SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2019 11:39 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3
“Feet shod with the Gospel of Peace”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:15
Message of the
verse: “and
your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace” (HCSB).
We mentioned in our last SD about
certain things that the Lord had done in mostly the OT but also in the NT,
things that as believers, has to do with His union with us that He commits to
fight for us. The first example was that
of Peter drawing a sword in an attempt to cut off the head of one of the
servants who came to arrest Jesus. Peter
had just seen all those who came to arrest Jesus fall on the grown, and so he
probably though he was invincible. Jesus
healed the ear of that servant, as Peter missed his entire head and cut off his
ear. If Jesus had not healed that man
then Peter would have been arrested too, and the plans that God had for Him
would not come about. In the book of
Judges Chapter 7 we read the story of Gideon who with just a hand full of men
defeated the Midianite, as this was a part of God’s plan to show Gideon that He
could not do it without God’s help. There are other stories in the OT we could
look at but I think we can understand that God will take care of His own as all
believers have union with Him.
John MacArthur writes “The believer
who stands in the Lord’s power need not fear any enemy, even Satan
himself. When he comes to attack us, our
feet are rooted firmly on the solid ground of the ‘gospel of peace,’ through
which God changed from our enemy to our defender. We who were once His enemies are now His
children, and our heavenly Father offers us His full resources to ‘be strong in
the Lord, and in the strength of His might’ (Eph. 6:10). ‘If God is for us, who is against us?’ Paul
asks. ‘But in all these things we
overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom.
8:31, 37-39).
“The Spirit-filled believer who is
fully clad in God’s armor can sing confidently with John Newton,
Though many foes beset you round,
And feeble is your arm,
Your life is hid in Christ in God
Beyond the realm of harm.
Weak as you are you shall not fade,
Or fainting shall not die;
Jesus the strength of every saint
Will aid you from on high.
Though unperceived by mortal sense,
Faith sees Him always near,
A guide, a glory, a defense,
What have you to fear?
As surely as He overcame,
And triumphed once for you,
So surely you that love His name
Shall in Him triumph too.
Now I want to continue to quote from
Dr. Wiersbe’s book “The strategy of Satan” which tells us more about humility.
“Let me be very practical about this
matter of Christian surrender. The verb
‘present’ in Romans 12:1 carries the meaning of ‘a once-for-all
surrender.’ It is not necessary for you
to keep walking a aisle to be a yielded believer. Make a once-for-all presentation to God of
your body, mind, and will. But it is
good to reaffirm that surrender at the beginning of each day. When you first awaken immediately give your
body to God as an act of faith; and prove that you mean it by getting out of bed. The
discipline of getting up in the morning is a part of spiritual victory.
The next step is to reach for your Bible and present your
mind to God for spiritual renewal. It is
the Word of God that renews the mind and transforms it. If you do not have a system for reading the
Bible, get one. Personally, I like to
read straight through the Bible regularly, but I do not give myself a time
limit. I start in Genesis 1, Psalm 1,
and Matthew 1, and I keep reading. There
are some days when I read and mediate on only a few verses; on other days, I
read all three chapters, I am not in a hurry; I am not trying to set any
records. My purpose is to meditate on
the Word of God so that the Spirit of God will be able to transform my mind and
make it more spiritual.
After you have given God your body (and gotten out of
bed) and your mind (and meditated on the Word), your next step is to give him
your will; and this you do in prayer.
The Word of God and prayer always go together.
‘But
we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word’ (Acts 6:4).
‘If
you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will
be done for you’ (John 15:7).
If you have only the Word,
without prayer, you will have light without heat; but if you have prayer
without the Word, you will be in danger of becoming a fanatic—heat without
light or ‘zeal…not in accordance with knowledge’ (Romans 10:2). The important thing in prayer is to yield
your will to God’s will in the matters that you pray about.”
There will be more from Dr. Wiersbe, Lord willing, in our
next SD.
Our quotation from “Love in
Action” comes from Acts 4:34-37:
Nor was there anyone
among them who lacked; for
all who were possessors of lands
and houses sold them, and brought
the proceeds of the things that were
sold,
and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they
distributed to each as anyone had
need. And Joses,
who was also named Barnabas by the
apostles (which
is translated Son of Encouragement), a
Levite
of the country of Cyprus, having land,
sold it, and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
10/22/2019 12:22 PM
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