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My plan for this blog, as I mentioned is for the 1st and the 15th, which I will continue to do. This morning, while doing my reading and praying, it appears God might have me deviate from my plan. I believe He placed something on my heart to share, so I will. I also expect this will happen occasionally so an unscheduled blog may appear here and there.
When I spend my morning time, I read the 5 chapters in the Scriptures as I commented on in the eStudyblog section. I find myself praying those verses when prompted, I read the works and teachings of others I have found on line dealing with things I am dealing with or trying to improve on. I finish up with prayer requests for my life and others. I close with the end of Jude to give scriptural praise to God and I pray the armor of God. Today when I prayed through the armor of God, I felt encouraged to share it with you. Ephesians 6:10-18 NLT A final word, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. For we, are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. When I pray through these verses each morning, I picture in my mind's eye putting all of this on. During that time of prayer I am led to describe the thoughts about each piece as I put it on. Permit me to share. As we all know, we often find ourselves struggling and in a battle of some sort. For centuries, armor was the thing used to be able to do battle and fend off as many blows as possible. Wearing armor gave warriors a better chance to survive. Even today our troops, police and fire persons wear protective gear. They use helmets, shields, Kevlar, oxygen gear and so on. I imagine we could compose a modern version of the above passages using todays armor if we wanted. God used the armor of the day and regardless of the era we are in, it has the same purpose and effect. Wear it so when the battle is over and the dust clears, you will be found standing and not on your back. God tells us to put on the belt of truth. The belt in the days of armor wearers held everything together. It kept all the other parts of the armor in their proper place. It basically took all the parts of the armor and made them one. I might comment that the better we know the truth the better we can wear that part of the armor. To understand truth better, we need to study the Word. If we don't live and apply the truth we already know, the belt that ties our armor together might be a little weak jeopardizing the entire suit of armor. Next we are told to put on the body armor of God's righteousness. Some versions use breastplate of righteousness. I imagine God's righteousness as a covering, a covering of armor. I envision it as liquid armor that I pour over me when I read that part. Once it covers me, it hardens and fits me perfectly and is uniquely mine. It protects all my vital organs and my heart. In the days of armor, the armor used did not cover the back. I believe they didn't bother with that because they kept the battle in front of them. They were warriors and never ran. If the armor covers the front and you ran from the battle, your back was open to arrows and spears and so on, making you completely vulnerable to the enemy. Earlier in this Scripture, we are told to stand firm. If we stand firm in battle, our backs will not be exposed. For shoes put on the peace that comes from the Good News. If you are faced with problems, perhaps needing an unbelievable surgery, it is scary. Take that situation and now the best surgeon in the field comes along. He explains to you he looked things over and you really don't need that big surgery but only need to do a couple exercises daily. Can you feel the relief and peace that information brings? The world and our lives are filled with uncertainty. We know little about our future and what will become of us, our careers and our dreams. For many, this brings great unrest and stress. One thing we know as believers is that we are saved by the great sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that when life has run it's course, we will live an eternal life with Him. That knowledge brings with it a peace that is amazing. Here is an additional thought, if you daily put on God's peace you will take it with you wherever you go and those who come in contact with your will be exposed to it as well. Hold up the shield of faith. The parts of the warriors gear so far have been protective coverings, the shield is defensive. You can use it to block attacks upon you, you can swing it around to fend of arrows from any