Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "sandals"
War and Peace – Part 1
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is acknowledged as one of the longest novels ever written. Its fame is not based on its length though. Tolstoy is a wonderful writer, who should be appreciated by readers until Jesus comes again.
His style is engaging, but his subject matter often makes the novel difficult for modern Americans to enjoy. We aren’t much given to reading today, what with TV and movies and PCs and smart phones and the internet all working in unison to steal our time from us. Reading has become a lost art, unless we buy into the synopsis alternative to the real thing.
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” portrays Czarist Russia circa 1805, when the French invaded the land. It continues into the Napoleonic era and his invasion of Russia. The historical setting is not one with which many Americans are familiar. This makes his novel distant and irrelevant for many of us. I personally enjoyed the book quite a bit, though it did have the side effect of heavy lifting on the brain.
You might want to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, if you haven’t already done so. It may afford you a blessing in the reading. But there is another “war and peace” for us to consider. This one will indubitably shower us with blessings. So we mustn’t skip it for any reason in the world!
In our last several studies we have descanted on the topic of spiritual warfare. In order to conduct spiritual warfare successfully, we must needs “put on the full armor of God”. We learned that already, as I am sure you recall.
The first piece of armor is “the belt of truth”. Jesus is the Truth, and the written Word of God is the truth.
In order to work or go to war, the folks of the ancient world needed to wear their belt or girdle or sash around their tunic. The tunic dragged along the feet and tripped them up, if they tried to work or fight a battle in it. They had to pull the tunic up away from the feet and tuck it into the belt, to keep it off the feet and out of the way. Then they could successfully work or fight the war.
Only by adhering to the Word of God can we Christians successfully conduct spiritual warfare and obtain the victory over the wicked one. The battle is not ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. The Word of God is the truth about who the devil is, what sin is, how to resist the devil on the spiritual plane, and important topics like that.
Now that is good stuff! I can’t wait to taste some more…but we’ll have to wait because our time is up for today. Let’s spend time with Jesus a while. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is acknowledged as one of the longest novels ever written. Its fame is not based on its length though. Tolstoy is a wonderful writer, who should be appreciated by readers until Jesus comes again.
His style is engaging, but his subject matter often makes the novel difficult for modern Americans to enjoy. We aren’t much given to reading today, what with TV and movies and PCs and smart phones and the internet all working in unison to steal our time from us. Reading has become a lost art, unless we buy into the synopsis alternative to the real thing.
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” portrays Czarist Russia circa 1805, when the French invaded the land. It continues into the Napoleonic era and his invasion of Russia. The historical setting is not one with which many Americans are familiar. This makes his novel distant and irrelevant for many of us. I personally enjoyed the book quite a bit, though it did have the side effect of heavy lifting on the brain.
You might want to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, if you haven’t already done so. It may afford you a blessing in the reading. But there is another “war and peace” for us to consider. This one will indubitably shower us with blessings. So we mustn’t skip it for any reason in the world!
In our last several studies we have descanted on the topic of spiritual warfare. In order to conduct spiritual warfare successfully, we must needs “put on the full armor of God”. We learned that already, as I am sure you recall.
The first piece of armor is “the belt of truth”. Jesus is the Truth, and the written Word of God is the truth.
In order to work or go to war, the folks of the ancient world needed to wear their belt or girdle or sash around their tunic. The tunic dragged along the feet and tripped them up, if they tried to work or fight a battle in it. They had to pull the tunic up away from the feet and tuck it into the belt, to keep it off the feet and out of the way. Then they could successfully work or fight the war.
Only by adhering to the Word of God can we Christians successfully conduct spiritual warfare and obtain the victory over the wicked one. The battle is not ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. The Word of God is the truth about who the devil is, what sin is, how to resist the devil on the spiritual plane, and important topics like that.
Now that is good stuff! I can’t wait to taste some more…but we’ll have to wait because our time is up for today. Let’s spend time with Jesus a while. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 2
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
We are to conduct spiritual warfare and defeat the devil in his wiles. Symbolically, the Word of God keeps our feet unencumbered by the pitfalls and stumbling blocks of the flesh, the world, and the devil. God’s Word is like the belt which anchors the tunic away from the feet so we don’t stumble. God’s Word is “the belt of truth”.
