SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2019
11:39 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3
“Feet shod with the Gospel of Peace”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:15
Message of the
verse: “and
your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace” (HCSB).
We mentioned in our last SD about
certain things that the Lord had done in mostly the OT and also in the NT,
things that as believers, as His union with us, that He commits to fight for
us. The first example was that of Peter
drawing a sword in an attempt to cut off the head of one of the servants who
came to arrest Jesus. Peter had just saw
all those who came to arrest Jesus fall on the grown, and so he probably though
he was invincible. Jesus healed the ear
of that servant, as Peter missed his entire head and cut off his ear. If Jesus had not healed that man then Peter
would have been arrested too, and the plans that God had for Him would not come
about. In the book of Judges chapter 7
we read the story of Gideon who with just a hand full of men defeated the Midianite,
as this was a part of God’s plan to show Gideon that He could do it without his
help. There are other stories in the OT we could look at but I think we can
understand that God will take care of His own as all believers have union with
Him.
John MacArthur writes “The believer
who stands in the Lord’s power need not fear any enemy, even Satan himself. When he comes to attack us, our feet are
rooted firmly on the solid ground of the ‘gospel of peace,’ through which God
changed from our enemy to our defender.
We who were once His enemies are now His children, and our heavenly
Father offers us His full resources to ‘be strong in the Lord, and in the
strength of His might’ (Eph. 6:10). ‘If
God is for us, who is against us?’ Paul asks.
‘But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loves
us. For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’
(Rom. 8:31, 37-39).
“The Spirit-filled believer who is
fully clad in God’s armor can sing confidently with John Newton,
Though many foes beset you round,
And feeble is your arm,
Your life is hid in Christ in God
Beyond the realm of harm.
Weak as you are you shall not fade,
Or fainting shall not die;
Jesus the strength of every saint
Will aid you from on high.
Though unperceived by mortal sense,
Faith sees Him always near,
A guide, a glory, a defense,
What have you to fear?
As surely as He overcame,
And triumphed once for you,
So surely you that love His name
Shall in Him triumph too.
Now I want to continue to quote from
Dr. Wiersbe’s book “The strategy of Satan” which tells us more about humility.
“Let me be very practical about this
matter of Christian surrender. The verb ‘present’
in Romans 12:1 carries the meaning of ‘a once-for-all surrender.’ It is not necessary for you to keep walking a
aisle to be a yielded believer. Make a
once-for-all presentation to God of your body, mind, and will. But it is good to reaffirm that surrender at
the beginning of each day. When you
first awaken immediately give your body to God as an act of faith; and prove
that you mean it by getting out of bed.
The discipline of getting up in the
morning is a part of spiritual victory.
The next step is to reach for your Bible and present your
mind to God for spiritual renewal. It is
the Word of God that renews the mind and transforms it. If you do not have a system for reading the
Bible, get one. Personally, I like to
read straight through the Bible regularly, but I do not give myself a time
limit. I start in Genesis 1, Psalm 1,
and Matthew 1, and I keep reading. There
are some days when I read and mediate on only a few verses; on other days, I
read all three chapters, I am not in a hurry; I am not trying to set any
records. My purpose is to meditate on
the Word of God so that the Spirit of God will be able to transform my mind and
make it more spiritual.
After you have given God your body (and gotten out of
bed) and your mind (and meditated on the Word), your next step is to give him
your will; and this you do in prayer.
The Word of God and prayer always go together.
‘But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the
ministry of the Word’ (Acts 6:4).
‘If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you’ (John 15:7).
If you have only the Word,
without prayer, you will have light without heat; but if you have prayer
without the Word, you will be in danger of becoming a fanatic—heat without
light or ‘zeal…not in accordance with knowledge’ (Romans 10:2). The important thing in prayer is to yield your
will to God’s will in the matters that you pray about.”
There will be more from Dr. Wiersbe, Lord willing, in our
next SD.
Our quotation from “Love in
Action” comes from Acts 4:34-37:
Nor was there anyone
among them who lacked; for
all who were possessors of lands
and houses sold them, and brought
the proceeds of the things that were
sold,
and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they
distributed to each as anyone had
need. And Joses,
who was also named Barnabas by the
apostles (which
is translated Son of Encouragement), a
Levite
of the country of Cyprus, having land,
sold it, and brought the money
and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
10/22/2019 12:22 PM
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