direction. The shield was thick and covered with a tar like substance that when a flaming arrow hit the shield, it would get exstinguished. When we hold up our faith in battle, the flaming arrows meant to harm us or injure us will be extinguished. Put on the helmet of salvation. This I think of as protection for my mind. If I focus on the fact that I am saved, the lies about me being worthless, unloved by God, to bad for Him to care about, and such will not pollute my thoughts and mind. When I wear the helmet, meaning I focus on the fact that I am saved, no thoughts of being a loser or any such thing will penetrate. Sometimes when we are in the midst of a barrage of negative bombs, we might have to hold on to that helmet tightly. The Good News that Jesus died for our sins and that we are saved protects us from any blow to our head, keeping us standing firm. Now to the place God really encouraged me to share. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Take up His word, the Scriptures. Please notice this. The sword is the warriors ONLY offensive weapon. All the armor he has so far will permit him to stand strong and take a beating. It will help him survive in battle. God has given us an offensive weapon with which we can fight back. Think back on all the great movies of Spartans, swashbucklers, Three Musketeers, Zorro and so on. These men and women were great swordsman. You have got to love a guy who makes his opponent look like he has no idea of what a sword is, then skillfully and precisely carve a Z in his shirt. The thing about being able to use a sword with great skill is that it takes practice. You absolutely cannot pick it up here and there and expect to do much more than get it knocked out of your hand in battle. You have got to develop a powerful grip on it, you have got to know the feel of the blade. A skilled swordsman is one with his weapon. That being said, knowing that the Scripture is talking about our only offensive weapon being God's word, how do we think we can fight back when in battle against the ways of the devil by only looking at the Scripture posted on the big screen in church once a week? If you wanted to be skilled with a sword, you would take classes, you would go to the gym and practice with your sword every day after work or on the way to work. A swordsman is an athlete just like a bodybuilder. Both must get to the gym, both must make training priority and both must be proficient with the tools of his sport. Why would any warrior, knowing that battles will come be unprepared with his only offensive weapon? If you were the enemy would you not help the warrior to be too busy to train? Would you not keep placing obstacles in his path so he would neglect his practice? Would you not offer him fascinating glowing electronic things with hundreds of apps to lull him? Would you not do everything you could to get him to ignore his sword? God loves us, knows we will experience hard times and has given us much to help us survive. In His love and wisdom, He has given us a powerful offensive weapon. Going back to movies, I love the big guy who has the biggest sword imaginable and when he swings it stone columns shatter and the enemy who stand s before him holding up a shield finds himself on his back. I imagine God wanted me to share all this to simply say, study His word. Stop making excuses, make it a priority. You will be amazed at what you can do and how life will change. My last comment is, if you were the master swordsman and I were your student who was competing and getting beat continuously, what would you think? Let me go a step further, what if I, the student, came to you and kept whining that I just did not understand why I keep losing? What if I ran around telling everyone what a bad instructor you were and how you were of no help, what would be going through your mind? I know what would be going through my mind. Thankfully I am not God and He is way more patient than me. I am sure God's thoughts are way, way, different than what yours and mine would be in such a situation. So with all of that in mind, we can battle, take a beating and survive or we can fight back with the power of the Word. Perhaps it is food for thought? First I would like to thank all of your who have joined the effort to love as we are directed by the Scriptures. I also thank so many of your who have emailed or commented on the site and for that encouragement. I continue to encourage your to comment and share your thoughts and experiences for you never know who you may touch with your words.
