Fighting the Battles of Life

“And do you abide outside the camp seven days; whosoever has killed any person, and whosoever has touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day” (Numbers 31:19).

We have an enemy that is against us in every way. The people of Israel knew that and they were forced to right their wrongs. They had been enticed by a nation which led to a plague and death. God said stay outside the camp and purify yourselves and those who are your prisoners. Let them know there is a difference between clean and unclean.

God is serious about His people staying clean and maintaining a holy relationship with Himself. No compromise is expected. We can win the battle and lose the victory if we are not careful.  We are to be separated from all that offends our holy and righteous God we serve. Sin is a horrible pit to fall into.

We have many battles as Christians. Not a day goes by that we do not face temptations, trials, and battles. We are to maintain a constant relationship with the Lord so that we will see His power to overcome. The battles prepare us for the last battle and the last enemy which is death. Live in the fullness of Christ daily and may we see the power of a cleansed and consecrated life in the sight of our God.

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    “And the evening and the morning were the third day“ (Genesis 1:13).

     

    If you notice God begins in the evening to the morning and calls it “day.” Whether it is the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day, the Creator God named a “day” beginning in the evening and concluding with the morning. Twenty-four hours in the day that God does His marvelous work.

     

    Would it not be a good and holy thing for us to concentrate on God in the evening hours? So many times we think we must begin in the morning to set the day before us. But God sets the day beginning in the evening hours.

     

    In the evening, many times, we throw off restraints and we fall into the arms of the flesh. Child care, dinner time, tv, pjs, or special events–dinner with friends, movie, ballgame, etc. and we can neglect to rest in God’s evening day to recreate us for the whole day.

     

    Give God your evening. Meditate upon the One who began creation’s story with the evening. It just might be He wants to create His image in you to reflect His glorious creation through you. Life begins in the evening and runs through the morning and afternoon and God calls it the “third day.” May every day be His glorious image in us.

     

  • What Big Teeth You Have

    “Woe be unto the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! Saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:1).

     

    You remember the story of Little Red Robin Hood? She was speaking to the wolf who tried to disguise himself with her grandmother’s cap. Red Robin Hood kept mentioning body parts of the wolf until finally she said, “What big teeth you have.” Of course the reply came back from the wolf, “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

    There are a lot of shepherds out there who rather eat the sheep instead of feed and teach the sheep. The True Shepherd will come one day and sue for malpractice. God’s people are to be teachers and learners at the same time. Many are hirelings who flee at the intrusion of anything. The wolves in disguise cover themselves in religious overtures but reveal themselves for what they are in the day of trouble.

    May we remember that God will set up in His kingdom teachers who will lead and not drive, visit and not be self-serving, and learners instead of just talkers. One of the reasons for the mess that many local churches are in is because of many who talk Bible but who do not incarnate the Word of God.

    True Shepherds will feed the sheep so that they will not fear, nor be dismayed, neither lacking in their lives. Yes, Red Robin Hood saw correctly, but she was slow to see before it was too late.

  • Galactic Starveyors

    What a joy to study God, not just about God, but God. What a privilege to get outside of the world and come back to the center where we meet God who creates new things. What joy there is to know that God has revealed himself in the pages of his Word. We know Him, we embrace Him, and then we reveal Him as we obey Him.
    I am amazed at the Scripture. I’m amazed and stand in awe of God’s Word. It speaks. It is living, and this breathing Scripture gives breath and life. It transcends sin and death. It conquers all. God is in control and He is winning and has won.
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    There will never come one moment when we will say, “I’ve seen it all.” As you know and trust God through His Son by the power of His Spirit, you and I will not be bored.

  • An Angry Nation

    “Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow by it” (I Peter 2:1-2).

    With the breakup of the home we are becoming an angry nation.  With the advent of kids who are angry at life and what it has done to them there is an uptick in gun violence.  What used to be settled through normal communicable channels and court systems, we are now discounted and unsettled through the vengeance of young men or women with a gun.

    The race issue has surfaced like days before.  Except now the media covers quickly what it took papers days to print.  Many conservative speakers can no longer enter our universities because of radical leftists who have resorted to violence.  Add white supremacists into the mix and we could have a war on our hands.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer lamented the fact that students and professors during the Hitler era resorted to silence so as not to lose their jobs, etc.  Today in our institutions Christian students, and especially professors, have to keep their convictions to themselves in order to graduate or continue teaching.  One cannot even say, “Jesus“, in a classroom without repercussions.

    I have no hope that the immigration crisis will be ever resolved.  As both sides demonize each other we will continue to have a toxic atmosphere of name-calling and political posturing.  The good news with all of this is that the churches have the privilege of welcoming whomever God sends to us.

    God has called us to honor Him by letting our light shine despite the consequences.  What is at stake are the eternal values that has been handed down to us.  The Lord Jesus has given His Church (notice that I said, “His Church“) all the resources she needs to be faithful in every culture, every generation, and every circumstance.  He will not forsake us now!  By His Grace let the Church be the Church!

  • You Can Not

    “This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).

    Mark Twain said these words, “You can’t pray a lie. I found that out.” Have we realized that God is looking for men and women who live a life that is pure and holy before Him? Do we not understand that the way the Lord communicates to us is a life that is filled with the aroma of Christ?

    Our salvation and prayer life is not dependent upon us. Our lives are not dependent upon our living it out. Our goals are not His nor are our ways. God began a new work in us when we were redeemed by the blood of Christ. He cleansed us and claimed us for His own. Now until we understand that we don’t know how to pray.
     
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  • It’s Coming

    “…that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35).

    The times of the Gentiles are filling up. Satan’s kingdom is coming to a halt and God’s kingdom is before us. Daniel interpreted the dream of the first worldwide King and all should stand notified. The crumbling foundation built on sinking sand is about to topple.

    Does it seem long to you that the coming of Christ’s kingdom is patiently awaiting the day of the King of kings? Friend be reminded that soon and very soon the downfall of Satan’s kingdom is coming down like a stack of playing cards blown in the win. All of the kingdoms of this world will become God’s kingdom through Christ.

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    Are we ready? Has the kingdom of God been ruling in our hearts? The whole earth is filling up with the reign and the rule of the King. Even so come Lord Jesus. In the hard time may You find us faithful.