Weapon of choice

 

The greatest commanders of all time will all have a similar mantra that they lived by, to win a battle one must understand their enemy. For an undercover agent to be successful they need to become one with those whom they look to infiltrate. When it comes to war, humans with their hunger for power, have always searched out preferred weapons of choice. The Spartans use defence as a strength, A Hoplon Shield was “made from wood and the outer part was covered with bronze. they weighed around 30 pounds and measured 3 feet in diameter. One of the unique features of the shield was the way it was held. The handle was at the edge of the shield supported by a leather strap in the center. It was this technique that allowed the soldiers to freely move their arms during battle. The size of the shield also acted as a floating device. The hoplon shield could be used for bludgeoning and killing due to its weight and blunt nature. The shield was primarily for defensive purposes but was used by the Spartans to gain an element of surprise.”

I could spend a lot more effort here, but time does not permit, so here is the conclusion; “Weapons from the ancient world were nasty, brutal, and ruthless. They were not only unique, but also displayed high levels of analytical and critical skill from the past. Their uniqueness and the material they were made from could be enough to startle and then eventually slaughter the enemy. The weapon choice was often a crucial part of the battle strategy, for example, the Spartans used their big hoplon shields alongside other weapons to march forward and disarm the opponent.”

In order to neutralise ones opponent we need a weapon of choice that will have every chance of success. Today all the major powers have nuclear missiles to threaten their enemies and keep them in line. Have you ever really considered what Satan’s preferred weapon of choice is? We are well aware that he uses our weakness, our default abilities of buckling to the pressures of sin as a means to an end, but this is not his preferred weapon of excellent. He uses trickery as his number one form of attack. His ability to twist the Word of God to mean what it doesn’t is what works best for him. His endgame is to get individuals to believe a lie as fact; “And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.”  (Revelation 19:6) - He is so skilled with this ability that he even got one third of the angels to defy God. He deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, and he has deceived ever religious organization throughout the ages up until now, who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the “way, the truth and the life”, that He is God and the only way to heaven. And I must remind you why deception is so powerful, as it results with the one who has been deceived into believing a lie to be true.

Why would he approach his quest in such a manner, I believe it is because God’s weapon of choice is His Word. He spoke creation into being. Did you know that all it takes for God to create or destroy something is for Him to speak and it happens. It’s not as if He has to forge a weapon to achieve His objective. We know that “God said, let there be light” and the light appeared, period! And in that great battle where the nations of the world will gather and look to defeat God, it will be a one-sided matter. God will just say the Word and victory will be His.

“(“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.” (Revelation 16:15-21) – In this account God commands, “It is done” and mayhem breaks out upon the earth. He speaks and it happens. Satan and all his followers will be defeated. All those factions who have been sucked into his web of deception will fall and face the judgment of God.

 

Do not be fooled into believing the lie that this day will not happen…

 

The only question left for us to answer is do we believe God at His word or not?

 

“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.”

(1Timothy 6:20-21)  

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

 

The voice of God!

 

Yesterday, I asked a question at our weekly “Young Adults” meeting and the gist of it went something like this, what do you value most about God? The answers were the love of God, the grace of God and the like. Which are all traits filled with God’s goodness, which we will always be indebted to Him for, but that is not the correct answer. It’s heeding or paying particular attention to His voice and then looking for His grace in our lives to find the application to His instruction, come what may. Everything in creation came forth by the voice of God; “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”  (Genesis 1:3)

 

Let us pause here for a second, I want you to visualize that if possible, God, the Great I AM, the One who had no beginning nor will He have an end, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob opened His mouth and commanded light to come forth and it happened. Maybe it’s just time to start processing what He has to say to us in and through His penned Word, the Bible. We should value all scripture, its instruction is for our benefit. An advantage for His children, the lost do not ever reference the Bible to find direction for their lives. But the Christian most certainly does.

 

So the power of God’s Word certainly packs a punch, just look at creation and it will blow your mind. Don’t just look at a sunset and say; “how beautiful” or “it’s so peaceful”. The next time something from creation blows your mind, I want you to say, how awesome is our God and then to process the mechanics behind it all, it was the voice of God that brought that into existence. He speaks and it happens, period!