Second, some of you have shared that something your read touched you and for that I praise God. You also mentioned that you intended to share the site with family and friends, thank you for that. Ten days ago, we first published a limited site and have continually worked to grow it as we believe we have been directed by God. To reflect what your efforts have accomplished, at the writing of today's blog, we have been blessed with over 1,050 views to the site in this short of a time. Congratulations, thank you and praise be to God. 1 Peter 4:7-8 NLT The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. In some translations we are to told to be clear minded so that we can have focus and purpose in our prayers. Again the Scriptures instruct us to love but this time to love deeply. Deeply in this case is sometimes describes as strained or exercised like an athlete in training. When I was competing, I had to regularly strain my muscles to get them to grow. The strain or even overloading of the muscles actually broke down the muscle fibers so that when they healed, they came back bigger and stronger. There was no growth in size or strength without the process of pushing them beyond where they had settled. Putting that thought with the instruction to show that type of love for each other, can we say that we are not to love in a way that is easy, or to love only those who are easy to love. Might we say that we are to love with a love that stretches us, overloads our efforts so that we can love in ways we may not have thought we could? How can you love in a way that makes your love stronger? If we continue with the athletic analogy, to stretch and grow my muscles I had to work them harder and overload them through exercise. Many times people came to me in the gym asking how many set and how many reps they should do as well as what the best exercises. There are hundreds of exercises, even Bob Hoffman, creator of York Barbell wrote a book titled, 100 chest exercises. To say which is the best could take hours. I would offer basic advise which said, exercise and be consistent. Pick some of those 100 exercises and do them consistently and you would see growth. I believe that's what this is saying about love. Love, love hard, love in a way that stretches you and your ability to love will grow. When your love grows, you will have the capacity to love more and more people and even love people who are more challenging to love. Peter follows with the fact that this consistently exercised love covers a multitude of sins, meaning that a person loving in this way sees the sins of those whom he/she loves but loves through their sins.This kind of love continues to love over and over again, this kind of love forgives again and again. At first glance that might strike us as wrong or unfair. I imagine we can feel that way when we are thinking highly of ourselves. However, let's look at how we are loved by God. Isn't the love Peter is telling us to love with the same love that God Himself loves us with? We sin over and over and still He loves us. If God were human, don't you think we would have stretched Him so much he would look like Gumby after a ride in a blender? We push the limits with our glorious God but may feel we are justified in limiting our love of others. We all have faults as do those we live and interact with and even those we love. That love should be exercised by loving beyond what we might previously have set "love limits" on. Jesus proved that by loving us, He proved that by telling us to love our enemies and He proved that by loving His disciples even after they deserted Him. His love is the standard. The Father loved us through all the junk we have dished out to the point He sent His most precious gift, His Son to die that we might live. He loves us that much. If we say we love Him, if we say we are a follower of Christ, if we want to grow into His image, then don't you agree that we need to stretch our love to new limits to love as He has loved? So today, let's go out there and get a great "love workout" and build ourselves to a new level of "love fitness"! What if, because He first loved us, we love someone who has not been loved? What if that person then loves someone else because we were the first to love them? Can you believe that love could spread farther than we can ever imagine? When I do my Scripture reading and prayer time, I sometimes like to pray Scripture that touches me. When I sing and when I pray and even when I pray Scripture, I attempt to personalize it. With that in mind, today I will pray Jude verses 24 and 25 NLT. This is not an exact quote of those verses because I have personalized them. You can join with me in this if you like. In view of such love as I am given, I want to praise our God in this way. All glory to you my God, who is able to keep me from falling away and will bring me with great joy into Your glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to You who alone is God, my Savior through Jesus Christ my Lord. All glory, majesty, power and authority are Yours before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time. And dearest Lord, please bless my brothers and sisters and grow them in their ability to love. Help us to love as you love, that we love because you first loved us. Amen. Open your hearts and love somebody. Everybody. LOVING THOSE WHO ARE DIFFICULT TO LOVE.Matthew 5:43-47 NLT. “You have heard the law that says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives sunlight to both the evil and good, and He sends rain on the just and unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even the pagans do that.” Our journey to change the world through love starts with us. We are told to love our enemies. God exhibits that by His own act of giving sunshine and rain to both the just and unjust, the good and the evil ones. He asks no more of us than He does Himself. We are told to pray for those who persecute