Armor of God: Shield of Faith

“This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4 NIV

Satan’s attacks are not meager affairs. A determined foe has proven to be able to defeat an opponent of listless commitment. Jesus told us that our enemy seeks to steal from us, kill us and then destroy us. That is a committed enemy. He is not shooting “nerf” darts against us. He is shooting flaming arrows. His taunts didn’t turn us back. His sharp rocks strewn across our path didn’t turn us back. Now he brings out the serious matters of life – flaming arrows.

In all the smoke and haze of these arrows we might lose sight of our Captain pressing on in the fight. We might lose faith that He is still leading. We might think He has quit the battle and has left us to fight on alone. But that is all a lie of the devil to steal our resolve, kill our will and destroy our life of joy and peace. Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always.” Moses encouraged Joshua by saying, “Be strong and of good courage; do not fear, for the Lord your God is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” That shield of faith will quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.

Dear Father, Thank You for the promises You have given and please strengthen men in my faith each day. Amen. 

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Armor of God: Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

“These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isa 9:6 NLT

Soldiers walked across a great deal of stony ground. If they had gone barefoot they would have been easy prey for any enemy that had good footwear. Satan strews the way of the Christian with many sharp stones. These stones prick us and cause us great discomfort and undermine our peace. We might ask if our Captain is leading us in the right direction. We might ask if He cares about our needs since our feet hurt so much. We can become disgruntled and grumble and then we look down and see that we have forgotten to put our shoes on.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace. At His birth the angels announced peace on earth. At the Last Supper He told His disciples that He would give them peace that the world could not have. Paul spoke of having peace that passes understanding. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has given us peace with God. It abolishes the upward fear that mankind has. It also gives us the peace of God. God loves us and that is a very peaceful thought and assurance. No stones of the wicked one can prick our feet when we have them shod with the peace of the Good News of Jesus Christ. His word to us is always Peace. Walk in that promise.

Dear Father, Thank You for providing us peace that comforts and keeps us in every trial of life. Amen. 

  The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

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Armor of God: Breastplate of Righteousness

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Rom 10:4 NKJV

In our struggle with the world and its strong stand against truth we will encounter many challenges to our faith. One of the greatest that the prince of this world will employ is the truth of our own unworthiness. That is a true accusation made against us by the prince of liars. He hurls it at us to dissuade us from trying to follow our Captain. “You are not worthy to be in His army,” he says. But the point of being in Christ’s army is that He has made us worthy. We must never forget that we have been called by Him and made worthy by Him.

Paul honestly states that in our flesh dwells no good thing in a God-ward direction. We are sinners and He is holy and righteous. But God in His great love sent Jesus to die that our sins might be forgiven for His sake. Believing in Christ means that we have now put on the righteousness of Christ and have given up our own dirty sins in exchange. Whenever Satan assaults us with the truth of our own unrighteousness, the breastplate of righteousness supplied by Christ can deflect and defeat the fiery arrows of our enemy. Our own good deeds will always fail at the challenge of Satan, but the Righteousness of Christ will always prevail.

Dear Father, Thank You for giving me robes of righteousness in exchange for my filthy rags of sin. Amen. 

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Birthdays

Since today is my birthday, I thought I would share a birthday blog I wrote for the Bethel Lutheran Church Beacon. 

There is some special event that each month reminds us of.  For me, July is birthday month, not because we all have birthdays in July, but because I do. Whose is the first birthday that we learn? That’s right, ours. With our children and grandchildren, we cover all twelve months of the year, but I still think of July as birthday month.

As a child, it was exciting to have one and it took forever to get to the next one. Now they are less exciting and they seemingly come more quickly. As a child, they made us feel like we were really growing up. Now they remind us that we are getting really old, at least that’s the way my grandkids see me.

But there is also something more sobering that birthdays remind us of. There will be a limited number of them. The psalmist says that we get three score and ten of them (70) and if by virtue of strength, four score (80). By the psalmist’s figuring, I am down to four more. That poses two questions.

The first is, what am I going to do with that limited time? My grandmother had a plaque on her wall that said, “Only one life will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Do my days, months, and years amount to what Christ wants them to accomplish for Him? Since He set the bounds of my life, and He has also set the expectations for the time given. Birthdays can help us evaluate whether we have used the past year for Him and how we might lay our plans for service to Him in the year ahead.

