Leviticus Chapter 26

This chapter tells about two opposing lifestyles for Israel and for the child of God, obedience and disobedience. First the Lord gives two statutes that exemplify a relationship with Him. Verses 1-2 read,

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.”

We know looking at Israel’s history that they couldn’t and wouldn’t stop worshipping false gods. They made idols every chance they got. Even at Mt. Sinai they made a golden calf. Even then when The Lord was so obviously present with them and doing miracles for their redemption. We also know that Israel turned the Sabbath from a celebration of rest and peace with God into a ritualistic job. They put a huge amount of effort into keeping His rest. That was never the intention of the Sabbath.

Both of those laws were about keeping the Lord first in their hearts, communing with the Almighty in love and fellowship. But they missed the boat. How many of us missed it?

Next The Lord told them how obedience would lead to blessings. He is referring to Israel and today to Believers. He doesn’t expect the gentile or the lost to obey Him, because they don’t know Him or His proclamations. Verses 3-5 read,

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.”

He gives His obedient children everything we need and more. He makes sure we have plenty. He gives His compliant children peace and security. We let Him deal with those who would hurt us and with the enemy. That isn’t our concern. Our enemy will be afraid of us because The Lord of Angel Armies fights for us. Verses 6-8 say it this way,

“I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. 7 You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

His security goes beyond fighting the enemy for us. It is in the fruit of our wombs, the fruit of the land, and the fruit of The Spirit. Obedience is possible because of faith and faith is fortified by obedience. Obedience, faith, and peace form an unending circle as each strengthens each.  The Lord gave us freedom, not so we could be enslaved by the law, but so we could freely worship and adore Him and so we could unreservedly fellowship with Him. Verses 9-13 read,

“I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”

Believer, is your relationship with the Lord like that? He wants you to know Him intimately. If your faith is too small to let you obey Him, is your fear is too great to let you give yourself wholly to Him, He will do what He must to bring you into that complete and lovely dependence on Him. His discipline is for your benefit. Verses 14-17 describe it like this,

“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.”

With each disciplinary action He allows, He gives the opportunity for us to turn to Him and repent. And each time we refuse to give up our pride and submit to Him the correction becomes more severe. If we choose not to trust in His provision and instead toil away for ourselves, He allows it. But without Him our laboring comes up empty. If we choose to fight our enemy ourselves, He permits it, but without Him our fight is futile and our hearts are filled with fear.

If we keep walking against Him, He will allow others to come in and fight us, harm us, and dominate us. How many times was Israel sent into captivity when they disobeyed? He will do what He must to restore us into a relationship with Him. Verses 21-22 read,

“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.”

If we choose to walk without Him, He will let us go the road alone sweating and striving to meet our needs and fighting our own battles. Not because He doesn’t love us, but because He does and He will not force Himself on us. He takes His hands off our lives in those desperate times so we will turn back to Him. But He never spurns us, He never forsakes us. Verses 27-28 say,

“But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.”

God doesn’t send discipline to us for no reason. He loves us deeply. He wants a friendship with us. He wants a union with us that is so profound that we have His nature and His heart and that we bear His image. All we ever have to do is turn to Him with repentant submissive hearts and He restores us to His intimacy. He prefers to be our tender loving Father instead of our wrathful God. Verses 40-42 read,

“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, 41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”

Verses 45-46 read,

“But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.”

46 These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.”

Are you being disciplined? Is the Lord calling back to obedience? Examine your heart. Is it beginning to harden against your adoring Father? Is your neck too stiff to turn to your loving Lord? Let His discipline break your pride. Find your faith and use it to bow to The Lord God Almighty.

Ezekiel Chapter 19

This chapter is a prophetic poem of lamentation about Israel. A lamentation is an expression of deep sorrow. We are meant to learn from the suffering God allows us. We should grieve when we miss the chance to embrace the suffering and grow, transform, and glorify God.

God compared Israel to a lioness and her princes as lion cubs. A lioness is all about survival for her and for her cubs. She raises her cubs not to be noble but to be vicious. Lions must constantly fight in order to subsist. In the wild, they rarely live longer than ten years, about half what they live in captivity. There is normally one lead male, several related female, her offspring, and a few males in a pride.

