fencepostdigest

Spiritual warfare is real. Please read this again. Spiritual warfare is real and many Believers or professing Believers do not believe so. For many months now Satan has been attacking me and because of the Holy Spirit, I have been winning. And, you can, too!!

As Believers we must understand our enemy, my personal enemy, YOUR personal enemy. The Apostle Peter writes this, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you. Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him and be firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world. Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. The dominion belongs to Him forever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-11 HCSB.

We must be aware that the Evil One, Satan will seek to control unsuspecting people you may know and trust, and these friends, and sometimes relatives, will accuse and seek to destroy you. The most difficult thing to know is their attacks will be frontal and cowardly. These attacks will surprise you and may cause you to doubt who you are as a Follower of Jesus Christ. But, notice the words of Peter, “Now, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little. The dominion belongs to Him forever. Amen.”

Please note there will be some suffering that will take place along the way because the attackers may well be friends and possibly relatives. Because you are spiritual, you will recognize what is taking place very soon after the attacks begin. For this reason you must carry your cross each and every day. You must clothe yourself in the Spiritual Armor our God has supplied for us. Being crucified with Christ each and every day is essential. We must know that we are, indeed, Ambassadors of Christ and it is He who empowers us each and every day!! His truth is our truth and we, too, are equipped with His mind being in us and we in Him.

Take a look at what King David gives us in the 121st Psalm, “I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all harm; He will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.”

Someone once told me, “Your words are empty and you live in a world that is not real.” I thought about that for a moment because my responses to him were coming from the Word of God being more powerful than any two-edged sword. My world is not real because of the presence of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. James writes, “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy. Or do you think it’s without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously? But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people! Be miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must change to mourning and your joy to sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.” James 4.

When we confront special people in our lives with the truth of God’s Word, for a moment in time we will be miserable, weep, and mourn, but by surrendering our all to God we will be exalted by Him. Our cost to be His disciple is worth it all.

Jesus is Lord!!

On November the 8th I turned another page in my life on this earth, but there is one thing I know for certain: I am being strong in the Lord for I know that He is completely able to preserve the commitment He called me to make 58 years ago. This journey has not been without some difficulties, but He has kept me safe in His hands.

“All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments. For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ. For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” Colossians 1:3-10 HCSB.

Jesus has been and will remain the Constant Source of direction and strength in my life. And just as the Apostle Paul has written, “I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world. For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; what matters instead is a new creation.” Galatians 6:14-15. For if I am to boast about anything other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I will become as dung and trodden under on the pathways of life. 

However, I do find strength and courage in Him. In Him I find truth and commitment to His truth. For just as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” John 14:6-7. 

My prayer for you who read this is that ‘your strength will always come from Him alone, and in Him you stand.’

Jesus is Lord!!

Being from West Texas is the standard of my roots, my upbringing, if you will. However, there is much more. My foundation is solid and is in Jesus Christ. Salvation in the Messiah came as a 7 year-old on the last day of VBS at the First Baptist Church in Lubbock and spiritual growth continued at the Southcrest Baptist Church there.

And, now, 7 decades later my soul continues to ‘pant for the Lord and my heart continues to wait patiently for Him,” as the Psalmist writes. But, the question continues to be from one day to the next, “What do I look for today?” My heart’s desire is not so much for me, but for so many others around me to know Him as I do.

The Psalmist also penned this thought,

“He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.” Psalm 40:2-3 HCSB. The very last phrase is my prayer and hope for everyone that they, “put their trust in the Lord.”

God placed a call on my life more than 5 decades ago to follow Him to ‘where ever I send you.’ Because of my parents, friends and many I do not know, Jesus directed me to know where He wanted me to go. The joy of  my life has been to observe many others following the same voice and then to follow Him into those places in almost every corner of this planet.

The Lord who said this to the prophet Isaiah continues to give them the same calling to many and many respond with the same, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Who should I send? Who will go for Us? I said: Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:8. We have followed just as Jesus’ disciples followed without any hesitation.

Perhaps the Lord is speaking to you at this very moment, and if so I encourage you to take a step of faith to follow Him.

Jesus is Lord.

Once upon a time, “Your world is superficial and my world is real.” This was before a lost person believed in eternal life found in Jesus.