The second question is, am I ready for my final birthday? After this life there is another one, and that one is eternal. Have we prepared for it? Have we trusted Christ as Savior, put our faith in Him? No matter what birthday count we have reached, that is the single most important question for every person, the question for which we need the right answer. 

Armor of God: Truth

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” Ps. 19:9 NKJV

The first item of the full armor of God is truth. We must be girded with truth as Paul says. We are to be enclosed in the girdle of truth. If we wanted to be an accountant we would need to be clothed with accurate math truth. If we wanted to be fix cars we would need to be clothed with good mechanical truth. If we wanted to work as a publishing editor we would need to be clothed with good grammar truth. The reality is that we live our lives in a world that rejects truth, so we must be girded in truth to survive spiritually.

This truth is twofold. First we must be girded with the truth of knowing who Jesus is. He is our Savior and Captain and the Guardian of our souls. The certainty of forgiven sins and an honest leader who will keep us forever will gird us with the truth to live for Him. The second truth is that His word is true. Paul told Timothy that knowing the word made us equipped for every good work. We will want to know how to follow the orders of our Captain and the truth of His word will tell us. Knowing the Captain and knowing His word girds us with truth.

Dear Father, Thank You for providing the protection we need in our battle with the forces of darkness in this world. Amen. 

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Jesus: The True Vine

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NKJV

I like grapes. I like grape juice. I grow grapes because I like them and make them into grape juice because I like it. Grapes do not just appear along my fence all by themselves. They appear on the vine. The vine is necessary for grapes. No one would ever debate that. But we do often debate whether we can do enough good works to please God. Good works would be grapes. We can’t grow grapes without a vine.

Jesus said that He is the Vine. Our grapes are produced only because we are attached to that Vine. The good works that we do, works that glorify God, demonstrate His grace and love, and obey Him from a glad heart, all come because we are attached to the True Vine. (John 15:1) Jesus said that if we are attached to that True Vine then we will produce fruit. Jesus is the Light and wants us to let our lights shine so that people glorify our Father who is in heaven. In the same way Jesus wants to let the fluid of the Holy Spirit move from the Vine to the branches so that we bear fruit for the glory of God.

Dear Father, Thank You for giving us the means to glorify You. Amen. 

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Jesus: The Way, the Truth and the Life

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17:17 NKJV

Pilate asked Jesus a simple question, “What is truth?” It is asked millions of times each day. Jesus said that two things were truth. God’s holy word, the Bible, is truth. Millions of people stumble and fall in their lives each day by rejecting what Jesus said is absolute truth. All who suggest that it is only partially true are wholly calling Jesus a liar. God’s word is truth. Jesus prays that we will all live in and by that word and let it sanctify us.

Jesus also said that He was the Truth. He set Himself up as the exclusive means of eternal life. He said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but through Me.”  Of all the possible ways men say we can reach God, Jesus said there is only one, and that is Jesus Christ the Son of God. He alone died for our sins that we might be reconciled to the Father and He alone of all the world’s great leaders, religious or political, rose again from the dead. By this He alone can guarantee us that we too shall rise with Him unto everlasting life.

Dear Father, Thank You for showing us the way in Your Holy Word and providing us the Way through Your dear Son. Amen.  

  The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

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Jesus: The Resurrection and the Life

“The tombs opened and the bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead after Jesus' resurrection.” Matt 27:52-53 NLT

In his commentary on the Gospel of John, the great evangelist and Bible teacher John R. Rice said simply, “Jesus can have a resurrection any time He wants.” He wanted to have one for Jairus’ daughter. He wanted to have one for the widow’s son. He wanted to have one for Lazarus. His own death sparked a resurrection of faithful saints. How can He do all this? He can do it because He is the resurrection and the LIFE. Jesus is LIFE.

Jesus doesn’t just have a few scattered physical resurrections; He has spiritual ones by the multitude every day. Mankind is dead in trespasses and sin. We are DEAD. He is LIFE. When we believe in Him we pass from death unto life. We are buried in the likeness of His death and raised in the likeness of His resurrection. Praise God we don’t have to wait for the Last Day to have the resurrection we need to truly live now and forever.

