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For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— 2 I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)
O dear believers in Christ, please take heed as you walk for the Lord God. Remember that while you’re in the flesh, that our ways are not of the flesh but of the spirit. So do your warfare against the darkness and falsehood according to the Spirit of God rather than your fresh.
Make the Lord God your strength rather than depend on your flesh for victories. For the darkness of the world cannot prevail against the Lord Almighty. If you make God your strength you won’t fail in the fight against evil.
When fighting evil know this; the fight is about destroying strongholds and arguments and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. For each disobedience will be punished in the afterlife and no one will escape Judgement Day except for those who repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You might be faced with hardships on account of your faith in Jesus, but do no despair. God will reward those who stand by his Word in time of hardships and temptation. Be willing to face the hardness of life with good preparation, because the Lord Jesus himself told us us to build on solid ground instead of of the sand in (Matthew 7:24-27)
Walk with Jesus Christ in your thoughts, words and deed as your meditate on the Word of God and keep winning your victories against the powers of darkness!
Verses for reflection:
- By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left (2 Corinthians 6:7)
- The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light (Romans 13:12)
- Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:3)
- Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (2 Corinthians 3:5)
Relax in the promises of God
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
Learn to relax in the promises of God. Never get carried away by the external that you forget to trust God inwardly. Indeed, Jesus rebuked those disciples about their low faith when they were scared of of the great storm despite being with him the boat (Refer Mark 4:35-41). Do not get fearful about anything, for instance the economy, wars, relationships etc. Instead put your trust in the word of God.
Jesus said; Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)
It’s normal for the world to pass away. Despite all the great beauty and delights that this world still has, one must take into account that this is still a fallen world. The only thing that will abide forever even at the end of the world is the word of the Lord God.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. (Isaiah 40:8)
The problem is that though the promises of God are trustworthy, not every one believes in them. One of the reasons for that is that people do not read the Bible enough. They read it only when they are reminded by their preacher. However, if the preacher is busy on some other matters, they take things lightly. So the cure to such lack of Bible reading is well; read the Bible, whether someone reminds you or does not remind.
Then there are people who do read the Bible regularly but do not read it in faith. Bible reading is not be mere reading alone. You got to try to understand it. You got to believe in it. Most importantly, one who reads the Bible must read it so one becomes more like Christ in obedience to God.
By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.(2 Peter 1:4)
Then we have some people who have some faith in God’s promises but are not aggressive enough to pursue them. You need to be dauntless and enduring in claiming the promises of God for yourself. Don’t get fooled by what the Devil throws at you, you just keeping holding on the God’s promises. Rebuke all the falsehood of the Evil One in the name of Jesus.
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12)
I will list out a few promises of God in the Bible. Now this is not a complete list, so I encourage you to open your Bible for yourself later on and get reading. Here the verses, which you can claim for yourself as they are your inheritance in Jesus Christ:
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)
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Destroy the strongholds of sin and disobedience
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The word of God encourages us to love and obey God and also to reject sin. Every evil thought that comes against the Lord God must be removed out of your life. If your mind is not set to obey Christ, well then it’s on the way to disobey him.
The way of sin may seem nice with the ill gotten pleasures it appears to give. However, in the end it will bite like a poisonous snake. There are lots of lies spoken that the Bible is not God’s word, Jesus did not rise from the dead, there is no Devil etc. All of these come from the Evil One who beguiles his earthly minions to do his bidding on earth for free. A better way to describe these minions is them being slaves who are blind to the truth, who only live for their foolish lusts and desires and have made up their minds to be shut to the truth. Their lies are deceptive. They try to promote stupidity, rudeness, lack of respect and mindless chatter. The truth is the defense against their vile ways. The truth will set you free but first you got to know it. No wonder you must read the Holy Scriptures as often as you can.
Here a just a few applications of using the Word of God to cast down sinful strongholds:
A temptress may try to beguile a man into adultery but if he holds the commandment which says not to commit adultery, he will save himself a lot of trouble. He will realize that the way of the temptress may lead to dishonor and even divorce. So he will resist her sweet but poisonous words.
You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:27) (this is describing a temptress)
The insanity of starving oneself ie anorexia just to look better can be avoided by a Christian woman if she holds closely to the fact that she is the temple of the Holy Spirit. She would do her research and find out that so many young girls have died to anorexia so much so that in certain countries they had to ban any propaganda or fashion promoting it. So she would keep away from trying to please the world by harming herself in the process.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
A child would not spend time into mindless hours of TV or social media knowing from scripture that we are to make the best use of the time. So he/she would balance out their studies, duties with any other fun activity. They would prepare well for the future instead of being dazed with celebrities who morals are as fickle as lightning.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)
The leader of a church would know not to steal money from the church at all because nothing in all creation is hidden from God. So a person who is called to preach the word of God would refrain from vain pursuit of money and focus on actual preaching.
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:1)
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Let get of your pride and be humble
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. (Proverbs 27:1-2)
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
A person who claims to love the Lord God must not revel in pride. You might be the greatest guitarist of your city. You may be the best ballet dancer across continents. You might be the most gifted in physics and with due hard work stand a chance to win the Nobel prize too. Yet if you have pride you are missing out what true love is.
You must never get hyped up by the good things you do but commend all of it to God. Give glory to the Lord for every great thing you have achieved. You may have made all the right moves to be a great achiever or rich person but it is God due to which you still live and breathe.
Remember how the impious Herod was so filled with pride that received divine punishment for his sins when he was still alive. Let’s read Acts 12:20-24 which says that:
Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied.
A few scripture verses to remind you to get of your pride and be humble:
- Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor. (Proverbs 3:34)
- Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matthew 23:12)
- Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5)
- Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:5-8,10)
Thanks for reading. Christ be with you!
Disciples of hope 