirit had no choice but to leave her that same moment.
The girls masters saw their hope for making money with her was through, they captured Paul and Silas, and took them to court.  They accused them of turning the city upside down, and teaching things that were illegal for Romans to do.  They got a riot started, so the judges had them beaten and thrown into prison.  The judges then ordered the jailer to watch these prisoners under penalty of death if they escape.
This jailer, because he had gotten such sever orders put them into the inner prison, which basically amounted to being a dungeon, and then tied them up in stocks so they couldn't walk around.
Paul and Silas, having been put into this prison, under these circumstances; decided to put their physical circumstances behind them and praise the Lord anyway.  At midnight they sang so loud the other prisoners heard them.  God was using this seemingly bad situation to show the Philippians His power as well as His mercy.  God made an earthquake so powerful that the prison walls shook and the doors all flew open.  Every prisoner’s chains were loosened and all were able to walk about.
The jailer, having seen from the outside, the doors hanging open; and expecting the prisoners had all ran away, pulled out his sword to kill himself.  Paul shouted out to him and said, “Don’t hurt yourself, we are all here”.  The jailer called for a servant to bring him a torch, and fell to his feet before Paul and Silas.
He then brought them out and asked them what he needed to do to become a Christian, because he realized they had something that he didn’t.  He knew that a Supernatural thing had happened and that these men were guided by a power much bigger than most other men were.
They told him “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”.  In that instant, He asked Jesus to come into his heart and was baptized as well as the rest of the people in his house.  He then took Paul and Silas and fed them and washed their wounds.
When morning came, the judges came and said, “Let those men go”.
The jailer came and told Paul and Silas they had been released from prison, and to go in peace.
Paul, upon hearing this said, “We were beaten in public as Roman citizens and then thrown into prison, and now do they just want to throw us out?  Let them come and fetch us out”.
The local law enforcement gave that message to the judges and the judges feared because they had treated Roman citizens in a manner that was not legal.  The judges then came and begged them to leave the city.
Paul and Silas then left the prison and went to stay in the house of Lydia while they encouraged the brothers in Christ.


                                           

Contemporary Worship!?

    What is contemporary worship and is it wrong?  No, it is not wrong.  Now what is it?  Contemporary worship is None other than a worship experience that is current or for the current times.  When something is contemporary it is of the times.  

    Worship that is contemporary is really the only true worship.  It comes from the heart making it current and for the time being expressed.  It is not to be confused with the "contemporary worship" which includes a worship of rock style bands that bring an emotional high.  When our worship comes from the heart, we will have a song on our lips that is a joyful song as well as a deep adoration for our Creator and Savior.  True Contemporary Worship comes when our hearts align with the Holy Spirit and nothing but God honoring worship comes out.

• John 4:24

    We must worship our King in spirit and truth.

Stand Strong Or You Will Be A Servant

    1  Samuel 4:9  “Philistines, be brave and fight hard!  If  you don’t, those Hebrews will rule us, just as we have been ruling them.  Fight hard and don’t be afraid.”  CEV
    1 Corinthians 16:13  “Keep alert.  Be firm in your faith.  Stay brave and strong.  Show love in everything you do.”  CEV

    All across the world, homes are in shambles.  Satan has declared war on the home as he tries to get the leaders (the fathers) focused on other things.  Usually this feeds his self-will or ego.  As fathers we need to Quit, get real, man, and fight for the Lord.
    We are only players in a much bigger picture.  The main character being played out is God and we are like the extras that only show up for a brief part of the show.
    As fathers it is up to us to be there for our families, to shepherd them toward God.  Most of us do not have gentle attributes that come natural to us, but as we get close to God ourselves, we will become more gentle.

    Ephesians 6:4

    We have an obligation as a father to fill our child’s emotional needs.  We need to be sensitive to what makes them work, and treat them in a way that will not make them become angry at us or at God.

We need to become our child’s friend, because friends care about each other.  We also need to be their peer, the one who influences their life.

    Psalm 127:1-5  

    When we allow the Lord to use us as leaders designed by Him, our homes will flourish.  We need to provide for our family, but not become work-a-holics.  Your children need you at home.  God has designed the home to be a safe-haven from the daily battles that wage on the outside.  Are we keeping these battles out?

