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Have you ever been in a place where things are just going so fast, in so many directions that you just want to bury yourself under the covers of your bed and wait for the ride to be over?
I'm doing that right now. LOL. Some is self-induced and some is outside of me. Things that I have no control over and things that I do. Unfortunately, when I start getting too busy my writing suffers. It's interesting to me that the major thing that feeds my soul, that sustains me day to day and that I love is the first thing that "dries up" when life gets too crazy.
It's not that I don't have anything to write about, it's mainly that satan is trying to get a foothold. He's been doing that a lot lately and I feel like my eyes have been opened to it for a reason, but we will come back to that at a later date.
Right now I want to encourage my readers to check out a blog http://www.karendawkins.blogspot.com/ Karen is an amazing woman of God who inspires and challenges me. I believe that God places people in our lives to help us travel down the segment of the narrow road where we are at that specific time in our life. Karen is traveling this with me and is giving me much to think about, chew over, and process. Her blog pours fresh words into my soul, fresh insight into my mind and helps me fall deeper and deeper in love with my Jesus every day. I'm not putting Karen on a pedastal and she certainly doesn't expect it, but I do know that writing and blogging and pouring our souls out on paper (or pixels) can be challenging and even lonely, and so for now, while I'm wading through the muck and mire stop by Karen's, grab a cup of coffee, and read a bit. It's time well spent.
Showing posts with label Satan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Satan. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sword of the Spirit
Ephesians 6:17
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
I was so excited about the helmet of salvation and protecting our minds from satan’s attack in my last post that I decided to break this up into two entries and really give undivided attention to the sword of the Spirit.
We need to remember that Paul is writing to the Ephesians a group of Christians that lived in Ephesus. The time was about 60 A.D.
It is believed that this letter was intended to circulate throughout all the different churches (first chain letter.) I doubt if he requested anyone to send dishcloths or a recipe to the first person and add their name to the bottom though.
A sword is a weapon. It is used to fight the enemy and many people read this verse and relegate the sword of the Spirit to the Bible, the Word of God and that is what it means by very broad definition. However, if we look at this a bit closer I think we will all be blown away at exactly what God has placed into our keeping to fight the enemy with.
In a fight a soldier had to be adept at many different types of swords. There was not only one sword that fit all occasions. There were long swords, short swords, broad swords, and daggers. A soldier had to be equipped to fight with each different type of sword and in order to use the sword effectively a solider had to study and practice and know the parts of his sword.
If you look above at the sword you will see that there are many different parts to the whole. There is the pommel and the grip; this is where a solider would hold the sword. The cross-guard protected the hand of the swordsman from his own sword and the pommel gave (It is impossible to fight if the arm is rendered useless.) As we move down the body of the sword, to the blade itself we can see that there are different attributes and benefits. The pommel helps hold the hilt together, but what you cannot see is so important. It’s called the tang. You do not see the tang when you examine the sword, but it is placed there during a swords’ creation and is essential for joining the blade and hilt together.
While moving down the sword, just beyond the hilt to about halfway down the blade is the strongest part of the sword. It is also called the “forte”. Forte also refers to someone’s strength, something at which they excel.
As we move down the blade, we reach the central ridge. This is the weakest part of the sword and is also called its foible. A foible is also translated to mean a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect.
Now that you probably know more about swords then you EVER wanted to know, lets look again at Ephesians 6:17.
There are many of us that are misunderstanding this verse. It is not applying to just “The Bible.” We have to go deeper and look at how the King of Kings wielded this mighty weapon.
Each verse is a sword and we have to understand The Word, read The Word, and memorize The Word so that we may fight. Satan knows the bible; he knows the Word of God and cannot stand against it. Look at Mathew 4:1-11. Satan battles Jesus in the desert. He tempts Him and Jesus, verse by verse, wields the sword of the Spirit and defeats the King of Lies. But Jesus had to know the scripture, just as we have to know it. He had been in the desert 40 days, he was physically hungry and his body was weakened. Satan attacked during what he perceived as a weak period.
Satan said to him, “ If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
How many times have you been tempted? “If you only had ______, if you could only do ______, but it is only ________, then you would be _______. You can fill in the blanks, we all have the blanks and the weaknesses and the temptation.
But Jesus knew His heavenly Father’s Word and fought back against that temptation by saying,
Sharpen your sword and make sure your blade is straight and true. Reading our bible and comprehending and memorizing scripture makes your sword arm strong and perfects your aim.
Accepting God into your life connects your hand (the hilt) to God’s word through the tang (Holy Spirit) living in you. It cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the Holy Spirit is absolutely imperative to hold it all together.
