A quick overview of the Old Testament shows us how foolish it is to be an enemy of God. Time and time again, we see people try to thwart God. Sometimes it is common men, but even the greatest kings of the time would try to resist God. We see the folly of their attempts recorded for us. Pharoah’s nation was ravished. Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a beast of the field. Belshazzar had his kindgom taken from him. Over and over again, God shows the consequences are dire for those who would oppose Him. Read the rest of this entry »

In Ephesians chapter six, Paul offers Christians an illustration of warfare to show how serious we need to take our battle in the spiritual realm. This battle is just as important and just as real as any war that has been waged throughout history. However it is easy to neglect the reality of a war that exists on the spiritual plane. Since we do not easily see or feel the effects of the war, we can push it aside and ignore it. Paul tells us that we can no do that, and it is vital that we arm ourselves for the upcoming battles. Read the rest of this entry »

Joseph was truly a great man of God. Here he is, a slave in a foreign country, and all of the sudden he is being seduced by his master’s wife. Considering Potiphar was a man of considerable means, his wife was probably considerably attractive. On top of that, he was sold into slavery by his own brothers after recieving a dream from God. No one here knew anything about him or about his God. It would have been easy for him to fall into temptation here. No one would have to know. And yet he resisted temptation. Read the rest of this entry »

The life of a soldier is a difficult one. He must go away from his home, and his life focuses purely on the war effort. He spends countless hours training himself for the life or death struggle before him. Every day he must look for a way to improve himself. He may have some time for recreation here and there, but for the most part, his life revolves around the task at hand. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a closed in back porch. Unfortunately a few windows are missing. The other night I heard some rustling going on in the porch. At first I thought it was nothing, but when it persisted I decided to go check. Imagine my surprise when I looked out there and saw a drooling, angry possum! Having no more ferocious a weapon, I carried my plastic broomstick determined to scare him out. I tried to sweep him outside the back door, but due to the narrow terrain, he ran into me instead. I panicked, hoping to keep him from biting me, and kicked at him wildly, striking as quickly and often as possible. This only served to scare him into a hiding place farther from the door. Having lost the battle, I opened the door and left, hoping he would leave on his own. I didn’t know whether or not he left but not wanting to invite more creatures in, before I went to bed, I closed the door, hoping he had vanished. Read the rest of this entry »

Revelation 3:8

‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

Some people just have an open door policy. I do not mean bosses who want you to feel free to talk to them about anything. There are certain people who leave their house open for their friends and family. You do not need to call ahead, you can just stop on by. They do not even have to be there. You are welcome to come into their house any time that you desire. They want you to feel comfortable coming and going, and they do not want you to be discouraged by others about it. They truly have an open door.

What God is saying to the church in Philadelphia is that they have an open door before them. They are invited guests who are able to enter in. Yet this is no house down the street or even a mansion. This is His heavenly abode. At the end of the book we see just how amazing this home is. And the Lord wants us to feel comfortable there. He is inviting us in, letting us know that it is acceptable to come inside. That is of course if we, like the Philadelphia church, will do the deeds that are required of us.

What is also exciting about this is that no one can close this door. Many people will try. We will have enemies or maybe even friends who want us to be cut off from God. Satan is especially this way. He will do everything in his power to keep us from getting to heaven. Yet, try as he might, ultimately he does not have enough power to make it happen. The only people that can keep us from going through that door is ourselves. Knowing how great it is, we must choose to follow God and enter into the doorway of His heavenly abode.

‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

Psalm 7:12

If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.

It can be easy for people to become lackadaisical about their  spiritual life. The allow a white lie here, a lusting look there. They allow jealousy, anger, or bitterness to remain in their heart. We think that these small sins are no big deal. And yet they are. First of all any sin is an affront to God. The second problem is that we allow sin a beachhead in our lives. Before we know it the invading army of sin overtakes us. By allowing sin into our lives in any form, we open the door for more to enter in.

Before we know it our lackadaisical approach becomes a full out spiritual abyss. We feel distant from God. What was once an occasional sin or a guilty pleasure becomes a natural part of what we do. This is why our  attitude needs to be on of vigilance. We must constantly be on guard against any sin in our lives. As soon as we see it and recognize it for what it is, we need to repent immediately. Like a gardener constantly pulling out weeds, we must constantly change any slippage in the path of sin.