Israel had once been special, separate from other nations, but now the royal family was as tyrannical as the royalty of other nations. The kings of Israel no longer followed God as their true king but sought to conquer, become rich, and rule with the sovereignty meant for the Lord. Verses 1-4 read,

“What was your mother? A lioness!
    Among lions she crouched;
in the midst of young lions
    she reared her cubs.
3 And she brought up one of her cubs;
    he became a young lion,
and he learned to catch prey;
    he devoured men.
4 The nations heard about him;
    he was caught in their pit,
and they brought him with hooks
    to the land of Egypt.”

God allowed the king to be taken. Instead of learning or seeking God through the tragedy Israel raised up another king. This one was worse than the one before him. He too was taken away. Israel remained stubborn. She refused to see her wars, exile, and captivity as an opportunity to depend on and glorify the Lord. Instead she kept doing things her own way. The Lord removed one king, she replaced him with a worse one.

Do we do that? The Lord removes something from our lives and rather than thank the Lord and lean on Him through the struggle, we replace it. The Lord closes a door and we go looking for a window, when instead we could examine the place we find ourselves learn from the experience. We seek to end our pain as quickly as possible instead of grow from it. We choose to ignore the sins and bad choices we made and then make more bad choices to change our situation instead of lamenting those choices and repenting.

The Lord compared Israel to a vine planted by Him in a fertile vineyard. Verse 10-11 read,

“Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard
    planted by the water,
fruitful and full of branches
    by reason of abundant water.
11 Its strong stems became
    rulers' scepters;
it towered aloft
    among the thick boughs;
it was seen in its height
    with the mass of its branches.”

 

Can you imagine that vine, how beautiful it was? But it became so strong and large that it forgot it was God who planted it, and God who provided the rich soil, plentiful water, sunlight, and breeze which allowed it to grow. It took credit for its own height, beauty, strength and fruit.

How many of us have been guilty of the same crime? God gave me a beautiful smile. People used to tell me all the time. Even when I was nearly 400 pounds, people told me my smile was beautiful enough to make me beautiful. I took pride in it. I depended on it. But God took it away from me, so that I could depend on Him again. He didn’t allow me to let my smile work for me. I had to let His strength and beauty shine through me. I had to do the works He gave me with a repulsively ugly mouth of rotten and missing teeth. So rather than let people thank me, be charmed by me, and exalt me, they could see God’s loveliness instead of mine.

Israel had become a great vine but forgot the Lord the vinedresser had everything to do with their success. So the Lord plucked it up out of its vineyard. Verses 12-14 read,

“But the vine was plucked up in fury,
    cast down to the ground;
the east wind dried up its fruit;
    they were stripped off and withered.
As for its strong stem,
    fire consumed it.
13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
    in a dry and thirsty land.
14 And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots,
    has consumed its fruit,
so that there remains in it no strong stem,
    no scepter for ruling.

This is a lamentation and has become a lamentation.”

We need God. Without God our gifts are worthless, the fruit we produce has no purpose, and the growth we experience is in the wrong direction. (A vine in the desert would grow across the floor rather than up toward the sky). Whatever gifts, talents, and attributes we have are because the Lord gave them to us. He gave them to us for a good reason. Not so we could exalt ourselves, but so we could exalt Him. Our gifts and works are not so you can be saved since we are saved by grace, but so that others can be saved as they see Jesus emulated in us.

Ephesians 2:8-10 says,

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ezekiel Chapter 4

In the fourth chapter of Ezekiel The Lord told Ezekiel to do some things that would represent the siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army and the resulting famine, the continued years of captivity. God told the prophet to take a brick and engrave Jerusalem upon it. He was then using the brick to represent the city to build a representation of a siege against her.

Even in captivity the Israelites were very prideful people. They still thought God would not let anything happen to Jerusalem. So God used Ezekiel to show them this was not the case. And The Lord had Ezekiel do more. He had him lie on his left side for 390 days to equal the number of years Israel would be punished. After the 390 days. Ezekiel would reposition himself to the right side and bear the punishment of Judah for 40 days to represent the number of years Judah would be punished. While there the Lord had him bound, unable to move and he would prophesy against the city.

