Objectives Re-visited

Objectives! We all have them, but the key is to attain, to conquer, to win. To overcome is the ultimate goal, wouldn’t you agree? Take the simplest of examples in our everyday lives, pick an experience that belongs to you, a memory we call upon to find motivation, hope, joy and the will to push on. There could be numerous recollections to draw from…

 

On occasion I am taken to my military training and the lessons I learnt there, not about becoming a soldier per say but the heights I reach on a mental and physical level that I once believed to be impossible, I was wrong. Although we are fallen creatures and tainted by sin God has designed the human body with phenomenal ability. We are capable of so much more than we could ever imagine, it's only when we are put to the test that we really understand this valuable lesson. When the pressure is on we always look for the easy way out. Our default is to tap out far too soon. The Lord Jesus stayed the course, he drank a full cup of every permutation possible to man and even though the anguish at times was so severe that his sweat glands bled blood, he never tapped out. His objective to overcome sin in a human body, he was victorious. His aim, to please his heavenly Father, which he achieved in spades. As Christians surely this then needs to become our overarching objective in life, to please our heavenly Father and the only way to actually achieve this is too, as Paul puts it; “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son.” But why the emphasis on “my spirit”? This is the nitty-gritty of it all, we have to learn the difference between walking in the flesh (our natural ability) as opposed to the spirit. Faith is needed to accomplish this. This is my observation, if we serve in the spirit, if we truly have consciously “put on the mind of Christ” we are in a different zone and we begin to process information differently. The cares of this world are not so monstrous and we find a strength (grace) to endure, come what may. We believe that we are exactly where God wants us to be. We must fly this flag with confidence; our God is in control of all things. However when the flesh dominates, and when the pressure is on our mind-set is one of panic.

 

I do not professed to have mastered it, far from it, but I am able to call on memories when I was happiest and a peace surpassed all rational understanding. Why?  My conclusion, I was walking in the spirit. The man Jesus always walked in the spirit although he was a man, his body like every other, flesh and blood. Why? He saw way beyond the grave. His focus was on eternity and the will of God, that’s what drove him and others have followed, will we? It would be almost impossible to forgive a perpetrator in the throes of their actions, whilst their intent is to kill. Stephen did it! A man filled with the Spirit of God and dressed with the whole armour of God.

 

I am convinced this is the lesson. Our flesh will suffer when we are walking in the spirit, it has to give way for a better approach and it’s the only way we will ever truly please our heavenly Father. The difficultly we face is acceptance of our new found reality; Peter understood this well and this is his instruction; “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) – All three points tied up in the same verse, arming our mind with Christ’s mind, the flesh suffering to stop its wicked behaviour and finally to be about the will of God.

 

The clear water behind this instruction can become muddy if stirred incorrectly. There are two sets of rules, or at least that is what I wish to explore when it comes to application from the instinct of an individual prior to salvation and after the switch is flip. I do not wish to spend time debating the actualities of this truth, salvation, when does it happen? But the realisation of our own understanding when our lives are turned on their heads for the first time, when people look at you as if you are mad, etc. That beautiful day when tears of joy flooded your soul and you cried out “I can see, I can see.” And then we begin to grow, time ticks by and we become weary, there are many questions that need answering, not that salvation and the truth behind it is every question, NEVER! But in hindsight, muddling the flesh and the spirit into one pot becomes a world of pain. I know and yet I really knew very little, if I was wiser, folly would not have encapsulated so much of my life. However, He who is in us is greater that he who is in the world (Satan and every affiliated plot) and thankfully we are brought to our senses. God continue to have mercy on the struggling pilgrim’s souls, not because we deserve it but because you have it in your power to be merciful. And all because of what your amazing Son our beloved Saviour achieved on our behalf.

 

What is my conclusion? Our objective; we must learn to walk in the spirit, put on the mind of Christ, dress for battle, putting on the whole armour of God (see Ephesians 6). When these application are in place, we will be walking in the spirit and therefore never be tripped up by the lusts of our flesh. So it’s easy to gauge; lustful behaviour of any sort and acting upon it proves but one thing that we have the flesh dominating, we are walking in the natural, our behaviour is that of the individual prior to salvation. The old man/woman dictating. When we walk in the spirit, with God’s Spirit directing our paths we radiate HIS glory and through the trial of life the light of Christ shines in us, which will obviously affect the onlookers for the sake of the gospel. Either way people will be affected. I suppose the actual proof for me would be a tranquility, the peace of God. It’s when baffled onlookers see the apparent hardships that accompany that peace. This is where God is glorified, the peace of God in a believer’s life is impossible to fabricate, because it comes from the Spirit and not the natural.

 

Understanding the theory is one thing, but application to it is the actual test. God give us the strength to put off childish things and to dress for battle. How can we be of any use to others if we cannot find grace to master our own lives?

