Posted on 08/17/2013 7:54:09 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. 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.(Ephesians 6:10-13)
Early in my Christian life, I was blessed to read a little book, an overview of the book of Ephesians by Watchman Nee, entitled Sit, Walk, and Stand. I can’t stand by everything the Chinese author wrote but there have been a few books of his, which by their insights into scripture, were extremely helpful to me, at that stage in my pilgrimage.
The premise of the book was that the structure of Ephesians is three-part. In the beginning of the letter, we read in several places, that, “God has made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”, and indeed that is the beginning of the Christian life. We begin from a position of rest. there need be no striving, for Christ has done it all, there is nothing we can add to nor take away from the salvation He purchased for us.
We start out sitting in a favored position, (the righteousness of God), we are not trying to attain to it, for God has given it to us in Christ.
The second section, beginning in chapter 4, concerns our walk. Having been granted such indescribable privilege and blessing in Christ, we are exhorted from that point on, to walk it out! Walk in a manner worthy…walk circumspectly…walk in love as Christ loved us…”. This is the practical aspect of Christianity, but it proceeds out of our “Sit”-uation, granted us in Christ.
The final section of Ephesians, is in chapter 6:12- 24, in which we are exhorted to stand, or as Nee points out, a more accurate rendering of the greek would be to, ‘withstand’. Ground has been gained for us by Jesus Christ, Truth has been revealed that we are to bear witness to, and the position of the true church, is to gird ourselves with God’s armor, that we may be able to “withstand in the evil day”.
Everywhere around us, it seems that the cultural and civilizational walls are collapsing, and that accommodation is being given to every form of evil, from Islam, to Homosexuality, to abortion, to sexual anarchy of every kind.
The courts of justice have accommodated these evils, so has education, medicine, entertainment, so also organized religion. Those institutions which were developed to be a safeguard and suppressant to evil, seem to have instead utterly succumbed to it.
The US military is now “homo friendly” and Anti-christian! CAIR *has just won a reversal of a law passed in Oklahoma, favored by 80 % of the state banning the implementation of Sharia( a rival law system). California is imposing gender neutral restrooms in the school system to accommodate ‘transgender students” ! The State Dept of the United States is conditioning the compassionate aid of US citizens to African nations, upon their acceptance and promotion of the homosexual agenda!
In a span of about two weeks this summer three influential religious leaders made public statements, accommodating Sodomy, something which is detestable to our God! The Pope, Desmond Tutu and Pat Robertson . There are other emergent leaders such as Rob Bell, who considers himself an evangelical christian, coming out in accommodation to perversion as well.
We are obviously in the midst of the Evil Day, spoken of in Ephesians.
The nature of this spiritual warfare is confessional, it has to do with confession of Truth or denial of the same. The Devil not only wants to force us to crumble on the revealed truth of God, he literally wants to force us to confess the Lie!
Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.(Luke 12:9-12)
This conflict is all about truth and lies, confession or denial, blasphemy and inspiration of the Spirit before tribunals. Which truth to emphasize,and which lie to avoid? To hold to the confession of Jesus is to hold to the whole of the Christian revelation, in the face of the adamant denial of it. To confess Jesus is yes , of course to say that Jesus is Lord and that He died on the cross and rose again, and that he is coming again. But it is much more to it.
The place where we really need to plant our feet and withstand, is the one that the world spirit is currently denying, or presenting a false knowledge, a “knowledge that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”.
The current battle includes confessing to the truth about Marriage, Gender, man made in the image of God, the exclusivity of the christian religion, Heaven and hell, Truth itself and Sin. A Rob Bell or whoever, can confess before men that he believes in Jesus and loves him, but when he accommodates homosexuals and allows them to believe that the church has been wrong for condemning that sin, he is in fact denying Christ.
* CAIR (Council on American and Islamic Relationships) , is the unindicted Co Conspirator of the Largest Terror financing Sting in US history. Un fortunately they have undue influence on US foreign and domestic policy, thanks to the blindness of our leaders.
I enjoyed reading Watchman Nee years ago...need to get his books out and read them again.
I Agree Cedar. BTW Thats an interesting name. Does it have anything to do with Cedar Rapids Iowa? Just wondering(my home town).
No, my name is not connected with a city...more with a street which held happy memories for me.
Posted on Thursday, October 14, 2010 6:31:18 PM by Jedediah
Persecution is about to come in 3 layers : Finance , Belief and fortitude . . .
So watch My children for I AM your Provider ( Finance ) ,
I AM your Testimony ( Belief ) ,
And I AM your Battle Armament and Power ( Fortitude ) ! Push through all this by merely speaking things into light and life ( ( ( * ) ) ) ,
For I Am your AMOS ( A Matter Of Substance ) so do not fear but be strong in My Power and Might for I AM the Kingdom !
Romans 8:34-36 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
1 Thessalonians 3:6-8 Timothy’s Encouraging Report
6But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.
Revelation 2:10
Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
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