The second piece of armor is “the breastplate of righteousness”. Man is his own strength cannot stand against the devil. We will fall for his guile in no time flat. The devil will remind us of whatever weakness and failing we have, which is as simple as pie for him.
Satan might point out the last time we sinned, and we will be speechless, unable to refute him because he would be right. Or Satan might butter us up about some supposed achievement we accomplished, should our weakness be pride. Our head will swell to the size of Rhode Island, and we will be defeated outright.
No man, including the Christian, is righteous in his own right. We all sin and we all fail. Ergo, we cannot confront Satan in our own righteousness. We need “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, if we are to be victorious in spiritual warfare.
That is “the breastplate of righteousness”. As new creations in Christ Jesus, we don’t stand on our own righteousness. We stand on the Rock, Christ Jesus. We have His righteousness ascribed to us by God.
Satan can point the finger at the old sinner’s lack of righteousness until the cows come home. God isn’t impressed. His Son Jesus names us as His own, as having His righteousness. God declares us “Not guilty!” Satan goes away ashamed.
The third piece of armor for us to put on can be identified as “the shoes or sandals of peace”. And that identifies the “war and peace” we made note of earlier. On the one hand we are going forth to conduct spiritual warfare. On the other hand we are fitting our feet with the gospel of peace.
Isn’t that peculiar? Are we to conduct war or are we to hold peace talks? Which is it already! Well, it’s both. How’s that for decisiveness, huh?
Permit me to explain. When we conduct spiritual warfare, we don’t do so by pushing our own agenda. We serve the Lord Christ, not ourselves. We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ah oh. Just when we were getting to the nitty gritty, the sand in the clock has filled the bottom. Oh well. We’ll be able to roll the good things of today over our tongues a bit, as we sit at the feet of Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue down this trail.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We are to conduct spiritual warfare and defeat the devil in his wiles. Symbolically, the Word of God keeps our feet unencumbered by the pitfalls and stumbling blocks of the flesh, the world, and the devil. God’s Word is like the belt which anchors the tunic away from the feet so we don’t stumble. God’s Word is “the belt of truth”.
The second piece of armor is “the breastplate of righteousness”. Man is his own strength cannot stand against the devil. We will fall for his guile in no time flat. The devil will remind us of whatever weakness and failing we have, which is as simple as pie for him.
Satan might point out the last time we sinned, and we will be speechless, unable to refute him because he would be right. Or Satan might butter us up about some supposed achievement we accomplished, should our weakness be pride. Our head will swell to the size of Rhode Island, and we will be defeated outright.
No man, including the Christian, is righteous in his own right. We all sin and we all fail. Ergo, we cannot confront Satan in our own righteousness. We need “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, if we are to be victorious in spiritual warfare.
That is “the breastplate of righteousness”. As new creations in Christ Jesus, we don’t stand on our own righteousness. We stand on the Rock, Christ Jesus. We have His righteousness ascribed to us by God.
Satan can point the finger at the old sinner’s lack of righteousness until the cows come home. God isn’t impressed. His Son Jesus names us as His own, as having His righteousness. God declares us “Not guilty!” Satan goes away ashamed.
The third piece of armor for us to put on can be identified as “the shoes or sandals of peace”. And that identifies the “war and peace” we made note of earlier. On the one hand we are going forth to conduct spiritual warfare. On the other hand we are fitting our feet with the gospel of peace.
Isn’t that peculiar? Are we to conduct war or are we to hold peace talks? Which is it already! Well, it’s both. How’s that for decisiveness, huh?
Permit me to explain. When we conduct spiritual warfare, we don’t do so by pushing our own agenda. We serve the Lord Christ, not ourselves. We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ah oh. Just when we were getting to the nitty gritty, the sand in the clock has filled the bottom. Oh well. We’ll be able to roll the good things of today over our tongues a bit, as we sit at the feet of Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue down this trail.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 3
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is God’s proclamation to sinful man that he cease from his hostilities against God, repent of his sins, and turn to God for forgiveness. In doing this the sinner renounces his sin of rebellion against God’s kingship, and he submits himself to God as His King. In this way the sinner becomes a saint, an adopted son of God in Christ Jesus.