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Pleasure Receptors

Pleasure receptors once activated needs quenching. Satisfaction of these receptors is immediate and can never totally be quenched, we have been created with an appetite that needs quelling. The longer we are kept from water the sweeter it becomes. Most of us will know what it is like to be thirsty, at least to some degree. God given pleasure receptors are there to be enjoyed. Quench a thirst and there is an explosion of satisfaction. Some signal sent to the brain that brings with it immense pleasure. We need to go back to the beginning to deepen our understanding on the subject. Way back when God created the universe the time came when he purposed to create man; Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)

There has been much debate on what that actually means but let me conclude with this, we were created with the capacity to engage with God and to understand certain attributes that He holds dear unto himself, such as, “pleasure receptors.” We have our senses that feed those receptors. The problem we had at conception or rather Adam had, was he was not ready to awaken his understanding of differentiating between “good and evil” under the banner of righteousness. That domain belongs to God and him alone. Hence the reason Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from a certain tree; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  (Genesis 2:17)

We know they ate, sin entered in and death became our reality.  With sin now thrown into the mix we have new receptors that are in play, which opposes the will of God and His character. As Christians we have our spiritual body housed in our earthly bodies. With a constant conflict raging in our minds determining good from evil. However, the problem we have, once a sin receptor has been awakened it is impossible to naturally suppress. And the world is filled with avenues where these cravings can be met. As Christians I am realising how easily we are trapped by so many of them. Our gaze must be fixed upon the Lord Jesus and not the "free", we must align ourselves with His will and not our selfish wants, if not, there is no chance of escape and there is no exception to the rule. Forget what the liars want you to believe, the liberals and the like, it’s the blind leading the blind and they will all fall into the ditch.

How much time in the day do you allocated to our Saviour? Let me leave you with this thought; “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  (Hebrews 12:1-2)

 

It amazes me that God has allowed such a detailed life, full of indulgence, riddled with sinful behaviour in the book of Ecclesiastes to teach us so many valuable lessons about ourselves. It’s the preacher who exposes every intent under the sun and then he comes to an awesome conclusion, are you ready for it? “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 12:8) – So much time and effort spent on this life, which is temporal and so little of our day is burnt storing up treasures in heaven, which is eternal. So then what is the soul duty of mankind according to the preacher? “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) 

 

Here is my conclusion, God in His BRILLIANCE has made a way for us to live in a body tainted with patterns of sinful behaviour to then wilfully choose His will for our lives at any given time, and sure we fail at times. But that was never the intent, we must learn to “let go and let God”. The Christian has a storeroom full of grace to draw from. But acknowledging  our own sin is imperative, we must own it and look for grace to eradicate it from our lives. Let’s not be fooled into believing that we can live like we once did and then expect a warm welcome into the portals of heaven when our time eventually arrives. Paul gives many warnings to those who habitually continue in sin so that grace may abound as if it’s not that serious, because it is!

 

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

 

Signing out

Tyrone       

 

Understanding the Battlefield

(Ephesians 6:11-12) “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

 

“We have enemies to fight against, a captain to fight for, a banner to fight under, and certain rules of war by which we are to govern ourselves. “Finally, my brethren (Eph_6:10), it yet remains that you apply yourselves to your work and duty as Christian soldiers.”” (Matthew Henry)

 

Have you ever consider who you talk to the most on any given day? Your reflex answer may be, my spouse, children and the like, but it is obvious we speak to ourselves more than anyone else. I am constantly engaging my brain about my standing before a holy God and it is in the mind where the battle is won or lost. But what chance do we have if we do not understand the battlefield? We will always be like water tossed to and fro by every thought and vain imagination that creeps up on us. This is where Satan attacks, just source enough doubt in one’s mind and his job is done. See Eve’s encounter in Genesis. It caused so much havoc that sin found life for the very first time in our world. Far more deadly than the Corona virus. What chance do those have who do not understand the battlefield? Zero! But by the grace of God here the Christian stands. I am constantly reminded not to be conceited regarding salvation and how it happened. It’s always the goodness of God that leads an individual to repentance. Why one and not another? God knows!

 

All the same, we must be prudent concerning the battlefield. Paul makes it very clear, that there is a war in the spiritual realm, an unseen realm that is as real as the crackle coming from my fire. We must not overlook the unseen enemy, their objective is to get us to fail. They have been commissioned by their king, Satan! He has ordered them to challenge daily living with an overarching objective to target the Christian and get them to curse God, so that they may die eternally. See Job chapter 2… Some of us may have witnessed demonic possession, that’s when a spirit enters a body and takes control. It is an undeniable event that is impossible to denounce. However, all of us have be subjugated to demonic oppression. Simply put, acting out against the will of God at any given time. It is often because we have been influenced by the scheme of the devils influence. How does it all work? He entices us with our weakness, that nagging thorn in our flesh that we find takes up most of our deliberation. If we are not yielding to it we are fighting to find grace to keep it at bay.