If we refuse to do so, we risk the judgment of the Lord. As the Psalmist says here, His judgment is fierce. On top of that, we can see that He is preparing to bring about judgment on those who do not obey.  It will not be a random decision one morning. The Lord hates sin. When He sees people involved in it, it upsets Him and causes Him to grieve in His heart. Those who refuse to repent before the Lord might make the mistake that He has turned a blind eye towards them. To do so is foolish: He is now preparing judgment for you if you do not return to Him.

If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready.

Matthew 4:6

and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON {their} HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

     When Jesus is in the wilderness, right before His ministry gets underway, Satan comes and tries to tempt Him. This is a critical juncture in history. Jesus is going to be offered up as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Yet this is only possible if He remains sinless. If He were to have a defect, He would be useless to free us of our sins. It should come as no suprise then, that we Satan pull out some of his biggest tricks to try and thwart the Lord’s plans.

     One of his sneakier tricks is found in the above passage. He actually has the gall to quote the word of God to Jesus while he is trying to get Him to sin. Jesus is up to the challenge. He is the author of the word, so He knows the intent behind and it and instantly recognizes the twist that Satan puts into it. Yet it is important to recognize that Satan is not above quoting not just one but two passages from the Scriptures.

     Satan eagerly uses this trick against us today. He tries to convince us that sin is okay, and he will do it by using God’s own word. How many times will people say, “God would not send anyone to hell! He is too loving to do that.” You can just see Satan smiling impishly behind them. He is winning. There is no doubt that God is love. Yet that is only half the truth. God is also righteous. By getting us to focus on one and not the other, Satan wins. He can do this with so many scriptures, even convincing others that God is so righteous that He would never be able to forgive. God is not that loving. We must study the word of God so as to not fall for such tricks of the devil.

and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON {their} HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

My Dad does a lot of Civil War re-enacting. In this one battle he found himself all alone on the battle field with only his musket. There would be no Rambo antics with a gun that shoots three rounds a minute. All of the sudden a group of Union Calvary charged out. They were about twenty of them, blazing at him on horses with their six shooter revolvers. He had nowhere to run, and one bullet before they were upon him. He was in a terrible situation.

It was lucky for him that this was only a re-enactment. In a real battle, he would have totally been at their mercy. He at most could only kill one of them. He could not outrun a horse. He was totally at their mercy. The only way he could survive is if they decided not to kill him.  He was totally and completely helpless. In the same way, on the day of judgment, we will be the same way. We will be before Him and there is no escape. There is no where for us to go, we have no way to fight against the Lord. His judgment is final, and there will be no one to rescue us from it.

That is why our relationship with the Lord is of vital importance. If we are His enemy, we have no protection. On the day of judgment, there will be nowhere to hide. This is why we have to forsake the world. By being friends with the world, we become enemies of God. If we are His enemies, there will be no recourse, no impossible escape like you might see in the movies. Instead we will have to face the consequences of the choice to choose the world over God.

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

2 Corinthians 13:4

For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

     Cell phones are amazing tools. One wonders how in the world people survived before them. How did you coordinate where you would meet? What did you do if you got lost while you were driving? And now that they have internet and text messaging capabilities, they are sources for just about everything. So it will come as no surprise that when I travel I always have a cell phone with me. There is just one problem. Almost without fail, I tend to leave my charger behind. On a day trip, that is okay. When it is a weekend or even longer, my cell phone really does not even make a good paper weight. It is less than worthless.

     We as Christians need to make sure that we also do not forget our power sources. As Christians we are powerful beings. We first of all have new life, and are created for an everlasting life. We have been given power over death. We also have the power to change other people’s lives. We have power to defeat Satan and to win the battle against the flesh. All of these things show that we are beings with great power. However, just like a cell phone, we are no good without our power source that makes us strong.

     That power source is God. God is the one who strengthens us and makes our victories possible. It is vital we stay connected to Him. For that we need our spiritual chargers. We need to spend time in prayer with God strengthening our relationship with Him. We need to study His word, learning His will for us and how to effectively channel that power. We need to spend time with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, growing in love and knowledge and power. By keeping ourselves connected to the power source, we will avoid being powerless and obslete in God’s kingdom.

For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.