AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Friday – July 9, 2021, Tamuz 29, 5781
GIFTS – PART EIGHTY-SEVEN
ARMOR OF GOD – PART TWENTY-NINE
SUBMISSION CONTINUED
Greetings precious children, sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father and welcome back to The Three Minute Word blog. Please take a moment and share these teachings as widely as possible. I am currently exploring the topic of “GIFTS”, gifts of or from God. I am some twenty-nine weeks into teaching on the Armor of God. I have not jumped right to the armor described in the 6th chapter of Ephesians because the Holy Spirit led me to build a firm foundation for the discussion of this armor. This is God’s very own armor given for our use. Like anything in the natural we will have the most success if we understand what the thing is and what it is designed to do. Let us not let the carnal or desires of the flesh crowd out the eternal things. The eternal or spiritual things are what determine the quality of our spiritual and physical lives.
As we prepare to start today, I want to make a point that may be overlooked. When we are saved, we enter into a relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) however we may or may not chose to enter into fellowship with them. We are saved and on our way to Heaven but our lives will have a very carnal flavor or course without meaningful fellowship. To elevate from the natural to the supernatural we must develop our fellowship with God. This involves putting Him and His Word first, and giving Him priority with our time and attention.
Jesus said that He didn’t say anything the Father didn’t give Him to say, He didn’t do anything the Father didn’t tell Him to do, and the Father did the works (by agency of the Holy Spirit). Do you suppose this is a pattern for us to follow? How did Jesus know these things? He spent a lot of time in the Word and with the Father, alone! The point I getting to is that if our idea of fellowship with God is obligatory and perfunctory our lives will be powerless. God wants our heart to be all His! When He is first in our thoughts, words, and actions, He puts us first. We cannot know much about a person we spend little or no time with or when we do, we are distracted by a variety of fleshly things. This is sowing and reaping dear ones. Who enjoys having a wife or husband that is just going through the motions, but their heart is not in the relationship? Let’s determine each of us to get out of our heads and into our hearts. Now, let’s turn our attention to our primary Bible text and continue reading aloud, yes, out loud. Faith, the only way to please God, comes by hearing not by seeing.
Ephesians 5:21-24 (KJV)
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
I am again picking up with verse twenty-one. Dear ones, we are all servants or ministers in the Kingdom of God. We do what we do first and foremost for we love (agape) God and we love (agape) our neighbor. The more perfect or completely from the heart our service is to others, the more, the Lord promotes or elevates us. With God it is always about the heart. Obedience alone does not move the Hand of God. Let’s take a moment and look at a couple other areas in Scripture that address this issue of submission to others and to God.
1 Peter 5:5-8 (KJV)
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Are we right to think that one way to avoid being devoured by the devil is to take very seriously verses five through seven? Yes, of course! The “elder” in this case is those with authority in the local or larger Church assemblies but it could be interpreted more broadly as well. Again, we see that we are to be subject to one another. The devil does not humble us, circumstances do not humble us (bring humility), not even God humbles us, but we must humble ourselves. The “mighty hand of God” is the Holy Spirit of God. We are being told to be led of the Spirit, this is all through the Bible. Not only that but we must get our focus and concerns off the cares (carnal things) of this world and walk in the spirit. One last verse for today.
Hebrews 13:17 (KJV)
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Submission to God, to others, and to the leaders of the local body of Christ is a voluntary act of the heart. For just a moment let’s look at the word “unprofitable” in the preceding verse. This word means to be pernicious which is to cause death or serious injury, great harm, destruction, and to be gainless according to Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. Are we obeying, submitting to those in and out of the Church who have rule over us? Are we being mindful that we are servants of all?
Lord willing, I will pick up right here next Friday.
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Until our next publication, as your Bible Teacher and a Prophetic Voice in your life I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it, believe it, and speak over yourself and your family by faith in Jesus’ name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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