Month: March 2022

On Recognizing What We Already Have

Ephesians 6:10-18 PHILLIPS. In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource. Put on God’s complete armour so that you can successfully resist all the devil’s methods of attack. For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.  Therefore, you must wear the whole armour of God that you may be able to resist evil in its day of power, and that even when you have fought to a standstill you may still stand your ground. Take your stand then with truth as your belt, righteousness your breastplate, the Gospel of peace firmly on your feet, salvation as your helmet and in your hand the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Above all be sure you take faith as your shield, for it can quench every burning missile the enemy hurls at you. Pray at all times with every kind of spiritual prayer, keeping alert and persistent as you pray for all Christ’s men and women.

Ephesians 6:10-18 MSG. 10-12 And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. 13-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”

Observation

Webster’s defines armor as a (1) defensive covering for the body; (2) a quality or circumstance that affords protection; (3) a protective outer layer; or (4) armored forces and vehicles (as tanks).  It defines weapon as (1) something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy or (2) a means of contending against another (using a special/unique talent or skill).  We may think of medieval knights, bulletproof vests or Ironman’s indestructible suit when we see the word “armor”. Weapon may conjure up mind pictures of swords, guns, laser beams, light sabers, missiles or battle vehicles. All of these are only effective against tangible, visible enemies in the only warfare we humans understand.

Paul is telling us that our conventional armor, weapons and methods of warfare won’t cut it on the spiritual battlefield.  God’s adversary and our invisible Enemy:

  • is too wily and strong for us to defeat on our own,
  • fights by different rules/methods than our physical battles,
  • uses entirely different weapons, such as fear, hate, resentment, doubt et al. (that have historically been highly effective in defeating us), and
  • battles on an entirely different (spiritual & internal) battlefield.

We are up against and the target of “the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.”  BUT, God has provided us not only with protective armor, not only His “well-made weapons of the best materials”, but also His presence which commands victory (“In conclusion be strong—not in yourselves but in the Lord, in the power of his boundless resource.”). All we must do is follow Him while putting on the armor and using the weapons He has provided – “Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.” 

These seem strange “weapons” to us because they are not destructive in the normal physical sense; they are protective/defensive for us because they provide an impenetrable armor against the weapons of our Enemy – deception, temptation, sin, chaos, fear, greed, doubt/unbelief, corruption, and every other evil work. How can the Enemy overcome or defeat or destroy us if we stand firm on truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation?  What defense does he have against the Word of God and prayer?  How can we even fathom the devastating damage to evil we do by allowing the exercise in and through us of such weapons of warfare as love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, meekness, faithfulness and self-control?  Paul is asking us to exchange the natural – what we touch, what we can see, what we can do in our own strength, and our limited understanding of what really matters – for the supernatural – God’s eternal and indomitable power, insight, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding made available to us in Christ.

Impact on Me

Early on in my Christian walk as I was praying down the list of what I had determined were my needs and how – in my vast and perfect wisdom – God should fix the world, it occurred to me to ask if I had missed anything that should be on the list. I did not hear an audible voice, but the response was as clear and loud as if it had been. “The only thing you really need is to learn what I really did for you on the cross and apply it in your life.”  I began to read the Word looking for what was already mine in Christ and pray for the courage and faith to live in a way that reflects Whose I am and Whom I serve.

Not too long after this incident, I read an excerpt from a prayer warrior’s journal that truly arrested my attention by its simple powerful truth in the light of Jesus’ victory on the Cross – “We do not have to hold out against the Devil; he has to hold out against us.”  So, this passage in 2 Corinthians is key for me. It is one of the truly strategic instructions in spiritual warfare.

  • First, submit to and be strong in the One Who has already secured the victory. 
  • Second, wear the protective armor He provides – truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, His Word and prayer. 
  • Lastly, use often and liberally the weapons against which the Enemy has no defense – love, mercy, grace, forgiveness and all the other graces provided through the Holy Spirit Who lives in us. 

Prayer

Lord, Eternal, Invisible, All-Powerful, Wise God, may I always seek to find my place in Your plan and be faithful to stand therefore in it regardless of the cost to me.  May I be simple, courageous, bold and obedient enough to faithfully submit, put on Your armor and use only Your weapons as I learn to live the victorious life in Christ.

On Help Me With My Doubts

John 9:17-27 MSG  A man out of the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought my mute son, made speechless by a demon, to you. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and goes stiff as a board. I told your disciples, hoping they could deliver him, but they couldn’t.”

19-20 Jesus said, “What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring the boy here.” They brought him. When the demon saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a seizure, causing him to writhe on the ground and foam at the mouth.