    Also read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8  

    We are meant to exhibit these characteristics as Christians, and if we actually do, then our family and also the world will be won for the sake of Christ.

    Is the temptation you face too strong?  God does not allow you to be tempted without making strength available to you.  Sometimes it looks like Satan has the upper hand, but he will succeed only if you don’t stop, gird up your loins and fight like a man in the strength of the Lord.

    It will never work for a soldier of the Lord to have weak knees nor will it ever work to fight for truth with your hands hanging down.

    You do not have strength within your self, but God is faithful and willing to give you His strength.  We need to remember this is not our battle but God’s.  He furnishes everything we need.  When we fight under the ALL POWERFUL God we have nothing to fear.

-Resist The Devil-

    When the devil comes with a temptation to us, we need to push back against him with the shield of faith and the sword of the Lord.  Jesus, when He was tempted, quoted Bible verses as a rebuttal to Satan’s efforts.

Praying for our safety and the safety of others against wickedness, is like building a fortress around us.

James 4:7 

-Go For The Giants-

Joshua 14:6-15

The Anakim were giants in the land of Canaan, and Caleb, an 85 year old man wanted their land for his family.  The town of Hebron was located in a strategic location for safety.

When fighting giants or things bigger than ourselves, we need supernatural help.  God has never intended that we face life’s big problems alone.

God has given us Himself and the brotherhood as a means of helping us fight our giants.  When was the last time you helped someone fight their giants?

Joshua prayed that God would help Caleb and his men fight the giants.

    Some giants we face are: discouragement, fear, worry, despair, selfishness; and are all driven by the prince of giants, pride.

     If we let the giants we face penetrate our lives, we will fall into sin.  These giants will lead us to the sin of unbelief.  We need to recognize each giant we are facing and be aggressive toward it.  When the giants rears his ugly head we need to cut it off with the sword of the Lord.  We need to destroy him and his strongholds so he can not antagonize us any longer.

The Armor

    First of all, we look at the belt of truth.
    The truth of God needs to wrapped around us like a belt.  Truth is the very nature of God; it is an absolute fact or idea.  Without God we have no truth and we would be left with a changing untrustworthy world.  We would not know what to expect from nature.
    John 14:6 Jesus said “I am truth”.  The very foundation of the world has been based on truth.  Our daily lives should also be based on truth.
    When we have truth wrapped around us as a belt, all of our dealings will be truthful and honest.
    How do we wrap truth around us?  Dig into the truth, apply it to our life, and live it every day.
John 1:1
Psalm 119:1-16
3 John 4
    The joy that God gives us when we follow His commands is unmatched by any other, and it will only come from doing His will.  We can just obey His commands or we can obey them from the deepest part of our hearts.
    Are we just trying to get by the ensuing death or do you really want to follow God in gratefulness for the escape He provided.
     The truth of God is absolute and can not be changed, so are we going to go along with it or are we going to ignore it.
  Proverbs 23:23
    Too many times we compromise the truth because it doesn't fit into our agenda.  When we do this we are walking in a lie, and God can not bless our spiritual life.  Our agenda needs to be yielded to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
    Moving now to another area, we now will look at the shoes of the gospel of peace.
    Having God as your passion will protect your feet from slipping.  As we stand and wield the word of God  against the devil, we must have our passions in the right place or we will slip and fall.
Isaiah 52:7
Proverbs 16:17
    When our desire for God does not direct our ways, we need to re-ignite the passion.
Proverbs 3:6
Luke 2:14

    The initial birth announcement of Jesus included peace and goodwill to all men.  After Jesus went back to Heaven the only ones left to carry this message are His followers that He left here.  Are we extending God’s peace and goodwill to those around us?

Colossians 3:15,16

    The peace that we extend to others must first come from God, then be real in our own lives and through this peace we will be able to encourage our contemporaries.

John 14:27

    Satan has worked very hard to destroy our message of peace.  In many cases, the peace in our hearts, the peace in our homes, and the peace in our churches either does not exist or there is very 

little of it. Somewhere along the line people have taken off their shoes of peace, maybe even thinking they didn’t need it right then.  I appeal, if this is where you find yourself, put the shoes of the gospel of peace back on; and re-instate a peaceful atmosphere in your life, home, and church.

