Is there a Battle?

Many Christians that are seeking the Lord on a regularly, ask Him to help them to die to self. Is this a proper request? Could there be a misnomer in this request? To these questions and possibly many others – they are substantiated. There are several passages that come to mind, and the hope here is to help each reader focus not so much on the prayer part, but to the action that one must take in order to became dead to self. Going back to basics may help the motivation to want to die to self.

1. The True Opponent

The flesh is one of the worst enemies that a Christian can have in their life. The flesh wants to continue to grow, mature, and take control of things. Paul states in Romans 7.18:

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

Though this chapter may be confusing to many Bible readers, the truth of the matter is that Paul, just like today’s Christians have a true opponent.

In any type of warfare the best strategy is to find the weakness of the enemy and exploit it to gain the victory. The only way that a Christian is going to have victory over the flesh is not to “feed” it. The best strategy for the flesh is not to provide for it. Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

Each Christian understands or should understand their own flesh and when and what it desires. It is like going down a childhood neighborhood and remembering how things felt. Christians need to be aware of the trip hazards in their life, and understand that they may be going the wrong direction. Ephesians 5:15 “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,”

2. The True Warfare

The desire to die to self, there is a battle raging within each and every Christian. This battle of Spiritual and Non-Spiritual things is only in the hearts of Christians that are in the fight. Paul states in Romans 7.23

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

For every blood bought born again sold out believer there should be a war going on! The war is between the flesh and the Spirit, or the fleshly desires and the spiritual desires. If a Christian does not have conflict of interest there may be a heart issue. It is the belief of this writer that if a Christian in not engaging the enemy then they are entertaining the enemy!

3. The Way to Victory

In every battle there are those that live and those that die. It is the writer estimation that taste of victory comes when the Christian can recognize the battle, provide for the Spirit and live. In the daily battles between the flesh and the Spirit – sometimes the flesh wins and sometimes the Spirit wins – but in totality of the war the victory belongs to Christ. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15.56-57

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

No matter how brutal the battle rages or how it seems the battle is going, we need to surrender ourselves to the Commander and Chief of the Lord’s Army. In 2 Timothy 2, there is a prescription on the characteristics of what a soldier may be like.

a. He is strong in the Lord (v1-2)               e. He is sound in faith (v13-19)

b. He is single minded (v3-4)                      f. He is sanctified (v20-23)

c. He is disciplined (v5-10)                        g. He is a servant (v24-16)

d. He is secured (v11-12)

 

 

Encouraged in God’s Love ~ Romans 8.31-39

      In our daily lives we are pressed by many things. Sometimes we forget the love that God has for His children – The love that God has for you. We hear many messages on how we to get right (and we do), and how to serve (which we do), but here is a reminder of the love that God has given to us THROUGH CHRIST!

31. God is on our side if we have the His Spirit dwelling in us.

Look at Romans 8.1-11

Psalms 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

32. God spared not His Son – that we might be received by the Father

Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life”

33. God has justified His Children

Isaiah 50:8-9 “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.”

**We cannot allow Satan to confuse us in our lives. He will bring up our failures and try to defeat us...using our closest family or friends.

34. Through Christ we are able to go to the Father

a. In Christ we cannot be condemned. (John 3.16-18 1 John 2.1)

b. Christ makes intercession for us. (Hebrews 7.25, 9.24)

35. Can anything separate us from the love of God?

a. This I believe is for everyone that has every stepped foot on this earth. Whether they believed it or not. (Romans 5.6, 8)

b. Then when we have accepted Jesus as Saviour it is binding by the Holy Spirit of God. (Ephesians 1.13-14) and will never be taken away. (2 Corinthians 4.7-10)

36. We are dead to ourselves

(1 Corinthians 6.20, 7.23)

2 Timothy 2:21 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

37. We are more than conquerors

a. Here not only do we have the victory – we will never lose! There is no going back (1 John 4.4-6, 5.4, 5)

38-39. Persuaded in the love of God

In our lives we will see many things that the Lord will do for us – non greater that His love. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE HIS LOVE TOWARDS US!

Willing To Be Purged?

Last night our church’s them was reveal. “Fit for the Master’s Use” - it is taken from 2 Timothy 2:21 “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

1. There is going to have to be a purging process.

Just as a runner is preparing for a race, he has to purge or cleans out his body. The food that is eaten will be used to fuel the preparation for the big race.

a. Purging To Be Clean

Psalms 51:7 “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

· In 2 Timothy 2.21, the purging that is taking place is the removal of the things from this world that is in my life, so that I can be a clean vessel for the Lord.

b. Purging To Grow

John 15:2 “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

· When someone what to get fit, there is breaking down of the body. This breaking down is to allow growth. If someone lifts a barbell, the muscle fibers tears slightly because of the weight. With proper rest and nutrition the muscle repairs itself with more muscle fibers, which we see as muscle growth.