 

The Apostle John, the disciple of love, starts his gospel by highlighting the WORD! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  (John 1:1)  - Then later the Word became flesh in the form of Jesus the man, who then defeats Satan, sin and death and makes away to re-establish the void that Satan inflicted on mankind, a way back to the Creator. Jesus pays the price for our sin. One of my preferred topics, all hail King Jesus!

 

It’s crucial we learn to value the voice of God as our number one priority in our lives, because the enemy, the serpent of old, the one also known as the devil and Satan uses deception to thwart the voice of God. It’s his ace in the hole. It’s his number one weapon, he gets a Christian to question the voice of God and their demise will soon follow. We believe, because God has said, period! You don’t have to completely understand His infinite plan, all we need to do is trust Him with our whole hearts. We know that God is for his children, praise God!

 

Just a brief history about Satan, he was created perfect in beauty and full of wisdom and then pride entered into his heart and he challenged his Creator, he challenged God and was able to deceive one third of the angles, the very same angels that lived in the presences of God who then denounces their creator and followed the devils tyranny. Now think about that for a while. How could he achieve such a massive shift in heaven? What it does tell me, he certainly carries some weight. It would be foolish for us to dismiss that. God casts Satan and his followers (Angels) out of heaven, they are banished to the earth. How do we know that? Read the account of Job. Satan is a created being and therefore is not omnipresent, he cannot be at all places at the same time. It’s important to understand that. He now institutes his specific purpose, which is to defy God by deceiving mankind and getting them to question the voice of God, exactly the same way he must have enticed one third of the angels. “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 12:9)  - The fact, he is the deceiver of the whole world and we must not walk into his trap. His objective, to deceive, so by hook or by crook he looks to undermine the voice of God.

      

God then creates mankind, male and female He created them. We all aware of our beginning, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I am now moving into the importance of this post, please pay attention. Its here where the serpent, Satan beguiles Eve and how does he do it? He questions Gods instruction to Adam; “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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 2:16-17) – Eve was not present, I believe she was yet to be created. How did she then receive the instruction? We are not told, but we can deduce that Adam must have informed her about the forbidden tree.

 

Here is what is interesting, he approaches the woman; “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’?””  (Genesis 3:1) - We all know the end too well and we have all suffered under the bondage of sin in our lives. Eve is then deceived and she eats from the forbidden tree. She believed what Satan fed her to be the truth. That is what deceived means, to believe a lie to be true. Adam also ate but he was not deceived. I wonder if he was taken by her beauty and therefore placed his need for her above the voice of God? He obviously willfully sinned. 

 

Here is the proof; – “and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.”  (1Timothy 2:14)

 

What then is the lesson we need to take out of this account, we must believe the voice of God in every area of our lives, if it is to end well. Satan is now deceiving the world with the same plot as he did in the beginning, he is setting up women and the liberal movement that is now in full flow to make his grand entrance as the antichrist. His message will be “has God actually said.” Many religious organizations are buckling under the "worlds voice" and allowances across the board are being accepted as the norm. They are playing directly into the hands of Satan.   

 

To my beloved sisters in Christ, do not be sucked into the web of his deceit, stand upon the finished work of the cross and make your voice heard. We need your support more than ever, the battle is fierce, but it’s going to get a lot worse. Find you place in the body of Christ and heed the voice of God and take up your intended roles, as it will pay great dividends in eternity, to God be the glory now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Jesus is coming soon...

(Hebrews 11:39) “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”

 

This us rather an amazing portion of scripture, to think on those old warriors of faith who are now in heaven, who have still not received their glorified bodies. They are waiting, just as we await that glorious day. The day when the trumpet of God will sound. And in a moment, a twinkling of an eye we shall all be changed when immortally swallows up mortality. This is a miracle living Christian hopes for and God has appointed such a time for specific individuals. It’s the duration of the tests prior to this event that concerns me. We know that Satan and his messengers have their part to play it buffeting us and this is done by targeting the flesh, in other words, their objective is to get the Christian to sin. The end game is to get us to “curse God and die”. For we also know that there is the unforgivable sin; “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” (Hebrews 6:4-6) – There is much to say on this, but time does not permit. See Matthew Henry’s commentary on this, he unpacks this portion of scripture well. We must ask the Spirit of God to shows us where we stand.    