During the Chaldean siege on Jerusalem which itself lasted about 390 days, Jerusalem suffered a terrible famine. They would have a terrible time getting both food and fuel during that time with the Chaldean army encamped all around the city not letting anything in or anyone out. The Lord told Ezekiel that during the 390 days of lying on his side, he would eat and drink only specific food and only specific amounts of it to represent the desperation of the people during the forced famine. Verses 9-13 describe it.

“And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it. 10 And your food that you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from day to day you shall eat it.11 And water you shall drink by measure, the sixth part of a hin; from day to day you shall drink. 12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.” 13 And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”

Ezekiel listened to each part of this and had to be thinking this was not going to be a good time. Set up a model of an army attacking a city, check. Lay outside unable to move for 14 months, check. Eat bread that is worse than the beggars eat, with only the smallest bit of water and pretend to like it, check. Cook it over human poop… Ezekiel put on the brakes. He said, “Whoa! Lord God, I’ve never defiled myself before, never.” So God answered his servant and conceded that he could use cow dung instead of human for cooking his bread.

Ezekiel was willing to handle the terrible circumstances of everything else, but when it came to what he saw as a sin, eating food cooked in such a dirty manner he couldn’t stomach the idea. He didn’t want to put anything unclean into his mouth. Now of course, if God tells us to do something it is good, and we know today it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but what comes out of it. (Matthew 15:11). But Ezekiel only knew that he had lived a clean life and the idea of such defilement, the thought of sinning so grievously against The Lord was too much. But God was gracious to him and allowed Ezekiel to use cow dung instead.

God loves us deeply. He knows us perfectly. He knew Ezekiel too. He understood Ezekiel wasn’t complaining to complain. He truly couldn’t stand the idea of being unclean in God’s sight. He was willing to do as God asked him even though it would be horrible. But when it came to something that Ezekiel saw as a sin, he questioned God. And God was okay with it. He didn’t throw a lightning bolt at the prophet for his request. He said, ‘okay, I don’t want you to feel like you are hurting me and I don’t want the observers to believe you are unclean.’

If God asks you to do something and it goes against what you think is decent, you are allowed to say, ‘But God, this will hurt me.’ Maybe you feel drinking is very dangerous for your soul. And God has said, ‘Go into that bar and speak to the man playing pool.’ And as with Ezekiel, He may say, ‘Okay precious child, instead of going into that bar, you may go to the restaurant and I’ll send the man in there.’ But maybe as with Peter in Acts chapter 10, the Lord may say, ‘Do what I’ve said, if I said it is clean, it is.’

God is really cool like that. He knows you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows what you are capable of. He knows your gifts. He knows your flaws and weaknesses. He loves you. He loves you completely. If God tells you to do something, don’t you imagine, He’ll be with you through it?

He was with Ezekiel through the entire ordeal of laying on his side next to the model siege. It was uncomfortable, and I imagine painful. Ezekiel probably lost weight and more. But God was with him. The stubborn captive Israelites could look at him and think he was looney. But the self-righteous and sanctimonious among the onlookers couldn’t say, ‘Ezekiel is unclean and can’t be from the Lord.’

God not only knows you, He knows your audience. He will never ask you to sin. He will never ask you to cause someone else to sin. He will ask you to step out of your comfort zone though. He will ask you to trust Him and lean on Him.

John Chapter 8 Verses 31-59

Jesus was still teaching and He was saying some profound things. Some of the crowd believed Him. Immediately Jesus said some things that would stretch their new faith and test its validity. Verses 31-32 read,

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The people who still refused to believe Jesus, including the Pharisees thought He was talking nonsense and they kept trying to trip Him up. They were incredulous.  The said, “We’ve never been slaves! How can we be set free?”