Dear Father, Thank You for raising us up from death unto life through Your Son. Give us gladness to share that hope with others. Amen. 

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Jesus: The Good Shepherd

“But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd.” Matt 9:36 ASV

There are only two kinds of sheep. They might not say that at the county fair, but it is true. There are sheep without a shepherd and sheep with a shepherd. The first are hurting in all manner of ways. They are subject to the tyranny of predators. They are subject to the hostility of the natural elements. They are subject to the great discomforts of arid pastures and polluted water. They are in distress and lost without someone to lead them.

Then there are sheep with a shepherd. They are tended and cared for. They have a good pasture and still water. They have protection and love. All mankind enters the world in the condition of the shepherdess sheep. They wander from one poor grazing area to the next, vexed by all the enemies that the world has. But Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He died that He might bring all mankind into His fold. He calls and calls to the lost sheep to come unto Him. He sends us as understudy shepherds to bring the lost sheep to Him. His fold is big enough for all who will come and His provision and love are ample enough to care for them all.

Dear Father, Thank You for sending the Good Shepherd. Let me rejoice in His sheepfold and bring other lost sheep to Him. Amen. 

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Jesus: The Door

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” John 10:9 NKJV

Most commonly when we think of a door we think of it as a passage for entering or leaving a room or a building. In His third “I am” Jesus declares that He is “The Door”. What is He the door of? Too often we see the false image of St. Peter at the gate (door) of heaven and he is the one who lets us in or doesn’t. Other images of heaven show an aged and stooped man, depicting God, who guards the gate. Let’s try to imagine Jesus as the door to heaven.

Those who have believed in Him as the true Son of God who died for sinners know the way to this fabulous Door. Those who have not believed in Him as God’s Son and sacrifice for our sin don’t know the way to this Door. As the believer approaches that glorious Door He stands aside and bids them enter. The lost cannot approach that Door after death; but if they could they would see Jesus and not know that that was the way into heaven and pass by that Lighted Door on to their eternal darkness. He is the Door and faith is the key. Thank God for giving us both.

Dear Father, Thank You for giving us a sure Door into Your eternal home. Help us point others to the Door as well. Amen.

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Jesus: Light of the World

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 NIV

In the creation account we saw that on the first day God said, “Let there be light.” In our look at the tabernacle we saw that the golden lampstand provided perpetual light for the holy place. In Revelation we see that there is no need of the sun in the New Jerusalem for the Lamb of God is the lamp that is there. When Jesus said that He was “The Light of the World” He was speaking clearly of His place in all recorded history from creation to the New Jerusalem.

As man cannot live without the Bread of Life, neither can he live without the Light of the World. Light is necessary for life. Light is necessary to see where we are going – direction. Light is the time when sin is abated (John 3:20) for deeds of evil are most often done in the darkness. Light clears away the fear of the present darkness and eternal darkness. Thereby it gives us joy and peace. Jesus gives us all these things and more as the “Light of the World”.

Dear Father, Thank You for giving us true Light and help us to reflect that light in a dark and needy world.  Amen.

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Jesus: The Bread of Life

“This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.” John 6:50 NKJV

In the Gospel of John Jesus gave seven specific names to Himself. “I am the Bread of Life” was the first. Jesus reminded His Jewish listeners that God had fed them for forty years in the wilderness with manna from heaven. There were over 600,000 soldiers in the camp of Israel plus all their families. They all ate daily for forty years the manna provided by God. That is a lot of provision. Jesus said, “I am that bread.”

If the children of Israel had said, “We don’t think we should eat that stuff, it might be poison,” then they would have starved to death. They had to believe that it would feed them in order to eat it. Jesus said, “This is the work that the Father has given you to do, believe on the one whom He has sent.” That is how He concluded His lesson on His being the Bread of Life. Indeed it is by feasting on Him alone as the provision of God in the wilderness of sin that we may be saved.

Dear Father, Thank You for providing us with Jesus, the Bread of Life. Amen. 