And we must come together as soldiers in this war so my strengths and weakness can be complimented or covered over by your strengths and weakness. (Forte and foibles)
Find a bible that you can understand and memorize God’s word, discuss it with fellow Christians and get involved in learning more every day about how to fight the good fight. God wins the war, but the battles are intense. Armor up and ensure your blade is sharp. We are in the thick of this battle, up to the hilt. From head to foot, protection is important, but the most important is what you use to fight back and defeat the enemy. Sharpen your sword.
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
I was so excited about the helmet of salvation and protecting our minds from satan’s attack in my last post that I decided to break this up into two entries and really give undivided attention to the sword of the Spirit.
We need to remember that Paul is writing to the Ephesians a group of Christians that lived in Ephesus. The time was about 60 A.D.
It is believed that this letter was intended to circulate throughout all the different churches (first chain letter.) I doubt if he requested anyone to send dishcloths or a recipe to the first person and add their name to the bottom though.
In a fight a soldier had to be adept at many different types of swords. There was not only one sword that fit all occasions. There were long swords, short swords, broad swords, and daggers. A soldier had to be equipped to fight with each different type of sword and in order to use the sword effectively a solider had to study and practice and know the parts of his sword.
If you look above at the sword you will see that there are many different parts to the whole. There is the pommel and the grip; this is where a solider would hold the sword. The cross-guard protected the hand of the swordsman from his own sword and the pommel gave (It is impossible to fight if the arm is rendered useless.) As we move down the body of the sword, to the blade itself we can see that there are different attributes and benefits. The pommel helps hold the hilt together, but what you cannot see is so important. It’s called the tang. You do not see the tang when you examine the sword, but it is placed there during a swords’ creation and is essential for joining the blade and hilt together.
While moving down the sword, just beyond the hilt to about halfway down the blade is the strongest part of the sword. It is also called the “forte”. Forte also refers to someone’s strength, something at which they excel.
As we move down the blade, we reach the central ridge. This is the weakest part of the sword and is also called its foible. A foible is also translated to mean a minor weakness or failing of character; slight flaw or defect.
Now that you probably know more about swords then you EVER wanted to know, lets look again at Ephesians 6:17.
“…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
There are many of us that are misunderstanding this verse. It is not applying to just “The Bible.” We have to go deeper and look at how the King of Kings wielded this mighty weapon.
Each verse is a sword and we have to understand The Word, read The Word, and memorize The Word so that we may fight. Satan knows the bible; he knows the Word of God and cannot stand against it. Look at Mathew 4:1-11. Satan battles Jesus in the desert. He tempts Him and Jesus, verse by verse, wields the sword of the Spirit and defeats the King of Lies. But Jesus had to know the scripture, just as we have to know it. He had been in the desert 40 days, he was physically hungry and his body was weakened. Satan attacked during what he perceived as a weak period.
Satan said to him, “ If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
How many times have you been tempted? “If you only had ______, if you could only do ______, but it is only ________, then you would be _______. You can fill in the blanks, we all have the blanks and the weaknesses and the temptation.
But Jesus knew His heavenly Father’s Word and fought back against that temptation by saying,
“It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”Can’t you just hear the clanging of the blades as they come together? See the sparks fly? Feel the vibration flow down the blade into the hilt and up the arm. We are at war and the battles will be intense.
Sharpen your sword and make sure your blade is straight and true. Reading our bible and comprehending and memorizing scripture makes your sword arm strong and perfects your aim.
Accepting God into your life connects your hand (the hilt) to God’s word through the tang (Holy Spirit) living in you. It cannot be seen with the naked eye, but the Holy Spirit is absolutely imperative to hold it all together.
And we must come together as soldiers in this war so my strengths and weakness can be complimented or covered over by your strengths and weakness. (Forte and foibles)
Find a bible that you can understand and memorize God’s word, discuss it with fellow Christians and get involved in learning more every day about how to fight the good fight. God wins the war, but the battles are intense. Armor up and ensure your blade is sharp. We are in the thick of this battle, up to the hilt. From head to foot, protection is important, but the most important is what you use to fight back and defeat the enemy. Sharpen your sword.
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Belt Of Truth
Last week I started talking about the armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-20 but my ADD kicked in and I got distracted. Seriously…it did…oh look…shiny…
Other things had come up, like the porcine plague and I put the armor of God on the back burner. It’s my blog and I can do that.
So today I wanted to talk more about the armor God has equipped His followers with and how we can use it today. Not many of us have need for real chain mail or plate mail armor. It looks really neat but it’s hard to keep polished and really uncomfortable on the commute to work, not to mention all the weird looks you would get from the carpool at your kids’ school. No, the armor that the Bible talks about is figurative. I had never heard about the armor of God before until last year when I was trying to find something to speak about at the She Speaks conference. I am a very visual speaker, I move a lot and I like to have things for people to relate to. That way if they don’t remember what I said, maybe one of my visuals will lock in a thought or an idea that will simmer in their subconscious and God will use that as a trigger for how they can apply it.
