The enemies tactics 1

 

Understanding the enemy and his tactics is a common thread appreciated amongst any of the Great War heroes. And yet we have so many factors that need calculating when it comes to living the Christian life. All other religions understand the need to conquer the flesh and its passions but lack the wherewithal to achieve the desired result. Only because they rely on their abilities to reach a certain outcome and because they are sinful by nature, when pressed hard enough, will always end up failing. We are all born into sin and fall into the grouping, sinner! However, this classification is not stamped into our passports even through it should be, it would help us understand our state before a holy God from the outset. This is where the enemy has tricked people into believe a lie. Acceptance of our sin is dependent on the individual’s circumstances. Or rather a need to live a life that suits their needs, in spite of their defiance towards the law of God. Tolerance from others has become the order of the day, with very little consideration, if any towards God’s law. Democracy a word absent from God’s way of thinking. His Word is final and not up for debate when it comes to doing things under the banner of righteousness. He is righteous, we are not, even if some think they are. It’s like trying to mix oil and water, it will never happen. Liken human flesh to oil and God to water, you can put both into the same container but unless one of the two changes its structure they remain alone. The water unable to penetrate the oil and vice versa.

 

Our arch nemesis, the devil and his armies has a single objective, which is to get each individual “to curse God and die” (see the book of Job) and he will do whatever it takes to trip up the greatest follower of Christ. When it comes to the unbeliever he needn’t worry too much, for they have latched onto his mandate and are living as they please with him as their father. How do I arrive at such a conclusion? Everyone that acts out against the teachings of the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ is doing the devils bidding and therefore whether knowingly or not, have play into his hands; “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:44) – Anything or anybody that contradicts the Word of God in any form or shape is playing into the hands of Satan’s objectives. This is where a decision needs to be made, do you believe this to be true or not? “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – In other words any religion that does not acknowledge that the only way to God the Father is via the Lord Jesus Christ has played into the hands of the devil and have believed a lie. Even so called Christian organisations have erred for the sake of power and shifted their mediator to Mary, the mother of Jesus who in her own right was a sinner like any other. Sure, I will not underplay her role, for who am I? She was blessed amongst women, chosen by God to give birth to Jesus, the only begotten son of God. It was though her womb that he entered the world and was given a body of flesh and blood. Through his life he achieve the near impossible, he lived a life of sinless perfection, never breaching the laws of God. The very first and last human to ever achieve this, hence the power he now yields as Saviour to all who dare to call out to him, through repentance, acknowledging their sin. Mary a wonderfully privileged individual who also needed to acknowledge her sin and need for a Saviour. She too had to call upon the name of Jesus to find forgiveness for her sin. When an organisation instructs you to pray to Mary as your mediator, they have played into the hands of the enemy and Satan has achieved his objective. You are believing a lie as your solution to achieve your objective, which is ultimately heaven, is it not?

 

We all want to end up in heaven, by hook or by crook is most of the world’s end game. There is no hook or crook when it comes to God’s mandate with regards to the Book of Life, here are the facts; “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”  (Revelation 20:15) – What does this teach us? There is a book, the Book of Life, a registry in heaven with the names of those entitle to enter it, those whose names are not penned into that book will end up the Lake of Fire. I wonder how many people have been honest about this fact. How many funerals have you been to where the motto not been “rest in peace”? There will be no rest in the Lake of Fire.

 

God has made a way for all of mankind to be ushered into his kingdom, heaven is a real place and the reward for all who come God’s way and fight the good fight of faith with the Lord Jesus as the pivot to it all. Without him, no heaven, the Lake of Fire awaits.

 

Therefore I will leave you with these encouraging words, and I tell you a truth, I am not lying, this is what you need to do to have any chance of making it to heaven; “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)

 

“To the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen”

 

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone   

Considering the Variables

The fantasy world allows us to escape into a realm that gives an individual the upper hand. It levels the playing field and allows our minds to right the wrongs we witness. We lap it up because there is a small part of us that would love to be like them. From an early age in our lives we want to be praised and especially by our fathers. When we become a Christian the shift is server in so many areas of our lives but the need to impress our Father never changes, except now we have a new Father and He is the Father of lights, the creator of the universe. An impossible task if left to our own devises, but blessed be the name of our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ, the ONE who made this task attainable. In him we have the ability to bring glory to God. However, there are some variables we need to consider…

 

·        We have an enemy that will do everything in his power to keep us from our objective. He uses our old habits to nullify the work of the cross in our lives. If you were once a compulsive liar, he will get you to fall back into that behavioural pattern. Or if money was your thing, he lures you with it and may even trick you into exploiting the gospel for the sake of your carnal desires. The list is endless, but be wise in your deliberations. See things for what they are, look into the mirror and ask God to show you who you really are and then something can be done about it. The Lord Jesus gives warnings in the book of revelations when addressing the churches and the pattern throughout has the same emphasis; “he who conquers” will be rewarded and “he who has and ear let him here what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

·        Here is a fact that will come to pass; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  (Matthew 7:21-23) – Do we habitual ask ourselves on a daily basis is my priority the will of my Father and am I sincerely striving to find the grace I need to overcome the hypocrisy of my life?