Jesus answered, always keeping in mind that some in the crowd believed and some were listening with open and inquiring minds. He didn’t point to the Romans guards and ask the listeners to again claim they were not slaves. He didn’t remind them of their years in Egypt or Babylon. He pointed them back to the true matter. Verses 34-36 read,

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

These words included the Believers in a wonderful promise, they moved from slavery to sin to becoming sons with Jesus. Now, Jesus not only told them God was His Father, but theirs as well. But He continued and His next words for the skeptical and narrow minded in the crowd. Verses 37-38 say,

“37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

The Jews answered Jesus with the self-importance that often covers up sinfulness. Verses 39-40 read,

“They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.”

Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy. ‘You claim to be children of Abraham but you don’t do what He did, you don’t have faith and you don’t obey God. You are looking for any reason to have me killed.’ But Jesus wasn’t finished. He wasn’t going to leave it, He identified their father as the devil. He told them they were behaving like the devil not Abraham. He told them the reason they couldn’t believe the truth was because they were followers and slaves to the devil. His character was revealed in them. Verses 42-46 read,

“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

You either seek the truth or you seek an answer that placates you. If you want that easy answer you will believe the lies that are so prevalent. Satan makes them plentiful. He desire is to keep you away from Jesus. God’s desire is to glorify Jesus so that you will come to a relationship with Him. If you are not following Jesus, you are following the devil and you are in cahoots with him and his schemes.

That either infuriates you and makes you call me a hater and any other names you can think of, or it makes you reflect on your spirit and consider that you need Jesus. It made crowd made them grow even angrier. They didn’t want their sin exposed. Rather than recognize it and repent as people who truly wanted to please God would have done, they resorted to name calling. Verse 48 reads,

“The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

Jesus didn’t respond with defensive words or anger. He used their words to prove His point that they were not seeking to please and glorify God. He also continued teaching for those in the crowd that were willing to hear the truth. Verses 49-51 read,

“Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Those were hard words and the new believers would either hear them and their fragile faith would be strengthened as they sought to understand or broken as they joined the mocking crowd.

The crowd continued to accuse Jesus of being demon possessed and asked Him who He thought He was. His answer was revolutionary and it would make people make a choice right then and there. Verse 58 reads,

“Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Jesus had just said He was God Jehovah. There was nothing veiled or vague about the statement. The people picked up stones to kill Jesus but Jesus made Himself hidden and left the temple.

It may seem harsh to say that a person either follows Jesus or Satan, but it is the truth.  Your life either exalts Jesus or something else. Every else serves to keep people away from the truth, freedom and a relationship with God. Only Jesus can bring salvation. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. Everything else is satanic.

It might look good, even beautiful. The father of lies is great at making everything else seem appealing while sullying Christ. Do you seek the truth or do you seek answers to placate your curiosity? The truth doesn’t always make us feel good. The truth is we’ve fallen short, we are flawed, and we are sinners. But the rest of the truth is that Jesus forgives, saves, and makes us complete.

You have an enemy. Whether you are a follow of Christ or not you have an enemy, but if you are a follower you are in the war against him and his minions. Paul wraps up his letter with some powerful and meaty teaching about it. Verses 10-12 read,

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Paul tells us to be strong, not in our own strength, talent, or wisdom, but in the Lord. We re exhorted to be strong in the Lord. But what does that mean? Remember this, who you are in Christ is different than who you were outside of Him. He gave you gifts. He has trained you, grown you, and moved you through trials. Exercise the faith, wisdom and discernment He gave you and use the gifts He endowed to you. Walk with God, remembering He is alongside you, within you, and you are in Him.

The next verse tells us further how to be strong in the Lord, we are to put on the whole armor of God. It is a choice to use all the gifts and tools we have been equipped with or to let them rust with inactivity. We are all in the battle, but we have a choice in regards to fighting or cowering, and to fight well or poorly.

This isn’t just any fight. We’re not fighting the lost people. They have the same enemy we do, they just don’t know he’s their enemy. It is important to remember that our enemies are not men and women. The lost the prisoners of war. Our enemy is Satan and his underlings the demons who infiltrate, do his bidding, and put the chains on those prisoners. They fight to keep you weak. They fight to keep you ineffective. They do whatever they can to stop you from breaking the POWs out of their prisons and to ensure the captives have no idea they are bound.

