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WARRIORS

10/9/2021

October 9, 2021 WARRIORS
Jeremiah 51:20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle-with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
Joel 3:9 “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.”
Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
2 Corinthians 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strong holds.”
Psalm 144:1-2 “Praise be to the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
“Rouse the warriors!”-that’s you and I. That’s a good word; I fear that many believers do not perceive of themselves as warriors. The scriptures contain many passages dealing with war. In the Old Testament, wars were physical-real sword and spears; in the New Covenant, we fight spiritual wars. (Sometimes there are physical wars we must fight.) Many have given up on the idea of being a warrior-of being conquerors-of winning battles; many are not actively engaged in warfare. Under the New Covenant, all are called to be warriors, no matter the age, race, gender, or physical health. We face battles every day; the battles we face are spiritual, but they often influence the natural. For example; if one is slothful in life, there are spiritual forces at work in that person that are defeating him; by overcoming or by winning this spiritual battle, he ceases to be slothful; he must engage the enemy. We are to be peace makers when we can, but we are not to be spiritual pacifist. God has made us warriors and conquerors; each of us have battles to fight. There are two battle grounds; internal and external. Internally, we must war against the flesh and all that it promotes; that includes out thought life, our self-talk, our attitude, our habits, and our words; the battle is about aliening all of these with the ways of God-of about having every aspect of our lives subjected to the Spirit of God who lives in us. (Someone has said that our mind is the battleground.) The external battle is about waging war on the behalf of others; many are in bondage of some sort-addictions, harmful behavior, anger, depression, the self-life, unfaithfulness, and etc. We fight these external battles by prayer, by giving godly council, and by encouragement; we must be about spiritual intervention. God does not ‘need’ us in order to win His battles, but He has chosen to enlist us in His army so that we may be a part of what He is doing; the good news is that we know who wins. Did you catch what is said in one of the verses above? You and I are His war clubs-wow! Let us take up our spiritual weapons of warfare and engage the enemy. Let us not be overcome and defeated by all that is wrong in the world and by the forces of this darkness; but rather be soldiers of Christ living in victory and being used of God to set others free from what has them bound. May we pull down all the strongholds.
Ephesians 6:16-18 “in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Blessings,
Buddy

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THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED

10/7/2021

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October 7, 2021 THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED
Luke 12:22-24, 28, 29-32 “And He said to His disciples, ‘For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat; not for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no storeroom nor barn; and yet God feeds them, how much more valuable you are than the birds!’” “But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith!” “And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall wear, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”
The verses above are not a mandate to quit your job! The point is where our trust lies; do we trust our ability to work and produce, or do we trust God for everything-including food and clothing. That sounds like a rather simple question-but it is a question we must wrestle with and a question that we must answer; it is a question that demands a deep look inside. If misunderstood, these verse could justify being lazy. However, it is clear from other scriptures that work is of God; the Apostle Paul worked. We must be conscience of the fact that God made us in His image, and He is a God who works and produces. One who does not even know God can work-but he does so merely with self effort and with self-interest. As members of God’s kingdom, we can do our work as unto the Lord, and for that reason, work takes on a new and fulfilling meaning-and because we work as unto Him, we should be the best workers. It is God who is our provider; He provides us with jobs, and ways to make an income, and He gives us the ability to do the job. When we come to know that God truly is the One who provides, we cease to be anxious and we no longer worry; worry is a red flag that says that our trust is not in God. It may be easy to trust God when things are going good; but our trust in God must remain steadfast even in the difficult times. Our primary focus should be on seeking His kingdom; we seek His kingdom by having a heart to know Him more fully; by reading His word; and by embracing and doing what we read-by obeying His commands. There are only two kingdoms; the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is far different from the kingdom of this world; and only as we seek His kingdom first, will we experience life in His kingdom here on earth. Seeking His kingdom means that we lay aside our desires, viz. die to self, and pursue Him and His ways. The mystery is, that only when we die to ourselves, do we find life; the self-life is unfulfilling. The blessing is that as we seek Him and His kingdom life, we discover that He supplies what we need. Because we are the ‘flock’ of God, there is nothing to fear; nothing to worry about; and nothing to be anxious about. Sounds too good to be true? It’s not, when we seek Him above everything else.
Colossians 1:13 “For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,”
Philippians 4:19 “And My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory, in Christ Jesus.”
2 Peter 1:3 “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
Blessings, Buddy

