Welcome!
Date: Thursday, November 11, 2010
Today: Peace through war, life through death
Passage: 2 Tim 2: 3-4 NIV
3 Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
Many people call themselves Christians; but there are bad Christians and there are good Christians, just like there are bad soldiers and good soldiers
Today is veteran’s day in the U.S- remembering the men and women who sacrificed their lives in the course of serving their country
The Bible was and is never against anyone serving in the military
This may bring some questions; is it O.K to kill others, as a soldier?
The answer is not easy; but whatever job we are doing, we need to be committed to that.
At the same time, if a Christian is working in a job that is totally against the principles of the Bible, he/she better find a different job, as soon as possible
I know people who had well-paying jobs but quit it, because they were doing something that promoted sinful things, through their job-like selling liquor etc.
Apostle Paul takes a good soldier as an example for us
A good soldier is totally committed to his/her calling
Soldiers need to obey orders; but bad soldiers might do more than just obey orders. They might misuse their authority and do things which they are not supposed to do!
As a Christian, you and I have a common enemy; his name is satan
Even the very soldiers fighting in a war are not fighting with the people of another nation; they are to spare the lives of civilians- as far as they can
The fight is against the principalities-the rulers-the powers
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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.(Eph 6: 11-12, NIV)
Unless we know our enemy, we cannot win the fight
The moment a Christian looks at another person as their enemy, they start to loose the fight against satan
Just as we know our God, we must be aware of satan, his strategies and his modus operandi (method of operation)
We can have friendship and fellowship with anyone, as long as satan is not getting an advantage out of that
A soldier has rules and regulations; a soldier of Jesus has to be even more careful!
Yesterday, I was mentioning about the rules for a Nazirite, from Numbers 6
Without discipline, we cannot achieve anything
A good soldier will always keep good connection/communication with the commander/officer-in-charge
How is our connection with the commander- our Lord Jesus Christ?
Jesus is not a commander who sits in a safe bunker, just giving commands remotely
He is one who stands in the fore-front. He gave up His own life; He was not defeated by the enemy. He won the war, giving up His life
Jesus brought peace through war and life through death
-peace through war with satan, and life for us, through his death
That is the one major difference between God’s kingdom and the world’s!
We need to line up behind Jesus; if we line up behind anybody else, we will fail
God bless your day, as you deal with various battles in your life
Battles are many, but the war is one-and won!
BG
Prayer: Lord, make me a good soldier of yours. I take this time to pray for the soldiers of our nation, especially those in the battle field. I pray that you will help them emotionally, spiritually and physically. Let their hearts be ruled by life, and not death; peace and not war. Amen