Jesus is the head

Colossians 1:18 tells us "he is the head of the body, the church".  Today, I see this scripture in a new light.  Jesus is the head of the body of Christ.  The church makes up the body of Christ.  And we, the believers, are the church, so we are the body of Christ.  Now, when you think about your own body, what is the purpose of your head?  Your head cannot go anywhere by itself, it has to be carried around on top of your body.  Your body provides the feet to your head, and carries out all actions for your head.  In the same way, we have to be the feet for Jesus.  He needs our bodies to carry out His actions. 

The head is also our central communication center.  Our body only moves because our heads tell it to.  Our body is tuned into whatever our heads tell it to do.  If our head tells our body to walk to the kitchen and grab an apple, our body carries out this action perfectly.  In the same way, we need to be tuned into Jesus.  We must practice hearing Him, so that when He gives us a task to carry out, we will carry it out without giving it another thought, knowing that it's our Shepherd guiding us. 

Let us not grow weary listening to the voice of our Lord so that we can take advantage of the opportunity to put feet to our faith.  If we truly believe that He is the head and we are the body, I don't believe we would ever be content to just parking ourselves on a church pew once or twice (or maybe even three times) a week!  Let's listen to what work the Lord has for us to do each day. 

I love you, Lord.  Here I am, use me!

Is your heart right with God?

I'm studying on the tongue at the moment.  You know that tiny member of the body that can cause the most damage?  Most people are familiar with the scripture that says:

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
(Matthew 15:18-20)

Therefore it's important that our heart is right with God so that what comes out of our mouth will be right with God also.  Ironically enough, the way to get our heart right with God is with the tongue:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(Romans 10:9-10)

You will be held responsible for every word that comes out of your mouth, even those spoken in the heat of the moment.  That's why it is so important to confess all sin and hide God's Word away in our heart.  If we take the time to fill our heart full of God, then we don't have to worry about what comes out of our mouths during those heated moments.  I know I want to be sure my heart is full of good things, because I want to share good things with others always so I may say:

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
(Psalms 49:3)

Encourage yourself in the Lord

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
(1 Samuel 30:6)

The Amalekites had invaded and taken all their wives and children captive.  When David and his men returned to find their families gone and their homes burned down, they were all greatly grieved.  Two of David's wives were among the captives.  The people were so upset, they wanted to take it out on David.  Instead of letting his grief get the better of him, and allowing the people to do what they will, David encouraged himself in the Lord.  There are times when we are so fed up with the way our lives are going, we just want to give up.  We ask for a sign, we ask for prayer, we ask others what we are doing wrong, hoping they will give us the exact word of encouragement we need to hear.  But, there are times when there just aren't any words that our friends can give us.  We can't always wait for someone else to provide the encouragement that we need to go on.  There are times when you have to encourage yourself in the Lord.  You have to take the initiative.  You have to just do it yourself with God's help.  That's the greatest thing about having a relationship with Him.  You never have to do anything alone ever again.  :)

God bless you, my friends.

Spiritual Warfare

In my studying, I'm learning how we have to use defensive warfare when Satan attacks us, and we are initiating offensive warfare when we are claiming new territory for God, such as sharing the gospel with others.  I'm currently studying the parallels between natural warfare and spiritual warfare.

In natural war, soldiers go through much training.  They learn all they can about the enemy, they learn how to use their weapons to their full advantage, they use intelligence officers to gather more information to give themselves the advantage.

In spiritual war, many Christian soldiers face the war without any training.  They don't take the time to read their Bible (our greatest source of intelligence), they don't spend the time talking to their Chief Officer about the battle plan for the day, they aren't even aware of their spiritual weapons and have no idea how to use them.  If you are a Christian, you are entering this war every day, like it or not.  Would you ever enter a natural battlefield without the proper training?  Why throw yourself into the spiritual battlefield without the proper training?

Read your Bible, know what it says, memorize scripture that will be useful to defend yourself with (just as Jesus did when He was tempted), talk to the Father about any worries you have and cast all your fears upon Him.  He is our Great Commander and He won't lead us astray. 

I want to share this one section from my studies:

A great general in the natural world once told his troops, "We are not going to dig foxholes and wait for the enemy to come shooting at us. We are going to move ahead, and move fast." (A foxhole is a hole in the ground in which a soldier can hide). The general said, "When you dig a foxhole, you dig a grave. When you are in that foxhole and fire at the enemy, he knows your exact location...We will keep moving and the enemy will always hit where we have been and not where we are." This general did not believe in defense. His theory was that if the enemy was constantly under attack, there would not be any need to defend. He realized that the force moving in offensive warfare had advantage over the defending forces. He said, "We will fight on our terms and we will win."

In spiritual warfare, he who understands the objective of warfare as the defeat of the enemy will not easily be reduced to a defensive position. To gain total victory, offensive fronts are required.

Jealousy

Sometimes I think of people that work so hard to "keep up with the Jones'" and how stressful they make their lives, working so hard to buy more and more stuff.  Those who live by the motto of, "He who dies with the most stuff, wins" really have a sad life.  The are driven by jealousy and greed.  I'm thankful for my simple life.  There are, occasionally, "things" I'd like to have, but I wouldn't really be upset if I never had it.  I usually count on not ever having it.  Then it's more of a joy when I do receive it. 

But even those who are not driven to a life full of jealousy and greed, we still have to watch out for that little green eyed monster.  He doesn't always show up in our lives as the one who wants the newest car like our best friend has, or the big swimming pool like our neighbor just put in.  I know I have to watch out more for the "why does it seem God is working more in their life than mine?"  Or "why can't I have such a successful ministry too?"  Even if they are "God" things I'm coveting, it is still coveting!  God deals with each person individually and does a different work with and through each person individually.  We cannot compare ourselves to others in such a way.  Just as Jesus told Peter, "Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." (John 21:22)  Regardless of what God is or isn't doing through others, we must only concern ourselves with what we are doing for Him.  God may have called us to be like Jeremiah, rejected by every single person we speak to, persecuted and despised, and yet still expected to continue sharing what He asks us to share.  It feels good to see positive results when you reach out with God's love, but, even when we don't, we still have to push on and keep doing what God's asked of us. 

Let's take a moment to be a bit more aware of what motivates us at times and remember, "If I will that he tarry til I come, what is that to thee?  FOLLOW THOU ME." 

Spiritual Warfare

I've been studying Spiritual Warfare currently and posted this on my facebook a few days ago. 

As I'm studying on Spiritual Warfare, I read this, "Everyone is involved in this war. No one is exempt from this battle. No one can view it from a distance. You are in the midst of conflict whether you acknowledge it or not. If you believe it will get better, you are wrong. The Christian warfare never ceases." Well, isn't that comforting?

The part about warfare never ceasing was what I was sarcastically referring to as comforting.  But, since I posted this, I've actually gotten great comfort from this quote, from the first part of it. "Everyone is involved in this war.  No one is exempt from this battle."  As scary as facing off with the devil seems, you have to do it whether you like it or not.  But the great thing is, we aren't in this alone.  And, He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world!  So, bring it on, because I'm the one with the power in this battlefield!