  The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

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Holy Spirit: Seal

“Who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” II Cor. 1:22 NKJV

Did you know that you could end up in jail for six months for misusing the Great Seal of the United States? The use of that seal is protected by federal law. It is reserved by the power of the United States government for use on official documents. The use of the seal says simply, “The United States of America is behind this document.” Seals have been used by governments and rulers since ancient times. They denote the power and purpose of the one using it.

Scripture tells us that God has a seal. He signs His eternal promises with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Paul says in Ephesians 1:13, “In whom also, having believed (the Gospel), you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Paul then adds in verse 14, “Who is the guarantee of our inheritance.” A will (or testament) is an official document. The New Testament of God is that those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ will never perish but have everlasting life. To this God has set His seal of the Holy Spirit on all who believe.

Dear Father, Thank You for sealing me with the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of Your promise of eternal life. Amen. 

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Holy Spirit: Guide

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.”    John 16:13 NKJV

I am an avid hiker. Give me a trail and I will likely follow it. The other day my grandson said, “Grandpa, where does that trail go?” I didn’t know so we took it to find out. That’s day’s lesson was not to follow all trails. Many State of Iowa parks and forests trails are like that. They are poorly marked. On one hiking trip my wife and I got lost in the state forest. No trails were marked, but there were thirty of them. As the sun was setting behind the hills we came to a paved road through the forest. Our car, thankfully, was just around the next bend. That wasn’t planned, by the way.

Life can be like that. Many things are thrown at us. Take this trail to happiness. Take this path to find meaning in life. Try this meandering trail through the forest of doom to find true peace. Unfortunately, those trails won’t end up just around the bend from the safety of your car and home. But, what if we had a guide on those trails? Then we would always get where we were going. In this life we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. He will take God’s word and make it alive and real to us. He is the One who will use it to guide our lives into true happiness, meaning, peace and truth. Ask Him each day to be actively guiding in your life.

Dear Father, Thank You for giving us such a perfect guide as Your Holy Spirit. Amen. 

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Independence Day

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 NKJV

President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous four freedoms speech outlined basic principles that he wanted to assure Americans would be theirs. They were freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Those are things we have come to expect as Americans, but no political ruler can guarantee them and many have tried to undermine them. They are, however, things we are absolutely promised in Scripture by the sure declaration of God.

No one can ever stop us from freely speaking to Him. If our mouths were sewn shut we could speak to Him with our heart and mind. No one can take away our freedom to worship Him. If our churches were all closed we could still worship Him as we should every day, sincerely from our heart of love and thankfulness that He is our God. No one can abrogate our freedom from want for He has said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I’ll not want.” All the promises of His care and love are certain until we are called into His presence with thanksgiving. No one can take away our freedom from fear for the King of the universe has said, “Lo, I am with you always.”

Today we celebrate the freedoms we have as Americans. They are things we have come to expect, but they are things that rulers are and will try to undermine. No man can undermine the promises of God. He has sent His Son to free us from sin and death. He has given us His Holy Spirit as the guarantee of things not seen. If we know Christ as our Savior then we are truly free indeed. 
Dear Father, Thank You for our nation that has long stood for the freedoms named in our constitution. Thank You so much more for the freedoms that are ours forever in the Name of Your beloved Son Jesus Christ. Amen. 

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Holy Spirit: Water

“But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

John 4:14 NKJV

I took my children hiking in the badlands of South Dakota one summer. It must have been nearly one hundred degrees that day. We each took a pint bottle of water with us. The scenery was fantastic. The walk was exhilarating. The thirst became a problem before we reached our destination. We had all finished our water with not quite a mile to go. We could have used a fountain of living water that never ran dry.

Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as a river of living water. (John 7) Since the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity, He is unlimited in power and supply. This world can be a lot more difficult to walk through than the badlands. We are constantly confronted with sin and the call to accept sinful behaviors as normal and good. We can get worn out and long for a refreshing drink of truth and life. The Holy Spirit wants to give that to us every day. Our need is not to look at the empty bottles that we have and bemoan our troubles, but it is to call on Him to refill them give us the life giving water of joy, peace and truth to carry on our walk with Christ. 

Dear Father, Please fill our bottles anew each day with the life giving water of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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