Q: What does it mean to put on the "shield" of faith?
A: Ephesians 6:16 says, "take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Paul is using the imagery of a soldier preparing for battle to illustrate the spiritual warfare that we are engaged. Spiritual warfare is not about battling demons and evil spirits, but about the battle between the truth and the lie. Paul talks about the armor of God as being the "belt of truth," the "breastplate of righteousness," the "helmet of salvation," the "sword of the Spirit," and, of course, the "shield of faith." Notice the only weapon is the sword of the Spirit. Whereas everything else is used for defensive purposes. The flaming arrows we guard against are the lies of the devil that permeate the world and our faith. As Christians our identity in Christ is often attacked. We have to constantly guard against those that say we are not forgiven, sanctified, blameless, holy, have eternal life and more when scripture clearly says the opposite. The world says sin is acceptable and false gods are legitimate. Whereas the Word of God says otherwise. These attacks are subtle, but over time can wear us down because they often come from well meaning Christians or unbelievers in our lives. We must be firm in our understanding of what the Word of God tells us about who we are.
If you have ever worked as a bank teller you will notice that they are rarely, if ever, trained with counterfeit money. They only use real money. The reason is that when you are so familiar with the real thing you will recognize a counterfeit immediately. When the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness Jesus always responded with "it is written." Jesus, being God, was so familiar with the truth that He recognized error instantly and stood up under the pressure. It is no different with us. When you are familiar with who you are in Christ and what you have been given as an inheritance of your faith you can "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes (Eph 6:11)." You will know immediately if whether or not what you are being presented with is the truth or not. The devil is our accuser before God (Rev 12:10) and the father of lies (Jn 8:44). But we are free from accusation (Col 1:22) and know the Truth, Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6). Therefore, when we are presented with error we can test it up against the truth of Scripture and stand firm against it. It is the only way we can be "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power (Eph 6:10)." Be blessed.
Q: Is there such a thing of "separation" of church and state?
A: There is no such thing as separation of church and state. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The intent of our Founding Fathers was to separate the state from religion not vice versa. Regardless, what if there was a separation of church and state? Would you be quiet if it were deemed illegal to promote our faith, our values and our God, Jesus Christ? Personally, no matter what the law says, I don't see how a Christian could keep silent and not promote their faith. How would the Gospel have ever left Jerusalem if political or cultural pressure kept the disciples from ever expressing their beliefs? Because there was political and cultural pressure to keep silent. In fact, many of the early saints and saints today, were and are murdered, imprisoned and forced to keep quiet because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Their are many so called Christians that censor themselves and the truth of the Scriptures for personal, political and cultural gain. Issues like abortion, homosexuality, marriage, capital punishment, personal accountability and war are clearly addressed in the Bible. However, many so called Christians don't stand up for these truths because they might be deemed unpopular.
How many people know that job security was one of the reasons that the Pharisees plotted to kill Jesus? "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation (Jn 11:47-48)." Despite what was plain to them they denied the truth to the point that they plotted to kill Jesus Christ. We live in an age that is becoming increasingly hostile to the Word of God and Jesus Christ. Political Correctness, acceptance of false gods, biblical compromise and doing what is right in our own eyes has pushed the name of Jesus Christ out of the public arena. How far will we let it go before we decide to stand up for our faith, our Lord and our Savior? We are ambassadors of Christ here to be a witness for Him in hopes that some might be saved. That cannot happen if we, the Church, separate ourselves from the state, the world."How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them (Rom 10:14)?" Be blessed.
Q: The devil made me do it(sin). Is that a "true" statement?
A: No, that is not a true statement. "As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me (Rom 7:17)." Paul recognized that it wasn't the devil making him do it, but sin living in him. It is our fallen flesh that makes us sin. And we will always sin as long as we are in these bodies. As Paul rhetorically asked later, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death (Rom 7:24)?" It is living in these bodies of death, the flesh and blood that will not inherit the Kingdom of God, that is constantly warring against our Spirit and leads us to sin. Again, that is why Paul said, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do (Rom 7:15)." You will never stop sinning, but the only way you will begin to see a diminishing of the sin in your life is by resting in, and trusting in, the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is through our faith in Jesus that we have been given everything we need for life and godliness and have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. When we understand that God, in Himself, has met the deepest desires of our heart we will not turn to the world and sin to get those needs met.
Saying the devil made me do it is just an excuse used to avoid accountability for our sins. We live in a day and age where it seems every act of sinful behavior is said to be a "disease" or always the fault of outside influences. Part of the sinfulness of the flesh is to blame others or makes excuses. The first act of sin we have recorded in the Bible was followed by an excuse. After Adam ate the forbidden fruit he blamed Eve for his actions (Gen 3:12). And Eve, not to be outdone, said the devil made her do it (Gen 3:13). No, it was the personal choice of both of them to sin. Satan, or our flesh, may tempt us, but we make the choice to fall. The only answer, as Paul exclaimed, is through Jesus Christ. "Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 7:25)!" Overcoming sin in your life is not going to be found through living an obedient and repentant life as you submit to laws, doctrines, precepts, principles or an attempt to prove you love God. Man was not created to live by laws. We were created to be indwelt by God and led from within. It is the "grace of God" that "teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age (Titus 2:12)."
Regardless of whether the devil made you do it or not God, in Christ, will see that you make it through it. Be blessed.
Q: What does Jesus what to see in "you"?
A: From God's advantage point there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are those are who are spiritually alive to Him in Christ and those who are spiritually dead to Him in their sins. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Cor 15:22)." All of mankind, since the Fall, are born into this world spiritually dead to God in the image of Adam (Gen 5:3). And because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Christians are a new creation in Christ, born again of the Spirit of God. The life of God lost when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden is restored, as a free gift, to all who place faith in Jesus Christ. Consequently, because of our faith, God has met the deepest desires of our heart in Him. All of us were made to receive unconditional love, total acceptance, meaning and purpose to life. God created us that way so that only He could provide what we desired. Apart from Jesus Christ, we try to get these needs met from the world through participation in sin.
However, once we come to faith in Christ we are given an inheritance (Heb 9:15). Part of that inheritance includes unconditional love (Rom 8:38-39), total acceptance (Rom 15:7), and our meaning and purpose to life is to "serve one another in love (Gal 5:13)." We can only serve one another in love when we first understand that, in Christ, God first loved us (1 Jn 4:10). The byproduct is that we now engage the world with what we have received from God rather than in hopes of acquiring from it, through sin, what it cannot provide. We have been given everything we need for life and godliness (2 Ptr 1:3) and have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ (Eph 1:3) so we will rest from trying to earn through self-effort what can only be received through faith. We are told that all men will know we are Christ's disciples by our love for each other (Jn 13:35). We can't love each other without first understanding how much God has loved us. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and Gal 5:22 talk about what love is and the fruit of that love. It is a perfect example of how God loves us. And as we rest in His love we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, not our fruit, to the world around us. We bear fruit for God in order that the lost will partake of it and might be saved. Be blessed.
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