    The Breastplate of Righteousness is given to us by God as a protection as well.  Righteousness is something we all like to appear to have.  Most of  the time it comes from within ourselves and this merely amounts to dirty clothes that are torn.

Isaiah 64:6

    The implication is very clear that we need a higher grade of righteousness than we can muster up ourselves.

    Jesus Christ has offered us His righteousness, and only His righteousness will do.  The righteousness of Jesus Christ be ours if we allow it to take the place of our sin.  Abraham, in the Old Testament, had faith in God’s promises and because of that; God endowed him with His righteousness, thus making him fit for the kingdom of Heaven

    The example of Abraham, if followed will result in us receiving the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which will in turn for our ungodliness, make us fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. 

    The righteousness of Jesus Christ, will make us lovely to those around us, and they will see that we are different than people in general.  In order to see how the righteousness of Jesus will change us, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which will produce the fruit of the Spirit in our life.  We can take a look at this list in Galatians 5 and see if it has been an all-consuming part of our life.

Philippians 4:8

    Positive thinking will aid you in your defense against Satan.  Jesus had no intentions of us dwelling on the sorrows of life.  We need to look to Jesus as our savior and King all the while seeking to lift our hearts and others in praise to Him which will encourage others who are downcast.  By praising Him I do not necessarily mean singing, but lifting up His name for all. 

                                                                         

          

The Shield of Faith 

    The Roman soldiers had shield that went the entire length of their bodies.  They were able to hide behind them and fight.  The shield we use against the devil can be small yet large enough to work.  It can be easily grown to cover the vulnerable areas.

Luke 17:6

Romans 10:17

    Faith is an invisible shield that is efficient and well able to ward off the darts that Satan throws our way.

    When we hold up our faith as a shield to protect us, nothing can break through that barrier.  The gift of faith is precious and not to be taken lightly, but to be used to further our resolve in Jesus Christ.  We are not forced to take this gift, but rather choose to take it, for without it no one will please God. 

Hebrews 11:6

    Satan can not stand unwavering faith in God and will have to concede defeat, at least for the time-being.

    Our faith in Jesus Christ will result in His righteousness being given to us in place of our own, that we may have a deep relationship with Him.
     The fiery darts that the devil throws our way act as distractions so we end up not truly fighting the real battle of the mind.
     In the days on Daniel Boone the Indians would attack using arrows that were dipped in oil then lit on fire and shot at the buildings inside the fort causing fire to break out, thus they had to fight fires as well as Indians.
This is the same tactic the devil uses today in the battles against us.  Use the shield of faith, it is designed to cover all areas of our life protecting us from the attacks of Satan.

The Helmet of Salvation

    Our conscience is both vulnerable and a protectant for the rest of the areas in our life.  We can not just

rely on our conscience to keep us safe, but must keep it polished and toned by reading the word of God.  Satan loves to mess with this area making it less effective in protecting the rest of our life.

    There are times when we do sin and Satan wants to use these times to further destroy you.  He wants to deceive you and others by causing your conscience to lose feeling.

1 Timothy 4:2

     The power of God to save is able to protect our consciences from becoming dull.  We must keep it firmly on our control panel ( the head of our spiritual lives).

John 10:28,29

Jesus and His Father will not let anyone come and just take any of their sheep, but will hang onto them if the sheep want protection.  If we have allowed the devil to draw us away he will patiently draw us back.

The Sword of Truth

Hebrews 4:12

    The sword of truth is alive.  I picture it as shooting white flames of truth to the enemy.  It is able to swallow those fiery darts that Satan shoots in mid-air.  What happens if we turn a sword like this toward a soldier at our side?  God Forbid, that we would ever use it wrongly.  It is meant for combat with the devil and should remain that way.

Judges 7:20-22

    The power of the sword of the Lord should not be undermined.  When we properly use it, the devil will leave in defeat.  Matthew 4:10,11

Pray for every one

    Praying for yourself and other is often left out of God’s armor, but it is listed along with it, and thus it is important.  It is the method of tuning your armor and other people’s armor as well.  It help to strengthen you and the ones you pray for.

Isaiah 62:6

Prayer and meditating is what keeps all the armor in top shape (like a tune-up).  Being in tune with the Spirit will give direction on how to apply the weapons God has provided.

