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I am not wishing anyone a
happy new year—I want more for you than a happy year—I wish you a
joyous year. Happiness is dependent on circumstances and emotions
and can be very fleeting. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It grows
and develops the nature of Jesus within.
I enjoyed reading the
thoughts of a lady about resolutions. After a family tragedy, this
lady realized that each day was a treasure. Her resolution was to
look at each day for the treasure that it contained. I think that
is a wonderful resolution. Each day is the day the Lord has made,
therefore, it is already a treasure.
We entered this year
after having cold spells enough to frost and even freeze some of
our plants and trees. The grounds are brown and in need of clean
up, but we cannot trim back the plants with frost damage until our
winter weather is over. After several cold spells, we have turned
warmer and the plants are getting greener and the azaleas are
blooming. We pray that we will not have another frost.
This winter, and still
on-going, the oak trees in Florida, having produced a bumper crop
of acorns, are now dropping acorns until the ground is covered. I
cannot walk from the house to the office without crunching acorns
underfoot. There is a large oak tree in front of the dining room
and bedroom area at The Carlton House. You cannot take a step
without walking on dozens of acorns.
We have had some
volunteer help in the office and have cleaned up some boxes of old
papers and purged the files of out-dated materials. We have a
tendency to be pack-rats, until things overflow and then we clean
house.
The logs still need
cleaning and treating on all three of our buildings. We just need
the extra manpower to get it done efficiently. We went through
last summer’s rainy season without a leak, thanks to the new roof,
but the logs never got taken care of. The group that was going to
come and help was diverted to Haiti after last January’s
devastating earthquake. That opportunity has now passed and we
need to look elsewhere while the weather is cooler—but not too
cold.
We are ready to move on
up to newer technology. We have been on a dial-up internet
connection for years and are now moving up to a DSL service.
Because we are out of town about five miles, the DSL service was
not available for us until recently. Some of the other services
cannot even find us on the map and therefore cannot serve us with
satellite or other hook-ups. But then, those who are closer to
town don’t have the peace and quiet that we have. They don’t have
the advantages of having the birds and animals that we have
either.
Our cardinal pair is
still trying to attack or attract the birds they see in our
windows. They have been persistent since last spring. Nothing
seems to deter them—we tried hanging strings in the windows, but
they just went around them and still pecked at the window. I’m not
sure that these two are an advantage of being in the country.
I do enjoy my walks to
the office and back home when the birds are in the trees singing.
I enjoy watching the squirrels—as long as they are not chewing on
our logs! We have some rabbits around and occasionally the deer
wander through the yard. The turkeys seem to come and go in spells
and right now there is a pair of sand hill cranes hanging around.
As always, we enjoy having visitors, so
stop and chat for a while. Bible
Study Intro: WE
ARE IN A BATTLE
bat-tle n. 1) A
large-scale combat between two armed forces. 2) Armed fighting;
combat 3) Any intense competition; struggle. v. To engage
in or as if in battle. To fight against.
Those who call themselves
believers in and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are involved
in an age-old battle. The battle began in the heavenlies before
God created the world. This battle includes all of mankind, but is
especially fierce for believers.
The first battle man
faced was when Adam and Eve were tempted to question God’s words
to them. Unfortunately—but as no surprise to God—their loss in
this battle opened the way for all of mankind’s future battles.
Part One: THE
NATURE OF THE BATTLE
Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight
against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle
(Zechariah 14:3).
The battle mankind is in
is a spiritual battle between the forces of good and the forces
evil. It is between God’s goodness and the devil’s evil. We know
that God is good—there is no impurity anywhere within Him. His
thoughts, His intentions, His plans, and His purposes are all for
the good of His creation, which we are.
The nature of the devil
is shown in his name: d-evil. His plans and purposes are to do
evil wherever and whenever he can. The devil’s plans are the
opposite of God’s plans and purposes for you.
The battle is waging
between God and the devil over the souls of men. Since Adam and
Eve opened the door for the devil to have dominion over the earth,
the devil has rights over the souls of men. God initiated His plan
to redeem the souls of men as soon as Adam sinned. He had the plan
from the foundation of the earth and initiated the next part of
the plan as soon as Adam sinned.
This battle rages within
mankind as a battle between his flesh and his spirit. The devil
has temporary authority over man’s flesh, but God retains
authority over the spirit. The battle rages within man over
whether the flesh will dictate to the spirit or the spirit will
dictate to the flesh.
The battle is waged to
determine who will control your life. We are either under the
control of the Lord or under the control of the devil. There are
no self-made men or women who control their own destiny, through
they may think that they do. Either Jesus is Lord or you are under
the devil’s influence.
SPIRITUAL WAR
In natural warfare, you
can see the enemy and spy out his plans, so that you can go on the
offense and not always react defensively. In spiritual warfare,
you need to know the nature of the enemy and you need to know how
to be defensive as well as knowing how to battle in the offence.
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 (Ephesians 6:12).
Though the enemy of your
soul will use people to come against you, your battle is not with
people, it is with the spiritual forces that are using the people
to fight you. Your flesh and blood enemy is as much a victim of
the forces of evil as you are. Your battle is with principalities
and powers that rule over certain areas. Your battle is with the
evil rulers of darkness, not those caught in the devil’s trap of
darkness. All of these battles are with spiritual forces and need
to be met with spiritual forces.
You need to know the
enemy for what he is before you can do battle against him. If you
do not know where an attack is coming from, you do not know how to
fight the battle or what weapons to choose. You can easily be
defeated unless you know your enemy.
My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also
reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou
hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children (Hosea 4:6).
God issued a dire warning
to His people through the Prophet Hosea. He said they are
destroyed for lack of knowledge. He was not talking about worldly
knowledge, but His knowledge. Knowing His law will help you
recognize the enemy and know how to fight him.
WEAPONS
The weapons of our
warfare are not guns or knives, rockets or mortars, they are
spiritual in nature. Our weapons are dependant on God.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds;) (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4).
Our weapons include
several items for defense and one important item for offence. Our
main weapon in defeating the devil is the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt
about with truth, and having on the breastplate of
righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the
gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:14-17).
Jesus gave us the
authority over the devil’s cohorts when He gave us the power of
His blood and the authority of His Name (Luke 9:1). Our weapons
are useless until we make Jesus the Lord of our life. Then, we can
come to the Father in prayer in Jesus’ Name and know that the
Father will hear us. Prayer is one of our greatest weapons to use
against the devil.
The devil does not fear
you when you come at him in anger with a gun—that is useless
against him. He does fear the Name of Jesus and the power of the
Blood of Jesus. When Jesus was crucified and hung on the cross,
His blood was shed. That blood, like the blood of animals
sacrificed in the Temple, was atonement or payment for sins. The
big difference was that the blood of Jesus was atonement for
everyone’s sins for all time.
Jesus’ sacrifice redeemed
mankind from the kingdom ruled by the devil and placed man into
the Kingdom of God. The devil’s control was broken over any man
who would believe in Jesus. |
