2 Timothy 3: 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. When my youngest son enlisted in the army he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for his training to become an MP in the army. He was a little older than most of the other recruits but managed to get in shape like they did and his whole life was readjusted by the food he ate, the exercise program, and the training in how to use a weapon. The army got him ready for battle and the rigorous training turned him into a mean, green, fighting machine. We are in a battle and we are called to fight in this battle as a soldier of the gospel. Paul wrote this to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 6: 10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
We all need to get prepared for this battle by going through training and in that training we follow our manual, the Word of God. In the Word, we are encouraged to fight this battle and what it all entails. The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm 144:1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. 2 He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. This training is a very real need for each of us who call Jesus Lord, because we are told from the beginning we will face persecution for proclaiming the name of Jesus and that He is the only way to heaven. When we take that stand we are putting ourselves in the crosshairs of the enemy, but our God is our shield so don't despair. He puts out the arrows that are shot at us. Ephesians 6: 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The enemy will always come against our faith and try to distract us from the path God has for us, but ask the Holy Spirit within you to fight that fight for you, and He will. We are built for victory because of the victory of Jesus, defeating death, hell, and the grave.
If the devil is gonna get after us we need to know his purpose and that is to keep all he can from coming to saving faith in Jesus. Deep within the abundant life is the power to see things from a vantage point of power, God's power. We don't live a defeated life, but we do live a life of victory and the reason for living that life is we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us and in that power, we can handle anything. All things become possible. If we look at this great truth from human reasoning we will be defeated again and again. But if we look at it from the reasoning and truth of the Word of God we will never be defeated again.
What happened when you believed in Jesus with a child-like faith? You were born again in the Spirit, so you think according to the Spirit. The Word prompts us to live this Spirit-filled life and we have to actually reject the Holy Spirit working in our life and make it very unnatural in our thinking. How dumb! The enemy wants us to look at this life in a very worldly way, but the Holy Spirit calls us to deepen our walk into the Spiritual way of looking at things. Look at how Elisha was able to see this spiritual side of the kingdom and what happened in 2 Kings 6: 13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.
How you look at this Bible truth might give you an indication of just how much you believe in the power of God. If this is just a quaint Bible story that you can kind of dismiss, then I believe you are missing the point. In the above Ephesians scripture, Paul tells the Ephesians that we are fighting a spiritual battle and it must be fought with spiritual weapons on a spiritual battlefield. Maybe we need to echo the prayer of Elisha and ask God to show us those who are fighting for us are greater than those who are fighting against us and ask for God to fight that battle for us. In our lack of belief maybe God doing a miracle for us might bring us back to a belief in His power. He already did that miracle when he changed your life from going to hell to going to heaven. If satan is going to get us to doubt God he will try to get us doubting at the point of conversion and then he has won his battle and accomplished his purpose. That purpose is once again, to weaken our faith, to the point we don't pray in power, we don't believe in the power of the name of Jesus, and our faith becomes weakened and compromised.
I'm just saying "Give God a Chance" and complete your Spiritual Bootcamp by training your mind and heart to believe ALL the Word of God! Then you will see Isaiah 41 become a reality in your life. Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren
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