TOOLS OF WAR

Technological advances have brought new weapons or tools of war to the forefront in each US conflict: network predators, e-bombs, stryker teams, Apache Longbows, chem.-bio killers, bunker-busters and anti-missile forces. The Us has strong air power, sea carriers armed with tons of munitions and land special forces. These weapons are useless, however, against the spiritual conflict being waged everyday.

Paul reminded us in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 that we are in a war with Satan and the also reasoning of this age. Because this war is spiritual, we cannot engage in a battle with human methods. We must fight with tools of war that are supernatural and so powerful they can destroy seemingly impregnable fortresses where evil is entrenched in our lives and in our communities.

With God’s mighty weapons of righteousness, truth, and humility, we conquer any human act or attitude that is an obstacle to the knowledge of Jesus and keeps people bondage to sin. What are some false reasoning and arrogant ideas that prevent us from experiencing and knowing God better?

Atheism says there is no God. Agnosticism says we can’t be certain there is a God. Deism says God is an absentee God. Pantheism says everything is in God and God is in everything. Humanism says we are God. What false reasoning! We are called to expose, overpower, and take captive every rebellious idea, every lie, and every arrogant pretension, and teach people to obey Jesus.

He alone is the righteousness and truth of God. He is the standard by which ideas, attitude, and actions are judged. Jesus is our provider of power and truth. He is our tools of war.-Marvin Williams

Questioning God

It had been a near-perfect day. Jeff and Sarah, a newly married couple returning from a popular Ohio amusement park where they had defied gravity.

As it turned out, they were safer at the park than on the expressway. After 3 hours of driving, Jeff fell asleep at the wheel. When the car slammed into an embankment, Sarah suffered a badly broken back.

“She’ll never walk again,” one surgery.” That was in July. By Christmas, Sarah was using a walker. Her dramatic improvement continues to astound physicians.

Both Jeff and Sarah tell how God has used this situation to strengthen their faith and to teach them the power of prayer. But Jeff is blunt about his reaction to their personal catastrophe. “I can see how God has used us to bless other people.” he says “and that’s a good thing. But I never would have chosen his.”

Many of us have a limited view of God and seek to find out what He can do for us. Then we’re surprised when he seems to act contrary to our interest.

The heroes of the Bible were no different. When Jeremiah tried to warn the people of God’s judgment for their sins, he faced such fierce opposition that he feared fro his life. “O Lord, You deceived me,” He was continually persecuted for his obedience to God.

We will not be exempt from mistakes this side of heaven. Despite God’s remarkable answers to prayer, we will continue to face difficulties. “ In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus promised (John 16:33). “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”- Tim Gustafson

Jesus’ blood

William Harvey (1578-1657) had a problem. The founder of the science of physiology was faced with a reality that didn’t jibe with current thought.

As he carefully studied the circulatory systems of mammals, he found that their valves and veins allowed blood to flow only one way. But since the time of Galen (born about 130 AD), scientist had been convinced that the red stuff flowed back and forth i veins and arteries kind of like ebb and flow of an ocean tide.

Harvey decided to reveal his finding. The revolutionary idea was accepted and it changed the course for scientific study of blood flow in the body. Harvey, a believer in God, said. “Life therefore resides in the blood (as we are informed in the sacred writings).” The sacred writings he was referring to are Leviticus 17:11,14:” The life of a creature is in the blood,... the life of every creature is its blood.

For believers in Jesus, these words carry great significance. God had revealed to Moses that blood was special in his eyes. To atone for sin, He required that thus special substance symbolic of life itself be used. Therefore, the vital fluid of countless lambs, bulls, and other creatures was applied by priests to ancient altars.

Jesus, the Lamb of God, shed His blood so that our holy God would find us acceptable, “We have now been justified by His blood,” wrote Paul in Romans 5:9. His sacrifice provided the way for people to be saved from their sins.

Praise Jesus right now for the reality that He shed His life giving blood for you-Tom Felten.

His Last Words

If you were called on to deliver a final massage to the people you love, what kind of advice would you leave? A Moody Magazine article tells the account of Thomas Watson. He was the one of early 2,000 Puritan pastors in England who were removed from their pulpits in 1662. They were banished because they wouldn’t agree to sign a parliamentary “Act of Uniformity” that would have compelled them to deny several of their beliefs.

Before his dismissal, Watson spoke this “Last Sermon” to his people - probably one of the shortest, most meaningful ever delivered:

“First of all, keep constant hours of prayers every day with God. Collect good books for your homes. Be careful of the company you keep. Be careful of about what you listen to. Follow after sincerity. Always be at the job of self-examination. Be on guard in your spiritual life. The people of God should often associate together. Let your hearts be lifted up above the world. Comfort yourselves with God’s promises. Be not idle, but work for your living. Put first and second tables of the law[the Ten Commandments] together: piety to God and equity to your neighbor. In your walk before others, put innocence and prudence together. Be more afraid of sin than suffering. Take heed of idolatry.... In the business of the Christian life, serve God with all your might. Do all the good you can do to others as long as you live. Every day think of eternity.”

I’ve had that article for many years. You might wish pass on Thomas Watsons’s last sermon and help it to keep on preaching-as it has now for more than 340 years!Dean Ohlman