Be Vigilant!

(Psalm 142:3) “When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.”

Safety checks are needed prior to ones departure whether it is by plane bus or train; even our cars are given a better inspection before a long trip. I think I check the pressure in my tyres only when I go away on a holiday. But it must be done on a regular basis. Let’s say, yearly I travel by car to the Eastern Cape. Without exception I do safety checks on my car before departure, it may not be a full service but nevertheless I check the basics and make sure I am prepared for my journey. Sin is a treacherous trait to have been exposed too; we are all partakers of its fruit because of Adam’s sin. We are born into the wickedness it manufactures. Reflecting on my life this morning I am concerned about my casualness in particular areas of my life, I lack discipline and therefore lack obedience and I am caught off guard at times, in fact far to often I am left pondering the outcome as I say to myself, “enough is enough”! This morning I sincerely want an answer on where I am going wrong and I now wait in reliance of God the Holy Spirit to point me in the right direction. I am convinced I will be fed this morning and my rudder trimmed. It is the Word which gives life and so I now seek its direction! “Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”. It is imperative for us all to seek out God’s face and His will for our lives on a daily basis. It must be daily, remember the children in the wilderness, they were fed manna from heaven but were not permitted to collect for the next day, and if they did, it would rot and be inedible. Everything they went through and all that they experienced was for our admonition. Let us draw some parallels from this text:

“And the people of Israel did so. They gathered some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning." But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. (Exodus 16:17-20)

We can never gather to much of God’s word for our lives, we will always exhaust all of it, it is not as if we will ever get indigestion from God’s Word, like perhaps we find might happen when we over indulge in the wrong type of food. But it is also imperative to understand that we cannot gather today for tomorrow, it will not be sufficient for us to stand against the wiles of the devil if we have that mindset. We must search out the riches of His grace and it must be done daily!

I think it is important for us to understand that God does not want to squeeze us for the sake of righteousness to the exclusion of our love for Him. God happily blesses His children with that which is good. God gives us of the good things of this life, not only for necessity, but for delight, that we may not only serve him, but serve him cheerfully. This is the thought we must begin with in order to for us to lay down our lives cheerfully, if not our lives will be full of misery. The Apostle Peter has this to say; “For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” (1Peter 2:6-8)

Having said that all of God’s children have eyes with which they can see, we know when we are walking in obedience or disobedience. We need that no one tell us if what we are doing is right or wrong before the eyes of God. Unless of course we are still infants, and then they often show us up by their example anyway.

I am so tired of the disappointment in my life in certain areas of application that I am often left feeling rather weary, but why do I feel like this? The answer is simple and yet why do we lack application to it. Let us now consider the pattern we should follow on a daily basis. So for all who have tasted that the Lord is gracious let us take note; malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander is what hinders our growth in Him, we are instructed to put it off, as these are such sins as both destroy charity and hinder the efficacy of the word, and consequently they prevent our regeneration. We must not sit in the seat of the scornful as “bad manner corrupts good morals”. His (Peter’s) advice is to lay aside or put off what is evil, as one would do an old rotten garment: “Cast it away with indignation, never put it on anymore.” Now our flesh and the devils objective is for us to continually wear that old rotten garment. I am persuaded that if we find that we still wear it at times then we are doing something wrong, as it is no longer needed in our lives. I am reminded of Pauls instruction to the saints at Ephesus; “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

We are at war beloved; let no one convince you with any other lie. A good soldier must put on the mind of Christ and we must not make the mistake that I have so often made, I have in times past thought that because I have understood a principle in scripture I can tick it off as tried and tested. We must and on a daily basis put on the WHOLE “ARMOUR OF GOD”, if we fail to do this we will be vulnerable to the wiles of the devil and the weakness of our flesh. I am convinced that if we do not seriously take time to put on the armour of God we will fall into sin, whatever that may look like for you. I know my weakness and where I fall! We must do whatever it takes for us to put on the “Amour of God”, if that means that we need to get up an hour earlier, then that is what we must do! This battle is fierce, I am aware that the Lord Jesus has overcome and we stand in Him, but we still need to stand in Him clothed with His armour and not our old filthy garments.

