Greyson Gambrell

Faith Wings
 
Faith is like Jesus walking on water.
It shouldn’t have held Him up, but it did.
 
LORD, let my faith grow
More and more.
 
Like a fledgling in the nest.
Let me test my wings.
Let me brave the air.
And be borne by courage and upheld by You.
 
Let me stretch my wings and fly with pinions of faith.
 
And soar the heavens as I was meant to.
And soar to the heavens to love You.

Redemption

I heard about a guy named Appleseed.

He went around planting apple trees.

I don’t know his reasons why,

But I think he’s my kind of guy.

I think I’ll pause and take a cue;

“Hey Christian, this could be you.”

I’ve read some of God’s Word,

But there are some who haven’t heard.

LORD, let me sow some seeds of grace,

Then see your tree, and touch Your face.

You Matter

I’ve been thinking, praying, and seeking the Lord lately.  Not just about this current situation in the world, but also about me and my situation.  I’ve just finished reading through the book of Jeremiah in the Bible.  One thing that struck me is that after Jeremiah had warned Judah about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and Judah by the king of Babylon, God also gave the message to Jeremiah that they should repent.  Before you tune out, please listen to all I have to say.  I would like to say that this is a message to me.  In fact, true repentance of a nation or of the world is made of individuals.  God was willing to relent of His judgement if Judah would repent.  God is consistent on this message.  God is good, and finds no pleasure in our punishment, but what He really wants is for us to submit and obey Him.  When we do, we find His love, not wrath.

Jeremiah 26:3 (NASB95)

            3          ‘Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’

Ezekiel 33:11 (NASB95)

            11       “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

            From beginning to end, Jesus’ message was to repent, and believe in the Gospel.  Early in His ministry He preached this:

Mark 1:14–15 (NASB95)

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

            14       Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

            15       and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

After He was resurrected, He said this:

Luke 24:45–47 (NASB95)

            45       Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,

            46       and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,

            47       and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

I want to take heed to this and address sin in my life.  It’s a struggle, but I can struggle harder than I have been. 

            We all fall short, but the Good News is that if we repent and believe in the Good News, we can have eternal life, and this gives hope beyond anything that can come along.  The Good News is this:  that Jesus was, and is, and always will be the Son of God.  He came in the flesh and lived a perfect life, and because of this He was able to become a sin sacrifice for us.  He took our sins and died on the cross, but He arose from the dead after three days.  If you repent and believe in Him and this Good News you will be forgiven and have eternal life.

            By the way, repentance does not just mean to be sorrowful, but to change your mind to agree with God that if you have sin to stop and correct it with God’s help.  Also, repentance is not just negative.  The law of God is summed up that we should love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love our neighbor as our self.  Love is not negative, but the way Jesus has instructed us about, and He also gave us an example of.

            I don’t know all of God’s mind about His reasons for this disease and following effects, but I do know God has always wanted us to repent.  And I know that He wants us to believe in Jesus His Son.  I am taking this to be a shot across the bow.  We have a choice before us.  The right choice is to make a positive change.

Love is the Top

Hey y’all. Just wanted to give an update on my life. I’m teaching Sunday school and working at a cabinet shop. Trying to prepare for whatever God has in store for me. I started reading through the Bible a while back and am still at it to read through all the books. It was a Bible I bought and want to read the whole Bible in that specific Bible. It is NIV and I prefer NASB because it is more literal in translation, but both are excellent translations. I’m taking care of my uncle, and trying to improve as a Christian. I have a long way to go, but I also realize God has brought me a long way also. God bless y’all and keep me in your prayers.

The Word

Pray

Intro-How we know someone

The Book

  John 1:1–4 (NASB95)

The Deity of Jesus Christ

          1        In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

          2        He was in the beginning with God.

          3        All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

          4        In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

–God’s being is not just associated with the Word, but it says the “Word was God.”

–Now we know that this Word became flesh, and this means Christ was born as Jesus.  But, we should not overlook this is showing the nature of Christ before birth as the Word.

