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 5.
Warfare -- Praise The Lord and Pass the Ammunition
When you became a Christian, you stepped
right into the heat of an age-old battle. You have a three-fold
enemy--the world, the flesh, and the devil. Before you
became a Christian, you floated down stream with the other
dead fish. But now, God has put His life within you, and
you will find yourself swimming against a three-fold current.
Let's look at these three resistant enemies.
First, the world. When the Bible speaks
of the "world" in this context, it is referring
to the sinful, rebellious, world system. This is the
world that loves the darkness and hates the light (John
3:20), governed by the "god of this world"
(2 Corinthians 4:4)( -- the "prince power of the
air" (Ephesians 2:2). The Bible says the Christian
has escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. "Lust" is unlawful desire, and is the
life's blood of the world --whether it be the lust for
sexual sin, for power, for money, for material things.
Lust is a monster that will never be gratified, so don't
feed it. It will grow bigger and bigger, until it weighs
heavy upon your back, and will be the death of you --
see James 1:15.
There is nothing wrong with sex, power,
money, or material things, but when these become predominant
in God's sight, the Bible calls this "inordinate
affection" (Colossians 3:5). We are told, "Do
not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
"Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God." (1 John 2:15,
James 4:4).
The second enemy is the devil. As we
have seen, he is known as the "god of this world."
He was your spiritual father before you joined the family
of God (John 8:44, Ephesians 2:2. Jesus called the devil
a thief, who came to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10).
The way to overcome him and his demons
is to make sure you are outfitted with the spiritual
armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:10-20. Become intimately
familiar with it. Sleep in it. Never take it off. Bind
the two-edged sword to your hand so that you never lose
its grip. The reason for this brings us to the third
enemy.
The third enemy is what the Bible calls
the "flesh." This is your sinful nature. The
domain for the battle, is your mind.
If you have a mind to, you will be attracted
to the world and all its sin. The mind is the data-processing
control panel for the eyes and the ears. It is the center
of your appetites. All sin begins in the "heart"
(Proverbs 4:23, Matthew 15:19). We think before we sin.
This happens because we don't think before we sin. The
Bible warns that lust brings forth sin, and sin when
it's conceived brings forth death. Every day we have
life, we have a choice. To sin or not to sin -- that
is the question. The answer to the question of sin,
is the fear of God. If you don't fear God, you will
sin to your sinful heart's delight.
Did you know that God kills people?
He killed a man because he didn't like what he did sexually
(Genesis 38:10). He killed a husband and wife because
they told just one lie (Acts 5:1-11). Knowledge of God's
goodness -- His righteous judgments against evil, should
put the fear of God in us, and help us not to indulge
in sin.
If we know that the eye of the Lord
is in every place beholding the evil and the good, and
that He will bring every work to judgment, we will live
accordingly. Such weighty thoughts are valuable, for
"by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil"
(Proverbs 16:6). Jesus said,
"And I say to you, My friends,
do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after
that have no more that they can do. But I will show
you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has
killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you,
fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5).
 The
next section is:
Fellowship -- Flutterby
Butterfly
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