Empty Promises

~~~ Ephesians 6:10-20 ~~~ Psalm 144 ~~~ Luke 13:31-35 ~~~

Draw your strength from the Lord...
Put on the armor of God...

Paul speaks here of waging a great battle.
This battle is against an enemy that does not have a physical presence.
This battle is against the evil spirits.
This battle is against...
 ...the world rulers of this present darkness...

Sounds remarkably similar to the world that exists today.
There will never be a time when evil and darkness does not roam about
preying upon the human condition of weakness.
Today we have those who use the internet to propagate their evilness.
They lure innocent victims with their lies and deceit.
How often now do we hear reports of identity theft and cyber crimes.
These are examples of the battles we are waging
 today with the evil spirits.

It is precisely this persistence of evil that continues to haunt us today.
Thankfully, Paul lays out the battle plan for us...

It is the truth and righteousness of God that must be our armor.
Our feet must be grounded in peace;
our shield must be the strength of our faith.
If our faith is weak or lacking we become a prime target
 to be drafted by the empty promises of the Evil One.

Without a strong faith in God we become confused and disoriented.
We cannot wage a battle if we are not confident.
We must be confident that we have received the best training.
We must be confident that we have the best armor and weapons.

We must be confident that in the end good does win.

We have the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
It is here that we find our most reliable defense.
It is in the quiet of prayer that the battle is ultimately won.
Praying does not mean we put our heads in the ground pretending
to ignore the real and present danger.

We must persevere in our prayer.
Jesus was not deterred from his mission of healing just because
Herod placed a target on his back. 

Even though it appears that evil is gaining strength
 in our world today we must never cease
 to pray for peace and guidance.

We must remain strong for the day will come
 when we will sing a new song.
The day will come when we will join in saying...
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Paul leaves us with his timeless message...
With all prayer and supplication,
pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.

Prayer is the most effective means we have to wage battle
 against the present day evil spirits.
Nothing has really changed since Paul
penned this letter from his prison cell.

The ultimate power against the evil spirits
has been and always will be
P R A Y E R.

Blessed...for the Lord is our Rock
 and our Salvation.

No other shall prevail.

~~~ Peace~~~

Flawed Plans

~~~1 Samuel 4:1-11 ~~~ Psalm 44 ~~~ Mark 1:40-45 ~~~

For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our bodies are pressed to the earth.

When we allow ourselves to be overcome by our own pride
we usually end up falling off the edge of the cliff.

If we do not humble ourselves
before God he has his ways of bringing us to our knees.
The Philistines defeated the Israelite army much to their surprise.
They lost four thousands men in that battle.  They decided to carry
 the ark onto the battlefield with the men.
Just seeing the ark brought forth cheering so loud that it was
heard by their enemies miles away.
It might have been a good plan to freak out their enemy,
but it only made the enemy more determined to fight harder.

On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
the Philistines were frightened.

Now they had new motivation to fight the Israelites...fear.
They not only slaughtered the army they also captured the precious ark.
Israel lost thirty thousand infantry soldiers that day.
Eli lost both of his sons as they fought until the end protecting the ark.

Things are not going well for the Israelites.
They failed to out fight or out smart their stronger enemy.

Pride blinds us from seeing our own areas of vulnerability.
The ark of the covenant was not enough to keep them safe.

It was more like they were relying on a long held
superstition about the power of the ark.
The power was not in the ark itself.
The power was in the grace of God's protection.

A real relationship with God does not consist in making deals with him.
God cannot be bribed into protecting you.

Have you ever made a promise to God if...happened
then you would...?

The Israelites wrongfully believed that the presence of the ark
would make God work
for them by defeating the Philistines.

Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shiloh
that it may go into battle among us
and save us from the grasp of our enemies.

Material artifacts should serve as reminders to us...
reminders of our personal relationship with God.
They are not the end in themselves.

Even when all seems to be lost God blesses us.
God did not come for us to bargain with for our welfare.
He came to love us...to be with us no matter what we are enduring.
He is with us...the God who loves us.
The ark itself had no control over the battle.
The Philistines were a stronger army...they had better weapons.
The Israelites were no match with or without the ark.
May the Peace of the Lord reign in your heart.