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Ephesians
6:10-20(KJV)
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye
may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour
of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts
of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with
all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given
unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known
the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds:
that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
In these passages the Apostle Paul tells us what we are
up against as Christians and what weapons are at our
disposal for this battle. Paul ends verse 17 with
this phrase....."and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God".
The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
The Word of God, which is found in our Bible. The
Word of God, which is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12 KJV) The
Word of God, in which our entire existence depends on
according
to Luke 4:4 "And Jesus answered him, saying,
It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God." In Proverbs 30:5
Solomon wrote: "Every Word of God is pure: he
is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
"In Luke 11:28 Jesus states: "Yea
rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and
keep it." In 1 Peter 1:23 it is written:
"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and
abideth for ever."
As you may have figured out already, I feel a need to
speak to you about the Word of God.
That satan is on a mission, saints. His sole
purpose is to
annihilate and devour you. I don't know about
you, but it seems to me that it is not going to be
pretty for those that are not standing in the end and
fall into the claws of satan. You MUST get deeper
into the Word, saints. The deeper you go in your
Christian walk, the more pressure satan is going to put
on you.
The Word of God tells us in 1 John 4:4 (KJV) ......
"greater is he that is in you, than he that is in
the world."
Beloved; our walk depends upon the Word of God
being deeply and firmly implanted in our hearts.
When we feed our spirit man with the Word of God, we
grow in Him. The more Word we feed ourselves with,
the stronger in Him we get. The more Word we have
in us, the less
junk the false prophets of satan can feed us. We
will be able to better discern what is of God and what
is NOT of God. Those which speak and cause
mostly strife and bring condemnation upon the sheep of
God are not serving His purpose of uniting the ONE
CHURCH He is
coming back for, the pure & spotless Bride.
Strife is of the devil, vanity & pride is of the
devil. Believing ourselves to be "holier than
thou" is of the devil. Anyone who puts the
main focus on putting down someone else is only serving
one purpose, to improve his own image. Instead of
trying to make Christians feel unworthy of serving God,
(which by the way, let me remind you is the devil's job)
we should be encouraging their walk with Christ.
There's no such thing as a "Super Christian".
When you see your brother or sister involved in
something questionable, try SPEAKING TO THEM OUT OF
LOVE, and not SPEAKING DOWN TO THEM in your
"Righteous indignation". Lovingly plant
the Word of God in their hearts and let the Holy Spirit
do the rest. "Greater is he that is in you,
than he that is in the world."
Remember, we have the Holy Spirit in us. He is the
comforter. He will provide the conviction.
You just do what God wants you to do and speak the Word
of God which is the Sword of The Spirit. In other
words, we have to speak the Word for the Spirit to
activate it as its sword. Therefore, if we are to
speak it, we are to know it first. Learn His Word
and keep it with you and NO ONE; no, NOT ONE, shall be
able to deceive you. For you have equipped
yourself well in order to try those spirits who
"speak for God". Put them to the test:
try them by matching their words with the Word of God,
in its entirety! This is how we withstand the
pressures of this world, saints! We are soldiers
in God's mighty army. As soldiers we have
committed
ourselves to live or die by the sword.
Having God's Word deeply implanted in our hearts, we
will always survive. But being ignorant to His
Word and promises we perish. In Hosea 6:4 God
tells us: "My people are destroyed for lack
of knowledge........"
When you feel that you don't have the strength to go on,
pick up the Bible, come to the Father's table and fill
yourself with the Word. The hungrier you come to
His table, the more you'll enjoy His feast. You
must have the Word deep in you for the survival of your
soul depends on it. In Matthew Chapter 4, verses
1-11 we are told about the devil's temptation of Jesus
during His fasting. Could Jesus have told satan to
just get out of His sight and he would have obeyed?
Yes, because it was God Himself that would have told him
to leave. Did Jesus do that? No. Why?
Because He walked this earth as a human
to show us by His example how we are to defeat the
snake: By using the Word of God against him.
Four times in those verses satan tempted Him, and four
times Jesus replied with: "It is written!"
verses 4,6,7, & 10 Jesus spoke the Word of God to
satan until he finally got the message in verse 11:
"Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels
came and ministered unto him."
As the angels ministered unto Jesus, God is ready to
come and minister unto you. If you come hurting,
His Word will heal you. When the devil reminds you
of your past sins speak to him the Word of God showing
him you KNOW you have been forgiven. When he tries
to fill you with unworthiness, speak to him the Word of
God that says you are an heir to God's kingdom. When he
tells you, you can't serve God because of what you've
done in
the past, or what you are struggling with in the
present, remind him of God's Word that shows there were
many before you, Moses, Jacob, David, Peter, and yes,
even Paul, that make your past read like a children's
bedtime story and if He saw it fit to use them, He will
see fit to use you. For He doesn't call the
qualified, He qualifies the called! The greatest
testimony to the mighty wonder-
working power of God is His ability to take filthy
pieces of trash, present company included, and clean
them up in
a way that makes it clear "beyond a reasonable
doubt" that it was God and ONLY God at work.
Father God, I thank You in the Name of Jesus for Your
truth. I thank You for giving us Your Word, Lord,
the only weapon needed by us to defeat the enemy.
It lifts us up when we stumble. I thank You
because I no longer need to "find myself".
I have found myself in You, Lord. I know who I am
in You, God. I thank You Father, for You have
taught me to keep my eyes focused on You and my ears
attentive to Your Word......... I thank You above all,
for Your precious and perfect gift, Your Son, Jesus.
I thank You for that perfect sacrifice by the Lamb of
God at Calvary, where He shed His blood for me, so that
my poor, wicked soul would have everlasting life.
In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Brethren: Remember who you are in Christ.
Don't let anyone, ESPECIALLY another Christian make you
feel less worthy in Christ. There is a big
difference between conviction of the Holy Spirit and
condemnation of satan: The first brings true
repentance and the return of joy to your life for your
burden has been lifted, along with life everlasting.
The latter brings pain, guilt, feeling of unworthiness
and spiritual death. Forget that sin of yesterday.
Repent of it and move on. If Jesus clearly states
in the Word of God that He has forgiven us, we must let
it go! What right do we have to keep beating
ourselves up? What right does anyone else have to
do the same? Jesus was crucified 2,000 years
ago for our sins, so why must we crucify ourselves?
Was His sacrifice not
sufficient?
John 19:30 : "It is finished!" He said.
Then He bowed His head and gave up the ghost..............................
Just a somber reminder saints, the spirit of the Pharisee
hasn't resurfaced in this
time............................
IT NEVER LEFT!.....................................
Final reading: James 4:11-17.
God bless you.
Your brother in Christ,
Joe.
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