Observing more than my share of people die, holding the hand of another and promising another lying in a hospital room bed, “I will be back in a few minutes.” Those few minutes were long enough for that child to have died and been removed from the room. Mouth to mouth resuscitation once saved the life of a man who had touched a live wire is real. 

Terrorists looking and or waiting for me to arrive is real, another sitting in the back seat with a weapon is also reality. Taking a gun from a would be thief is real even though the weapon was revealed to be plastic…..these very real moments in time.

My question is, “Who is it that determines the reality of another?”

We must look to the Word of God. Moral Absolutes exist only in God and in His Word. The phrase “I am” appears in the Bible  several times, but most clearly in Exodus 3:14 where God reveals Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM.” Jesus states in the book of John, declaring His divine identity. He says, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”John 8:12, and then we find this, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25. All who rest their truth in moral absolutes found in Him will believe that God is the only source of morality because of His unchanging nature. “What we know is this, God does not change, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”. We find the same thought in Malachi 3:6, “For I, the LORD, do not change.” His is absolutely unchanging.

Jesus asked this question, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me. Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Who among you can convict Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe Me?  The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.” John 8:42-47, but they chose to stone Him and He simply walked away. And we should do the same, speak the truth and walk away.

Jesus is Lord.

When we look at Romans chapter 7 a clear structure emerges. This is outlined in verses 5–6:

When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operating through the law bore fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to bound us. Now we are enabled to serve in the way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

Verse 5 demonstrates the pre-Christian experience, “when we were in the flesh,” producing “death.” Verse 6 refers to Christians: “But now,” “released,” “died” to the old self, and “Spirit.” Most commentators agree that verse 5 refers to unbelievers and verse 6 to believers. Romans 7:7-25 reveals verse 5, and Romans 8:1–17 gives us verse 6. In verses 7–25 we see how sin brings death to everyone living in the flesh, and from Romans 8:1–17 we find the Spirit giving life to all belonging to Jesus Christ. Romans 7:5-6 describes what Paul is about to say with clear statements.

When we open the box we can look at the passage through a different lens. The Holy Spirit is never mentioned in Romans 7:7–25. But Paul refers to the Spirit 15 times in Romans 8:1–17. The question then arises concerning the person described in Romans 7:7–25 is who is not identified with the Spirit in his life.

What it means to be a Christian is to be indwelt with the Spirit as found in Romans 8:9. We find Paul’s statements in Romans 7:14 and 7:18 describing the “flesh,” one who remains in the old Adam and one who is unregenerate.

Paul advances with difficult questions being addressed. In Romans 7:5–6 the Apostle gives thought to the ensuing discussion. But notice the question posed in Romans 7:7: “What should we say then? Is the law sin?” The question follows Romans 7:5 as Paul explains our sinful passions being aroused by the law and followed with spiritual death.

So the question in Romans 7:7 then follows: if sinful passions are caused by the law, is the law sinful? Paul denounces this option and states that the law is spiritual and good, Romans 7:12. The Apostle insists that sin found in the old man used the law in our lives to bring about spiritual death. This is the purpose of the crucifixion of the old man in chapters 5 and 6.

Paul asks another question in Romans 7:13: “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” The “good” here is the Law. “Did the good law cause my death?” The answer is then given in Romans 7:13b–25. This supports a pre-Christian experience since Paul explains how sin used the law to bring about our death. Paul states that an unbeliever in Romans 7:5-6,” For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

Christians have identified with the inability of the “I” in Romans 7:13–25. Many read these verses and think: That’s my story; that’s my experience. WRONG, wrong, wrong!! Christians are very much aware of sin because temptation and the ways we might fall short of God’s will. 

Just as James writes, “We all stumble in many ways,” James 3:2. Previously, he makes it clear in chapter 1:13-15,   “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Sin is only accomplished after temptation is followed.

Everyone following the Lord recognizes daily temptation sometimes followed by sin until the coming day of redemption as Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-18. 

Our freedom from sin does not agree with the person described in Romans 7:13–25, because this person is enslaved to sin. Christians live with significant and observable victories over temptation and sin now. Though we are dramatically changed by the grace of God, we will sometimes sin, but we will not reside there.