If we feel that we can’t hear the Holy Spirit speaking, we need to quiet our lives… get rid or fast from the things causing the noise and draw close to God.  This being said, we also need patience.  I have prayed for a few years for something that I now have the answer.

Draw close to God by:

Bible meditation

Prayer

Sacrifice your ambitions

Complete obedience

Love of others

Etc…

We need to use the fruit of the Spirit chart in Galatians 5:22,23  as a thermometer of our walk with God.  We can  always grow spiritually, but if we are missing some of this fruit, then we have work to do.  If the Holy Spirit is not bearing fruit in our lives, something is wrong.  We have a reserved idol that stands in the way of God speaking to you.

The sword of the Lord is meant to be used against the devil, and if we use the sword properly; we will have an open heart.  Our heart will be wide open to allowing the Holy Spirit bear fruit in our lives. 

God's Banner is Love

    Isaiah 60:1-3
    John 19:5,6,15,16,28-36
The banner is not physical, we do not use images in our worship, so what exactly is the banner? 1 John 4:8 God is Love > Love is the very nature of God, without God there is no love.  Jesus showed  us God’s love through His sacrifice on the cross, and that is the foundation of what we are.  The sacrifice of love is also the banner  we raise. Many times as Christians move on in their life, they succumb to the devil’s attacks by looking for another banner to raise.
    Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit so we can effectively keep the banner raised and continue fighting the devil.  Acts 20:28,31
    Joshua 14:6-15; 15:13-15
As people get older they generally lose focus and zeal, but if God is with them, they can conquer the giants.  Faith in God’s power  to save is crucial to moving forward in your Christian life.
Joshua 17:14-18  The tribes of Ephraim and half of Manasseh had grown a lot, and had run out of room; instead of just giving them land that was already taken, Joshua gave them land they would have to work for.  The unstated message is: If you have God, you can do anything.   Iron chariots in the valley are nothing compared to God’s chariots of fire.  Many times we as Christians look for an easy way out, but if you have no faith, or your courage or strength is diminished, you will lose.  Stand up against the devil (in the strength of the Lord).
My goal is to encourage others to stand up for Jesus and use the armor and weaponry He has given us to fight the devil. Satan does not care how he get us and will  lure us into thinking something is innocent when it is not.
    Let’s get excited!
    Matthew 16:18  Power over the Church is reserved for God Himself.  Hell, death or anything else will not be able to control it.  Through the centuries Satan has tried to destroy the Church by killing it, but it actually grew so fast, during that time that he was more behind than ever.  Satan, then tried another tactic and was more successful , but the Church of God is still not gone yet.  While persecution still exists in parts of the world it is no more effective than it was at the beginning.  Satan has figured out that state tolerance and re-instating the laws of men will Destroy the Church, and it is working all over the place.
    We need to get back to the basics of Christianity.  Faith, Obedience to God’s Law, and love for our fellowman.
    Jude 24,25  God has power unimaginable, and it is well able to keep us saved, even from the worst addiction; but we have to have faith in Him and want help.  We do not need the help of the laws of men (standards) to keep us saved, in fact those will just lure us into thinking that we are safe when we really aren't.
    God has always accepted those who have faith in Him.  When a man or woman has faith Of salvation, He adds His righteousness to them.  When Abraham had faith in God’s promise, he was accepted  as righteous, even though his works were not perfect.
  Matthew 16:18/Revelation 20:14  God’s kingdom has His protection.  It may seem, sometimes that we as His Church aren't as protected by Him as we are.  Satan does bring a host of attacks against the Church, but has not been successful yet.  The gates of Hades-Hell has no power over the Church of God.  At times a church may lose focus, or lose out; but the Church of Jesus Christ moves on.  One day, death itself will be destroyed, but the Church will still be alive for God.
   Jude 20-23  The foundation of our faith is solid, it is truth.  Jesus Christ, the Messiah, The Son Of God came for a purpose, and that was to give us the sacrifice of Love.  As we keep building on the foundation of our faith, we will be on the offense for Him.  We need to use our shield, but we also need to use our sword.  Ephesians 6:10-18  God has equipped us with all the defensive and offensive equipment we need.  Get into the battle for God.  If we don’t fight for God, we are fighting against Him.
   It is easy for us to lose pace with our Savior’s Love.  If Satan is successful in destroying our walk of love, he has destroyed us.
1 John 4:10,11/Luke 2:41-52  Jesus parents became caught up in the things going on around them and the made no effort to make sure they still had Jesus; they had to go back to where they had lost Him in order to find Him.  It took  three days  to find him, and to have their relationship restored.  You must be sure of who you have with you, it will be either Jesus or a counterfeit.  
  Doubt  can eat you up, but the Church is designed in such a way that if someone doubts their Christianity, especially after going through a hard time, we are supposed to help them.  Their soul is at stake, and we need to restore their spirit.  Doubt can turn into total
Unbelief, and unbelievers are thrown into hell.
Revelation 21:8
     Throw out the lifeline, many are dying, sucked into the flames of hell by their misdeeds.  As we look at the wicked, we need to view them as dying in a fire.  Some people realize their plight, but don’t care, others realize they are on a destructive course and stand at the window screaming for help, and still others have no clue of imminent danger.  As God reached down for us, we should extend His arms to     Sound the warning, blow the trumpet, and save a soul from hell.  God has given us a command to bring the lost and dying to Him.  If we fail in our calling will we hear “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”?  This life is not just about keeping ourselves from sin (that is vital), but it is also about the message of hope to a dying world, which we were a part of.  We can not put out the flames that have swallowed so many, but we can rescue, and that is our mission.
    Every person has a passion, and your passion will show.  As a re-created person, our passion should be for the honor and glory of God, which includes bringing lost souls to Him.  Every one does have a unique way to do this, as we have many different gifts, but as new creatures in Christ, the common goal should be the same.  We do not compete, but rather work together for the same goal.  We have seen the idea  of competition for lost souls, and really it stinks in God’s eyes, whether among individuals or groups.  This idea basically stems from pride, and pride is sin.  As fellow-Christians  the only competition that is legitimate is against the devil.
    Many times we don’t view sin as bad, and so we don’t have fear for those involved in sin.  When we go into the temple with God, we should see the end of the wicked.  The Revelation of Jesus Christ has been a source of contention throughout church history, but was the purpose of the book to divide the church?  NO!  The purpose of the book was to unite the church with one common goal of winning the lost.
    We've got work to do,  So what are we doing?
    There is no righteousness outside of Jesus’ righteousness, which is totally pure.  Not only is the righteousness we can drum up as rags, but filthy rags.  We need to recognize it as such, and work to clothe the sinners with Jesus’ righteousness.
    Are we fulfilling our mission that God has given us to do?  Satan and his followers are very energetic in their mission.  We need to be proud of the colors we fly.  Wave them, hold them up, and shout it out.  If we aren't doing what God wants  for us, He will either have to make us willing or find someone else for this calling.  All Christians, everywhere are to fulfill this mission.

