The Complete Suit of Armor part 1

To begin this series we looked at James 2:26 and discussed what it means when it says that faith without works is dead. It meant that you can have dead faith. Works are not the key to salvation, they are the proof of salvation. If we have the Holy Spirit filling us, we will live our lives differently. How we are to live our lives was then discussed in the second part of this series by looking at the Beatitudes, found in Matthew 5:3-12.

According to the beatitudes we are to be meek, righteous, pure of heart, and persecuted to name just a few. How are we to do this? How can we apply the beatitudes in this evil world we live in? Most of these are attributes the world despises, uses and abuses. They may make us look weak, cause us to not fit in or simply seem impossible to us because of the influence of the world. To live as Jesus told us to live goes against the normal, and is attacked by those around us at every turn. How do we do it?

It sounds like we are at war. We are! We are at war with the standards, ethics, morals and values of this culture. When you go to war, you need to be prepared. In order to be prepared, there are things we need in order to successfully battle the ways of this world and live our lives with a higher purpose. Our needs are summed up in Ephesians 6:10-18:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people"

So, first and foremost we are to rely on God and the power of the Holy Spirit He has provided us with. He has provided us with various gifts that will allow us to stand up to Satan. Here we are told that we are struggling with spiritual forces. We cannot defeat those of the spiritual realm with tangible weapons and muscles. No matter the amount of muscles we have and the hours we put into self-defense training or the guns we have and the amount of time we put in at the firing range we will never be able to defeat the devil. We cannot use physical things to defeat spiritual ones.

In order to defeat spiritual attacks we have been given spiritual gifts to use. We are given spiritual armor and a spiritual weapon then told to use it. We are not told to apply some of it, but instead to don the full armor of God so that when temptation comes we are able to withstand it. If we put this armor on Paul said that not only would we stand our ground and overcome temptations, but that at the end of all that the world and the devil have to throw at us we will still be standing tall for Jesus.

Next time we will look at what each individual piece of armor represents in The Complete Suit of Armor part 2.



Cursing is the Coolest!!

The Bible says that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). In Colossians 4:5 we are told to "be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity." So it is obvious that how we treat others and what we do are very important. I agree with this whole-heartedly. Yet there are many professing to be Christians who may have the works and actions, but the way they speak is horrible. Unlike some, God sees EVERYTHING you do and hears EVERYTHING you say!


Colossians 4:6 says, "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 3:8 says that we, "must put away obscene talk from your mouth." Matthew 15:10-11 says that it is not what goes in our mouths but what comes out that defiles us, Ephesians 5:4 tells us there is to be no filthiness or crude talking while James 3:10 tells us that blessing and cursing should not come from the same mouth because that defiles the person.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 12:36-37 that we will have to give account for every empty word we have spoken and that by our words we will be acquitted and by our words we will be condemned. It sounds like our words are of the utmost importance, yet I continue to hear sentences I should never hear.

"I got my (insert other word for butt) baptised on Sunday," "I love church. That (insert the S word for feces) is the bomb" and "I'm a GD Christian" are all sentences that I have heard in the last week at work. When the F-bomb and Christ are used in the same sentence by someone professing to be Christian..........Houston, we have a problem!

So what is the cure?

1. Pray for forgiveness of past cursing and that your words be anointed each and every day
2. Be vigilant of the music you listen to and the movies/television shows you watch
3. Take time to be in the company of people who build you up and are positive
4. Get an accountability partner and use their support to help you

Honestly, I wish that we would stop sounding and acting like the rest of the world. No offense to anyone, but why would they want to check us out if we are exactly the same as they are? There are several problems.

1. We don't spend daily time praying and reading the Bible.
2. We don't feel that what was said 2,000 years ago applies today.
3. We want so badly to be accepted and fit in with everyone else. Remember: IN IT NOT OF IT!

So how do we combat social norms? By not conforming to them, by being salt and light. We are not sent here to judge the world, but to build up our brothers and build up our own faith. Here is how I have done that:

I do not hate on people when they curse. After all, a lot of my clients speak like the F-bomb is the only word they know. I rarely mention it to my clients unless it is gratitious and we are in group, yet they have made changes in the way they speak. As they have seen that I do not curse I have gained their respect. They curse less around me and often apologize to me if they do. Never forget the impact we can have on those around us by not only our actions but also by our words!

What Are Works AKA The Beatitudes

Last week we looked at James 2:26 where James says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." This is in direct conflict with Paul, who in Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it it the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." We decided that both of these scriptures were valid because works are not the CAUSE of salvation, but the EVIDENCE of salvation. With that in mind, we ended by asking, "What are works?"

For starters, let's drop the word works and replace it with evidence of salvation. The evidence of salvation can be summarized by Jesus in Matthew 5:3-12:

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely

say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad,

because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they 

persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So what do all of those verses mean? In verse 3 Jesus says blessed are the poor in spirit. This is simply a way to say humble. Humility is realizing that everything you have and everything you are is no more than gifts from God. We have been blessed by Grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We should be open to doing the will of God and not our own will. Maybe Obama was on to something when he said, "If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own." At least, that is what Jesus is saying in verse 3. Those who realize that their life is no more than a gift from God will be given the kingdom of heaven. 