you. Not an easy request but one I can speak on. I have been persecuted by an individual for well over 20 years. This person has done everything they could to hurt me and ruin me. Shamefully, I must admit that I was dangerously close to actually hating this person. I have never felt such dislike for anyone in my life. I have prayed hundreds of times for the attacks to stop and for that person to leave me alone. It seemed the prayers went unanswered as the attacks still came. One evening, I got a call from this person and hesitated to answer, but trying to take the road less traveled, I picked up the phone. I was attacked in a way that hurt me to my toes. I was accused of horrible things and was even told they had contacted the police department to report me. All the accusations were false and on such a level that the conversation became a screaming match. I fell into a rage based on the disbelief that anyone could say such things about me. The shouting was out of control and in utter desperation, I hung up. I threw the phone onto the couch and literally could hardly breath. My heart was pounding harder and faster than it ever had. Horrible things were going through my mind. My spirit was crushed. Being the angriest I have ever been, I paced around the living room in circles trying to calm down. I made lap after lap feeling like if I didn’t pace, my heart would explode. Out of nowhere, a still, small voice deep inside reminded me of the part of the above scripture to pray for your enemies and those who persecute you. I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath and began to pray. I prayed as if my life depended on it. Actually, perhaps my soul depended on it. In all honesty and truth, I told God I forgave this person. I prayed for this person’s life to change. I prayed for these horrible delusions to leave and never trouble that person again. I prayed and prayed. My heart rate went down, the pressure in my chest left, my anger subsided and within twenty minutes of the most desperate praying I have ever done, I was absolutely calm and at peace. I had no ill feelings fro this person and actually felt sad for them. God showed me in a real and personal way that there was a deep truth in this teaching. Praying blessed me and delivered me from a bad situation. I don’t know what it did for the other person but it liberated me. When we are angry or filled with hate, we are the prisoner of those feelings. The person we direct those feelings at most times has no clue we are feeling that way. Most likely they are going on with life, yippee skippy. When we carry such feelings we are holding ourselves hostage in that anger and destroying every day we continue feeling that way. We can set ourselves free by praying and forgiving. The above scripture reminds us that it is easy to love those who love us. Basically everyone does that. To love those who don’t love us or even stand against us sets us apart. We are told to be kind to everyone. I watch this every day. I see people being plain mean to each other in stores or in traffic (this one makes me crazy). What is the big deal to let someone in line or out in traffic. Practice kindness and you will feel better and set an example for those watching you to follow. Be assured, people are watching. I can say for sure that at least one person is (me). I have a little mantra, “wherever I go, I leave a smile behind”. I simply talk to people, hold doors and so on. I have fun when I hold doors for people going into a store or restaurant and greet them with “welcome to so and so’s, have a nice meal” or make comments about a shirt they might be wearing. For example, I was going into a store and a guy was coming out wearing a blue T-shirt with a big “S” on it. I walked over to him and said “Superman, it is so awesome to meet you. I have always wanted to meet you in person!”. Every time I make an effort to be friendly and make someone smile, we laugh and joke. It is awesome. I see so many people determined to make others feel miserable that I can’t stand it. Why not be determined to make someone feel good? Cashiers take some hard hits and I never miss an opportunity to tell them how much I appreciate what they are doing or tell a clerk how they made my life easier by showing me what I was looking for. This is not hard stuff. What I have noticed is that I see fun and happy people everywhere now and the world somehow seems better. If you think about it, when someone makes us angry, most often it has to do with “our” pride. Someone says something not so nice to you, someone cuts you off in traffic or whatever, don’t we react in anger because we are insulted? How dare they do that to ME?, how dare they treat ME like that? How dare it take so long to get MY meal? Don't we just need to relax and lighten up? We may never know what is going on in their lives and basically don’t care or are so self focused to even think that they are having a tough day. I will close with a little story I once heard that speaks to that. There was a man commuting on a train from work to home. He was exhausted from a tough day at the office and just wanted to nap and relax. There was a man across the aisle from him whose kids were running about and being loud. All the while the man sat and watched the kids disturb everyone. Finally the businessman had enough and lectured the man with “your kids are acting like jerks and you just sit there and so nothing! I am trying to relax after a hard day and am disgusted by your lack of parenting.” The parent replied. “I do apologize and am sorry. I am in a bit of a daze and am not paying attention. We just left the cemetery after burying their mother and I am upset”. We never know what is going on in another person’s life. Our Father rains and lets the sun shine on all people, should we not follow His example? Open your hearts and just love somebody. Everybody. |
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