There are some results that we get by purging ourselves.

1. We will be a vessel unto honour ~ A vessel that has some value.

2. We will be sanctified ~ To make Holy, or set apart (Having Separation)

3. Meet for the Master’s use ~ Useful and profitable for the Master’s

a. (Spiritually On Call – As soldier is for the Army!)

4. Prepared unto every good work ~ Ready to do the good work that the Master has for you. (Ephesians 2.10)

The Rewards from God

 

~ Isaiah 45.22

In this devotion this morning I am reminded of the great rewards that God has given to us.

1. If we look to Jesus, we will be saved.

2. If we seek the Kingdom of God, our provisions will be taken care of.

3. If we tithe and give offerings, the windows of heaven will be opened.

4. If we build our lives on the solid rock of Jesus, we will withstand the storms.

5. If we take our eyes off Jesus, we will sink.

With any reward there was priced that had to be paid. I am reminded of the price that needed to be paid for me and Jesus willingly went the cross for me, and as I believe – He had me in mind personally.

Would a marathon runner forsake the reward of winning a race he sacrificed for? Would a football player of baseball player forsake their championship ring they gave their lives too? To me these answers are NO…

Colossians 2:18 “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,”

He is faithful in His promises!

 

Deuteronomy 7:9-10 “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.”

In these verses we see that there is a contrast or opposing action that is taking place.  On one hand there are going to be the blessings of God to those that obey Him ~ Then to those that reject Him will sorely be punished having every opportunity.

The only way to know today that God is faithful in His promise ~ is to experience it today.

1. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

**God would like all people that are alive today that are able to choose Him ~ Accept Jesus as Saviour. (See Right Panel for more information on salvation)

2. Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

**If God said it – it will happen.  Never has God every failed me, it is I that have made poor or sinful decisions that now I have to live with the consequences of my sin.

**WARNING**

Jesus is coming back – AMEN!  He is not coming back as a lamb to be slaughtered, nor our advocate to thwart the punishment of our heavenly Father.  He is coming back in an austere manner.  Austere means to be hard, sore, and unpleasant. (1 Corinthians 3.10-15)

Luke 19:21-22 “For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:”

For the Christian ~ Are we making decisions that line up with the Word of God each and every day? Knowing that God is faithful in what He has told us…

For the Sinner ~ What is preventing you from coming to know the Saviour?  What side of the promise do you want to be on?

Building a Bridge

An old man, traveling a lone highway,
Came at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm deep and wide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
For the sullen stream held no fears for him,
But he turned when he reached the other side,
And builded a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” cried a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
And you never again will pass this way.

“You have crossed the chasm deep and wide.
Why build you a bridge at eventide?”
And the builder raised his old gray head:
“Good friend, on the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet will pass this way.”

“This stream, which has been as naught to me,
To that fair-haired boy may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim –
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him.”

~W.A. Dromgoole

What is hindering you?

Galatians 5:7 “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?”

In the life of a Christian may not be all the easy.  We be made fun of because of our relationship with Christ, or the that we go to church three times a week, or read our bibles, or even quote scripture.

1.  The first thing that is hindering our obedience is the intimate walk with God.  In verse 1 we see that we need to “Stand Fast”. This word means that we are to be still or stationary.  If we fail to spend quality time with God each and every day there is going to be a need  (one only properly filled by God) – and if not properly filled then we will have things in our lives that will hinder us.

Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

2.  The second thing that I see here in chapter 5 is that Paul is speaking about the laws.  The only thing that the law is good for is to bring us to Christ.  If we were to look at the law from a humanistic way – there is no way that we could even try to do what God wants.  Are we caught up in the “dos and don’ts” of the life that God wants us to have?

Galatians 3:24-25 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

3.  The third thing that  see here is hope.  Verse 5 states “…wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.”  Have we lost our hope?  Is what we do for Christ lost its relevance.  It is my conviction that if we have not done our part as Christ has done His we will lose hope and our faith will be weakened.

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul is speaking about Jesus coming back in 4.16-17, here is verse 18:

1 Thessalonians 4:18 “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (This brings reassurance and hope.)

Then we have the picture of Jesus being our anchor of hope:

Hebrews 6:19 “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

Conclusion

What are we allowing to hinder us from doing what God wants us to do.  In Galatians 5.7, Paul is asking question – what is your answer in our lives as Christians?  What is keep us (you) from being obedient?