Monday 011325
Don’t let me or my writings influence or scare you in any way, instead, allow me to be used as a vessel to open the Word, just a little bit, and hopefully, together we are going to read and study His Word, and let God teach us what He wants us to hear.
We have two ground rules in this study:
1 – we are ONLY going to read and follow what is found (that pertains to us), in the Holy Bible.
2 – we are ONLY going to learn from a study, what effort we put into that study.
The verses we are going to study tonight:
Ephesians 6:10-20; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Jonah 1:1-3; James 1:1; Genesis 1:26.
Paul teaches that we should use all the help that God gives us. Part of this includes putting on the armor every day to protect ourselves from attacks by the devil and his minions.
Ephesians 6
vs10 ‘…Finally, build up your strength in union with the Lord and by means of his mighty power…’
vs11 ‘…Put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil’s evil tricks…’
vs12 ‘…For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age…’
vs13 ‘…So put on God’s armor now! Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy’s attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground…’
vs14 ‘…So stand ready, with truth as a belt tight around your waist, with righteousness as your breastplate…’
vs15 ‘…and as your shoes the readiness to announce the Good News of peace…’
vs16 ‘…At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the Evil One…’
vs17 ‘…And accept salvation as a helmet, and the word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you…’
vs18 ‘…Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason, keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God’s people…’
vs19 ‘…And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel’s secret…’
vs20 ‘…For the sake of this gospel I am an ambassador, though now I am in prison. Pray that I may be bold in speaking about the gospel as I should…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
It’s not necessarily the devil himself that is always attacking you, maybe it’s his interns, his helpers of evil doings. Maybe we’re not important enough to get the attention of Satan. Satan isn’t present everywhere. He’s not omnipresent like God is, he can only be in one place at one time. He thinks he can replace God, but he is incapable of knowing everything like God, Satan is not omniscient. There are many things that Satan is unable to do himself but, he has a lot of interns to do his work for him, this world is full of them.
If a person is not being confronted every second of the day by someone trying to get you to fail, that person should worry because it looks as if you’ve already been defeated. You are no threat to Satan, the devil and his helpers. Your future is not looking very bright for you.
But for those few that are attacked constantly throughout your day, feel good because the devil sees you as a threat to him. He is trying to constantly attack you hoping that you will fail, but you can combat this by keeping your Bible at hands reach. The Word is the only piece of armor that
God has given us that can be used as an offensive and a defensive weapon.
The more we study and the more that we learn about God’s GRACE and the promise that He has made to us concerning our Everlasting future with Him; the more we’ll be able to defeat the devil every time we’re being attacked.
It’s like doing a daily regimen of exercises at the gym, so open your Bible and read the Word. Strengthen your mind and get yourselves in shape.
2 Timothy 3
vs16 ‘…All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living…’
vs17 ‘…so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
ALL Scripture is inspired by God but NOT ALL Scripture is meant for each one of us to follow.
Maybe the easiest example of this is using the Scripture of Johah. Jonah ran away, in the other direction so he could get away from God and hide.
Jonah 1
vs1 ‘…One day the Lord spoke to Jonah son of Amittai…’
vs2 ‘…He said, go to Nineveh, that great city, and speak out against it; I am aware of how wicked its people are…’
vs3 ‘…Jonah, however, set out in the opposite direction in order to get away from the Lord. He went to Joppa, where he found a ship about to go to Spain. He paid his fare and went aboard with the crew to sail to Spain, where he would be away from the Lord…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
We are not to take this passage and follow Jonah as an example for us to live.
We have been shown these passages to show us how NOT to live.
Scripture does not tell us to run and hide.
Sometimes there MUST be a little common sense used here (unfortunately in the 21st century, that is one thing that is really missing in this world today).
We’re not told we can pick and choose which parts of the Bible we can pick and choose to follow either. But by reading and studying almost any book from the Bible we are shown who a particular book has been written to.
When James writes in 1:1 ‘…James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting…’ KJV (King James Version)
We should know, or we should have the common sense to know, the book of James has been written to the Jewish believer.
Not every book in the Bible, informs its readers who the book has been written for, but there are also some books that are plainly explained by the author of his intentions of who he was writing to.
The more we open the Bible, and we study the writings, the more familiar we will be with what we are being told.
If we use our Bibles as coasters in our living room or window advertisement in our back windows of our cars, this is exactly what we will get out of the Bible that God has given to us.
But when we open the covers of our Bibles and we read of the love that God has for us and we witness how mankind, since the beginning of Adam has had an UNBELIEF in their beings toward God, His Son, His Love for us and the FREE Gift that He has given us, if only we were to accept this, our entire lives would be changed right in front of our eyes, as well as those around us.
Now, as I’ve said in some of our other lessons, I understand there are those that are going to find it difficult to walk away from the only religion they’ve ever known since birth.
Just look at the nation of Israel and how they have struggled to walk away from that religion. I understand there are going to be those today that are going to have just as hard of a time to walk away and BELIEVE what God has told us.
Just think of all the excuses why it can’t be this easy.
Genesis 1:26 ‘…Then God said, Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
If God didn’t see any reason to design us so we could jump through hoops, as we ring large church bells, all the while humming and whistling to a soft beat, why is it that so many religions today want us all to conform to their way of thinking.
Why are we not taught the words that God gave us?
Why are we not taught which words have been meant for us to learn and know and voice to others around us?
I remember when I first found Jesus in my life, I went to a church, and I wrote down everything that happened at the service. I wrote down the verses that were read. I wrote down as much of the sermon as I could. My wife and my daughter allowed me the time to get alone by myself, I opened my study Bible and I read what happened that day at church.
I cross referenced verses. I searched for the meanings of certain words. I taught myself to seek what God has given us in His Word.
Over many years, I have drawn back a little and I have cautioned myself from walking how a man suggests I walk, and I read more in the Word, and I learned how God wants me to walk.
God requires so much less than what most religious men want you to believe what God wants. The denominations of mankind are interested in money even though they preach how money is not important to God. There are denominations today that only focus on how long a person’s hair is, how much their 3-piece suit costs, and how loud they can shout the words to their congregation.
It is amazing to me the sound system in some church buildings, when Jesus gave His sermon at the mount, there were no speakers, no amplifiers, no microphones to speak into.
Jesus spoke the truth and it resonated to ALL the people that sat in front of Him listening to the wonders they were being told.
We don’t need bells and whistles for God to accept us. We don’t need fancy clothes and fancy cars to be accepted by Him, the only One that matters.
ALL we need to do is to BELIEVE in the Message that He has given to us and from it, we will be saved.
I love every one of you. I hope and pray that these words have been shared so that just even 1 person might have the opportunity to find and know Jesus Christ.
Remain in the Word and relax in His arms and read how easy it really is to BELIEVE.
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>