 

At this time, let me right another wrong that so many perceive to be the truth. Can a Christian be demon possessed? NO! Can a Christian be subdued (influenced) by a demon? YES! Here are two great example to illustrate my findings. Judas Iscariot walked amongst the disciples, he acted as one of them, but a time came when he was demon possessed, up until then he was full of trickery within the circle, he controlled the money bag and only ever swayed externally by evil forces and his own carnal lusts, see James 1 and 1John 2. I wonder how much talking Judas did with himself, concerning his actions? Then it happened, “Satan entered him”, took control of his actions; “Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.” (Luke 22:3)

– Here we can clearly see that Satan entered Judas and the next verse tells us of how he then went away looking to betray Jesus. An immediate fruit of possession, by intention he look to betray Jesus. Peter also gives us some insight to being influence by the devil. This speaks of oppression and not possession and yet they both have the same intent, to thwart the plans of God.

“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.””  (Matthew 16:21-23) 

– Peter obviously believe he was acting to protect Christ from harm. Instantaneously the Lord turns to him pulling no punches as he automatically recognizes Satan’s influence over Peter. And addresses him as Satan, wow what a blow that must have been to Peter. I can only imagine what he had to deal with emotionally. But he obviously got through it, no differently to how we need to get through the challenges and influence that evil forces have over us. This is oppression and not possession. Churches that are constantly cursing out demons from believers have understood very little. A Christian’s body houses the Spirit of God, do you believe HE would allow the enemy to possess HIS abode? Does God allow Satan to sit on His throne? Although it is obvious that is what he wants, but it will never happen! So too, a demon will never possess a Christians body. Not to say their resolve may not be to try. They have and will continue to cause havoc wherever a door is left slightly ajar.

 

What are we to do? We need to stand believing in the finished work of our beloved Saviour and then take up the whole armour of God if we are to overcome, Dressing for battle is a fortitude of faith, which feeds our hope. One day very soon, we will see our King reigning over all, where every knee will bow to Him and confess Him as Lord. How I long for that day, even so come quickly LORD JESUS.

 

 

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

 

 

Signing off

 

 

Tyrone

The Enemies Tactics 3

 

The greatest weapon that the devil wields is the ability to get people to believe his lies as truth. And my beloved it doesn’t take much for us to chomp that baited hook, all he really needs is something that is close to home, an itch that needs to be scratched. It could be our religious upbringing, traditionally a no-go zone when it comes to our reasoning. Tell a catholic not to worship saints and see their reaction. Sainthood isn’t linked to our carnality although we must learn to walk in the Spirit and it will obviously affect the way we live our lives, however, our flesh has been tainted by sin and therefore a blemished vessel can never be used as a vessel of honour and this is why we need a new beginning, we need to be born of the Spirit, we need to be "born again". We are not reborn, or reinvented, we do not repair our chinked armour, whilst revisiting of our childhood handicapped lifestyle. Or the shrinks psychobabble that is spoken into people’s lives, if it helps, is will only ever help you manage your sin. It’s wicked because it allows you to live with sin as if there is no offence towards God, nullifying the work of the cross in your mind over a particular issue.

 

The beauty of salvation is the past is forgiven and forgotten, it’s a brand new beginning. But we must understand our sin and the part we played in it before we will ever find forgiveness. The way this happens is to be covered by the blood of the Lamb, we need the Lords sacrifice, which we receive through repentance and confession. Just like the thief on the cross we need to acknowledge our sin, whilst looking for no wiggle room because of it, accusing others while looking to excuse ourselves, “we aren’t so bad”. It’s this type of mind-set that that is prone to entrapment. In your own time have a look at the two thieves on the cross and see the different responses they had towards the Lord Jesus and then look at HIS response. See Luke 23; 39… Are you amongst the Christians that are always looking for goodies from the Lord? Or do we understand, at least in part what the Lord has saved us from, ourselves and our sinful natures. We must learn to “put on the mind of Christ” all that simply means is to we must learn to be about our Fathers will and not our carnal wants as we learn to suffer whilst bringing Him glory. It’s through suffering that we learn to walk in obedience and rely on the finished work of the cross. Satan despises this type of mind-set and looks for any opportunity to thwart your progress. The prosperity gospel, he is behind it, even though it is preached in churches. Do not be fooled, he is the master of trickery, in fact he is the “father of lies”. We must learn to walk in the Spirit. Simply put we need put on the full armour of God, see Ephesians 6, which has nothing to do with prosperity, in fact it is the complete opposite. It’s through suffering that we learn to crucify our flesh. Here is irrefutable confirmation; “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” (1Peter 4:1)

