Today, let's look at the last 3 pieces of the Armor of God...
4) The Shield of Faith - What tends to win out in your mind...faith or fear? They simply can't coexist. You either trust that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere-at-one-time or you don't. If God is in control..why do we have so much stress? Simple...because we are human. Our tendency is to take everything on ourselves...to handle whatever comes our way with our own power. We believe that worry actually changes things. Put on the shield of faith...believe that God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do... your mind (and your blood pressure) will be better off.
5) The Belt of Truth - Deut. 4:39 “So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other." A powerful verse. There is only one God. That's the truth we are to base our lives on. The problem is that people want to lead you to believe that there is no absolute truth. Relativism has become quite popular these days..the old adage "If it feels good, do it" still holds true in the hearts of many. That's not what scripture says. The truth of scripture states that there is only one God and we are to serve Him with our lives. God is God. What He says is truth is truth. How do we know the truth? Look at the next piece of armor...
6) The Sword of the Spirit - The word of God, the Bible, is the source of so many things in our lives. It's words are inspirational, educational, and timely. It contains no errors or contradictions. It's divinely inspired and useful for learning and correcting. This piece of armor is so important because if we memorize and internalize scripture, we will be able to apply it in our lives as well as help others in crisis. The Bible is God's love letter to us and we should spend quality time each day using it to draw closer to Christ.
That's all six pieces... Let's look at today's three...in your journal, write down three scripture verses from memory (with references). If you don't have at least 3 memorized word-for-word...make an effort over the next couple of weeks to do so. I promise you that God will use those scriptures in your life...
See you tomorrow,
Pastor Brian
Thursday, May 22, 2008
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2 comments:
I hear what you're saying in #5. The question I want to pose, though, is this: are the words that we use to relay these things getting in our way? Here's something I posted a while back on a different issue but which kind of gets to the heart of what I'm thinking here. I'd love to know what you think.
Grace and Peace,
Raffi
Parables of a Prodigal World
Hi Raffi,
Thanks for your comment...I'm not clear on which set of words you are referring to. If you are asking about the modern limitation that we have regarding Biblical interpretation...I would say perhaps that is the case. As you wrote in your blog post (as I understand it)...some phrases just can't be expressed properly due to language constraints and modern contextual ignorance. However, if you are referring to us expressing that there is only One God....I don't know. I was making the point that people today don't believe in absolute truth. Not because they don't understand the original meaning or context, rather they don't feel as though it applies to their life...that they'd rather serve a God painted in shades of gray rather than black and white. Great blog, by the way. I enjoyed reading your posts....
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