This scenario is made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus died our death, thus paying the penalty for our sins. He rose out of death without sin, thus providing us with a new, resurrection life without sin.
When the sinner believes this message of the Gospel and accepts God’s offer, he is no longer the old sinner at war with God. He becomes a saint, a new creation in Christ Jesus who is a part of God’s family. He isn’t at war with God any longer. He thenceforth has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He can live in the peace of God thereafter. This is “the gospel of peace”.
In conducting spiritual warfare, this translates thusly. Satan accuses the saint of sinning, trying to evoke guilt feelings in the saint and drive him to hide from God. It worked in the garden of Eden when the man and woman sinned, didn’t it? Who’s to say it’s not a successful ploy still?
When we put on “the shoes of peace”, it amounts to proclaiming that we are in a state of peace with God because we are “in Christ”. Satan’s accusation dissipates into thin air by this revelation. We cannot exactly feel guilty and run away to hide from God, if we clearly know that we are at peace with God. Can we? Methinks not!
In case you haven’t noticed, as we’ve studied each piece in “the full armor of God”, we’ve basically been identifying different aspects of Christ Jesus’ Person and ministry. We’ve proclaimed the Gospel in its various aspects. The Gospel is the answer to any guile and bile which Satan employs against us.
We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, dear friends. We can overcome the world because Christ overcame the world and we are “in Christ”. We can rebuke the flesh because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, and He was victorious over the flesh. We can overcome the devil because we are “in Christ”. Didn’t He overcome the devil in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights?
Yes, Jesus sure did! Let’s go to Him now and congratulate Him on His sterling victory. We’ll finish our topic in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is God’s proclamation to sinful man that he cease from his hostilities against God, repent of his sins, and turn to God for forgiveness. In doing this the sinner renounces his sin of rebellion against God’s kingship, and he submits himself to God as His King. In this way the sinner becomes a saint, an adopted son of God in Christ Jesus.
This scenario is made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus died our death, thus paying the penalty for our sins. He rose out of death without sin, thus providing us with a new, resurrection life without sin.
When the sinner believes this message of the Gospel and accepts God’s offer, he is no longer the old sinner at war with God. He becomes a saint, a new creation in Christ Jesus who is a part of God’s family. He isn’t at war with God any longer. He thenceforth has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He can live in the peace of God thereafter. This is “the gospel of peace”.
In conducting spiritual warfare, this translates thusly. Satan accuses the saint of sinning, trying to evoke guilt feelings in the saint and drive him to hide from God. It worked in the garden of Eden when the man and woman sinned, didn’t it? Who’s to say it’s not a successful ploy still?
When we put on “the shoes of peace”, it amounts to proclaiming that we are in a state of peace with God because we are “in Christ”. Satan’s accusation dissipates into thin air by this revelation. We cannot exactly feel guilty and run away to hide from God, if we clearly know that we are at peace with God. Can we? Methinks not!
In case you haven’t noticed, as we’ve studied each piece in “the full armor of God”, we’ve basically been identifying different aspects of Christ Jesus’ Person and ministry. We’ve proclaimed the Gospel in its various aspects. The Gospel is the answer to any guile and bile which Satan employs against us.
We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, dear friends. We can overcome the world because Christ overcame the world and we are “in Christ”. We can rebuke the flesh because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, and He was victorious over the flesh. We can overcome the devil because we are “in Christ”. Didn’t He overcome the devil in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights?
Yes, Jesus sure did! Let’s go to Him now and congratulate Him on His sterling victory. We’ll finish our topic in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 4
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
Jesus won the victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are “in Christ”, so we too have won those selfsame victories. Isn’t that fantastic?
We have to remember that the battle is not ours to fight and win. The battle belongs to the Lord. We are not to live our own life. We are to be the Body of Christ on earth and allow Him to live His life in and through us. We are not out to accomplish our plans. We are servants of Christ, doing His work to accomplish His plan.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect military commander. He is the perfect master. He never sends any of His people into the world to do a job, without first equipping them to succeed in achieving His goals. He never dispatches any of His troops to the battlefield, without first furnishing them with the weaponry needed to succeed and obtain the victory.
