God's Army!

(Luke 9:50) But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you."

The more I unpeel the layers to this topic; “the body of Christ” the more vicious I realize the attack. I love the Word of God so much; it always eventually shines into the areas of our lives that at times seem impossible to get too. It is so full of life! All glory and honour belongs to our King the Word Himself, the Lord Jesus! There are many voices that echo through the night, influencing our thoughts, although many of those voices are indeed helpful, there are many frivolous foolish words spoken by some that would be better left unsaid.

I am thankful that the Lord is bringing me to a head on this topic and as He is the head of the body of Christ, we all need to remember this truth. There seems to be far too many rallying for that position. We would never openly admit that amongst our immediate circle of friends, or family of God. But that position is taken, and how thankful I am for that. The sooner we all learn this, the freer we will be to get on with what God has willed for our lives.

We must remember the warning of James; instability is like water, it moves with the tides and currents. It is not stable like the rock, immovable and sure! We must build upon the rock, the head, Jesus Christ our Lord! We must learn to trust his headship and leave that to Him, if not we will have been lured into Satan’s trap and there are many that find themselves taken at will by his cunningness.

What then are my thoughts this morning? Here goes, please pay careful attention. Here are some of the facts according to the Holy Scriptures; the “body of Christ” is made up of many members, and the Lord Jesus is the head. Every member that He has placed into that body needs each other, whether we think this to be true or not, it is God’s design. Satan’s attack is on that body; so when the opinions of various members of the body endeavors to dominate other members, sin plays its part. The true teachers of God are looking to establish sound doctrine within the body, which we must all be thankful for. But when no place is given to the other members to add their measure, using their God given talent to unify the body and build upon the true rock, then we are not acting in accordance with God’s design. This in turn allows the evil one to cause dissention within the ranks and we end up like water being tossed about. Do not be fooled, we are then rendered useless, unstable in all our ways!

His (devil) purpose is to get us to lose our love one for another and this will happen even the more as we see that day approaching. How do I know this? The Word of God has warned me this will happen, and so it must! But it is important that we do not get drawn into this web of deceit: - “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:12)  

“The abating of love; this is the consequence of the former; Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. Understand it in general of true serious godliness, which is all summed up in love; it is too common for professors of religion to grow cool in their profession, when the wicked are hot in their wickedness; as the church of Ephesus in bad times left her first love, Rev_2:2-4. Or, it may be understood more particularly of brotherly love. When iniquity abounds, seducing iniquity, persecuting iniquity, this grace commonly waxes cold. Christians begin to be shy and suspicious one of another, affections are alienated, distances created, parties made, and so love comes to nothing. The devil is the accuser of the brethren, not only to their enemies, which makes persecuting iniquity abound, but one to another, which makes the love of many to wax cold.

This gives a melancholy prospect of the times, that there shall be such a great decay of love; but, First, It is of the love of many, not of all. In the worst of times, God has his remnant that hold fast their integrity, and retain their zeal (may we be amongst that number-my thought), as in Elijah's days, when he thought himself left alone. Secondly, This love is grown cold, but not dead; it abates, but is not quite cast off. There is life in the root, which will show itself when the winter is past. The new nature may wax cold, but shall not wax old, for then it would decay and vanish away.” (Matthew Henry)

With that said; what must we guard against? We must not do the work of the devil and attack the brethren. Many seem to get on their hobby horse and they keep flogging without any mercy, what is that about! Sure we must recognise the enemy and exposed false teachers and the false prophets but we must also remember that those who are for the Lord Jesus, are not against Him. Do you remember the disciple’s dilemma when they encountered others preaching the gospel and casting out demons? What did they do? They tried to prohibit those who weren’t with them to stop preaching, but the Lord was not happy with them and this was His response; “John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you." (Luke 9:49-50) – Note, what I find interesting here is the word “you”, the Lord stresses that they are on the same side and fighting alongside one another, they wore the same coat of arms, even though they were not following the disciples and what they had come to understand as truth, and let’s face it they walked and talked with the Lord in person and had a greater understanding than those who had not walked with the Lord, or at least they should have had. I trust we take note of this!

Do you see the body principle in operation here? I do! God give us eyes to see, and to distinguish between our brothers and the enemy, we often end up attacking the wrong people. And not for one minute am I condoning the false teachers and prophets, if you know me well enough you would know that I am vexed by what they propagate, they are the enemies of God. But not all fall into this category. We need wisdom to differentiate between the two and this is what we then pray for Father God. Give us eye to see and help us lock hands with our brothers wherever they may be situated across the globe and help us guard against the love of many waxing cold.

I see another great attack and that is on the gifts of God, so until tomorrow then…

Signing off

Tyrone