 

The Wise Master Planner has set His plan in motion and it will happen exactly as planned. The genius of God and what excitement I feel when I begin to peel into the layers of my heavenly Father brilliance, whilst the Spirit of God quickens my faith and allows me to see into heaven. What a privileged people Christians are. He leads my mind towards those green pastures and the still brooks of sweet waters. But we must learn from Him and repent where needed. Christ’s sacrifice was a once and for all time sacrifice, never to be repeated. However, this does not excludes us from ongoing daily sanctification. In other word we must keep short accounts of our sin and continuously seek out God’s forgiveness for it. We cannot overlook it as a small thing, our Saviour died for it.

 

Do not expect forgiveness if we are not willing to forgive others who have sinned against us; “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) – It is obvious that the messengers of Satan sent to buffet us will look keep us from forgiving others and we must not walk into their traps. Knowledge of certain truths are there to assist the Christian, but without applying grace into them we will remain unfruitful. Our purpose is to be fruitful and to bring God the glory, nothing else is more important in our lives.        

 

Very very soon we will see our King and what a day that will be! Without hope we will perish, but we have the greatest of all hopes, one day we will received a glorified body, but while we live, though we have breath, let us sincerely seek out God’s will for our lives. The voices of the world will constantly look to get us to overlook this truth. Whatever the cost, let us constantly look to Jesus for support. God help us laid down our lives for His name sake…

 

(1Peter 5:14) “Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” 

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

Our cross

 

(Luke 14:27) “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” 

 

As a child I loved the idea of a parent returning from their trip abroad, I will confess it was only because I was selfish and knew I would receive some kind of gift from a foreign country that was tucked away in their suitcase, just for me. It was exciting, the wonder of it all. When our beloved Saviour returns He will have something “tucked away” for us all, every faithful believer will receive their reward. In the moment in a twinkling of an eye we shall be changed. The dead will rise first and then those that are alive and well will also be changed and become immortal and receive their eternal bodies. If that hope doesn’t drive us to lay our lives down, I don’t know if anything else ever could.

 

It’s the transition of the mind that needs work in our lives. The way we process the information the Spirit of God feeds us. We often glibly say, "if only I could be more like Jesus", but I don’t see too many of us walking around with hammer in their hands and a pocket full of nails. Are we prepared to be crucified with Christ for the sake of the gospel? None of us need even answer that question, our lives will tell the story. And then once we understand the call of duty, how faithful will we be? And again, our lives will tell the story. But before we dare to land on any assumptions, let us remember, God commissions us to build our relationship with Him in secret. Prayer, tithes, giving to the needy, the list is lengthy. Nevertheless, what one does in secret will be rewarded openly.  

 

Let us not be fooled into believing the lie, there is a cost in serving Jesus, we are all called to lay our lives down for one another. We have been commission to deny ourselves by picking up our cross and mimicking His example. It’s not as if He was ever one of those leaders that cry; “do as I say not as I do”, He led from the front and by example! But it cost him a cruel Roman death, they nailed him to a cross, where he faced the wrath of his Father, for our sin. Do we understand the call? Has our mind been able to process the information correctly, or are we still hanging on by a thread, with one foot in the world, whilst clutching onto the Lord Jesus with one hand? Are we doing our best to milk both worlds, hoping that nothing is about to stretch and finally snap. The sooner we find grace to get out of that mind-set the better. That is a very dangerous place to live. We know that Jesus is coming as a thief in the night and only five of the ten virgin were ready to welcome His arrival. We must learn to "let go and let God…" but we can’t and we won’t if our minds have not yet settled on this truth. We must pray and continually find grace, “not to be conformed to this world” our minds must be “transformed” to follow the footsteps of our Saviour. Then once we realise the intensity of the call, we must understand why we are willing to respond favourably, it’s because WE HAVE A HOPE! One day we will receive our eternal bodies, and we will be numbered amongst the sons of God, hallelujah! The creator of the universe will look us in the eye and address us as son, chew on that, wow! I really look forward to the day where God looks me square in the eye and calls me His son. The blunders I’ve made as a Christian and still I am numbered amongst the saints of God, this is the God I will willingly serve into eternity and beyond. But we must realise that we have already been called to get on with it, even now we must find grace to work it out…

