I'll Be Honest

If we would stand in our battle against the Devil, then it's obviously important that we have the right kind of shoes for our feet that will help us to stand. The Devil will do all that he can to cause is to stagger and lose our stability. But if our feet are prepared with the Gospel of Peace, by God's grace we'll be able to stand and not lose our spiritual stability.

We’re often told that we need to love and be nice, and usually, the world and our culture defines this as not offending people or telling them that they’re wrong. But we can’t let the world define for us what love is, and we can’t succumb to the pressure they may try to put on us to conform to their standards and ideas. This isn’t the day for us to be Mr. Nice Guy; it’s the day for us to proclaim the truth that people need to hear in order to be saved.

There are churches and denominations who appeal to Jesus' command in John 13 to say that we must participate in foot-washing. Does this command apply to us today? Should we practice it literally or should we consider the historical context and spiritual principle?

Do you pray because you actually want God to answer, or do you pray just because you're expected out of routine? When we come to pray, we should be praying because we actually want God to answer. And we should be living righteous lives so that when we pray God actually does answer.

There is a delusion that many are tricked into believing. It is the delusion that Christianity is a do not religion: don't do this but do this. They believe that the Christian's life is solely one of morality. But this is not impressive to the living God, and it has no power to stop the indulgence of the flesh. Is this your religion? Or are you trusting in Christ and obeying the Lord out of love for Him from the heart?

Christian, the next time you're severely tempted and enticed to yield to sexual sin, just remember that your sin is against God. Just remember that it will grieve the Holy Spirit and will likely cost you much joy in the Lord. What's more important to you: a close relationship with your God, or the fleeting, emptying, defiling pleasures of sin?

In our combat with the Devil we don't just need stability, but we also need mobility. We need to have adaptability in order to move swiftly in the spiritual realm. And we must not forget that our mobility comes from the gospel of peace.

In our spiritual warfare, our armor will be woefully insufficient if we are not equipped with our shield of faith. The devil has flaming darts, and even as Christians we still have plenty of flammable matter in our flesh. But we need to remember that there is not a single fiery dart from the devil that can't be effectually quenched by our shield of faith.

Jesus gave two commands there in verse 15 of Mark chapter one: repent and believe. Jesus did not speak any careless words. If he said people are to not only believe but to repent, He said it with purpose. Why do we bring this up? We bring this up because it is becoming more and more popular to hear teachings which state that repentance is not necessary in order for a person to be saved.

In our spiritual warfare, another piece of our armor that we must put on is our hope of future salvation. Let us consider how the hope of final salvation helps us in the present in our battle with the kingdom of darkness.