Our Battles Are Spritual Ephesians 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. Ephesians 6:12

     Our battles are not with each other but with the forces of darkness. We can not see them, we cannot touch them and definitely physically fighting them will be in vain. Therefore we do not fight with the people whom we can see but with the evil forces we cannot see. Although sometimes the people who are causing us harm, are physically apparent but the force or spirit that is driving them or has control over their lives is not visible. 

     Therefore, stand and let God fight our battles. The only way we can win our battles is by the mighty hand of God. In 2 Chronicles 32:8, Hezekiah, king of Judah, encouraged the people and reminded them of this profound fact eventhough the Assayrian army had more men than theirs, he told them, "With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles." God is indeed the only one who can fight our battles and win, no matter what the odds are. What we can do is make sure our feet are firmly grounded in His word, we are praying without ceasing and

Don't look to no one else to give you what God can and will Genesis 30:1-2

Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die!” 2 And Jacob’s anger was aroused against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Genesis 30:1-2

Rachael expresses the sentiments that some of us may feel at one time or another. The thing that we want so badly that we feel will make us complete but we don't have. For some it may be a child as in Rachael's case, or a loving husband or wife, your own business or a good-paying job, a mansion on a hill etc. We each have a burning desire to attain or have something that we want. What if we felt like a person was in the position or had the power to give you that thing and they wouldn't or couldn't. Wouldn't you be angry at them? Wouldn't you sound desperate when relaying how you felt? In Rachael's case, she told her husband to give her children or she would die. That is the cry of a desperate woman, a woman who filled with envy, is sorrowful and even heartbroken that she can't give her husband a child. Imagine

Can two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? Amos 3:3

Amos 3:3 "Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?"

Our Lord Almighty had a relationship with the people of Israel from the beginning when He brought them out of Egypt. He had selected the Israelites as His chosen people. However, time after time, they disobeyed Him. God would continuously send prophets to remind them of His undying love for them and to call them to repentance.

Here we see God speaking through the prophet Amos to let the people of Israel know that He is going to punish them for their iniquities. And what God says is that two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement.

The Lord was referring to His relationship with His people. They had strayed far away from Him and therefore they were no longer in agreement with Him. From the beginning, this agreement had been established through the commandments. However, over time that relationship was severed.

It's interesting that Jesus often referred to His relationship to the church as a bride and a groom because even before the church had been established, God modeled that relationship between a bride and groom with His people. When two people get married,

No time for God?

If we were to evaluate our day, how much time do we dedicate to praying to God? How much alone time do we set aside for daily devotions, prayer and reading the word of God? If we are serious about our walk with Christ wouldn't these things be automatic?

Jesus Christ took the time out to pray and would go in solitude to pray to God. We need to spend time with Him, to get to know Him but sometimes we don't have time like this poem depicts.

No Time

I knelt to pray but not for long,

I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and get to work

For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,

And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease.

All day long I had no time

To spread a word of cheer.

No time to speak of Christ to friends,

They'd laugh at me I'd fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,

That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die.

I went before the Lord,

I came, I stood with downcast eyes.

For in his hands God held a book;

It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said

"Your name I cannot find.

I once was going to write it down . . .

But never found the time."

I'm sure none of us want to hear that therefore let's make the time for our Lord. God bless you and continue in reading the word, praying and making time for God.

Forgive others so that God can forgive you. Mark 11:25

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25

NIV: And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Jesus taught us to pray and many know the prayer by heart. This was a format of how we should pray to our Heavenly Father. A crucial part of our prayer should entail asking God for forgiveness. We may not take into account the sins we commit in a day, the little "white" lies we tell, the stoplights we run, or even the people we hurt with our harsh words. There are so many things we may do that we may not remember and it's only when we reflect on our day or on our sins that we may realize where we went wrong. However, we may do little things that are so much a part of us that we may see no wrong in what we do, but the Father in Heaven does, therefore, to cover us in a sense, we ask for Him to forgive us of our sins.

The part of the prayer Jesus taught us that speaks about forgiveness comes with a condition."And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..." This condition clearly states and we clearly state, if we pray this prayer, that we want God to forgive our sins, just as

Stop Procrastinating. Act! Proverbs 13:4

The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Proverbs 13:4

We all probably know someone who talks a good game but when it's time to walk the walk, you find out there's nothing to all the things they said. It could be that we too, want so many things and plan to have this and that but never act upon those things that we want.

What this verse says plainly is that the soul of a lazy person wants, but has nothing; but the soul of the hard working person shall be made fat. Therefore, don't just crave things, you have to work towards them. It's not enough just to want something because wanting alone leaves you with nothing. You have to work towards the things that you want in order to make them a reality or in order to get them. 

If you find that you are lazy,

Pressing towards the mark Phillippians 3:14

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 3:14

We all have goals that we try to achieve and there's no better time for new goals than the beginning of a new year. I usually have a long list of things I want to do like "read more books, eat right, exercise more etc. etc." At the end of the year, I like to look back and see what I was able to accomplish fully, in part or not at all. The ones that I didn't accomplish are usually added to the other years list or I just take it off.

What if there was a goal that had to roll over with every new year? A goal that you had to keep striving towards until achieving perfection? What if this very goal was perfection in itself? Do you think it would be attainable? Do you think you would be able to achieve it in a year's time or would it take you longer?

Jesus said we ought to strive for perfection so that

New Creation in Christ: Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

I am not perfect. I have yet to meet that person who is. I have made mistakes in my life. I don't know anyone who hasn't. It has not been easy to get over what I've been through or some things I've done, but I know that I have gotten over it and it is truly in the past. You too can proclaim the same if God has brought you out and has brought you through!

        When I reflect on my past, I am undeserving of God's love or His grace but the mere fact that I am in Christ, He states that I am a new creation. My sins have been forgiven and God has removed them from me. "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:11-12. 

      Although God has forgiven you and you are now a new creature in Christ, there are some who will try to throw the past in your face. Who will try their hardest to remind you of the person you once were or the things you did. They will try to prove to themselves and others that you have not changed because they will not allow themselves to see the change in you.  Yes, there are persons like that. Those persons will not see you as God sees you. No matter how much you may have changed on the inside and even on the outside, they just cannot let go.  But God has and that's all that matters. Don't allow someone to make you feel bad about something you did when you have changed your life and decided to follow Christ. Don't allow someone else to take your joy away. Confess your sins to God, apologize to those you may have hurt, live your life according to God's word and move on. If God, who in all of His glory, the creator of heaven and earth, the one who created us, is now saying you are a new creature in Christ Jesus, who now can tell you otherwise? Who can make you feel bad about your past unless you allow them? No one. No ONE. NO ONE. 

       If God said it, it is done. Therefore, live your live for Him and no one else. God's word says, "Come now and let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah 1:18.

There's only one person who will sit at the judgement seat and judge us and that is the Lord Almighty. Let us remember not to be so quick to judge others when they fall or make mistakes. 

“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plankis in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.' Matthew 7:1-5

Be blessed and remember God loves you!