·        “many are called but few are chosen”  (Matthew 22:14) – What does this mean? Think of it like this, a group of individuals respond to the idea of becoming a paratrooper, they like those wings that decorate a shirt and the prestige it brings. Many enlist for the course but before long the intense training takes its toll and many wash out. Only a handful receive the accolade. “Many are called but few are chosen”.  

·        Therefore, it’s about learning to put off our old natures as we learn to put on the mind of Christ, It’s imperative, if not, we  may find ourselves standing amongst the many. I don’t know about you but that thought has often jolted me into action, but by the grace of God here I stand. How often I’ve had to dust my knees off to seek out God’s forgiveness. “While we have breathe we have hope.” There can be nothing that carries such weight in our lives. Family, children and their needs must remain a distant second.

 

With that now as a backdrop let us hear Peter’s instruction; “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” “

(1Peter 1:13-16)

 

There is a cost, we must die daily, and yes, some will have to die and are dying for their commitment to Christ but that is nothing new, many have been martyred for the sake of the Gospel and there will be more just over the horizon. Beloved it will be worth it all, we have a hope that stretches beyond our wildest dreams, you perceive that the imagination of the comic book cartoonist have learnt to wet our appetites, “you ain’t seen nothing yet.” The faithful will receive glorified bodies just like our Saviours glorified body; WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE! Whatever the cost, let us encourage one another to good works that glorify our heavenly Father. I have another confession to make, I eagerly long for the day when I hear the voice of my heavenly Father ushering me into his kingdom, how I long for that approval and yet in the same breath my gaze will shift to Christ accomplishments understanding the responsibility which grace has taught me to play my part in the equation. It’s obvious that we have been saved by grace, which is a gift of God, but we have our parts to play. We must learn to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

“To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Are we learning?

 

Are we learning, have we learnt how to position the cross of our beloved Saviour on our shoulders correctly or is the pain unbearable? Or have we out-rightly refused to go anywhere near it? Christianity is a life filled with valuable lessons that we must eagerly embrace and then pass the test. If we haven’t understood this aspect to our Christianity then we are either unsaved or infants in nappies still groping for a dummy. The entire point of being conformed into the image of Christ is to understand a portion of His sufferings and the only way we will ever apprehend that reality is if we also suffer for the sake of righteousness. Until then, we are bystanders or simply an audience that has gathered to listen to stories and novel ideas from the preacher. “Unless a seed dies it abides alone.” 

From the day of Salvation, war-room training kicked into gear. It’s the navigation of this conflict, flesh against the spirit that had me pinned for many years of my life, however God is greater than any obstacle that looks to interfere with His will and the sooner we yield to His will, the easier it becomes. Not that the suffering subsides, but because our minds have accepted the fact that we need to mimic our Saviours behaviour in areas of our lives that were once impossible. Because we have now been enlighten by the Spirit of God we are no longer caught off guard when a trial presents itself, we now know what needs to be done; accept, count it all joy, and then through steadfast prayer find grace to nourish us through the examination, until it is over. It will come to an end…

 

This may help some of you, we often find ourselves, or at least I find myself looking for wiggle room when it comes to the trials in my life. Allowances of justification which excuses my behaviour in certain areas of my life, which is no more than sin looking for domination. I’ve landed on a mind-set on these areas of my life; “no wiggle room!” That’s it! as simple as that, when in doubt all I say to myself, “no wiggle room” and then I look to find grace to embrace the scrutiny. That’s all it really is.

 

When the Lord Jesus called out to Simon Peter whilst he was fishing what did he ask him? “He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”  (John 21:17-18) – God will determine our trial in life, it’s not up to us to shirk the investigation, and we have been saved to bring glory to God, period! How does someone like me arrive at such a conclusion? Someone who has left a trail of destruction in his wake? For those who have read my autobiography you will understand. Although my example has not been like our beloved brother Paul, who was never disqualified by the way he lived his life. My example is the exact opposite and I has failed dismally in every area of my life, BUT GOD! Who is rich in mercy has removed the veil from my eyes and in a sense renewed a new spirit in me. He has afforded me the opportunity to own my sin, find repentance for it and now renewed my zeal that once burnt bright and true. Christian if you love the Jesus with all your heart and you have matured in HIS finished work, I never want to hear you asking the question, “why me?” “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”  (1Peter 4:1-2) 

 

It couldn’t be clearer, it’s the suffering we face that enables us to resist our selfish wants and focus on the will of God, which brings him glory. Get out of the way, just say to yourself when looking for the escape hatch, “no wiggle room”. I am not saying we will always walk in victory, even though we should, but our mind-set will be one that is always geared towards victory. And then there is the great equalizer, once we become too big for our boots, we are brought down to our knees very quickly, and are quickly reminded that boasting of any sort is excluded. Our goal is this; “Our Father in heaven thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Everything is the world opposes the will of God, however we are no of this world, we have the Spirit of Christ. Let us at least live to the glory of HIS finished work. We must stand out as we are now entering into a time of the anti-christs reign, whom the world will lap up with open arms. The New World order is about to launch like never before.

 

“Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” 

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone