To stand and to withstand Posted on August 29, 2013 | Leave a comment spirit war To stand and to withstand Greetings to all my friends in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ! All the glory to my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ! 2 Sam.8:6, ‘So the LORD preserved David wherever he went.’ (KJV) David was a man of war. All his life, he had to fight many wars, one after the other. He hardly had time to sit back and relax. In a way, that was his calling. This was one of the reason why he was not allowed to build the temple for the Lord. In the above verse, we read that in the midst of all wars, the Lord preserved him. This is repeatedly written in verse 14 of the same chapter. Whichever war David fought, he was victorious. All these victories gave him gold, silver and servants. They gave him fame. They gave him horses and chariots. But the verse that caught my attention was that ‘the Lord preserved him wherever he went.’ Had this divine protection not been there, would David be victorious ? Could he win the silver, gold and the numerous servants ? No…….. My dear friends, we all are in a war field ever since we received Jesus as our savior…..but not against flesh and blood. Eph.6:12, ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ The various trials and temptations form a major part of this warfare. And as we fight these wars, the Lord’s hands preserves us. He protects us from wear and tear caused by the war. A series of wars can either make us faint or make us so weak which might make us give in to temptations, leading us to complete destruction. Either way, we can loose the wars. Until the protection around us is assured, we might hesitate to even go for the war. Our spiritual life is a sensitive life. Unless preserved, it might extinct. Preservation is protection. Indian pickles are so much oily. If we enquire about the reason, we find that the oil acts like a preservative. It protects the pickle from the unseen factors in the atmos-phere which can easily spoil the pickle. In the same way, our spiritual life is often attacked by a host of unseen enemy. And the preservative of our spiritual life is the fullness of the Spirit of God in us. Eph.6:13, ‘Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’ The armour of God plays two important roles in the life of a child of God. It makes him stand and also to withstand. Standing in a war is to take the right position and posture to face the enemy, while withstanding is surviving an attack from the enemy. Surviving a war is as important as attacking and defeating the enemy. Further, if we go through the armour of God, we note that among the six pieces of the armour, five aim at protection and only one piece aim for the attack of the enemy. Eph.6:14-17, ‘Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.’ Thus we see that withstanding a war is as important as standing in the war. Both are equally important to continue to live in His Spirit….like the two sides of the same coin. Set your heart on the Lord : 2 Sam.8:11-12, ‘King David dedicated these articles to the LORD, as he had done with the silver and gold from all the nations he had subdued: 12 Edom and Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistines, and Amalek. He also dedicated the plunder taken from Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.’ King David did not set his heart on the war and all he had plundered in the war. His heart was set on the Lord. So, all that he got in the war…the gold and the silver, the chariots and horses and all the plunder was dedicated to the Lord. More than his body, his heart was preserved from corruption. His soul was preserved from corruption of this world by the anointment that was upon him. Every victory in the war of our spiritual life draws us closer to our Lord and grows us in His power and authority. But lets dedicate all that we win to serve Him. On the other hand, we see king Saul, who also was an anointed king of Israel giving in to the tempta-tion of the riches in the war field. 1 Sam.15:9, ‘But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwill-ing to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.’ King Saul disobeyed the Lord’s commandment. Though he was supposed to destroy all that the Amalakites had, his heart fell for the best sheep and oxen of the Amalakites. More than that, he drew a mask of spirituality over his fall instead of repenting and lost the favor of God for ever. King Saul could not withstand the war. The lust of flesh made him fall. My dear friends, in order to survive an attack of the enemy, our heart needs to be dedicated to the Lord. That is our right stand in the Lord. Only then, the five pieces of the armor of God, meant to protect our soul, can play their roles perfectly. Only then can we spontaneously be willing to forgive and forget a false accusation and thus be protected from bitterness and vengeance. Only then can we cross the areas of confusing whirlwinds with our faith untouched. Let’s set our heart for the presence of His Spirit at all times in our lives. Let’s not settle for anything less than that at any moment of time. David was a man after God’s own heart……the presence of God was all that mattered to him. Hence, he did not fall for the best of cattle, gold or silver. Neither did power and fame make him proud. He stood right in the Lord. Hence, the presence of His Spirit enabled him to withstand all the wars. If our standing is right in the Lord, we can withstand in the evil day. Saul was anointed, but his heart was not fully dedicated to the Lord. His stand in the Lord was not right. Hence, during the war, he could not withstand the attack. The attack was not physical, but spiritual. He was not sensitive to the presence of the Spirit of the Lord. Hence, he did not mind grieving Him. Later, even when he sought forgiveness, he did not get any. 1 Sam.15:24-26, ‘Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!”’ Being sensitive to His presence : My dear friends, its important that we become sensitive to the presence of our Lord. At the very 1st warning, we ought to turn our hearts to repentance. David too fell in sin, but the very moment prophet Nathan rebuked him, he repented of his sin. Though he had to pay the price for his sin, he did not loose the presence of the Lord. He could withstand the attack. But unlike David, Saul hid his sin and tried to put a cloak of spirituality over his disobedience. He chose to continue in sin inspite of the conviction and warning from prophet Samuel. This is termed as ‘rebel’. This not only grieves the Spirit of the Lord, but also causes the complete withdrawal of the anointment. Peter and Judas, both fell, but Peter withstood. He repented immediately…..as soon as he was con-victed of his sin. But Judas continued to sin by not repenting and was hence, removed from His mercy for ever. Abraham was tried, but withstood the trial. His heart was set on the Lord, and not on his son. Apostle Paul wrote that only a person who can withstand can stand…… that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. It’s the Lord who preserves : At the end of the day, when we turn back and see, we often wonder as to how we crossed innumerable times of trials and tests……the attacks of the devil and so on……And none of us can claim any credit, for we know for sure that His mercy preserved us. He knows the strength of his pot. He knows how much heat we can bear. He has never intended to destroy us, but only to mould and build us up. He knew that Abraham would not be able to bear the actual killing of his own son…..hence He stopped him when the hands rose to sacrifice. His intercessions preserves us : Lk.22:31-32, ‘And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.’ The prayers of Jesus saved Peter. Dear friends, even as we go through the various phases of spiritual warfare, lets not be discouraged, for we have our high priest, interceding for us. Confidence in Him preserves us : Phil.1:6, ‘Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:’ Our potter is an efficient potter. He never makes any mistakes. He has the final product in his heart and mind as he moulds his pot. He is faithful to complete the good work begun in us. He is not the one to leave it incomplete. This confidence in Him preserves our soul from fainting. His faithfulness towards His promises preserves our faith from being shattered. Ps. 121:7, ‘The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.’ Blessed are those who endures this warfare…………for at the end of it, they will receive the crown. May we withstand and stand in this warfare. Let us not faint or be feeble minded. Lets draw our strength from our Lord. When none was available to encourage and strengthen David, he encouraged himself in the Lord (1 Sam.30:6). Lets learn from him and set our hearts on the Lord. Be blessed. May God bless you! –thebrokenbread@gmail(fortnightly)
Posted on: Sat, 31 Aug 2013 08:47:07 +0000
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