SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2019
10:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“Intro to The Believers Warfare”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:10-13
Message of the verses: “10 Finally, be
strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor
of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore,
take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day,
and having done everything, to stand firm.”
Paul
wrote about this battle to the church at Thessalonica “For we wanted to come to
you—I, Paul, more than once—and yet Satan thwarted us” (1 Thess. 2:18). John MacArthur writes “Believers are attacked
personally and corporately.”
Let
us look at a couple more examples from the Scriptures “29 "I know that after my departure
savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). We see in this section from Acts that the
church would be attacked from both the inside and the outside. As believers we know that Satan is on the
prowl, and the biblically-taught Christian is “not ignorant of his schemes” as
seen in 2 Cor. 2:11.
We
have looked a lot at the book of Revelation over the years of me doing these
Spiritual Diaries and one of the sad sections comes from the second chapter as
we see what the Lord Jesus Christ said about the church in Ephesus that they
had left their first love, and so what Paul states in Acts 20 came to be true
some sixty or so years later. Leaving
your first love is the first step in the downward spiral as described in the
other churches in Revelation with the exception of the two churches that Christ
had nothing bad to say about ending up with the church at Laodicea where we
find Christ on the outside looking in. 9/25/2019
10:32 AM 9/25/2019 11:41 AM
The
two churches that did not fit into the downward spiral were Smyrna and Philadelphia,
as the others continued to decline in spirituality and it all started with
their loss for the love of the Lord and trying to do things on their own
without the filling of the Holy Spirit.
John
MacArthur writes “Orthodox, fundamental believers are inclined to believe that
they love God because they have such a high regard for and obedience to His
Word. Peter was shocked and offended
when Jesus three times questioned whether he really love Him (John
21:15-17). Peter’s theology and morality
were sound, but his heart was not yet fully devoted to Christ. As important as right doctrine and right
living are, they are no substitute for love and, in fact, become cold and
sterile apart from love. Lovelessness
not only grieves the Lord but gives Satan a foothold in a believer’s life. When a believer, or a body of believers,
loses its deep sense of love for the Lord, that believer or that church is on
the brink of spiritual disaster.” It is
nice when John MacArthur agrees with what I had just written!
How
does all of this spiritual defection usually begin? I remember listening to a few messages soon
after I was saved from a man named Robert Ball who headed up a group called “Churches
Alive.” He would go into churches that
had lost their love for the Lord and try and bring them back to when they were
first saved when the believer has a great devotion to the Lord and did things
like having a thrill of Bible study, prayer, worship and just the sense of
belonging to the Lord Jesus. I have to
admit that there are times when I certainly lack the thrill of Bible study and
prayer, but I realize that this is one of the best ways to stay close to the
Lord. Jesus said the following to the
church at Ephesus, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen” (Rev. 2:5a). Jesus wanted them to remember where they were
before they became cold. Next spiritual
defection always involves sin, and the Lord told the Ephesian church next to
repent as seen in verse 5b. Perhaps they
needed to hear what John wrote in 1 John 1:9.
Next we see that spiritual defection always involves a decrease in
quality, if not the quantity, of Christian service, and the Lord tells them
next “do the deeds you did at first” as seen in verse 5c.
There
is more to learn from the letters to the seven churches which Lord willing, we
will look at tomorrow.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I think of how Paul wrote the letter to
the Ephesians, especially the last part that we have been looking at, the part
where he writes about being filled with the Holy Spirit which is certainly
needed in the family life, including husband and wife, and then children and
parents, and then into the work force with employees and employers. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we
will come under attack from Satan and so Paul writes about putting on the
spiritual armor, and the importance of that which I look forward to learn more
about.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Spirit of God will fill me to
cause me to have good relationships with my wife, and to humbly learn to love
my wife like Christ loves His Church.
Today’s verse quotation from “Love in
Action:”
The love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by
the Holy Spirit who is given unto us.
Romans
5:5
9/25/2019 12:07 PM
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