2 Corinthians 10

Quit Fighting Like a Girl {2 Corinthians 10}

12:15 PM


How are you doing these days? How have you managed during this time of self-distancing? Have you learned things about yourself? Have you learned more about our Savior during these past few months?

Did you know that there is a war of the mind going on in this world and in our lives? It is not waged by military force or nations over geographical territory but in the mind and heart of every human being. Peter knew:



The enemy’s mission is to attack and degrade all the knowledge of God and His Truths, for if He can get you to believe his lies as truth, he wins! If he can fill us with discouragement and hopelessness, he succeeds in keeping us from reaching our full potential. Now multiply this by the multitudes! This is why Paul writes:


“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”— 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV

Spiritual warfare is something that every Christian will face, but fortunately Jesus has already won every battle.  “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.”  Instead, God decided to equip us with “weapons of  warfare” to fight against the schemes of the enemy.

1.)   By filling us with the Holy Spirit,
2.)   Giving us prayer so we can be in communion with Him,
3.)   Giving us the truth of His word.

I believe F. B. Meyer put it best:
Christ counts evil thoughts as traitors not only to us, but also to Him. Like the psalmist, you may say, “I hate vain thought, not only because of the curse they bring to my heart, but for the grief they give to my King.” Their intrusion is forbidden by the double barrier of our own choice and the keeping power of Jesus. 
Let the peace of God keep the door of your heart and mind, scrutinizing each intruder and turning back the unfit. Let the Holy Spirit bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Let the faithful Savior have the keeping of the soul entrusted to Him. He is well able to keep what is committed to Him. He will not fail the suppliant whose lips are familiar with the prayer:  “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your holy name.”–F. B. Meyer
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You can fight back against lies and temptation from the enemy in your own life by relying on the truth of what God has spoken to us through His word, through prayer, and through the people He has placed around you.

AND next time you see the enemy at work in the lives of those around you, you can fight against that by speaking truth, life, prayer and encouragement to them. Anything that is against what God has spoken to be true can be demolished through the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in your life. 

We have the power to win! To be all God has ordained for us to be! And to help those around us be all they can be as well!

Blessings!

Sue


Battles

We're at War! {Daniel 1-3}

8:00 PM


Those of us who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ know we are at war. Like it, or not we face spiritual warfare everyday (Ephesians 6:12) and are being relentlessly attacked by an enemy that makes itself known in three forms:

  • The World
  • The Flesh
  • And the Devil. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Have you ever wondered what we possess that the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy? (John 10:10) According to the first chapter of Daniel it's:

  • Our identity/ witness
  • Our places of worship and their articles
  • Our manhood, or womanhood - gender identity
  • Our intellect
  • Our purpose
  • Our diet, the very sustenance of our existence. (Mark 4:4)

And we can see the body of believers still coming under attack today.

How can we defend ourselves against this constant spiritual onslaught? The answer is found in the first few chapters of the Book of Daniel.

1.) We must prepare ourselves for battle by dressing properly! (Ephesians 6:10-18) If you’ve never put these verses to memory, I can highly encourage you to do it, for they are that powerful!


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints”

Daniel believed the Word of God and in the God of the Word!

2.) Enlist the help of other godly friends! In Daniel, chapter 2, we see Daniel did not taking his ability to interpret dreams lightly, but enlisted his friends' help in praying for him, Daniel went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el, and Azaryah, his companions; so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret; and thus save Daniel and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Babel. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven…” Daniel 2:17–19

Daniel wouldn’t simply rely on his abilities, or “giftedness”; he understood the importance of a strong spiritual community and the power of prayer. Daniel knew the problem needed a level of discernment that could only be reached by the counsel of other godly men. (Eccl 4:12)

3.) Trust God! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego prove to us that God won’t always keep us protected from the “fiery furnaces” we will have to walk through, but He will be there to walk through them with us!  

With all this in mind, how are you doing? Do you “armor-up” each morning as you prepare for your day ahead? Are you facing life’s trials alone, perhaps, too worried what others might think if they knew your struggles? Or do you trust in the community of believers that the Lord has given you to help you win?

Because Daniel and his friends were willing to trust their situation to God and one another, the Lord gave each of them victories that couldn’t be explained apart from Him, and therefore God received the glory in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. 

Proving once more that He can be trusted! And we can be victorious over our enemy if we follow Him and His ways in our battles!