But know that you have nothing to fear from Satan much less his demons. You are not called to cower or recoil. You are called to be strong in the Lord and put on His protection. Paul says in verse 13,

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

If we put on all of God’s protection we will withstand and if we use His strength to be active in the war, we will stand firm. We will remain effective fighting warriors allowing Jesus to set the captives free. Let’s take a brief look at the armor we are to wear. And don’t worry it isn’t cumbersome, every piece helps us to stand and fight.

Verse 14,

“Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,”

The belt of truth is the first piece of armor. The belt held up the soldiers’ tunic allowing him to run and move freely. The truth does that for us. John 8:44 describes Satan as a liar and murderer,

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Satan can only lie. And he lies well. He can make lies sound truthful, good, and beautiful. His lies can trip us up, keep us from believing we can fight, leave us tangled in the web of deceit unable to join in the battle. When we know the truth, we don’t have to second guess and trip over the lies that scoundrel tells. We don’t even have to listen to them!

One lie he likes to tell you is that we are not worthy to fight with Jesus, that you are too sinful to dare fight in the Lord’s army. But he’s wrong. The next piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate protected the soldier’s vital organs and kept him alive and able to use his weapons for fighting instead of trying to constantly protect his life. You do not have your own righteousness. But you do have Jesus’ righteousness. Romans 4:22-24 read,

“That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

We were credited with Jesus’ righteousness, not because of any work, not because we fight in the war, not because we pleased God but because we had faith, believed and live with Jesus as our Lord. Jesus’ righteousness gives us eternal life. Our heart is new, it is the temple of God and it is protected. The enemy can’t have our heart. It belongs to God.

Does it bring you joy and excitement to think about your salvation? It does me. Being saved, I want the POWs to be saved as well. And freeing the captives is one of our most important missions. So our next piece of armor is used for that assignment. Verse 15 reads,

“and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”

You need shoes to walk well and far. Walking barefoot eventually your feet become bruised and painful, causing you to limp. Your feet need shoes to allow you to keep walking with God rather than limping along. Knowing the truth of the gospel, what you believe and why you believe it keeps you walking rather than limping.

Your feet are fitted with the readiness. What does that mean? 1 Peter 3:15 says,

“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

You have to know what you believe and why you believe it. You have to keep Christ honored as your Lord. Your life should show that you belong to Jesus and cause people to ask about the hope, the difference they see in you. You should be able to answer them. You should be able to point them to Jesus, to the Gospel.

The lost have no idea they can have peace with God. They don’t know that God wants to reconcile with them, heal their wounds, and give them freedom and rest. It is our mission as operatives to tell them. We can’t tell them by standing still, we have to go and on order to go, we have to move our feet and travel to them.  Romans 10:13-15 read,

“For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Verse 16 reads,

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;”

The shield allowed the soldier to stop weapons from hitting him. He kept it on him always and used it to stop the blows that might have injured him, weakened him and stopped him from being useful in the battle. Our shield is our faith. Faith means you know who God is. We trust completely in His power and strength. We believe He is our Savior, Creator, and the whole world and everything in it is His.

The enemy shoots a fiery arrow your way, but faith in God keeps it from touching you. 1 John 5:4-5 reads,

“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

We know how the war ends. God wins, we win! We are already victorious and we keep fighting to complete our mission to free the captives with the gospel of peace. So as hard as the enemy wants to try and hurt us, he can’t. Keep the faith in all circumstances. All the arrows the devil throws our way bounce off the shield of faith and don’t even singe us. Satan can’t even get close to us, he has to fling arrows and hope we are not holding up our faith in order to hurt us. He only has the power to hurt us, if we let him.

Verse 17 reads,

“and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”

The helmet is the most important part of our protection. The breastplate covers the heart and lungs, but the helmet protects the brain. The brain is the control center for our entire body. It coordinates everything in order for us to live.

We can’t be in the Lord’s army unless we have Jesus’ Salvation. That salvation is what directs the faith, gospel, righteousness and truth to work together for our victory. Without salvation we can’t have faith. We can’t reconcile people to god, if we are not reconciled to Him. We have no righteousness without salvation. We do not know the truth.