The Lord displayed this truth to the Israelites in Egypt. He defeated Pharaoh and his armies on Israel’s behalf, forcing Pharaoh to surrender and release Israel from slavery to him. He defeated Pharaoh at the Red Sea, when he tried to force Israel back into slavery to Egypt.
The Lord went ahead of the Israelites into Canaan, defeating the inhabitants of that land for Israel. Israel wasn’t allowed to sit back and watch the action, mind you. They did have to go forth and fight. But the Lord went first and whupped the heathen folks. Israel simply had to obey the Word of God to them to follow behind Him and do mop up duty. In other words the Lord equipped the Israelites to accomplish the chore which He assigned to them.
Though the Israelites fought against physical troops and employed physical weapons, the war was first and foremost spiritual warfare. The Lord was in control. The battle belonged to the Lord. Israel’s part was to hear the Word of God to them, obey the Word of God to them, and win the victory which the Word of God guaranteed them. Voilà! spiritual warfare in a nutshell.
The same applies to us Christians today. No, we don’t conduct physical warfare against physical enemies by employing physical weapons. We aren’t out to inherit a physical country as the spoils of war. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
But we do walk with the Lord in order to arrive at our heavenly country. And we can only do so on the basis of obedience to the Word of God. This journey is one of daily spiritual warfare. This warfare is conducted on the basis of the Word of God. It begins with grace through faith, and it ends with grace through faith. Everything in between is also grace through faith.
That is what we are learning by the individual pieces which comprise “the full armor of God”. Are you putting on each piece daily? Are you wearing “the shoes of the gospel of peace”? Praise the Lord for his armor. Let us go forth to war, being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Jesus won the victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are “in Christ”, so we too have won those selfsame victories. Isn’t that fantastic?
We have to remember that the battle is not ours to fight and win. The battle belongs to the Lord. We are not to live our own life. We are to be the Body of Christ on earth and allow Him to live His life in and through us. We are not out to accomplish our plans. We are servants of Christ, doing His work to accomplish His plan.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect military commander. He is the perfect master. He never sends any of His people into the world to do a job, without first equipping them to succeed in achieving His goals. He never dispatches any of His troops to the battlefield, without first furnishing them with the weaponry needed to succeed and obtain the victory.
The Lord displayed this truth to the Israelites in Egypt. He defeated Pharaoh and his armies on Israel’s behalf, forcing Pharaoh to surrender and release Israel from slavery to him. He defeated Pharaoh at the Red Sea, when he tried to force Israel back into slavery to Egypt.
The Lord went ahead of the Israelites into Canaan, defeating the inhabitants of that land for Israel. Israel wasn’t allowed to sit back and watch the action, mind you. They did have to go forth and fight. But the Lord went first and whupped the heathen folks. Israel simply had to obey the Word of God to them to follow behind Him and do mop up duty. In other words the Lord equipped the Israelites to accomplish the chore which He assigned to them.
Though the Israelites fought against physical troops and employed physical weapons, the war was first and foremost spiritual warfare. The Lord was in control. The battle belonged to the Lord. Israel’s part was to hear the Word of God to them, obey the Word of God to them, and win the victory which the Word of God guaranteed them. Voilà! spiritual warfare in a nutshell.
The same applies to us Christians today. No, we don’t conduct physical warfare against physical enemies by employing physical weapons. We aren’t out to inherit a physical country as the spoils of war. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
But we do walk with the Lord in order to arrive at our heavenly country. And we can only do so on the basis of obedience to the Word of God. This journey is one of daily spiritual warfare. This warfare is conducted on the basis of the Word of God. It begins with grace through faith, and it ends with grace through faith. Everything in between is also grace through faith.
That is what we are learning by the individual pieces which comprise “the full armor of God”. Are you putting on each piece daily? Are you wearing “the shoes of the gospel of peace”? Praise the Lord for his armor. Let us go forth to war, being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 1
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is acknowledged as one of the longest novels ever written. Its fame is not based on its length though. Tolstoy is a wonderful writer, who should be appreciated by readers until Jesus comes again.
