Arm and Press

Sean, an undeserving servant of the Lord, I bid you…

Grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and Light of the world and of our hearts and minds and lives if we keep our eyes clear of the distraction of this world to focus on him.

I wake from a deep, painful sleep – rested in the joy of the Lord renewed and revived to continue his work. His work is not to be taken lightly either. Some have said if you wish to serve God, just go and do. But would you rush into war in Iraq or Afghanistan without boot camp?

Not even the legitimate governments of the world allow such a thing. Not even terrorist groups anymore! What makes us so careless about the warfare of life? Remember the wars of the world begin in spiritual places and we are on the frontlines of that warfare.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:7 – “You are looking only on the surface of things.” Just before that he said, the weapons of our warfare are (carnal) not of this world. But they are mighty through God – have divine power.

The King James puts it this way; “Casting down imaginations… ” 2 Corinthians 10:4 - meaning we fight in places unseen to the natural eye and Paul goes into detail, “… and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Thoughts! Meaning our warfare is for the minds and hearts and souls of humanity. And who do we know we will find in those places?

The enemy of God who has faced him long before we were created! In fact, it is that enemy who was here already waiting for us thinking this was his to rule, and was ready immediately to face the creation God made in God’s own image. But we were not ready; instead we fell into the enemy’s trap becoming subjects of his in his world!

However, God in his infinite love for his “better” creation, made a way to pluck us out of the grasps of that enemy but it cost him his Son. So now we have salvation from the enemy and are no longer his to rule but we still live in his world among others who have not been freed from his clutches.
So what now, is victory now won so we can become complacent? How arrogant we can be in our zeal. If winning us cost the Father his Son, what will it cost us who were called after and because of his Son?

This is why Paul wrote; “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:11, 12

You ever wonder why it is when you pray and minister to others then either face difficulties or grow heavy in the spirit. This is the nature of our warfare. We are not greater than our Master. If he suffered being fully prepared we must know we will suffer as well, if we are well prepared!

But woe to us if we go and are not to the best our present abilities prepared! Put simply, we can and will be crushed under the weight of the call! But to combat this; Christ through Paul gave us a clear way to be ready. We are to put on the armor of God, which simply means be prepared in:

Truth, (which comes about by always speaking the truth in love and not given to speaking, or listening to or the spreading of lies or gossip)

Righteousness, (living a life in the spirit not given to the ways of the world or flesh in – idolatry, lust, selfishness, spitefulness, cursing, hate, envy… instead being loving, caring, giving, gentle, forgiving, full of peace, meekness… )

Gospel of peace, (being ready to go – being supported by the confirmation of fellows in the gathering and the sharing of trials and testimonies)

Faith, (continue to press on in our belief – by simply leaving it to God – taking our hands off the wheel and not putting them on again)

Helmet of Salvation – (having the mind redesigned and made up - to know we now belong to an everlasting Lord who will never leave us nor forget us – and remembering we are sealed for him, to reign with him, forever, if we stand)

Sword of the Spirit – The word of God! (If we don’t know we can’t go. To be fully prepared in the word, by reading, and studying with the Spirit of God. Cross referencing, reading many versions NAS, NIV, NLT, KJV, Amplified, Greek translations, Aramaic [Peshitta], Hebrew texts, etc. and not being afraid to question what we read. Questions, lead to answers and those answers build preparation for those we would face that would use their cunning to trip us up.)

Prayer, “… And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18

What a great preparation proving ground we have in WORLDPRAYR. Here we come with readiness, even if not completely prepared for all battles outside of prayer and exercise our spiritual muscles. In this we are fully obedient to God and our call.

But we should never forget not forsake to every day, be prepared by going through our daily routine of readiness and being fully armed. For again, before wars take place in the physical world they begin in the spiritual places, in the minds and hearts of men. That’s where we are, and where we are called to fight.

We must pray for our leaders small and great, our neighbors friendly or otherwise, our neighborhoods and towns and cities and states and regions and nations and countries.

But most of all and dare I say before - and - after all - PRAY FOR FELLOWS, BROTHERS AND SISTER IN CHRIST! “With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18.

In praying for one another we help lift the heaviness and the attacks of the enemy that come to saints who are praying for others and are at work in the mission fields of God. They/we need our aide foremost! If we are crushed the work ends. We know God will not let that happen on global scale until he is ready, but our overall effectiveness will wane, until it is choked off. This is our individual responsibility.

Let us therefore not be arrogant and think one: we can just go. This is a real war! It’s “The” real war.! It all happens in the realms we live in before it happens in the physical world. And this war like all wars needs real soldiers. The better trained military will be victorious. The enemy has worked hard to train his. They fight well without knowing how used they are and how strong they are at it.

And two: let us not think we can go ‘un’ – or half prepared, this is folly and will bring more stress in our lives, and may even damage our faith overall and may even crush our very lives. This is why we must press on. We have been plucked from the Matrix to use a popular movie analogy. And there is no way back in.

We belong to Christ, so let us do his will as soldiers drafted, but we do not grumble as drafted soldiers do, for our draft is a calling, the highest calling one can be called to by GOD. We have been adopted and given eternal life with Love himself. So learn, be prepared and fight the holy and good fight!

Be blessed in the Lord my fellows. With love and peace toward you all I wish you the best of days in the battle of life.