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PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD

10/5/2021

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October 5, 2021 PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD
Romans 6:11-15 “Even so consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting your members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law; but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
How we consider, or view ourselves, in regard to our life as a believer is crucial. Are we ‘sinners who continue in sin,’ or are we ‘new creations’ with a new nature? We are admonished in the verses above to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. In regards to sin, some may classify sin into two groups; the overt outward sin that is obvious, and the sin that is internal that may not be seen by others. For example, we are all appalled by the sin of murder; but we may not be so appalled by the ;sin of worry. It seems that we are ok with the ‘small’ sins; we excuse some sins by claiming that that is just ‘how we are wired.’ I’ve heard believers to say that ‘I am just in impatient person, that’s just the way I am.” Let us reject the lie that we have heard so long that says ‘Even though we are believers, we continue to sin and we cannot help but sin.” It is imperative that we do as Paul tells us to do if we are to overcome sin; we must consider ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God. In this case, consider means to ‘count it as so.’ We must believe that God has made provision for us to live without yielding to sin; He has put His nature in us; living out of this new nature, we do not want to sin. Romans 6:16 tells us “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?” We can yield ourselves or present ourselves to who we are in Christ and present our ‘members as instruments of righteousness to God.’ We must proclaim our deliverance from the power of sin because God has said that sin shall not be master over us! We are to present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead; we were dead in sin, but God has made us alive. As mentioned above, we may excuse, or become accustomed to, what we may call ‘small sins’-such as worry, fear, wrong thoughts, and etc.; but the good news is that we can lay aside all sin and can be one hundred percent righteous in body, soul, mind, and spirit. I know what you must be thinking at this point; I am not saying we can reach sinless perfection, but I am saying we can live free from the power of sin-we do not have to sin. If and when we sin, we confess it to God and turn from it. The temptation to sin is not sin; yielding to the temptation is sin. Let me say that for us to sin, should be abnormal for us. We do not have to let sin reign in our mortal body; it is a matter of yielding ourselves to the Spirit, not to the flesh.
Romans 6:19, 22 “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”
Blessings,
Buddy

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A TRACK TO RUN ON

10/2/2021

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October 2, 2021 A TRACK TO RUN ON
Titus 2:11-14 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
On a certain day in a certain place, the grace of God appeared; Jesus, the Son of God was born, ‘bringing salvation to all men.’ The grace of God ‘appeared;’ man had nothing to do with it; man was lost and separated from God with no hope of a Savior. Even though the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, some reject this salvation, thus remaining separated from God. However, those who receive this salvation of God, are made new creations and given new life and a new mandate for life-a new track to run on. Even though we live in a fallen world where things are not as they should be, as believers, we do not have to live with confusion, doubts and questions about life. God has given us life and has shown us the way in which we should walk-and it’s not according to the ways of the world. The good news is that His ways are not burdensome nor are they difficult to understand; AND He gives us the power to live according to His ways! Psalm 119:105 tells us “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” You might say that God has installed a new operating system in us; He has changed our motivations in life, our desires, and has changed what satisfies us. Because of His work in us, we find lasting fulfillment when we live the life that He offers to us. How blessed we are and what a privilege it is to be able to ‘deny ungodliness and worldly desires,’ and to ‘live sensibly, righteously and godly” as we look for the ‘blessed hope and the appearing glory of our Father’ that will be revealed when He returns. God has redeemed us from our sins and is purifying us, and has made us His own possession, zealous for good deeds! God has not left us to ourselves to figure it out or just to do the best we can in life; He has clearly spoken and has revealed the way that leads to life-to a life not filled with regrets. Jesus warned us that there would be trials in life, but He promised that He would not forsake us, but would strengthen us and comfort us and enable us to overcome. Let us lay aside life according to our ways, and embrace and walk in His ways. We discover His ways in His written word; and we have received the Holy Spirit who enables us to live according to His ways.
Proverbs 12:28 “In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Colossians 1:10 “So as to walk in a manner worth of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy [email protected]

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WARRIORS

THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED

PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD

A TRACK TO RUN ON

Buddy Fitzgerald

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