In verse 4, those who mourn refers to those who appreciate the gift of life and the sacrifice Christ made on their behalf and due to that abhor the sin they see in themselves and in the world around them. It says that those who mourn will be comforted, and that is why God has sent the Holy Spirit, to help console us and guide is. 

In verse 5, the meek are those of us who submit our will to God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. It is those of us who are kind and show love to thosewe encounter, even in the face of adversity. Those who hunger in verse 6 are those who truly try to live our lives as Christ did. We hunger for the Spirit, and if we ask we shall be filled with the Spirit. 

In verse 7 Jesus mentions the merciful, who are those that show others compassion, love and forgiveness. Those who show mercy to others will be shown mercy by God. IF we forgive others of their trespasses as mentioned in the Lord's Prayer, then our sins too shall be forgiven. The pure of heart mentioned in verse 8 are those who act purely for the benefit of those around them with no selfish intent. Being altruistic is what we should be striving for. 

Verse 9 says blessed are the peacemakers, which are those of us who live our lives at peace with others. More than that, it is those of us who also try to create peace, friendship and goodwill  in the lives of others as well. 

In verses 10-12, Jesus looks at those who are persecuted because of their righteousness. This is not only those who are physically attacked by others because of their faith. It is also those who are ostracized by those around them because they are different. It is the kid who is made fun of for not drinking, for not joining in the ridiculing of another student or for being a virgin. It is the employee who is not invited into the conversation because they refuse to gossip about other coworkers or is not invited out after work because they don't drink, smoke and/or laugh at the raunchy jokes. 

Too many Christians try to blend in and fly under the radar. We read the same dirty books and watch the same movies. We see nothing wrong with reading 50 Shades of Grey or watching soft core pornography. We listen to the same music as those around us. These are movies, television shows and music that glorifies: pre-marital sex, drugs, drinking, partying, anger, gossip, adultery, hate, hustling and committing crimes. We take in the same garbage that those around us take in. Remember, garbage in garbage out. If we feed on sin through our senses, then sin is sure to come out in our speech and actions!

Jesus says in John 15 that they will hate us as they hated him, yet all we do is try not to offend those around us by showing we are different.  Jesus has let us know that if we live our lives timid in faith, that our faith is dead. If we are embarrassed of Him, He will be embarrassed by us. If we try to blend in with the rest of the world, then we will gain the same gift as the rest of the world. Don't kid yourself, Matthew 7:14 says that "Narrow is the path" to will lead us to salvation. If we continue to live our lives as the world around us, we are sure to gain the same eternity that they will. 

I beg you, choose life! This is done by applying the beatitudes in our lives. This can be a difficult and seemingly impossible task. After all, Satan attacks us at every corner. In order to live our lives well and try to live the beatitudes, we need to equip ourselves to be successful. This can be done by donning the armor of God, which we will talk about next week. 

BLiR VLog From 09/16/2012-09/22/2012

09/16 Greatest Trick the Devil Ever Pulled

09/17 The Bigger Picture AKA The Sistine Chapel

09/18 People Who Matter Don't Judge, People Who Judge Don't Matter

09/19 The New Golden Rule

09/20 Faith Without Works is Dead

09/21 Will I Die Before They Are Grown

09/22 My Passion May Not Be Your Passion

Faith Without Works is Dead

In James 2:26 James says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead." A lot of people wonder what does that mean. After all, in Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it it the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." So how can both of these scriptures be valid?

We need to look at what James 2:26 is really saying, so let's break it down. If we are alive physically, there are obvious signs. We have brain activity, our heart beats, we take in oxygen. Those are signs that we are alive. If we are physically dead, then those things and many others do not occur. The same can be said about our faith. If we are alive spiritually, there should be obvious signs also. We will live our lives differently than if we are dead spiritually.

If our faith is alive, then we will see positive manifestations. We will live our lives Christ-like. Will we make mistakes? Of course, it is all about progress not perfection. That said, the way we live our lives will be different than it was before we came to Christ. If we are living our lives exactly the same as before we came to Christ, than we are spiritually dead.

Paul is not saying that works are the CAUSE of salvation, but that works are the EVIDENCE of salvation. When we are saved we live our lives differently. It is not enough to simply go to church, know that Christ was resurrected, and spout scripture. We need a different yard stick than those, and there are some pretty good reasons why.

For starters, sitting in church no more makes you a Christian than me standing in my garage makes me a car. Secondly, Satan and his minions know that Jesus was resurrected. Finally, the Devil has been known to quote scripture. Like I said, those are things that don't signify a Christian. Atheists donate large sums of money to worthy causes, so tithing is out. I have seen secular singers raise their hands in the air while singing, so I feel even worship is out. These are all pieces of the puzzle, but we need to be whole?

That said, what makes us whole? We are told in Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." How are we to do this?

WALK THE WALK!!! Don't just pay lip service to Christ. Be a Christian inside and outside of church. Guard your tongue, be mindful of what you watch on television and at movie theaters, be careful of the things you listen to and read. Remember GIGO, garbage in garbage out. If we take in garbage, it is sure to come out of our mouths and in our actions. Don't just talk about it, be about it!

Next week we will look at the beatitudes and how they can guide our lives so that we can learn to walk as Christians in our daily lives.