Does a reference to believers fit with Romans 7:22-23 “ For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God’s law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.” Does this illustrate a Believer? I do not think so because Jews loved God’s law, but did not know the Risen Christ. Paul insists that Jews are zealous for God, but had no knowledge of Him as stated in Romans 10:3-4, “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Desire for the law does not illustrate a relationship with God.

Paul moves from past-tense verbs in Romans 7:7–11 to present-tense verbs in verses 14–25, is this proof as Paul being a Believer? I do not think so. Exegesis must come from context because present-tense verbs in the indicative, may be used with reference to the past or the future. This is sometimes referred to as ‘historical present.’

The tense of the verb does not emphasize time in Romans 7:7-25, but rather the condition of his inner being as an unbeliever. Paul speaks of his personal impotence and his use of the present tense provides us with his subjection to slavery under the law.

Jesus is Lord.

The internal struggles from Romans 7 stand apart from Paul’s Christian walk as he is the supporting role in writing the letter. This moment in Scripture is biblical history being inspired by the Holy Spirit and stands as the authoritative Gospel Message for the church.

What you and I do as we read the inspired text of the Word of God is to rely upon the gift of faith provided by the Holy Spirit, our rule of faith. We must read Paul by this inspired faith because he and his original readers are no longer with us. We read the Word of God as spoken to us by the Spirit, and we are His intended readers. 

In the letter to Rome, Paul uses the lineage of Jesus Christ from Adam through the Sinai terminating with the crucifixion of Jesus. We read God, “concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh.” Romans 1:3, NASB. This biblical note demonstrates sin to be the main character in Romans 7:12-14, “So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.” This is most clearly seen through the Christian lens as being the best way to illustrate Jesus Christ in the inspired text. Here we find the crucified/resurrected Paul reflecting upon his life as a sinful subject of the Law being “sold into the bondage of sin.”

The Apostle speaks of his sin nature before his moment with the Risen Savior on his way to the city of Damascus. He is the but the participant found in the inspired text sitting in the Roman Coliseum observing the internal battle between a faithful Pharisee observing the Law and wanting to do the right thing and the person of sin fighting for control. Then he writes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.” 

In Romans 8:1-4 the inspired author concludes, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” The old man was, indeed, crucified and died and replaced by the new man. There is no doubt Who lives within, and it is not sin.

Jesus is Lord.

Anyone who may read this has most likely viewed the casket containing a dead person, and they are all the same. The dead do not move and do not breath because life has gone from them.

Crucifixion was most likely the worst hideous death by torture devised by man. Slow, agonizing and the worst pain a human could suffer came by this torture designed for the worst of criminals. The Persians and Babylonians most likely invented this means of torture, but the Romans sort of perfected it and utilized crucifixion for more than 500 years and ended the use of it in the 4th century AD.

Simply stated, the one who suffered this trauma died; period. And the Apostle Paul used this illustration in Romans 6:5-11,”For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” NASB.

When a person believes by faith in the Risen Christ as Savior and Lord, He immediately replaces the old sinful man with a new spiritual life. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-17.

The point to be made in all of this is after the crucifixion of the old man, and having been replaced by the new spiritual man, the new life now exists and that new life is controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit. For this reason we can better understand the words of Paul found in Romans chapter 7. The Bible is true in every respect.

Jesus is Lord.

Because I am a born-again Believer and Follower of Jesus Christ, spiritual warefare is a daily occurrence. No one who follows Christ is able to avoid conflict with the minions of Satan. For this reason we are to put on the armor of God, an instruction from Ephesians 6:10-18. We are to spiritually arm oneself with the divine tools like truth, righteousness, and faith. This is achieved through prayer, studying scripture, and living in obedience to God, which provides a spiritual defense against evil forces. If we are to be victorious in the Christian life we cannot avoid this instruction.

These conflicts happen only because God has given Satan certain freedoms to give we Christians the opportunity to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Our daily conflict is with folks who may or may not claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. But, Jesus had this to say to a group of unbelieving Jews, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” John 8:42-47.

The reality is simple, our enemies are our neighbors, friends, family and even folks we will find at local stores. Do not be surprised when you suddenly realize who one of these enemies is. I know that I have been shocked by some of them. They may walk a good walk and sound like we might think them to walk and talk. The question then arises, “Are they, really??” Sometimes we may not know. But, we must be prepared each and every day.

Jesus is Lord.