 

Let’s break it down, the Christians hope is eternity with God, with a body that will never age, we will be eternal beings. But before we get there, we need to be tried and tested. Not every enlisted soldier qualified as an instructor. Our training was on a different level. However, we knew that once we had qualified without “tapping out” we would receive our reward. But before the honour we were humiliated. The call to arms for the Christian is no different, in fact it is far harder and it is an impossible task without the grace of God in our lives. Nevertheless, we have access to an unlimited supply of grace, thanks to our beloved Saviour, that door is never locked, praise God!

 

If you believe to Christianity is a “free ride” you have been duped into believing a lie. (Luke 14:28)“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” 

 

Our call is to a petition of struggle as it’s preparing us to depend on the grace of God to get us through this life and into the next, where we will reap our reward. But the question I have for all of us, do we understand this to be true? Has our minds settled on this understanding, or are we still all over the place, is the jury still out? The sooner we settle, the easier it becomes to find the peace of God for our lives and it will “bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone

The grace of God...

We are so far removed from the spiritual realm in our daily walks that I am astounded by the grace of God. Not only did He send the darling of heaven, His Son the Lord Jesus. Also known as the WORD of God or the Son of God and part of the God-head to die for the enemies of God. Leaches demanding sustenance for heaven, a world that serves the creature rather than the creator. A people demanding blessings of all sorts but seldom giving thanks to the One that provides the rations. Even the air we breathe is because of God’s goodness. The list is endless and I will let you fill in the blanks…

 

I know how easily my head can be turned, forgive me Father. I am constantly at war with myself and the pressures of life. I so often want to lament, not to other per say, but within, about the trail of life and the constant thwarting of efforts to simply provide for my basic necessities, without having to rely on others, which seems to be a never ending quest. Then God graciously reminds me of the others who have endured far greater hardships. It’s these balancing thoughts that I am truly grateful for, it realigns the minds rudder. This however does not distract from the fact that I would far rather be with the Lord than have to endure these hardships. The Apostle Paul knew his worth in Christ, a man who had already seen heaven. He was in two minds whether to be on earth for the sake of those who needed his input into their lives or to be in heaven with the Lord.

As for me, this is an easy choice, heaven Please! So much energy is spent on prayer for healing the sick or for those on their death beds. It is a no brainer, if the individual is unsaved, sure we pray that they may be healed so that they may be saved. This has to be our priority, if not, we have understood very little. But as for the elect, those whom God has graciously saved, it is far better to be with the Lord. So why do we hang on to this life so tightly? The answer is obvious, we are not as sold out for the Lord as we ort to be… it is far better to be with the Lord in heaven.

 

As for me, if given the choice, Lord please take me home, I’m exhausted. But not my will but thine be done…

 

Who does not want commendation from God, as a child growing up do you remember how you craved you father’s praises? Jehovah God, God the Father gives such praises though the written Word for us to glean from; “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

(Hebrews 11:13-16) – AND “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)

 

This portion of scripture is the great equalizer, just begin to think that your life is hard and you will soon find out it is but a breeze in compassion to those whom God decided to commend in the Bible, our history book, into the mind of God penned for the ages.

 

So back to my opening statement; "we are so far removed from the spiritual realm in our daily walks that I am astounded by the grace of God." This is why the grace of God overwhelms me, and forgive me Father for my grumblings and the sin that so easily besets. We are truly blessed to have you in our corner. Praise the name of Jesus now and forever more, Amen and Amen! Without His finished work, we would never be able to have times like these.

 

May we all find His will for our lives…

 

Signing out

 

Tyrone

History is repeating itself...