 

Let’s take this a little deeper and unpack Peters exhortation on what we are to expect as obedient Christians, as this thought continuously reverberates through my mind, “to the one that overcomes”, a constant reminded that it is the faithful that will be blessed into eternity. Sure we may have to struggle for a season, it is the call to Christianity; “to suffer for a season”, it’s part of God’s design for all who believe in the resurrection and confess Jesus as Lord of their lives. If we are not being challenged by the trial of life, whilst claiming Christianity as our own, then we need to examine where we stand. The idea of suffering enables us to look towards our hope, our eternal reward; sons of the most high, we will be numbered amongst all the faithful, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Noah, Daniel, David, all the apostles and what about; “Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38) – Prosperity a lie and all those who preach it as our right are liars and whatever they preach can not be trusted.

 

Many of us will not receive the abundance of their rewards, those penned in scripture, but we will be home, praising our God into eternity. If  our struggle is to intensify, so be it! our God is in our corner and we can approach the storerooms of grace to overcome whatever we will soon face. Ever so come quickly Lord Jesus.

 

“Grace be with you all”

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

The Enemies Tactics 2

 

The enemy and his tactics 2

But first we need to understand the history behind the plan of salvation and how we ended up here…

Here is a brief overview

Mankind was created in the likeness and image of God; “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26) 

From the outset of creation we are taught that God had a plan which included us, in fact it was more than just an inclusion, we were given responsibility to have dominion over the earth; “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” – by this time one third of the angels had rebelled in heaven and made war against God and his regiment, the obedient angels, who had defied Satan and remained loyal to God. Satan and his regiment was defeated and cast out of heaven; “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9) – From this time on Satan and his followers objective was to deceive those whom had been given dominion over the earth, the human race, and it all started way back in the garden with Eve; “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” (Genesis 3:1-4) – Satan the mastermind of deception – it’s his deceitful aptitude that will eventuality lead millions, if not billions into the Lake of fire. We can deduce from this engagement that Satan had now executed his plan to deceive, he challenges the Word of God and Eve bites into his lies and for the very first time sin enters the world. God then inflicts a similar punishment and casts Adam and Eve out of the Garden; “therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.”  (Genesis 3:23) – After banishment we learn that we are born into sin and are forbidden to eat from the tree of life; “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”  (Genesis 3:24) 

Eve’s womb produces a murderer, Cain kills Abel, a fruit of sin and the confirmation of the sentence, death.

 

The story of Job then teaches us many valuable lessons and helps us understand Satan’s objective, which is to get us to rebel against the Word of God and then ultimately curse God and die. Read the book of Job or at least the first two chapter to get a clear indication of Satan’s intent.

 

Nevertheless, from the outset God always had a plan to rescue us from our quandary. The Word then becomes flesh and Jesus is born through the womb of the Virgin Mary, lives a life of sinless perfection, then he dies on a cruel roman cross and on the third day is raised from the dead, opening the door for redemption. The gospel now becomes the only hope for mankind’s salvation, which when implemented correctly mends the breach between them and God. They now become sons of God. The one and only hope we have in defeating Satan’s objectives is to cry out to Jesus; “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”” (Romans 10:13) – We must acknowledge that we are sinners and in dire need to be saved from our sin, when this is realised the solution is simple. We must confess our sins asking God to intervene and save us from the shackles that Satan has over us and then look to Jesus for rescue, believing in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead and that he has made a way for the sinner to be saved. We then need to confess him as Lord of our lives and the rest is then worked out over time. The initial transformation must be a radical one, if not something is amiss. If a baby is born through a mother’s womb encapsulated in water. How radical is that transformation as it enters a completely different environment and breaths on its own for the very first time. When a person is "born again" their eyes are opened and for the very first time they receive an intuition to see heavenly truths. We now understand that we have a far greater responsibility than ever before to come God's way. Our lives change as we learn to walk in the Spirit and depend on the finished work of the cross. It’s at this juncture that the light switch is flipped and we are then “born again”. We now realise what is of utmost importance. This is where the real battle begins, and thank God that the work of salvation is a marathon and not a sprint. We will have heartache along the way, BUT GOD will teach us HIS ways as we learn to shed our old natures and follow in the footsteps of our great Saviour. Did you know that an olive is placed between two stones and then crushed to extract what so many covet, olive oil? We will have to suffer in this life to become like our great Saviour, but it will be worth it all; “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)

 

The Christian has a hope like no other, heaven with all its glory will be ours, and the faithful will receive glorified bodies just like the Lord Jesus’ and we will be addressed by the only true God as sons. God will be our Father and we will be his sons, fellow heirs with Christ, wow! How I long for that day to arrive, even so come quickly Lord Jesus.

 

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

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone