Warrior of The Word - Ephesians 6:15

 Ephesians 6:15

And your feet shod with the preparation

 of the gospel of peace; 

    This item of armor is more than what covers our feet: it laces all the way up the calf, just like the ancient Roman soldiers wore. Everywhere he looked he could clearly see how a Roman soldier was dressed. So this is how The Spirit led him to define our Christian armor. 

    Paul was surrounded by Roman soldiers at all times, though he could move somewhat freely, as his feet were chained, but his hands were perhaps, left somewhat unfettered, leaving him able to write all these lovely letters to the churches in the cities in which he had preached the gospel of peace, the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

    (Had he not been in chains, Paul still would not have run away. He had appealed to Caesar for his release, and to Caesar he must go: voluntarily. Yet, because he had been arrested for speaking The Name of Jesus Christ, and refusing to stop speaking salvation through Christ's Name, his arrest was inevitable.)

    Now we have here the preparation of the gospel of peace. Before we can even step out into spiritual warfare in the upper realms, we must needs have our feet and legs wrapped in impenetrable footwear. For it is our feet and legs which stabilize our balance and make it possible for us to move from one place to another. An unbalanced spiritual warrior will fail and fall. 

    Therefore we must place the preparation on our feet and lace our sandals all the way up to our knees, even covering the knee caps. We've seen enough action movies to know that if the knee gets shot out, the one being shot goes down and scrambles to remain upright and in motion. How do we do that? 

    We must be ready at all times to move swiftly when the need arises. And we must also be ready to take a stand for the gospel and not back down. Proper footwear is to be ready to give an answer for what we believe. It is to have the knowledge of The Word of Wisdom which makes it possible for us not only stand our ground, but withstand the oncoming assaults in spiritual warfare. We cannot run away from the battle we have either instigated, or joined in with. 

BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER

    1 Peter 3:15

But sanctify The Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of The Hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

WALK WORTHY

    Colossians 1:10

That you might walk worthy of The Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the Knowledge of God.

STAND FIRM

    1 Corinthians 16:13

Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

WITHSTAND 

    Psalm 31:24

Be strong and courageous, all you who Hope in The LORD. 

WALK IN THE SPIRIT

    Galatians 5:25

If we live in The Spirit, let us also walk in The Spirit.

RUN TO THE BATTLE

    2 Samuel 22:30

For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall.

RUN FOR THE REWARD

    1 Corinthians 9:24, 25

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize. Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable. 

    Preparation implies a need for readiness. The first step to readiness is our own salvation. Are you saved? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord? And if you do believe, are you listening to The Holy Spirit, Who is trying to teach you the holy way of righteous living which God has prepared for you to live? 

    And if you have these first two items in your quiver, are you also serving The Lord with Joy in your hearts? We should not be proud to be serving God, we should be rejoicing that God chose us to serve Him. We should be thankful and watchful at all times, ready to repel the darts of pridefulness, status, envy, jealousy which attempt to shoot through our armor. These things can knock us down in spiritual warfare. 

    Are you filled with the Knowledge of God's Holy Word on a daily basis? Even if you don't have the whole Bible at your fingertips, you can still hear from God every day, if you can only learn to distinguish His Voice from the devil's voice. The devil wants to destroy us. God wants to save us. The devil speaks lies. God speaks Truth. The devil hates us for many reasons, namely because he is jealous of how much God loves us. God loves because He love. 

    Get ready to stand. run forward, walk uprightly and speak The Word of Life! 

    

    

    

     

     

The Wait of Preparation

 Psalm 130:5

I wait for The LORD; my soul does wait, and in His Word I put my hope. 

Wait: twist, linger, expectancy, bind together, patient seeking

    Actively seeking what The LORD had promised is the word "Wait" not only here but in too many other verses to mention. Sorry, you'll have to study that much more out for yourself. 

    As for myself, I'm learning to "wait". The LORD says that I am not stuck, I am "waiting"; I'm in a waiting place, seeking Him out where He can be found, placing all my hope in Him. The LORD is my Testimony, my Sanctifier. For He has set me apart from who I used to be and the worldly lifestyle I used to participate in. How this world defines quiet times, God says, "Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28; Jeremiah 31:25). 

    I'm seeking an audience with The King, to meet Him face to face and remain there in His eternal presence for ever and ever. But to get there I must first seek Him out here in this life God has given me. I must read His Word daily, asking Him to reveal Himself to me, that I may know in each day what He would have me to know, to understand, to take in that I may grow in Him and He in me. 

    The twisting in this word "wait" means 'to bind together'. It is not twisting in the wind, being blown from one doctrine to another to none. It is to be so fully intertwined with God The Father, God The Son and God The Spirit that none can tear us apart. This is the covenant relationship which is promised to each faithful believer who follows Christ wherever He leads us. This is strength in unity. 

    Beyond the individual who waits on The LORD, there is congregational waiting, when believers come together in worship and prayer to seek out God through faith in Christ, who seek to be empowered by God's Holy Spirit. Breathe on us, Holy Spirit. Take our little bits of faith and grow in us righteousness that we might, indeed, be called and known as trees of righteousness, the planting of The LORD God. 

    That's why we go to church. As long as the person giving the message from God is anointed by God to do so, may our ears be prepared to hear, our hearts be prepared to receive and obey The Word being preached or taught. 

    Let nothing distract us from waiting for The LORD. The Word tells us "not to look to the left, nor to the right", but to focus on what is ahead of us. The immediate path, the Holy Way, the path of righteousness wherein we walk by faith in The Son of God, Who not only leads us up this path, but walks with us. How wonderful to know that Jesus walks with me! 

    I'm not stuck. I'm waiting for The Lord. 

A Crucified Life - - Is A Gatherer's Life

    2 Corinthians 8:15

As it is written: “He who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall.”

    This word 'gathered' is used 384 times in the Bible and has quite a few definitions. But in this context the definition is:

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 4863

Gathered: to lead together, to collect, assemble; to come together, to receive with  hospitality

From the Greek word 'sunagó' (pronounced (soon-ag'-o). 

      Matthew 13:8

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

    Matthew 9:37,38

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

    2 Thessalonians 3:1

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men; for not all are of the faith.

    It's not a question of how many people we reach when we share the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. It's a question of obedience to the gospel ourselves. When we are faithful and fully committed to spreading the good news that God loves us and sent His Son to save us from the penalty of sin, then the Spirit will move on the hearts of the listeners. It's up to the hearer to respond to the Spirit.

    It's not about the quantity of souls gathered in by our actions, it's about our actions being done in love, sprinkling grace, mercy and compassion into our conversations. The fields that are ready to be harvested are the hearts of those people who are seeking a better Way, something, Someone they can believe and place their trust in.

    We know that 'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus' and we encourage the people we meet in our lifetime, including the family we are born into and is born through us, to also lay claim to the promise of trusting in Christ. When they do, we are gathering a harvest that had been planted before ever we arrived on the scene. 

    Stop comparing your ministry to another's. Do what God has called you to do. Plant the seed of the Word of God when opportunities are given to do so. Water the seed you have planted with the tears of your prayers. Be prepared to harvest the seed others have planted, others have watered. 

    Preparation is preparedness. A crucified life has put aside that which is not profitable in the kingdom of God. What is not profitable in the kingdom of God? A couple of examples are:

~tainted faith (Matthew 5:13)

~lack of motivation to fully obey God's Word (Matthew 25:30)

    A crucified life follows the path of the crucified Savior, preaching the kingdom of God; the kingdom of Divine Love, Divine Forgiveness and Divine Grace. These tools are what is needed to gather in the harvest to which we are called. Let us be found faithful and not lacking in any way.

GATHERING THE HARVEST

Grave Clothes - Stephen McWhirter

Bringing In The Sheaves - Shiloh Worship

Shall We Gather At The River - Burl Ives

The Commission - CAIN

The Gospel - Ryan Stevenson

Come To The Table - Sidewalk Prophets

I Speak Jesus - Here Be Lions

One Gospel - CityAlight

Taste & See - Shane & Shane

Sinner Saved By Grace - Gaithers