Wednesday – January 27, 2016
Hump day is here and with great joy we are anticipating God’s Word for this Wednesday. What a handsome Arabian camel (one hump).
Colossians 2:1 (KJV)
1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;
We are in spiritual combat that can have deadly consequences as we saw yesterday in the account of the man of God and the old prophet from 1 Kings 13. Remember this one thing:
John 10:10 (KJV)
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
He, the Devil and his cohorts, may do it (steal, kill, and destroy) through people in the world but very often he does it through people in the Church even the Pastor or the Prophet in your life. This is why we must know the Word of God for ourselves and we cannot compromise even one word.
1 Peter 5:8 (KJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Do not just swallow what comes from the pulpit hook line and sinker, prove it, and find two or three witnesses in the Scripture.
Acts 17:11 (KJV)
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
The third defense for temptation is to cast down every imagination and words that lift themselves above our knowledge of God. This means that there is an attempt by the enemy to supplant (displace, replace, supersede) what we know, like he did with Adam in the Garden, with his lie.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (KJV)
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
We have a flesh and this flesh is a combination of our natural body and the unrenewed mind. The flesh wants to think about things it should not, it likes to look at things it should not, it likes to listen to things it should not, it likes to talk about things it should not, and it likes to do things it should not. It all starts with a thought (memory or idea) introduced by our spiritual enemies or perhaps a thought we chose to think about from the unrenewed part of our mind. Carnality (verse four) has to do with our senses and that is not where our weapons are located. Our physical senses are very important and our emotions are also God given and important but they are not weapons and will not help us at all in spiritual warfare. Our emotions and our senses can take us right into the ditch. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual and principal among them is the Word of God but includes our spiritual clothing and the armor of God. Listen to what Jesus said:
John 6:63 (KJV)
63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
John 8:28 (KJV)
28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
John 8:38 (KJV)
38 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Jesus only spoke what the Father told him to speak and as you can see in John 8:38 there is another father in the earth who gives words to speak. The Words of Jesus which were the Words of God are life so the words of the devil are death. Both words are spirit but one gives life, the Words of God, and one brings death (stealing, killing, and destroying). We choose.
Deuteronomy 30:19 (KJV)
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Each of us must ask ourselves, what have I chosen? We are to pull down the strongholds with the words of our mouth and the only words that will accomplish that are the Word of God which are life because the strongholds the enemy is trying to build will bring stealing, killing, and destruction into our lives. You and I are to build Godly strongholds with the Word of God. In the case of 2 Corinthians 10:4 the Scripture is talking about ungodly ideas. Keep in mind these will be very subtle at the onset or come through a channel we may think we can trust. From time to time we see a famous man of God who falls perhaps to adultery. That is not how he or she was approached initially but that was the end result because of progressive deception and finally the darkness was so dense it seemed like a good idea. This fall in the short run fulfilled a lust of the flesh, of the senses and the unrenewed mind. I will pick up with verse five tomorrow.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
By Pastor David R. Wood