  Revelation 19:11–13 (NASB95)

The Coming of Christ

          11      And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

          12      His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.

          13      He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

–Our Bibles are the Word of God.  We call them Scriptures, and they were revealed to us by prophets, but they are God breathed to mankind.  God used the agent of men moved by the Holy Spirit to give us His Word, but they are to be viewed and revered as if He thundered His voice directly to mankind.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)

          16      All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

          17      so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20–21 (NASB95)

          20      But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,

          21      for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

–The Shema gives us an idea how important the Word is.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (NASB95)

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

          7        “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

          8        “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

          9        “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

–Every Christian has a relationship with the Word of God.

They at least believe the Gospel.  And I can think of no instance of a Christian where they believe the Gospel and don’t believe in the Word of God. 

–The Word is nourishment for a new Christian

1 Peter 2:2 (NASB95)

          2        like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

–The Word is not just for new Christians but is as vital as food for all Christians

Deuteronomy 8:3 (NASB95)

          3        “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

–This was a forty year lesson of wandering through the wilderness to drive home the message that all Christians live by everything that proceeds from the mouth of God. 

What is special about the Word of God?

1.  God’s Word is living

Hebrews 4:12 (NASB95)

          12      For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

–God’s word is living.  The words on a page do not live, but in the course of history prophecies come true out of the pages, and the Word has the effect and outcome of salvation and eternal life in the lives of those who believe and obey the Word.

It is daily instruction how to walk through life.  Living because you put it into action

Psalm 40:7–8 (NASB95)

          7        Then I said, “Behold, I come;

In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

          8        I delight to do Your will, O my God;

Your Law is within my heart.”

–David spoke this ~900-1000 years before Christ

— The Scripture told of His appearance Jesus Christ the baby.  He appeared in truth right off the pages

2.  The Word is truth

John 17:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

This is in a prayer of Jesus to the Father.  Notice He does not say true.  We all can say a true statement, but Jesus says the Word is truth itself.  To say the grass is green is to say something true, but the essence of the Word is that is of a higher order The Truth with a capital T.

3. The Word is everlasting

Isaiah 40:8 (NASB95)

          8        The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

4. The Word is pure

Psalm 12:6 (NASB95)

          6        The words of the Lord are pure words;

As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.

5.  The Word of God is set above all things next to God’s name itself.

Psalm 138:2 (ESV)

          ²         I bow down toward your holy temple

and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

for you have exalted above all things

your name and your word.

6. The Word is guides our lives

Psalm 119:105 (NASB95)

‍ן

Nun.

          105    Your word is a lamp to my feet

And a light to my path.

7. The Word is Life

John 5:24 (NASB95)

          24      “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

So how do we know that it is truly the Word of God?

Some ways: Prophecy comes true, historically accurate, consistent

John 15:26 (NASB95)

          26      “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,

–The Spirit of God testifies to your soul that God’s Word is indeed from God.  This is by faith, but your soul simply knows that it is the truth.

John 10:1–5 (NASB95)

Parable of the Good Shepherd

          1        “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

          2        “But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

          3        “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

          4        “When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

          5        “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

–2 ways The Holy Spirit testifies to authenticity and we as Christ’s sheep know His voice.

Closing Remarks

If Jesus Christ is the Word, and Christians head is Christ, the Word is essential to our being.  The birth of a Christian is by belief in God’s Word—the Gospel, and to grow and mature it is essential as food for the body.

Deuteronomy 8:3 (NASB95)

          3        “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

–Finally, there is one secret to reading the Bible that I know.  One must believe it.  Otherwise it is so many words to that person.  And belief is a loaded word.  If you believe a parachute will save you if pushed off a plane, you will pull the drop cord.  Believing without action is like someone who believed that the parachute would save him but never pulled the drop cord and hit the ground.

–I urge you to hear the Word of God and practice it and grow by it.  Make it part of your life. 

Romans 10:17 (NASB95)