 

(Proverbs 16:25) “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” 

My beloved siblings in Christ, today is a day that I know I will collect opposition, but as long as you see my heart in the matter and that what I have to say is received in the essence of someone looking out for you, someone who has your back, it will be well with my soul. This message is specifically for all my beloved sisters in Christ. And yes if what I am led to pen speaks to your hearts, you will also have your part to play in getting this message out.

From the outset that old platitude of "history always repeats itself", rings true. Have you ever wondered why? Mankind has fallen,because we have been tainted by sin. Simply put, no matter how hard one tries to do the right thing we will always come up short. Our intents may often seem genuine and at times we may even truly believe that we will change. This is where the power of the lie lives and gains momentum. It’s the partial change in our lives that tricks us into believing the lie, in part and at times we do see an adjustment, but never more than that. We can never rid ourselves of our default actions, which will always be tainted by our sinful natures. We will always put our welfare before others. The sooner we understand this the freer we will be to serve our God with a clear continuous.

This is why our Lord and Saviour had to die in our place, He had to open a new beginning for the sinner who through repentance becomes a true believer. Salvation is not patch work, like the worlds and its system propagates, we don’t go to a shrink to dig up the past so that we can confront it and then somehow find the resolve to talk about it and then be set free. NO! Christianity and our “born again” experience gives us a completely fresh start, but not in the old person, we don’t start again by going back into our mother’s womb. We are “born again” in the spirit. This unseen part to us lives that we now know is present, even if no one else can see it. However, they will certainly see a change in our lifestyles. Who truly knows that they have been born again and that they belong to Jehovah God? Without question, you know this to be true… If that is your experience, its God the Holy Spirit, who has quicken your spirit through repentance and by believing on the complete work of the cross you have receives eyes to see into the spirit world through the eyes of faith. A completely different form of communication become part of our lives. It’s as if we receive another sense and instead of 5 senses we now have 6; our faith and the ability to communicate with the Creator of the universe, in and through the person of Jesus Christ our Lord, and it is as real as any of our other senses. Thank you Father God for your intervention in so many lives.

We must be aware of this fact; the flesh or our carnality (our human natures) remains independent from our spirits. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6)  - And yet there is a bridge between the two, OUR MINDS process the thoughts pertaining to both the flesh and the spirit. This then is where traps to our Christian experience are laid by the enemy. Satan and his soldiers always looks to change and challenge the voice of God with what we see and hear. It’s at this point we are forced to process the information with our minds and this is where entrapment finds traction. Depending on what we use as our baseline to arrive at a conclusion. Emotion or logic is always triggered by the flesh, spiritual wisdom always comes when we apply God’s voice to our reasoning even if we don’t understand the reason behind his instruction. Even to that dilemma, God will give you understanding  in due season. Just as a soldier is put through their paces to qualify for a specific division, so too are we tested by God to see where we will stand on a particular subject.   

So how has history repeated itself? The voice of the enemy is asking the very same question as he did in the Garden of Eden. “Has God actually said”? If we allow our carnal minds to process the information that is out there, we will come up short and we will be playing into the enemy’s hands, just like Eve did in the Garden. However if we trust the Word of God and appropriate the “feminist movement” of today through the eyes of faith with the Word of God as our rudder it will be well with our souls.

We must learn, through testing to work out what is that good, acceptable and the perfect will of God for our lives and that process is worked out in and through our minds. It’s obviously the Spirit that feed us the correct information which will always challenge the voices of the world, always! But it’s up to us to then process the information.

The Apostle Paul, the same man that God chose to  influence  the gentile’s lives, in other words everyone who was not born Jewish. The very same man that was caught up into heaven where he saw things that he is not permitted to share with us. He received his revelation directly from heaven and it would be beneficially for all to listen to what he has to say…

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

Who is challenging God’s order, where is that message gaining traction and where is the source of that message coming from?

To my beloved sisters in Christ, I am praying for all of you, that your faith will come out the other side tried and tested to the glory and praises of our God and king.

There is a lot more to explore on this subject and if any of you have any questions please send them on, let us stand together in the finished work of the cross and know this, just as our Saviour has our backs, I too will have yours.

 

Signing off

 

Tyrone