His style is engaging, but his subject matter often makes the novel difficult for modern Americans to enjoy. We aren’t much given to reading today, what with TV and movies and PCs and smart phones and the internet all working in unison to steal our time from us. Reading has become a lost art, unless we buy into the synoptical alternative to the real thing.
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” portrays Czarist Russia circa 1805, when the French invaded the land. It continues into the Napoleonic era and his invasion of Russia. The historical setting is not one with which many Americans are familiar. This makes his novel distant and irrelevant for many of us. I personally enjoyed the book quite a bit, though it did have the side effect of heavy lifting on the brain.
You might want to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, if you haven’t already done so. It may afford you a blessing in the reading. But there is another “war and peace” for us to consider. This one will indubitably shower us with blessings. So we mustn’t skip it for any reason in the world!
In our last several studies we have descanted on the topic of spiritual warfare. In order to conduct spiritual warfare successfully, we must needs “put on the full armor of God”. We learned that already, as I am sure you recall.
The first piece of armor is “the belt of truth”. Jesus is the truth, and the written Word of God is the truth.
In order to work or go to war, the folks of the ancient world needed to wear their belt or girdle or sash around their tunic. The tunic dragged along the feet and tripped them up, if they tried to work or fight a battle in it. They had to pull the tunic up away from the feet and tuck it into the belt, to keep it off the feet and out of the way. Then they could successfully work or fight the war.
Only by adhering to the Word of God can we Christians successfully conduct spiritual warfare and obtain the victory over the wicked one. The battle is not ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. The Word of God is the truth about who the devil is, what sin is, how to resist the devil on the spiritual plane, and important topics like that.
Now that is good stuff! I can’t wait to taste some more…but we’ll have to wait because our time is up for today. Let’s spend time with Jesus a while. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is acknowledged as one of the longest novels ever written. Its fame is not based on its length though. Tolstoy is a wonderful writer, who should be appreciated by readers until Jesus comes again.
His style is engaging, but his subject matter often makes the novel difficult for modern Americans to enjoy. We aren’t much given to reading today, what with TV and movies and PCs and smart phones and the internet all working in unison to steal our time from us. Reading has become a lost art, unless we buy into the synoptical alternative to the real thing.
Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” portrays Czarist Russia circa 1805, when the French invaded the land. It continues into the Napoleonic era and his invasion of Russia. The historical setting is not one with which many Americans are familiar. This makes his novel distant and irrelevant for many of us. I personally enjoyed the book quite a bit, though it did have the side effect of heavy lifting on the brain.
You might want to read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, if you haven’t already done so. It may afford you a blessing in the reading. But there is another “war and peace” for us to consider. This one will indubitably shower us with blessings. So we mustn’t skip it for any reason in the world!
In our last several studies we have descanted on the topic of spiritual warfare. In order to conduct spiritual warfare successfully, we must needs “put on the full armor of God”. We learned that already, as I am sure you recall.
The first piece of armor is “the belt of truth”. Jesus is the truth, and the written Word of God is the truth.
In order to work or go to war, the folks of the ancient world needed to wear their belt or girdle or sash around their tunic. The tunic dragged along the feet and tripped them up, if they tried to work or fight a battle in it. They had to pull the tunic up away from the feet and tuck it into the belt, to keep it off the feet and out of the way. Then they could successfully work or fight the war.
Only by adhering to the Word of God can we Christians successfully conduct spiritual warfare and obtain the victory over the wicked one. The battle is not ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. The Word of God is the truth about who the devil is, what sin is, how to resist the devil on the spiritual plane, and important topics like that.
Now that is good stuff! I can’t wait to taste some more…but we’ll have to wait because our time is up for today. Let’s spend time with Jesus a while. We’ll meet back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 2
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
We are to conduct spiritual warfare and defeat the devil in his wiles. Symbolically, the Word of God keeps our feet unencumbered by the pitfalls and stumbling blocks of the flesh, the world, and the devil. God’s Word is like the belt which anchors the tunic away from the feet so we don’t stumble. God’s Word is “the belt of truth”.
The second piece of armor is “the breastplate of righteousness”. Man in his own strength cannot stand against the devil. We will fall for his guile in no time flat. The devil will remind us of whatever weakness and failing we have, which is as simple as pie for him.
Satan might point out the last time we sinned, and we will be speechless, unable to refute him because he would be right. Or Satan might butter us up with some supposed achievement which we accomplished, should our weakness be pride. Our head will swell to the size of Rhode Island, and we will be defeated outright.
No man, including the Christian, is righteous in his own right. We all sin and we all fail. Ergo, we cannot confront Satan in our own righteousness. We need “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, if we are to be victorious in spiritual warfare.
That is “the breastplate of righteousness”. As new creations in Christ Jesus, we don’t stand on our own righteousness. We stand on the Rock, Christ Jesus. We have His righteousness ascribed to us by God.
Satan can point the finger at the old sinner’s lack of righteousness until the cows come home. God isn’t impressed. His Son Jesus names us as His own, as having His righteousness. God declares us “Not guilty!” Satan goes away ashamed.
The third piece of armor for us to put on can be identified as “the shoes or sandals of peace”. And that identifies the “war and peace” we made note of earlier. On the one hand we are going forth to conduct spiritual warfare. On the other hand we are fitting our feet with the gospel of peace.
Isn’t that peculiar? Are we to conduct war or are we to hold peace talks? Which is it already! Well, it’s both. How’s that for decisiveness, huh?
Permit me to explain. When we conduct spiritual warfare, we don’t do so by pushing our own agenda. We serve the Lord Christ, not ourselves. We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ah oh. Just when we were getting to the nitty gritty, the sand in the clock has filled the bottom. Oh well. We’ll be able to roll the good things of today over our tongues a bit, as we sit at the feet of Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue down this trail.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We are to conduct spiritual warfare and defeat the devil in his wiles. Symbolically, the Word of God keeps our feet unencumbered by the pitfalls and stumbling blocks of the flesh, the world, and the devil. God’s Word is like the belt which anchors the tunic away from the feet so we don’t stumble. God’s Word is “the belt of truth”.
The second piece of armor is “the breastplate of righteousness”. Man in his own strength cannot stand against the devil. We will fall for his guile in no time flat. The devil will remind us of whatever weakness and failing we have, which is as simple as pie for him.
Satan might point out the last time we sinned, and we will be speechless, unable to refute him because he would be right. Or Satan might butter us up with some supposed achievement which we accomplished, should our weakness be pride. Our head will swell to the size of Rhode Island, and we will be defeated outright.
No man, including the Christian, is righteous in his own right. We all sin and we all fail. Ergo, we cannot confront Satan in our own righteousness. We need “the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”, if we are to be victorious in spiritual warfare.
That is “the breastplate of righteousness”. As new creations in Christ Jesus, we don’t stand on our own righteousness. We stand on the Rock, Christ Jesus. We have His righteousness ascribed to us by God.
Satan can point the finger at the old sinner’s lack of righteousness until the cows come home. God isn’t impressed. His Son Jesus names us as His own, as having His righteousness. God declares us “Not guilty!” Satan goes away ashamed.
The third piece of armor for us to put on can be identified as “the shoes or sandals of peace”. And that identifies the “war and peace” we made note of earlier. On the one hand we are going forth to conduct spiritual warfare. On the other hand we are fitting our feet with the gospel of peace.
Isn’t that peculiar? Are we to conduct war or are we to hold peace talks? Which is it already! Well, it’s both. How’s that for decisiveness, huh?
Permit me to explain. When we conduct spiritual warfare, we don’t do so by pushing our own agenda. We serve the Lord Christ, not ourselves. We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ah oh. Just when we were getting to the nitty gritty, the sand in the clock has filled the bottom. Oh well. We’ll be able to roll the good things of today over our tongues a bit, as we sit at the feet of Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue down this trail.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 3
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is God’s proclamation to sinful man that he cease from his hostilities against God, repent of his sins, and turn to God for forgiveness. In doing this the sinner renounces his sin of rebellion against God’s kingship, and he submits himself to God as His King. In this way the sinner becomes a saint, an adopted son of God in Christ Jesus.
This scenario is made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus died our death, thus paying the penalty for our sins. He rose out of death without sin, thus providing us with a new resurrection life without sin.
When the sinner believes this message of the Gospel and accepts God’s offer, he is no longer the old sinner at war with God. He becomes a saint, a new creation in Christ Jesus who is a part of God’s family. He isn’t at war with God any longer. He thenceforth has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He can live in the peace of God thereafter. This is “the gospel of peace”.
In conducting spiritual warfare, this translates thusly. Satan accuses the saint of sinning, trying to evoke guilt feelings in the saint and drive him to hide from God. It worked in the garden of Eden when the man and woman sinned, didn’t it? Who’s to say it’s not a successful ploy still?
When we put on “the shoes of peace”, it amounts to proclaiming that we are in a state of peace with God because we are “in Christ”. Satan’s accusation dissipates into thin air by this revelation. We cannot exactly feel guilty and run away to hide from God, if we clearly know that we are at peace with God. Can we? Methinks not!
In case you haven’t noticed, as we’ve studied each piece in “the full armor of God”, we’ve basically been identifying different aspects of Christ Jesus’ Person and ministry. We’ve proclaimed the Gospel in its various aspects. The Gospel is the answer to any guile and bile which Satan employs against us.
We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, dear friends. We can overcome the world because Christ overcame the world and we are “in Christ”. We can rebuke the flesh because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, and He was victorious over the flesh. We can overcome the devil because we are “in Christ”. Didn’t He overcome the devil in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights?
Yes, Jesus sure did! Let’s go to Him now and congratulate Him on His sterling victory. We’ll finish our topic in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We conduct spiritual warfare by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is God’s proclamation to sinful man that he cease from his hostilities against God, repent of his sins, and turn to God for forgiveness. In doing this the sinner renounces his sin of rebellion against God’s kingship, and he submits himself to God as His King. In this way the sinner becomes a saint, an adopted son of God in Christ Jesus.
This scenario is made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus died our death, thus paying the penalty for our sins. He rose out of death without sin, thus providing us with a new resurrection life without sin.
When the sinner believes this message of the Gospel and accepts God’s offer, he is no longer the old sinner at war with God. He becomes a saint, a new creation in Christ Jesus who is a part of God’s family. He isn’t at war with God any longer. He thenceforth has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He can live in the peace of God thereafter. This is “the gospel of peace”.
In conducting spiritual warfare, this translates thusly. Satan accuses the saint of sinning, trying to evoke guilt feelings in the saint and drive him to hide from God. It worked in the garden of Eden when the man and woman sinned, didn’t it? Who’s to say it’s not a successful ploy still?
When we put on “the shoes of peace”, it amounts to proclaiming that we are in a state of peace with God because we are “in Christ”. Satan’s accusation dissipates into thin air by this revelation. We cannot exactly feel guilty and run away to hide from God, if we clearly know that we are at peace with God. Can we? Methinks not!
In case you haven’t noticed, as we’ve studied each piece in “the full armor of God”, we’ve basically been identifying different aspects of Christ Jesus’ Person and ministry. We’ve proclaimed the Gospel in its various aspects. The Gospel is the answer to any guile and bile which Satan employs against us.
We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, dear friends. We can overcome the world because Christ overcame the world and we are “in Christ”. We can rebuke the flesh because of Christ in us, the hope of glory, and He was victorious over the flesh. We can overcome the devil because we are “in Christ”. Didn’t He overcome the devil in the wilderness for forty days and forty nights?
Yes, Jesus sure did! Let’s go to Him now and congratulate Him on His sterling victory. We’ll finish our topic in the next study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
War and Peace – Part 4
Stand firm therefore…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace [Ephesians 6:14-15].
Jesus won the victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are “in Christ”, so we too have won those selfsame victories. Isn’t that fantastic?
We have to remember that the battle is not ours to fight and win. The battle belongs to the Lord. We are not to live our own life. We are to be the Body of Christ on earth and allow Him to live His life in and through us. We are not out to accomplish our plans. We are servants of Christ, doing His work to accomplish His plan.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect military commander. He is the perfect master. He never sends any of His people into the world to do a job, without first equipping them to succeed in achieving His goals. He never dispatches any of His troops to the battlefield, without first furnishing them with the weaponry needed to succeed and obtain the victory.
The Lord displayed this truth to the Israelites in Egypt. He defeated Pharaoh and his armies on Israel’s behalf, forcing Pharaoh to surrender and release Israel from slavery to him. He defeated Pharaoh at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh tried to force Israel back into slavery to Egypt.
The Lord went ahead of the Israelites into Canaan, defeating the inhabitants of that land for Israel. Israel wasn’t allowed to sit back and watch the action, mind you. They did have to go forth and fight. But the Lord went first and whupped the heathen folks. Israel simply had to obey the Word of God to them to follow behind Him and do mop up duty. In other words the Lord equipped the Israelites to accomplish the chore which He assigned to them.
Though the Israelites fought against physical troops and employed physical weapons, the fight was first and foremost spiritual warfare. The Lord was in control. The battle belonged to the Lord. Israel’s part was to hear the Word of God to them, obey the Word of God to them, and win the victory which the Word of God guaranteed them. Voilà! spiritual warfare in a nutshell.
The same applies to us Christians today. No, we don’t conduct physical warfare against physical enemies by employing physical weapons. We aren’t out to inherit a physical country as the spoils of war. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
But we do walk with the Lord in order to arrive at our heavenly country. And we can only do so on the basis of obedience to the Word of God. This journey is one of daily spiritual warfare. This warfare is conducted on the basis of the Word of God. It begins with grace through faith, and it ends with grace through faith. Everything in between is also grace through faith.
That is what we are learning by the individual pieces which comprise “the full armor of God”. Are you putting on each piece daily? Are you wearing “the shoes of the gospel of peace”? Praise the Lord for his armor. Let us go forth to war, being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Jesus won the victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. We are “in Christ”, so we too have won those selfsame victories. Isn’t that fantastic?
We have to remember that the battle is not ours to fight and win. The battle belongs to the Lord. We are not to live our own life. We are to be the Body of Christ on earth and allow Him to live His life in and through us. We are not out to accomplish our plans. We are servants of Christ, doing His work to accomplish His plan.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect military commander. He is the perfect master. He never sends any of His people into the world to do a job, without first equipping them to succeed in achieving His goals. He never dispatches any of His troops to the battlefield, without first furnishing them with the weaponry needed to succeed and obtain the victory.
The Lord displayed this truth to the Israelites in Egypt. He defeated Pharaoh and his armies on Israel’s behalf, forcing Pharaoh to surrender and release Israel from slavery to him. He defeated Pharaoh at the Red Sea, when Pharaoh tried to force Israel back into slavery to Egypt.
The Lord went ahead of the Israelites into Canaan, defeating the inhabitants of that land for Israel. Israel wasn’t allowed to sit back and watch the action, mind you. They did have to go forth and fight. But the Lord went first and whupped the heathen folks. Israel simply had to obey the Word of God to them to follow behind Him and do mop up duty. In other words the Lord equipped the Israelites to accomplish the chore which He assigned to them.
Though the Israelites fought against physical troops and employed physical weapons, the fight was first and foremost spiritual warfare. The Lord was in control. The battle belonged to the Lord. Israel’s part was to hear the Word of God to them, obey the Word of God to them, and win the victory which the Word of God guaranteed them. Voilà! spiritual warfare in a nutshell.
The same applies to us Christians today. No, we don’t conduct physical warfare against physical enemies by employing physical weapons. We aren’t out to inherit a physical country as the spoils of war. We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
But we do walk with the Lord in order to arrive at our heavenly country. And we can only do so on the basis of obedience to the Word of God. This journey is one of daily spiritual warfare. This warfare is conducted on the basis of the Word of God. It begins with grace through faith, and it ends with grace through faith. Everything in between is also grace through faith.
That is what we are learning by the individual pieces which comprise “the full armor of God”. Are you putting on each piece daily? Are you wearing “the shoes of the gospel of peace”? Praise the Lord for his armor. Let us go forth to war, being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