          17      So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

Hear it and believe!!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009   The Way, a Choice I am writing this because I believe God told me that I should share my testimony. I wanted to express to you some way that I think we should repent. I shared that in an earlier blog. I realize one thing though—that the wayward nature of mankind and his pride rejects penitence. It is through God’s forgiveness and His forbearance that we come to repent. Without a sense of His love and Grace we could only be forced to our knees without a change to our heart. I had in the past a heart of stone. I knew scripture—so I thought—and went to church and I truly believed that Jesus died for my sins, but I was without true understanding. I didn’t understand Truth, Grace, and Love. These are words, but true understanding requires more that being able to read mere letters. I am only now coming to have a sight and a feeling for the being of these characteristics of God. Let me share my story. I am a man of secrets and to reveal these things is hard for me because it is personal and leaves me vulnerable because it opens my heart and soul to you. There are a lot of things I will leave out, but this story bears my soul, and I want you to know it may be therapeutic to me, but really I share my own story to give you an example of God’s Truth, Grace, and Love. First I was given an illustration of the Way. Matt 7 records the words of Jesus Christ: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy fn that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Jesus describes two and only two ways. One easy wide that leads to destruction. This is the way to Hell. The other way is narrow and hard and few there are that find it. This leads to everlasting life and paradise—New Jerusalem. Here is an illustration I believe from the Holy Ghost. There was a man on a road at a fork. He saw another man at this fork and inquired about which one led to his destination. The signs on both forks declared that they head toward the destination. Now, the man at the forks told the traveler, “Take this trail that I made. I made the trail and made a bridge over the river, and it will take you—if you stay on the trail—to your destination.” The man said, “the trail is not well paved as this other, and I see a new shiny bridge on this well marked road up ahead. Not only that, I see others on this road but not on your trail.” The man had an urge to listen to the man, however, and asked, “How do I know the truth, which way?” The man showed him a book, a journal, and said, “This book shows how I made the trail, how I made the bridge, how I found out the other bridge was out. This book tells you what you need to know.” The traveler thought and responded, “How do I know it is the truth, there are many books and this other way is well travelled?” Right then a voice said, “This is my son, hear him.” It was a voice from heaven, supernatural and he felt a yearning in his heart to listen to the man, but he doubted that he heard anything. The man at the fork told him plainly, “you must believe me.” The man thought, in my soul I know somehow this man is the Truth. If I go down this road I will cross safely this river, but if I don’t believe this man I will go the other way, and even though I see many on the other wide paved road, I believe this man, and his book, that they are headed to destruction. I don’t really know if I heard that voice, and if I did where did it come from? And I don’t understand how I know this Truth. I feel as though a Spirit from the Author of this book and the One that spoke lets me know. The man believed the other man’s witness and took him at his word. So he believed and travelled down that Way. As he got to the bridge he had doubts, but he thought of the man’s words and it strengthened him. He crossed the bridge, believing the man and his bridge, trusting him. As he got to the other side he looked down in the river and saw faces of those who had been on the well paved road and they had drown in the river because the bridge was out the other way. He mourned for them, but he could not save them, he realized that the man at the forks told them of the trail like him, but they did not believe him. It hurt the man and then in awe he wondered at the fact that somehow he believed, he was thankful. He was thankful that he wanted to go down, and would have gone down the other road, but undeservedly the man at the fork lead him to choose another way. As he left to his destination he arrived tired because the way was hard but ever so grateful. He talked to one sitting down resting and reclined at a restaurant and hotel, and told him of his story, and the man, and the bridge, and his choice. The people listening around him said, “we know you chose the trail because you are here.” As he wondered at this, the other man said, “do you know that man was a spirit-man. True he has a body, but he died just as he finished the bridge. Now he humbly tells others about the Way and his Word.” “How can I ever thank him, he truly saved my life,” the resting traveler spoke. “I believe I have some wisdom,” the other man replied. “By choosing the Way you have and are pleasing Him. He did not die for nothing.” What is His Name? “Jesus. Come meet the Father.” Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the father except by Him I think I’ll wait on my testimony; there is no way to top Jesus’ testimony. And after all it is just a story how I met a man at the fork of a road. Thank you and praise you Jesus. Amen.