The next part of our armor is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. The sword is the weapon of our armor. It takes training to use a sword well. It requires up close combat to use a sword. Unlike the enemy who fling mendacious arrows at us from a safe distance, we are fully involved with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

The Spirit is powerful and He is Truth. When we read the word, He reveals it to us and helps us to understand it. He brings it back to us when we need to hear it. He speaks to us and guides us through every circumstance. But to use the sword well, we must be trained in it. He can’t remind us what He has said, if we never read it or listened to Him. We won’t even recognize His voice if we don’t spend time with Him.

The Word of God is powerful if we use it properly. Remember our mission is to free the captives and reconcile them to God. We have to get in there and use the sword as it was meant to be used. Remember just how powerful the Spirit is. He raised Christ from the dead. He brings people to their knees. He can and does do more than we imagine. He speaks to God for us when we don’t know how.

The word of God is a weapon more powerful than we realize Hebrews 4:12 describes it like this,

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

In Jeremiah 23:29 God describes His word.

“Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”

That is an amazing weapon. What good is it laying by your side? Pick it up, handle it, and use it. The truth of the Gospel is in the Word. The Love of God in the Word. Read it, hear it, speak it and do it.

One of the ways we use the sword of the Spirit is through prayer. Yes! Prayer is wielding the sword of the Spirit. Speaking to the Lord and hearing His Word and doing His Word through obedience makes a difference. Verses 18-20 read,

“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

When we pray we are actively exercising the powerful weapon we’ve been given. Asking the Lord to help us and help others, strengthens us, encourages us, equips us, and unites us. Paul ends this letter with verses 23-24.

“Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.”

Love incorruptible. Nothing can sully God’s love, nothing can damage or rust it. The armor of God, like God is incorruptible. Have faith in Everlasting Awesome God. Be strong.

Read Isaiah Chapter 61 Verses 1-2

Sometimes when a Bible passage is very familiar, longtime Christians will read over it quickly without looking deeper into it. That can mean missing something God is saying. Isaiah 61 begins with a passage that is well-known because it is one that Jesus quoted a portion of in Luke 4:18-19 as He began His ministry. He told the people in the synagogue at Nazareth that that very day the scripture had been fulfilled. But Jesus was not only not accepted in the place where He had grown up, He was kicked out of town.

Let’s not miss the message. Let’s not miss the healing, encouragement or salvation the way the people of Nazareth did and dismiss our Savior. Let’s dig in. Verses 1-2 read,

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;”

We know this is about Jesus, because He said so Himself. He quoted it but stopped as He got to “and the day of vengeance…” He stopped there because that part of the prophecy was not yet fulfilled by Him. That part is coming when He returns. The day of vengeance will send the enemy and all of his followers into hell, destroy the earth and everything and everyone on it, and make a New Heaven and a New Earth. But let’s step back a moment and look at the rest of it.

The Spirit of the Lord God, The Holy Spirit was on Jesus from the time of His Baptism until death on the cross. Now The Holy Spirit is given freely to every Believer. He comes into us, fills us, guides us, comforts us, transforms us and gifts us. Just as Jesus was anointed or chosen, set aside, and made holy for His ministry on earth we are too. He was not anointed with oil to make Him sacred, He was anointed with God Himself, the Spirit of the Lord.

Believer, you are anointed with the Spirit and by the Spirit as well. You were given gifts and talents. You were given people and circumstances in your life. You were made to serve God in a beautiful and specific way that no one else on this Earth was made like. He consecrated you. He made you righteous. Not so you could sit back and think about your goodness or even God’s goodness, but so you could go out and bring good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, and proclaim liberty to the captives.

Jesus didn’t live die and rise from death so you could have a monthly breakfast with your Sunday school class and invite the lost to the latest Kirk Cameron movie. There is nothing wrong with either of those things, but He made you for more!