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2 Chronicles

The Power in Praise {2 Chronicles 20}

12:00 AM


Yikes! In this passage Jehoshaphat learns, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea.” They are the Moabites and Ammonites, the two nations born to Lot through incestuous relations with his two daughters. The same nations that would not allow Israel to pass through their boarders on their way to Canaan! The very same nations that hired Balaam to curse Israel as it journeyed toward the Promised Land and were thus forbidden to enter the Lord's assembly (Deut. 23:3–4). They have been like a reoccurring cancer towards Israel since returning from Egypt, and they have assembled a vast army to destroy Israel once and for all! Jehoshaphat, hearing this news, finds himself ill equipped to defend Israel against them! 

 Have you ever been there; facing down an enemy you feel helpless and ill equipped to battle?

 Fortunately, Jehoshaphat immediately turns to the only One who can help, “Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.  The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. O Lord, the God of our fathers . . . Power and might are in Your hand. . . . We are powerless before this great multitude . . . nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You. – 2 Chronicles 20:3,4,6,12
And God quickly answers their prayer by telling Jehoshaphat the battle was not Judah’s but His, and sets up an unusual battle plan. Instead of warriors leading the way, God instructed him to place the choir up front to march into battle singing praises to His name. Wouldn’t you have loved to have seen the people’s faces when they heard that plan? They were facing destruction! BUT, regardless of how Jehoshaphat felt, his actions demonstrated that he trusted God as he obeyed the Lord. Before Judah reached the battlefield, God had thrown the enemy into such confusion that they turned on one another. Israel stood still and watched the Lord come to their rescue until not one man was left standing.
Imagine a faith so strong that it's able to face down a battle it cannot win, through praise! Praise lifts our eyes and hearts to the One who is able to conquer any battle we face. Praise will restore that sense of peace within us when anxiety threatens to take over! The story of Jehoshaphat and Israel’s army found here in 2 Chronicles proves praise is a great tool in spiritual warfare!

 I know that the last thing we often think to do when facing another battle, or even more of the same, is to begin to praise God, but when we make the decision to fix our eyes on Him, and daily give Him praise, no matter what's staring us straight in the face, we’ll begin to realize that God has already begun to release the hold our struggles can have over us.

 There’s power in acknowledging that He is worthy of our worship and praise!

  Praise takes our focus off us and our circumstances and puts it back on God! We're all prone to selfishness and selfcenteredness, but He desires our eyes be set firmly on Him, because that's where our true hope is found.  He is worthy of our praise, no matter what we face from day to day.
Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory working wonders? “You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies. In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling." Exodus 15:1-13

 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.- Deu 4:39

 Praise humbles us once more.  As we begin to remember God’s attributes we’re also reminded of our dependency on Him, and begin to acknowledge our need for Him.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap;"- Psalm 113:4-7

 "For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being," declares the LORD "But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.'"- Isaiah 66:2

   Praise invites His presence into our circumstances.  God dwells in the praise of His people!  He lives there.

 “But You are holy, You who inhabit the praises of Your people.”  Ps. 22:3

 “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” -Psalms 89:15

   Praise defeats the enemy and causes him to flee.  It pushes back the darkness, and blocks the attacks and lies whispered to us.  Evil will flee as we draw near to God.  In this passage, we see God miraculously defeat the enemy, because of the people’s obedience.

 “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated”  2 Chron. 20:22

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” –Js 4:7-8a

   Praise leaves no room for grumbling and complaining.  Even within our prayers we can find ourselves complain about our problems at times, but though God calls us to “cast all our cares on Him” (1 Peter 5:7) we can do that remembering who He is and that He is able to save us! Praise allows us to focus on Him, and no longer allowing too much attention to be centered around the struggles. Praise helps us to remember what He has already done in our lives and strengthens our faith for the future.

 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” Psa. 103:2-4

"By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Heb. 13:15

  Through praise our spirits are refreshed and renewed in His presence.  We're actually strengthened by our praise and refueled by His joy.  As we focus on praising God and worshiping Him, we realize that our situations don’t have to change for our hearts to become light and full of peace and joy!

 “In His presence, there is fullness of joy.”  Psa. 16:11

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands." Psa. 63:3-4

 Finally, our praises pave the way for God's power to be displayed; allowing other’s lives to be impacted and changed.  I thought of Paul and Silas sitting in prison, beaten, shackled and chained, but they kept right on praising God. God sent an earthquake that shook the cells and broke the chains, and the jailer and all his family came to know Christ that very night.

 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.”  Acts 16:25-26

All my bones will say, “Lord, who is like You,
Who rescues the afflicted from him who is too strong for him [to resist alone],
And the afflicted and the needy from him who robs him?” - Ps 35:10

Each day we have to choose whether we will be ruled by the anxieties of the world and busyness of our lives, or to look up to Him, the One who holds it all together, and praise Him throughout our day!