Soldiers Of Light

    Darkness is all around us, and sometimes it envelopes us; closes us in and takes control of us.  This darkness is hard to penetrate, as it keeps tightening its grip around us.  The soldiers of darkness have launched an offensive attack against the soldiers of light, and it appears there are traitors on the side of the light.
    Do we know how to counter-attack?  Don’t just defend yourselves… attack.  Many people who appear to be soldiers of light are just peace-time soldiers!?!  They would rather warm a pew than the handle of their sword.  These people often take up irrelevant arguments from the Bible so it appears that they've got it.  It is time  for us to rise up, and launch an offensive against the soldiers of darkness.  Many souls are going to hell… do we even care?  Don’t lose your salvation by  ignoring your mission (what God has called you to do).
    I once had a vision of the two opposing armies  shooting their artillery at each other… one side was shooting  enveloping darkness and  the other side was shooting darkness dispelling light.  Not all were in front to front combat, but some were  in combat with the lost among them who appeared to be on the right track.  The army of darkness has special forces that have worked their way into the army of light and thus try to undermine its strength.
    Where is the army of light’s special forces?  We need them today more than ever!  We are losing the battle for men’s souls around the world, because we have lost our vision.  The special forces need to be equipped  with special powers to do battle against the army of darkness, and of course these powers come from God.
    -I Corinthians 16:13-
    Unless you focus on the mission you will lose focus  and  become a soldier of darkness, destroying any light that could be used for dispelling darkness.
    The sword of the Spirit  is a flaming fire which brings brightness to any dark soul.  The powers of darkness cannot stand against it if it is used properly.  This sword of the Spirit’s fire is unlike a traditional torch in that is many times brighter.  I think of a welding iron as the closest thing to it, but it is still far from it.  It pierces our eyes and our eyes become single.
    It is my desire to join with captain of light.  Please join  the Lord and I in a vigorous crusade for the lost.

