This coming week, on the 4th of July, America will celebrate what is commonly called its birthday. More formally known as Independence Day, the day commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This document announced the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence states that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
Two beautiful words: free and independent. “Free” is the ability to exercise freedom, the right to act without hindrance. Citizens are able to speak and think freely. “Independence” is to be free from the authority of others. There are many, many countries that do not have the blessings of freedom or independence.
There is one freedom that everyone on earth can share regardless of where they live: freedom in Jesus Christ. Romans 6:7 says, “For the one who has died has been freed from sin.” What does this mean, that one has to die to be free from sin? We have to die to our wants, our desires, our priorities. The verse means that when we put Jesus first in our lives, above ourselves, then we are freed from sin. We will still sin, because we are human, but when we give our lives to Jesus, His precious blood washes us clean from our sin.
Credit: JC
As celebrations occur, may we remember those who live in bondage and fear. Those who are not free and are unable to speak or think freely. May we pray that they would receive the freedom that Jesus offers.
John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
One of the many gifts that God has blessed us with is the armor of God. While there have been many commentaries and thoughts on the armor of God, we will focus on one simple question after we review the Scriptures.
In Ephesians 6:10 to 6:18, we read, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Credit: JC
Each piece of the armor is critical, the helmet of salvation we must wear on our heads to keep our minds focused on the fact that we are redeemed and belong to Jesus. The belt of truth is worn to keep our bodies tethered to the Word of God, the Truth. We put on the shoes that carry the peace of God, wherever we walk, we carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to a hurting and dying world. The breastplate of righteousness is us putting on the righteousness of Jesus, through His sacrifice and love, we are protected. We pick up the sword of the Holy Spirit, which is the Word of God that must be thrust in the face of the enemy as lies are thrown at us every single day.
The last piece of armor is the shield of faith. When you visualize the shield, please do not picture a small round shield. These shields were massive pieces of military equipment. The shields were about two to three feet wide and three to four feet tall. They were able to protect the entire body of the soldier when they crouched behind them. The shields were designed to continue to protect the soldier and remain strong under heavy attack, including flaming arrows. When the soldiers lined up shoulder to shoulder and ‘connected’ their shields, an almost impenetrable wall was built to protect many at once.
Why do you think the shield of faith is the largest piece of armor? As the Scriptures say, the shield is to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Every single day, the enemy will hurl arrows at you – from all directions. The more you use that shield of faith to cover your entire body, the better protected you are. And, like the soldiers, when they were under heavy attack, they stood shoulder to shoulder and were even better protected with the shields lined up. If you are under heavy attack, seek out brothers and sisters in Christ to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. Have them praying over you and for you. When you feel tired or beat up by the world, stand under their shield of faith, tell them the lies that the enemy is throwing your way and allow their shield of faith to protect you by speaking the Truth. As James 4:7 says, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Let’s pray. Father in heaven please help us to put on the entire armor of God each and every day. Lord, help us to protect ourselves with the shield of faith. Remind us who we are in You. Help us to resist the devil by standing behind our shield and leaning into the faith of others when we need reinforcements. We praise You and thank You for Jesus. It is in His precious name we pray, amen.
Today, certain parts of the world celebrate Father’s Day. There are many emotions tied to such a day; for some, today is filled with love and good memories. For others, the day is brimming with pain, loss or the reminder of not having a father. Unfortunately for far too many, all that is left of their fathers are memories of abuse or abandonment. Regardless of how you feel about today, we all know that no human being is perfect, that includes fathers.
No matter what kind of father you had or have, every single human has a loving Dad, His name is God. Heavenly Father is another one of His names. God carefully and wonderfully created you with incredible attention to detail, exactly as you are. He made only one you, there has never and will never be another person exactly like you. The purpose and the plan for your life is unique to you.
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God loves you more than you can ever possibly imagine. Here are a just a few examples of His deep love for you. God knows exactly how many hairs are on your head, so do not be afraid (Luke 12:7). You are the apple of God’s eye (Deuteronomy 32:10). God loved you so very much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for you (John 3:16). God will never leave you or abandon you – never. . .(Hebrews 13:5).
On this day, “. . .I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17 – 19).
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, Thank you that you love us more than we can ever understand. Help us to focus on your love for us today and everyday. Help us to remember that you love us, no matter who we are or how we live our lives. Thank you that you pursue us with your peace because you love us. Thank you that you will never walk away from us and you will never ever stop loving us, no matter what we may do. Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus. It is in His precious name we pray, amen.
Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam ate the fruit, he blamed Eve and God. Eve then blamed the serpent. In spite of these attempts to place blame on others, God assigns the consequences of sin to each of them.
He then performs the first animal sacrifice and sheds blood to cover the sins of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:21, we read “And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”
So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.”
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So where are the cherubim today and the flashing sword? Where is the garden of Eden? The Scriptures tell us where it was in Genesis 2:10 – 14. “A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. Gold from that land is pure; bdellium and onyx are also there. The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris, which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” With this information, you would think someone would have located the Garden of Eden by now.
But there is one thing to keep in mind, the flood that covered the entire earth. Genesis 7:18 – 24 reads, “The flood continued for 40 days on the earth; the waters increased and lifted up the ark so that it rose above the earth. The waters surged and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. Then the waters surged even higher on the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered. The mountains were covered as the waters surged above them more than 20 feet. Every creature perished — those that crawl on the earth, birds, livestock, wildlife, and those that swarm on the earth, as well as all mankind. Everything with the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils — everything on dry land died. He wiped out every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, from mankind to livestock, to creatures that crawl, to the birds of the sky, and they were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark. And the waters surged on the earth 150 days.”
Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, thank you that you have promised to never again flood the earth. Thank you that you love us, even as the sinners we are. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
Recently, we have been unfolding the real story of Eve by taking a different view of familiar Scriptures. After Adam blamed both Eve and God for him eating the fruit, Eve then blamed the serpent. In Genesis 3:14 – 15 , we read “Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Credit: JC
In these verses, God details the consequences for the sins committed. The serpent will crawl on its belly and be hated by Eve’s offspring. The offspring will strike the devil’s head and he will strike the heels of the offspring. It is important to note that there is a big difference between an injury to your heel which can hurt and cause you to limp, versus an injury to the head which can kill you.
Eve’s ‘offspring’ is humanity, the human race. When Jesus walked the earth, He was fully human and fully God. Through His death on the cross as a human, Jesus shed His blood. The death of Jesus on the cross served to end the reign of the devil, leaving every human with a choice. We can choose to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and shed His blood for our sins or we can deny Him. If we deny Jesus, then we live under the reign and power of the devil, a puppet of his pain and suffering.
But if we choose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, the power that the devil has over you is gone. The verse says that the devil will strike the heels of humanity, that is true even after you believe in Jesus. The devil can still nip at your heels and try to hurt you, but the only ability that the devil has to hurt you is the power you give him. The blood of Jesus protects all those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God. In this life, there will be hurt and pain, but as believers in Jesus, we know that this is temporary, “. . .therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 – 18
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, Thank you for the blood shed by Jesus, Your Son. Thank you that the power of the devil is broken, all we need to do is believe in You. Father, even though we are pressed on every side, we are not crushed; we may be confused about what is happening in this world, but we are not in despair; we may be persecuted, but we are never abandoned by You; we may be struck down, but we will never be destroyed because we belong to You, our Lord, our Savior, Our Jesus. It is in His precious name we pray, amen.
Wounded Butterflies 