21-22 He asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been going on?”

“Ever since he was a little boy. Many times it pitches him into fire or the river to do away with him. If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!”

23 Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”

24 No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!”

25-27 Seeing that the crowd was forming fast, Jesus gave the vile spirit its marching orders: “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you—Out of him, and stay out!” Screaming, and with much thrashing about, it left. The boy was pale as a corpse, so people started saying, “He’s dead.” But Jesus, taking his hand, raised him. The boy stood up.

Observation

This father came to Jesus out of desperation, hoping against hope that Jesus could heal and deliver his son.  We don’t know how old the son was or how many years the parents had watched their son suffer, but we can hear the desperation in his reply (“help my unbelief”).  I am sure he had tried everything else available before resorting to searching out this unconventional itinerant rabbi. 

I am reminded of the woman with the issue of blood who had become impoverished and desperate in searching out healing until she broke the rules to find her answer in touching only the hem of Jesus’ garment.  What about Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter was dying while Jesus delayed to engage this unclean woman who dared to appear in public? (Mark 5:21-43 NIV)   Desperation drove them to extreme measures, moving outside the acceptable cultural and safe box, to believe for what seems impossible.   In doing so, they found that nothing is impossible with God.

Impact on Me

I don’t want to wait until I am desperate to take my needs to Jesus.  However, I find that I sometimes get caught up in the urgency of a situation and immediately set out to do everything in my own power to fix things.  At some point, I am arrested by my overwhelming inadequacy to effectively fix much on my own.  Some things are just not humanly fixable.   

My only daughter was in a car accident at 15 that resulted in a broken back when she was thrown from the car which then rolled over her.   I am so grateful for all those medical professionals did to bring healing, but ultimately I came to understand that the extent of her healing was in God’s hands.  So many times we cried out, “we believe; help our unbelief,” as we received bad news from the doctors about how her life would be limited.   Then God would surprise them with impossible healing to take her past those limits.  We saw many miracles along the way – spiritually, physically and financially – that changed our understanding about God’s possibilities.

You would think that an experience like that would prevent me from turning to my own devices in crisis, but I am so very human and forgetful.  So, when I find myself trying to fix things on my own, I repent again for trusting first in my own ability, strength, wisdom instead of the Holy Spirit’s, bow in prayer and ask Jesus for His solution, His power to flow, His plan for how I can assist Him.  Never discount the power of prayer on behalf of yourself and others.  Your prayer may give others the courage and wisdom, like this father, woman and ruler, to put their lives and the lives of their loved ones into His hands and care.

Prayer

Lord, I put my faith in You, Faithful One, Gracious God, Loving Father, the One Who Sees All.  Lord, I believe; help my dispel my doubts with Your perfect peace when crisis and fear ramp up the urgency and tempt me to run off on my own to fix what only You can fix.  Give me the courage to allow You to pull me aside for time with You so I can be comforted, encouraged, listening to Your plan and my part in it.  Remind me that prayer is powerful, You have defeated our Enemy, and that Your Holy Spirit is at work 24/7 to bring about Your will and purpose in all circumstances.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

On Human Nature

Matthew 26:36-39, 41 (Phillips). Then Jesus came with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane and said to them, “Sit down here while I go over there and pray.” Then he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be in terrible distress and misery. “My heart is nearly breaking,” he told them, “stay here and keep watch with me.” Then he walked on a little way and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me—yet it must not be what I want, but what you want…Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.”

Observation

This passage always reminds me that Jesus was fully a man of flesh while also fully God. I don’t believe it was the God nature in Him that asked, “My Father, if it is possible let this cup pass from me,” nor was it the human nature that insisted, “yet it must not be what I want, but what you want.”  He experienced first-hand the life-long struggle of our souls – choosing between the insistent selfish, my-way-or-highway demands of our human nature (control, fulfillment, recognition, pleasure, survival, significance before Men) and the selfless urgings of the Spirit (submission, self-sacrifice, obedience, trusting in God regardless of the circumstances, joy, peace, significance before God).  He never sinned, so He always made the right choices when temptation arose. He knew we would not and, so He endured to drink the cup that provided redemption for us.

Impact on Me

“Watch and pray, all of you, that you may not have to face temptation. Your spirit is willing, but human nature is weak.”  I am so grateful for repentance and forgiveness, for the right and privilege to be in Christ redeemed!  I am also grateful that these do not expire or have a lifetime limit on number of uses or duration.  Jesus understands me because He experienced life being tempted as I am tempted, choosing between right and wrong, selfless and selfish, pleasure and pain, sacrifice and survival, being faithful or faithless. He knew that there would be times when my human nature won the argument, when I would rationalize that I have human rights that supersede His or that the Spirit’s request was unreasonable, unsafe or impossible for me to do. 