Marriage with the Devil

Genesis 6
    Satan was busy, as he is now, constantly looking for ways to corrupt mankind.  It is evident the daughters of men were good-looking by what it says in this passage.  Mankind had left the principles of God to the point, that they just planned to do evil all the time. The wickedness of man had gotten to the point that God could no longer bless them with life.  Are we losing the principles of God?  What are the principles of God?
Love the Lord supremely.
Abhor evil.
The heart issues must always be dealt with.
Without God life is void.
Love your fellow man.
Reach out to the lost.

    The term “Sons OF God” has always meant created beings, whether initial  creation or recreated.  The term “Daughters of men” has always been referred to as being of men or children of men.  During this time there were no sons of God except for the angels who He had created.  The ancient Jews believed that this was an alliance between the fallen angels and mankind.  This was ruse of Satan to further corrupt the beautiful creation God had made.  Some people use a verse in the NT to discredit this: Luke 11:34,35 This verse isn't saying they can’t have children, also it is talking about life after death and not the present.  Take a look at this verse:  Jude 6  The angels who had initiated this alliance are bound until the last judgment day.
    The inhabitants of this time were believed to have worshiped the offspring of this alliance as demi-gods.  They were powerful and supernatural.  They became infamous for their evil deeds, presumably against the righteous.  As time progressed, Noah and his family were the only righteous left.
    In these last days we have seen an influx  of the children of the devil.  They are destroying the righteous; physically and spiritually.  We need to stand up and watch that we do not enter matrimony with the devil.
    We have the inexplicable link to the devil that cannot be eradicated until death.  This link is our flesh, and it desperately wants to join into a union with the devil.  We can gain control of it by constantly refreshing our marriage with Christ.  <Romans 7:22-25 With my whole heart I agree with the law of God.  But in every part of me, I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do.  What a miserable person I am.  Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?  Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.  So then with my mind I serve the law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.>

Exposed

   Genesis 3
       -Fellowship with God could not have been better.  Adam and Eve walked and talked with God on a daily basis.
    I John 2:3-4
     -Communion with Christ can only exist when we live in His will.  In the garden of Eden, God gave them a command and when they disobeyed, they lost a beautiful relationship.  Even though it has not been restored totally, it has been restored to a large degree.  Jesus Christ came to make peace with us, and now we can commune with Him, but not yet walk with Him in a physical way.  When Adam and Eve  disobeyed God, immediately they felt exposed.  They had a guilt complex, which was to show them their wrong.  When God came to them and asked them what happened, even though they felt exposed they needed to willfully expose their sin to God, but instead they babied it, and tried to hide it and all was lost
How many times do we deal with a guilt complex?  We do something wrong and then quick look around to see if anyone saw us.  We forget that God sees all.  We tend to baby our sins, put them on a leash so they don’t get the best of us, and go on.
I will now introduce you to the concept of evolution.  This sin that we put on the leash will evolve into a massive giant if we don’t expose it to God.  He will break his leash and then we will have a real mess on our hands.  Expose your sins immediately,  own up to it and then kill  that pet sin and relationship with God  can be restored.  I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins to God, He can be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away.”
When we sin and do not expose it before God, the nakedness of our soul will drive us into deeper sin which will further ruin us.  Throughout our sinful life God will turn us over to Satan, so wee see how hard he really is.  Satan has continuously fed us a lie; “no one will ever know”, but all we need to do is remember “God will” .  I am not really for fear of being caught as the reason for not doing evil, but we need to remember who we are under.
Proverbs 13:13 “If you reject God’s teaching, you will pay the price.”  Proverbs 15:10  “If you turn from the right way you will be punished.”  Proverbs 28:13,14 “If you don’t confess your sins, you will be a failure. God will be merciful if you confess your  sins, and give them up.  The Lord blesses everyone who is afraid to do evil, but if you are cruel, you will end up in trouble.