There are people out there lost and dying and they have no idea. You can tell them the wonderful news that they do not have to wander aimlessly anymore. There are despairing dejected people out there that think there is no such thing as real love. You can show them Love is real, you can let Jesus heal them and bring them joy. There are people in slavery to sin, following the prince of this world and they don’t know how to take the shackles off. Some people think they are in chains when the truth is, they are free but afraid to step out of their prison and into the freedom Jesus gave them. You can declare to those in slavery whether imagined or real that Salvation is theirs. You can open the prison doors and let them know that Jesus wants to be their King and Lord and His freedom is perfect. Jesus did these things while He was on earth. He does them now through you because He gave you His awesome Spirit. One day He is coming back and He will declare His favor over you and all those who are sealed with the Holy Spirit. He will finish the war against the prince of this world and then you will be comforted forever. Your reward will be complete.

Jesus made it possible for you to live the life He made for you. The Holy Spirit is in you! His power, His love, His wisdom, and His peace are in you. You can live a life that brings good news, heals, and liberates.

Read Isaiah Chapter 52

God adores you. He created you. He loves you. He wants you to be free. He wants to bless you and care for you. But the coolest thing is, He wants to be friends with you. He wants you to know Him the way He knows you. He wants you to enjoy Him. He thinks about you all the time. He has so much He wants to give you, but if you are choosing to serve something or someone else, He will let you. He will allow you to be in bondage to whatever it is you are choosing over Him.

Many people don’t even know they are in bondage. I’d say most people lie to themselves and pretend that they are not serving money, or power, or popularity. But their lives are dedicated to those things. Their lives are all about making things better, becoming richer, admired, and influential. People think if there is no obvious addiction then there is no slavery. You do not have to be an alcoholic or junkie to be bound to sin. Often captivity doesn’t appear as slavery. But if you serve yourself and the cravings of your inner being, you are in slavery. You think you serve yourself. You’re wrong. You serve Satan.

It is time for you to be free. It is time for you to let God break every chain you have holding you to sin. You do not have to serve sin anymore. God is here. He wants to free you from whatever it is that rules over you. Is it desire for power, or money, or love? You don’t even know how or why that thing has so much power over you, but somehow it does. But God made a way to free you. He paid the price for you. He will emancipate you from servitude to yourself, your lusts, and your addictions and set you free to become who He made you to be.

How? You choose Jesus over everything else. You realize it is only Him that can liberate you. Did you know God is not up in Heaven looking down at you with disgust? He looks at you with love. He hates the lies that have kept you from Him. He hates the chains that bind you. He loves you and He wants to break those chains. Not everyone is willing to let Him. It is more comfortable for some people to remain in prison that to be released and face a new world without the security of the warden ordering their lives. He is calling you with tender love, not shouting at you with repulsion. His promise is good news, joyous, and worth celebrating. He is calling you to peace with Him. He is calling you into His rest. Verses 7-8 read,

“How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
    together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
    the return of the Lord to Zion.”

Jesus wants to set you free. All you have to do is ask Him to do it. Everything that stood between you and God will be broken or moved. If you choose to serve God instead of yourself, you’ll find a freedom you never knew could exist. Rather than spend your time making sure your bank account can provide for you through age 84, you will spend your time getting to know the Great and Mighty God and realize His promises to sustain you are more concrete, more sure than all the money in the world.

So choose Jesus, ask Him now to be your Lord and King. Tell Him you choose Him over the world. And I assure you He will take care of you. He will be more than you ever imagined. He will release you from the things you thought you needed. Verse 12 says,

“For you shall not go out in haste,
    and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
    and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.”

You don’t have to worry. God, who created the entire universe, who delivered Israel from Egypt, who fought wars for them, who came to earth for you, lived for you, died for you, and raised from the dead for you will take care of you.

Verses 13-15 describe the world’s reaction to Jesus.

“Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
    he shall be high and lifted up,
    and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you--
    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind--
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations;
    kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
    and that which they have not heard they understand.”

They tried to destroy Jesus. They beat Him beyond recognition. He was tortured so badly he didn’t even look human anymore. But He overcame death. He rose from the dead and in doing that He made the way to buy you from the masters you serve now to become His. People don’t get it, they don’t understand. But one day they will. You can choose Him now. You can be free now and forever. Is it time to stop sweating under the strain of trying to be who you think the world wants you to be and be who you were created to be?

Ask Jesus to be your King and your Friend. Tell Him you are done chasing your yearnings and you choose Freedom, Love, and Righteousness.