“Make use of all the proper defensitives and weapons for repelling the temptations and stratagems of Satan - get and exercise all the Christian graces, the whole armour, that no part be naked and exposed to the enemy.” Observe, Those who would approve themselves to have true grace must aim at all grace, the whole armour. It is called the armour of God, because he both prepares and bestows it. We have no armour of our own that will be armour of proof in a trying time. Nothing will stand us in stead but the armour of God. This armour is prepared for us, but we must put it on; that is, we must pray for grace, we must use the grace given us, and draw it out into act and exercise as there is occasion. The reason assigned why the Christian should be completely armed is that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil - that he may be able to hold out, and to overcome, notwithstanding all the devil's assaults, both of force and fraud, all the deceits he puts upon us, all the snares he lays for us, and all his machinations against us. This the apostle enlarges upon here, and shows,

1. What our danger is, and what need we have to put on this whole armour, considering what sort of enemies we have to deal with - the devil and all the powers of darkness: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, etc. The combat for which we are to be prepared is not against ordinary human enemies, not barely against men compounded of flesh and blood, nor against our own corrupt natures singly considered, but against the several ranks of devils, who have a government which they exercise in this world. We have to do with a subtle enemy, an enemy who uses wiles and stratagems, as Eph_6:11. He has a thousand ways of beguiling unstable souls: hence he is called a serpent for subtlety, an old serpent, experienced in the art and trade of tempting. (2.) He is a powerful enemy: Principalities, and powers, and rulers. They are numerous, they are vigorous; and rule in those heathen nations which are yet in darkness. The dark parts of the world are the seat of Satan's empire. Yea, they are usurping princes over all men who are yet in a state of sin and ignorance. Satan's is a kingdom of darkness; whereas Christ's is a kingdom of light. (3.) They are spiritual enemies: Spiritual wickedness in high places, or wicked spirits, as some translate it. The devil is a spirit, a wicked spirit; and our danger is the greater from our enemies because they are unseen, and assault us ere we are aware of them. The devils are wicked spirits, and they chiefly annoy the saints with, and provoke them to, spiritual wickednesses, pride, envy, malice, etc. These enemies are said to be in high places, or in heavenly places, so the word is, taking heaven (as one says) for the whole expansum, or spreading out of the air between the earth and the stars, the air being the place from which the devils assault us. Or the meaning may be, “We wrestle about heavenly places or heavenly things;” so some of the ancients interpret it. Our enemies strive to prevent our ascent to heaven, to deprive us of heavenly blessings and to obstruct our communion with heaven. They assault us in the things that belong to our souls, and labour to deface the heavenly image in our hearts; and therefore we have need to be upon our guard against them. We have need of faith in our Christian warfare, because we have spiritual enemies to grapple with, as well as of faith in our Christian work, because we have spiritual strength to fetch in. Thus you see your danger.

2. What our duty is: to take and put on the whole armour of God, and then to stand our ground, and withstand our enemies.

(1.) We must withstand, Eph_6:13. We must not yield to the devil's allurements and assaults, but oppose them. Satan is said to stand up against us, 1Ch_21:1. If he stand up against us, we must stand against him; set up, and keep up, an interest in opposition to the devil. Satan is the wicked one, and his kingdom is the kingdom of sin: to stand against Satan is to strive against sin. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day, in the day of temptation, or of any sore affliction.

(2.) We must stand our ground: And, having done all, to stand. We must resolve, by God's grace, not to yield to Satan. Resist him, and he will flee. If we distrust our cause, or our leader, or our armour, we give him advantage. Our present business is to withstand the assaults of the devil, and to stand it out; and then, having done all that is incumbent on the good soldiers of Jesus Christ, our warfare will be accomplished, and we shall be finally victorious.

(3.) We must stand armed; and this is here most enlarged upon. Here is a Christian in complete armour: and the armour is divine: Armour of God, armour of light, Rom_13:12. Armour of righteousness, 2Co_6:7. The apostle specifies the particulars of this armour, both offensive and defensive. The military girdle or belt, the breast-plate, the greaves (or soldier's shoes), the shield, the helmet, and the sword. It is observable that, among them all, there is none for the back; if we turn our back upon the enemy, we lie exposed. [1.] Truth or sincerity is our girdle,” (Matthew Henry)

May God equip us to be vigilant in Him and find grace in time of need and may we remember that blinkers where designed for race horses and not for humans.

Signing off

Tyrone