Monday – May 30, 2016
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are we all ready to receive the Word of God and make it our word? Can I say that the Word of God and my word or indistinguishable? If the answer is ‘no’ as it is in my case then there is work to do to show His glory, His goodness in my life.
Today is Memorial Day, a special day designated to memorialize those who have died while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States. November 11th each year is Veteran’s Day which honors the service of every person who has served in the United States Armed Forces. This day however honors those who died in the course of that service. Approximately 25,000 died in the Revolutionary War when our freedom was secured. Our freedom since that time has been in the hands, the lives, of these who went to war to defend us from foreign enemies. Our bigger enemy unfortunately like many great nations that have gone before us comes from within. In the decay of morality and finances a nation falls and is no more. Look at England, France, Spain, Portugal, Rome, and Greece to name a few. Brave men and women like you and me have gone to war, fought and died for the ideas and words of our Declaration of Independence. All of that however will come to naught if we do not have the courage every day to defend and preserve the words and ideas of our founding documents. We see wicked men and women breach the spirit and the letter of our founding documents. There are hearings and perhaps a temporary outcry and the act goes on and a de-facto compromise has occurred and allowed by inaction. Let us review once again some of the words that give honor to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and start to spell out some of the unalienable rights that are given us of God and are to be preserved by government.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
These men and women believed in the Constitution of the United States, they believed in the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the freedom to address grievances to the government. They believed in the Second Amendment securing the right to keep and bear arms. They not only believed that the right to keep and bear arms should not be hampered in any way but that the populace should possess the greater weaponry. They believed in the Fourth Amendment making us secure in our persons, homes, and papers. These are just a few of the self-evident truths and rights that were near and dear to those we remember this Memorial Day, the founding fathers, and must once again be very dear to each of us.
Will you and I defend this nation from the spiritual attack coming from within? Or will we allow this nation in Covenant with God, the greatest nation ever to fall into the dustbin of history? Evil from within brought Israel down and she was a conquered and non-existent nation for some 2500 years. BUT Israel had and has a Covenant and they have arisen from the dustbin of history to be a great nation once again. Israel will see much tragedy again but will never cease to exist and in the end will recognize and bend their knee to the Messiah, Jesus, and finally be the great nation God intended. So too does America have Covenant with the only living Almighty God. If we do not awaken we too will walk through terrible days however because we too are a Covenant nation with the only living Almighty God we will arise and again be that light on a hill. Then will come the Great Day of the Lord, the catching away of the Church.
Before I wrap it up for today let’s get back to our study of the Book of Colossians and meditate our text from multiple Bible translations.
Colossians 2:18 (KJV)
18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Colossians 2:18 (AMP)
18 Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit,
Colossians 2:18 (HCSB)
18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on ascetic practices and the worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm and inflated without cause by his unspiritual mind.
In the HCSB translation of the Scripture you see the word ‘ascetic’ which basically means a withdrawal from the usual course of life becoming a recluse or hermit. It also can include self-torture or self-denial to reach a higher state spiritually or intellectually. Whichever translation speaks to each of us more clearly hopefully we can see that it is all of the enemy. Just as in my discussion of Memorial Day and the enemies attacking this country, they are not flesh and blood but enemy spirits.
Ephesians 6:11-13 (KJV)
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
By Dr. David R. Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