Saturday, July 25, 2009   Repent–An Editorial Sent to the BHP NewsChronicle Repent Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! I am writing about the current state of affairs in America and the World. Things go better if people obey God and live by His Word. Think of a world where there was no crime, all were humble, we thought of others first, we loved and lived in justice, and we were all righteous. AIDS would all but die out in a generation because we abstained until marriage and were faithful to our spouse– of the opposite sex. But we are living in a time of lies and confusion. Truth has been subtly twisted, and now many of us have fallen for a new doctrine that calls evil good and good evil. A case in point is where the beauty pageant contestant was vilified for her righteous comments on belief in marriage being between a man and a woman, and the homosexual who proud of his flagrant sin seems to be lauded somehow. Let’s be clear, God’s Word defines right and wrong, and the scripture calls homosexuality an abomination (Lev 18:22). Gal 5:19-21 states that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. Here is a new doctrine that is false, and has crept in to our minds so that we accept it as God’s own doctrine– tolerance. God is holy and commands us to be holy. How tolerant was God of Sodom and Gomorrah when he destroyed them by fire for the same sin so many in America are proud. God is not tolerant of sin. We live under a new covenant, but we should not mistake forgiveness with tolerance. We who believe were bought with a price. If God was tolerant of sin in His presence, then Jesus would not have had to die. God will divide sheep from goats. Those who have believed and therefore followed Christ will inherit eternal life, those who don’t will inherit hell– eternal death. We have tolerated a slip into apostasy. We have tolerated lies and now we as a nation and world are about to reap what we sow. The generation in leadership and coming to lead are ignorant of the Truth– God’s Word is Truth. No one seems to read the Bible but preachers, and lies have infiltrated even our churches. Not all, but many speak lies, and so few us know to call them on it because so few of us know the word for ourselves. The way to fight lies is with Truth, and since man is corruptible we must look to God’s Word. If we always clam up, scared that we might offend, how will the Truth be heard. We are loosing our rights, our standard of living, our freedoms, democracy at a blinding pace. We elected our government I think in part due to immorality, loss of a work ethic, lack of self responsibility, and foolishness. We have believed we can have something for nothing and that money grows on trees and therefore believing we can have entitlements without a thought to the fact that we must somehow fund these programs– and it will be by taxes. We are punishing ourselves by our own actions. The solution for America is to repent and to repent we must turn to the Lord and His Word and live by it. Until then, times will continue to grow worse. I want America to be a nation under God, we will not be unless we submit to Him. Some don’t want to be a Christian nation– shame on them!! Greyson Gambrell Posted by ggambre, 8:37 PM, Permalink   Tags: christian-nation, repent Comment (0)     Sunday, July 19, 2009   The objective of war and life of a Christian   The Simple Objective I realized after my introduction to the war we are in that I got into deep matters, wishing to stress that we fight spiritually and in heavenly realms, by our fighting the will of the flesh. Satan desires the things of men rather than God. Our fight therefore has to due with our carnal mind and heart, and our soul as we must submit it to the Holy Spirit. To fight satan, we must fight the flesh– or to put it another way, the spirit of man–meaning the fleshly minded will of man that is disobedient and that wills against God. Not all fight satan spirit to spirit, but all fight the will of the flesh. So, the church must fight to conform to the Spirit, and we must reach out to the unsaved– the lost– to bring them to Jesus and His salvation. I began to think of the fight we are in and the objectives. There is war strategy that says strategy requires an objective. Not only this, but the best objectives must be simple. To describe the fight we are in, and have been in, I realized, as a wise revelation from God, that it would require simply copying the Bible word for word. I could not describe the battle better than God, I could not leave out anything He deemed important, and it is clear that it is the handbook of our struggle. From early in the account of Eden, there is the fall of man, to the promise of Jesus that, “surely I am coming soon,” whereby we look forward to that day when He judges man and we inherit the promises, and the war is over. The struggle is from beginning to end, and we look forward to the day when those who endure to the end, will be saved. So what is the simple objective or objectives of the large collection of scriptures we know is the Word. The bottom line of scripture is Love. The Torah– the law– is summed up, as Christ says: in loving God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul; and loving our neighbor as ourselves. God is love. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy. So how does that show the bottom line is love. In the Lord’s supper during Passover with his disciples before his death, He says, “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Now the testimony of Jesus, by John the Baptist, is that He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is by his blood– a new testament. But why did he do this? He loved us. We love God because He first love us. God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. So we have grace by faith, but we would lose sight of the bottom line if we forget that it is because of Love. And so He loved us and he commands us to love Him and love each other. Now how does he command us to love? 