So, He chose to drink a cup of sacrifice, suffering, sorrow and love for me so I am able to:

  • choose to be in Christ, submitted to His will and purpose,
  • recognize and confess my failings and my weakness knowing I will not be rejected,
  • choose to sincerely return and repent knowing I will receive grace and be reconciled to Him again, and
  • have the opportunity to make a better choice the next time the temptation presents itself.

Each time I do this, my soul learns the wisdom of letting the Spirit win the argument about what to do rather than my selfish human nature, and the joy of submitting my will to His. Hopefully, I will choose to watch and pray so I will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Prayer

Lord God, what a giver You are – wise, loving, beautiful in Your holiness and faithfulness.  I pray that Your Holy Spirit will work within me to make me wise enough to submit my wants and ways to Your will, just as Jesus did in the Garden.  His faithfulness to be that sacrifice gave us the right to be again in Your Presence, even become Your children, restoring Your original purpose for our relationship.  May I watch and pray so that I will hear on that day that I fulfilled Your will and purpose in my life.  Make it so!  In Jesus’ name.

On What To Do In Desperate Times

Habakkuk 3:17-19 NLT  Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!  19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

Observation

Habakkuk was a prophet during the rise of Babylon as a world power, a contemporary of the prophets Nahum and Jeremiah.  Habakkuk lifts up a lament, conducting a dialogue with God regarding injustice and how God was not living up to expectations based on their interpretation of His promises and their human understanding of God’s nature.  Habakkuk was crying out, “God, what are You thinking?!  How long will You tolerate injustice, allowing evil to triumph and the innocent to be oppressed?  I thought You were a good God, a God of justice.  I don’t understand!!  Why don’t You do something about it NOW??”  Haven’t we all asked these questions at some time or other?

King David frequently lamented about God’s seeming hesitance to step in to turn the world right side up, making things right and just (from his perspective – see Psalms).  Nonetheless, David after venting always returned to “but yet I will praise” in the end.  This passage above is the final word from Habakkuk – regardless of what I don’t understand, or what I experience, or what I may face, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”  We may not understand how current events fit into God’s plan – why the suffering, why the injustice, why evil seems to triumph – but like David and Habakkuk, we can have confidence in God’s wisdom, power, justice, timing and ultimate plan for redeeming humankind.

Impact on Me

I confess that I have lamented before God – so confused about why I was where I was experiencing circumstances that were not fair, just, blessed or earned – from my perspective at least.  I want to understand the WHY, be able to reason out the purpose, see the light at the end of the tunnel and be able to discern how God is planning to turn around for good what is meant for evil.  Then, I remember the Cross.  If I had been standing with the disciples watching Jesus die a public, shameful, unimaginable death, would I have despaired?  Would I have questioned if He was Messiah?  Would I have lamented before God over my expectations that He was not meeting? 

The Cross is the pivot point of history, the event that provided us a choice and changed eternity for us all.  If I was there, I am sure I would have cried out for another way because the Cross would seem so unjust a punishment for an innocent victim.  And yet, where would I be without that sacrifice.  The Cross reminds me to trust in God to deliver ultimate justice in His time and His way.  The Babylonian Empire was eventually overthrown by another empire builder who was subsequently overthrown by another.  The only kingdom that will last forever is the Kingdom of God.

Ultimately, I want to be like David and Habakkuk.  After my whining, complaining, discouraging prayer/dialogue, I want to remember to rejoice in the fact that:

  • Because God has proven over and over that He is good, He is just, and His timing is perfect, I can set aside my angst and trust in Him during desperate times;
  • God even gives me the privilege of listening to me – much less the beautiful free gift of salvation and adoption as His child;
  • I have hindsight on the Cross the disciples did not have because of Jesus’ resurrection, so things are not always as bad as they look – be on the lookout for opportunities to represent Him in all circumstances;
  • I have His Word to keep in my heart to sustain and remind me that I am not alone and not rejected because of my human response to what happens in this world; and
  • In Christ, I have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to give me strength to endure all that comes and the wisdom to trust in God regardless of circumstances.

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”

Prayer

Lord God, Creator, Redeemer, All-Just, King of all kings, I praise You and rejoice in Your justice, mercy and grace.  Help me to let go of my need to understand, my desire to control/fix what is not mine to fix and trust in You and Your plan even when circumstances endeavor to discourage and cause doubt.  May I humbly walk in the footsteps You place before me to be what You need me to be and do what You need me to do in the moment You need me to do so.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.