In my talk about the armor of God I was equipped with what I pictured as my “belt of truth”. It was a tool belt that I blinged out with rhinestones and crosses (hey, I told you I saw something shiny). In my tool belt I carried my journal, my bible, my coffee cup and my pens and markers. But we are talking about the belt today. The belt of truth. Ephesians 6:14 states,
Truth.
Jesus starts so many of his lessons with, “I tell you the truth...” John 14:6 states,
“ 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
So your belt, what holds it all together, what binds you, what ties all the rest of your armor together is truth. God’s truth, which can be found in His son, Jesus.
I believe that it’s listed as the first piece of armor because in order to have the rest of it, you have to have that piece first. None of the other works without the truth. I cannot have righteousness, or readiness, or peace, or faith and I cannot fight the Evil one without Jesus, without truth. If Satan is the king of lies, then who do you think is the King of Truth? The truth that God equips us with through His word is how we fight Satan but we can only fight when we know how to use the weapon. We have to learn God’s truth. Satan’s lies permeates everything, the television we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, conversations we have, conversations our kids have, Satan is everywhere, but the cool thing about that is, so is God and His truth works against every single one of Satan’s lies. Get out your tool belt, bling it up if you want to, and put it on. Equip yourself with the truth, God’s truth, so that you can fight Satan’s lies, the ones that come against you in your day to day battle, not only with the outside world, but with the lies that Satan whispers in your head.
Here are a few weapons for your arsenal.
Psalm 139: 13-16
Philippians 1:9-10
Romans 8:38-39
These are only a few of the wonderful truths that can be found in scripture. Read them, study them, and understand that they were written for us and for the battle that we are fighting every single day.
Other things had come up, like the porcine plague and I put the armor of God on the back burner. It’s my blog and I can do that.
So today I wanted to talk more about the armor God has equipped His followers with and how we can use it today. Not many of us have need for real chain mail or plate mail armor. It looks really neat but it’s hard to keep polished and really uncomfortable on the commute to work, not to mention all the weird looks you would get from the carpool at your kids’ school. No, the armor that the Bible talks about is figurative. I had never heard about the armor of God before until last year when I was trying to find something to speak about at the She Speaks conference. I am a very visual speaker, I move a lot and I like to have things for people to relate to. That way if they don’t remember what I said, maybe one of my visuals will lock in a thought or an idea that will simmer in their subconscious and God will use that as a trigger for how they can apply it.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist..”Yes, there is more to it, stop rushing me. Truth. Truth is the key to everything. If you know the truth then nothing can come against you. Satan uses lies and misunderstandings, criticism and blame, to cause a rift amongst believers. If Satan can cause two Christians to come against each other, then he has won half the battle already. Think about this for a moment, how many times have you jumped to a conclusion, went with the wrong information, ran off at the mouth, spread gossip, or whispered a secret that caused pain or hurt to someone else? All action, all detrimental and all something you probably shouldn’t have done, but look back up at the scripture, “stand firm…” Don’t move, be still (and know that I am ...sorry, ADD moment again.).
Truth.
Jesus starts so many of his lessons with, “I tell you the truth...” John 14:6 states,
“ 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”
So your belt, what holds it all together, what binds you, what ties all the rest of your armor together is truth. God’s truth, which can be found in His son, Jesus.
I believe that it’s listed as the first piece of armor because in order to have the rest of it, you have to have that piece first. None of the other works without the truth. I cannot have righteousness, or readiness, or peace, or faith and I cannot fight the Evil one without Jesus, without truth. If Satan is the king of lies, then who do you think is the King of Truth? The truth that God equips us with through His word is how we fight Satan but we can only fight when we know how to use the weapon. We have to learn God’s truth. Satan’s lies permeates everything, the television we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, conversations we have, conversations our kids have, Satan is everywhere, but the cool thing about that is, so is God and His truth works against every single one of Satan’s lies. Get out your tool belt, bling it up if you want to, and put it on. Equip yourself with the truth, God’s truth, so that you can fight Satan’s lies, the ones that come against you in your day to day battle, not only with the outside world, but with the lies that Satan whispers in your head.
Here are a few weapons for your arsenal.
Psalm 139: 13-16
Philippians 1:9-10
Romans 8:38-39
These are only a few of the wonderful truths that can be found in scripture. Read them, study them, and understand that they were written for us and for the battle that we are fighting every single day.
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