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and loves God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. To be a child of God you must love God. Without love, you cannot be a child of God. It is a command to love God, and by the command we are children of God, but it is a command like telling your child to breath to live, he must breath to live or He dies. God commands love, but does not force it. We choose, but like the child, we spite ourselves to deny such love that God gave us. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. And so the command and the example. This is the objective– to imitate Christ. Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We should walk as Christ. When he says He is the way, He is the example of how we should walk. He spoke the Word to us also, and obedience to this is also the Way. Hear and do. Referring back to love, the way we show love is obedience. John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. He also says that “Apart form me you can do nothing.” The objective of a Christian, who is in spiritual war by nature of his being in a world contrary to God, is to imitate Christ and the Father. This is done by love, which is evident, proven, and expressed by obedience. And by walking as Christ walked– Christ being not only an example but the perfect example. So Christ is the object of our worship, under the Father who gave Him all power and glory, but not only this, He is the example to look up to, and emulate. Not only is He the example but, (Heb 2:17) Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. He is the perfect example that cares and desires the best for us, in love So the objective is to be like Jesus. This requires love. Love of God means obedience. He is the Way through this war. We will have eternal life in Him. He loves us, so we must love Him. He has conquered sin and death and the works of the devil. By faith we have the victory, and we will endure to the end by following in the footsteps of our master, and a lover that is closer than a brother– Jesus Christ our Lord. And the world will see our light shine and be drawn to the Lord by the change of our being, as we walk more and more like the Lord. Jesus we love you. Thank you God. Posted by ggambre, 9:42 PM, Permalink   Tags: gambrell, goal, greyson, imitate, love, objective Comment (0)     Monday, July 13, 2009   The War We Are In   A prayer delivered on Friday, March 27, 2009 by Greyson Gambrell at Shabbat Shalom Messianic Congregation. Lord I pray a prayer asking you to prepare your children for war. But I realized it is better to pray that we please You – even make You delight in your inheritance – even us your children. But I pray for war, that we be prepared to fight. We are perfected in praise – praise of You I thought of the bottom line and your commands, of love. Can we win with love? Was not the command of love from the beginning – to love the Lord and love each other? Did not these commands pass through the lips and tongue of our sweet Jesus? Sweet, but commander of Heaven’s armies. I asked, “will this give us victory?” You said, “Obey My commandments.” “Death is swallowed up in victory.” When You were raised You conquered death and sin. Even our faith is the victory. You have already conquered, we have only to believe, to live out victory. Yeshua is victory. But I persisted. What Lord, should we have to fight and be strong? We have armor: A helmet – salvation, hope A breast plate – righteousness, purity covering a heart that yearns for water from the river of life in New Jerusalem. Sandals – prepared to speak & speaking, declaring the Good News. Hosanna! Come to the Lord, His yoke is light. A belt – binding, the truth – Thy Word is true A shield – the shield of Avraham. I believe. Let me retain your Word to say no in evil & temptation. Yes to discerned wisdom and truth. A sword – Your Word. Let me attack. God’s word is mightier than you. The sword I yield is greater than me. God Himself is in my hand to fight as long as my heart is true, and I am in His glorious hand. “How beautiful are the feet that bring the Good News.” Salvation is from Jesus. What are our tactics, strategy? It is for God to have mysteries, it is for kings to know and search them out. Lord Your Spirit is our king. Reveal Your plan. Reveal Your battle plan. Let us be clear on our mission as we need to know. Let us obey without faltering, stumbling, willingly – like good soldiers. My heart was content with this prayer. God is God. He knows all things, we will not fall due to His part in the fight. If we fail it will be due to our short comings. A righteous man may fall, but thanks be to Jesus, he will always rise. Why? True righteousness is from the Lord and Him only. Ask the Father and He will answer by touching His finger to your heart. Ah Lord, my eyes tear up! Yearning does not describe it. You are my everything. Teach me to draw a bow and wield a sword, and in Your city to come, I will tell a tale of how I fought at the Lord’s right hand. Praise Ya. Hallelujah. Even so, come quickly! The War We Are In Lord willing, I plan to write the next few blogs about the spiritual war we are in. I have meditated on the subject and talked with others of faith and had some ideas crystallize about this war. It is spiritual in nature and real. By faith we know God, an invisible God, exists. Some may have doubts along the way that attack our faith. Maybe for a new Christian– or possibly even a more mature Christian– we could even question if there is a God. This is a fiery dart attacking us spiritually. Whether this is a person, demonic, or satan himself; we are in a spiritual war. But whether we believe or not there is a reality. There is a God or there isn’t. By faith we know it, we have spiritual eyes that see it, but even if we do not, God still exists. The same with spiritual warfare, we can believe it is real–which is proven in Scripture– or not, but it exists. Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Gal 5:16 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other. I learned this in the KJV and I believe it stated the two “war” against each other. The original text in Greek is what determines the exact translation, but these are the sides of the war: God, and therefore His Spirit, vs. the flesh, and therefore satan. Note I do not say satan, and therefore the flesh. There was peace between God‘s spirit and mans flesh, while satan existed. Jam 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. And so, when Eve lusted after the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil– delighting in its appearance and desiring to be made wise–she bit the fruit, instantly birthing the first sin of mankind, and creating enmity between God’s Spirit and man. As it says in Col 1:21, “And you, who once where alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his (Jesus) death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became minister.” Now Eve and Adam had enmity in them when they sinned. Lucifer had fallen, but our enmity between our flesh and God’s Spirit had not occurred until our– mankind’s– sin had occurred. When we– mankind– were obedient there was no enmity between us and God’s Spirit and therefore no war. Satan had not attacked– or tempted– us, so he was enemy to God, but not us. But the Scripture says the flesh is against the Spirit. This came by our fall, and we too ate of the same fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, spiritually. How? By disobedience. So now the battleground is in us– our flesh. Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So our fleshly mind is against God, but as we stated Jesus reconciled in his body, by his death, us. So look, why do we still have a struggle if we are reconciled. We are now new creatures in God, right now, but we have not yet realized all things in Christ until we are resurrected in his likeness. As Paul puts it, “For the good I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” Rom 7:19 So we fight with our own flesh and its desires and lust, but when saved we are dying carnally, and living more and more to Christ. Remember how God said to Adam that “in that day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam–man– died spiritually that day, as he did not die in the body because he live many years afterward. So spiritual death is in man until reconciliation– by belief in Christ, and newness of life, by his blood; and the full reconciliation comes when we have a body like Christ‘s. Since that sin of Adam, we either are enemies of God and dead, and in communion with satan; or friends with God and alive in Christ, and in communion with God in the Spirit. But there still remains our flesh, that is contrary in its desires, that will be contrary, until we are resurrected or changed in the twinkling of an eye. Thanks be to God that we have a change from this filth of flesh we cannot be relieved of without God’s grace!!! We are born again, but we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, until our advocate with the Father judges righteously with grace– the Word that he spoke judges us, and he speaks to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” So all this is to come to the point that we fight against the spiritual forces of satan’s kingdom in the heavenly places, but our souls, being one in Christ, as we are his body, fight this war in ourselves. I would not say “we have met the enemy and it is us,” but I do say we fight evil and satan by fighting the will of the flesh. How do we fight the will of the flesh? Mar 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” The war we are in involves people. It is not in a battlefield on land, or at sea; no it is internal to people. It is a battle over souls: one, those in the church, the body of Christ, those who believe in Jesus, and two, over the souls of the rest of the world, the unsaved, who are in the power of satan, and who we should pray for and strive to lead to Christ. I want to define the war of a soldier of Christ. The enemy is the will of our flesh, satan, and the counter of Christ– the spirit of antichrist. We are one in Christ, and the world is one in the antichrist. We fight the will of the flesh, satan, and the spirit of antichrist by repentance in us– the church, and by proclaiming the gospel of God to the unsaved. 1 Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 Cr 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So what have we learned? The war is in people. It is between the will of the flesh and the Spirit. This is the battle ground of the prince of this world–satan. The goals are many, but fundamentally the Bible is about love. The war is over souls: ours, the truly believing, born-again, obedient, Christians, and the souls of the world– the lost, the dead. In the church we fight the will of the flesh by repentance, in the world by proclaiming the gospel. Both these require love of God and your neighbor. After all the sum of the law is love. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. We are to love our enemies!!! So we have identified our enemy– the flesh, satan, and the spirit of the antichrist, where we fight–within people, and the fundamental aim of our side of the war–love . The fight is flesh vs. Spirit, death vs. life, dark vs. light. Again I say, our victory is by faith. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and he did. We must believe, and this means obey the Word, and this faith, if we endure to the end, will see us to this victory. Jesus love conquered sin and death by his death and resurrection: let us take on his yolk, and learn from him–follow suit– and love. Jesus come!!!!!!!