Put On Whole Armor of God; Stand Firm Against All Strategies by Alex Murashko

The Whole Armor of God - Ephesians 6:10-18 (New Living Translation)

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

__________

I pray these things for you today and always!

Blessings,

Alex

The Race of Faith----Pastor Darryl Baker

Heb. 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,Heb. 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Recently I have been studying more and more about faith and learning more than I had ever known before about faith. Faith is one subject you will never fully exhaust in this lifetime, but it is something that every believer has the ability to walk in. When you take a look at Hebrews 11, the great hall of faith as many call it, you begin to see what God calls faith. For years I have heard what many men call faith, but when you find out what God calls faith, now you have something.

God describes faith as an excellent sacrifice, referring to the gifts that Abel had offered which God received, as opposed to the offering that Cain offered God, which God did not receive. Faith is also described as walking with God, for God declares that Enoch was a man of faith. When you go back and study Enoch’s life you read basically one thing that describes Enoch. Enoch walked with God.

Faith is a work, or working for God as Noah is described by God as a man who when warned about the flood to come obeyed God and went to work building an ark. Faith is revealed in Abraham’s life as a pilgrimage, for Abraham was called on by God to leave his family and the place where he had lived to simply go and obey God, even when he did not know where God was taking him. He lived in obedience to God as a pilgrim on this earth awaiting his true homeland.

Sarah also is one who took God at His Word and God called that faith. Moses was a man who made a choice to give up the passing pleasures of sin to go and be with his brethren and then deliver them from the bondage they were in. God called his decision to do so faith. Rahab the harlot is also listed in the hall of faith for she hid the spies and then put her faith in their God by hanging that scarlet thread from her window and God called it faith.

Now as you come to Hebrews 12:1-2, our foundation verses this week, you must realize that Paul begins verse one by saying, “Therefore” which is a reference to all these people of faith he just got done writing about. He even reveals the details of this by saying that we have set before us this great cloud of witnesses who all had a good testimony through faith, and yet they never received in their lifetime the end result of what their faith was believing for, a Messiah who was to come and deliver them. Yet they were people of faith.

Paul states in Hebrews 12:1-2 that since we have all these witnesses of faith we should do three things. We should lay aside every weight, we should lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us, and we should look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. If you want to be a man or woman of faith, and run this race of faith successfully, you will have to do all three things. This is quite contrary to what some teachings tell us today. They teach that once you have put your faith in Jesus Christ that is all you need to do. Not true if you want to walk by faith and not by sight, which is how the just are to live their life. This week I will talk about these three things that are necessary to live a life of faith.

1. Lay aside every weight.
The reference that Paul gives here is a picture of one who is running in a race, a race that will take endurance to make it to the finish line. Thus the reference at the end of the first verse telling us to run with endurance the race that is set before us. A runner even in today’s times that competes in athletic competition is going to get rid of every encumbrance that would cause them to not be able to run as fast or as far. Faith is a race that we run. That means we are to have action to what we believe. The problem for some is they are not running the race of faith, seeing their trust in God result in what only He can do in and through them. They are to weighed down.

There are many weights that try to hinder us in our walk of faith. There is the weight unbelief, doubt, the flesh, other people, and lifestyles that are focused on the things of this world instead of the Kingdom of God. You see this all the time in people’s lives. The number one thing you hear from Christians when you talk about the importance of being in God’s house, or serving in church, or getting involved with outreaches that are going and doing the work of Christ is, “I don’t have time.” Yet there are people who raise their families, work jobs, and fulfill the same type of responsibilities who don’t miss church, are involved in the work of God both in and outside the church. They have the same 24 hours in a day. The reason laying aside every weight is so important is because you have to realize that the things that take up much of our time have no ability to produce nor help us grow our faith.

If we allow our time to be consumed with things that are in fact countering what God’s Word says, we are going to see the results of such a lifestyle. For example you cannot fill a sponge with used motor oil and then when you need to be refreshed squeeze that sponge and get fresh water from it. When squeezed whatever it has been used to soak up is what will come out. If you instead soak up fresh water with that sponge then obviously when you need to be refreshed you squeeze the sponge and you will be refreshed. It is our choices that we make each day that determine how much faith we will walk in. Choose to lay aside the things that are nothing but a weight in draining your faith and you will begin to see your faith become stronger.

2. Lay aside every sin that so easily ensnares you.
The topic of sin is not a popular one amongst some ministers and believers today, but Paul addresses this as an issue with our walk of faith. First of all as Dr. Lester Sumrall, a great man of faith once said, “You cannot wade around in sin and walk in great faith.” Why else would the apostle here in reference to this great cloud of witnesses we have as an example of faith tell us to lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares you? A vital key to dealing with this issue and how to overcome sin is found in the following verse.

Gal. 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

What is the best way to keep from falling into the snare of sin? Stay full of the Holy Spirit and full of the Word of God. If you walk in the Spirit you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, which is where sin initiates from. We are tempted with our own fleshly desires. To walk in the Spirit you simply need to walk in obedience to His leading, which if you stay full of the Holy Spirit will be easier to do. You must also stay full of the Word and walk in the light of that Word for Jesus Himself said the words He spoke to us, they are Spirit and they are truth.

Just because we have been born again does not mean that if we wade around in sin there won’t be any bad consequences. As Romans 6:23 states the wages of sin is still death, or separation from the kind of life God wants for us. Sin causes us to break fellowship with God. That broken fellowship hinders our walk of faith. As 1 John 3:22 tells us that whatever we ask from God we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and to those things which are pleasing in His sight. If you sin don’t run from God, and don’t fall for the modern day belief it doesn’t hurt your life, instead run to God and return to intimate fellowship with Him.

3. Looking unto Jesus.
The third key given here to walk by faith as these in the hall of faith have done is to keep your focus on Jesus. They all were looking toward the Messiah coming. The amazing thing is Hebrews 11:39 tells us that they all had obtained a good testimony through faith, even though they did not in their lifetime receive the promise of new life. That is a testimony to their faith, seeing a promise that was yet afar off, and now we have received that promise. How much more should we be walking in faith?

This phrase, “Looking unto Jesus” is defined as giving Him our undivided attention. To do this we must remove all the distractions in life that try to pull us away from our walk with Him. He is the author and the finisher of our faith. He not only initiated this faith within us when we put our trust in Him for salvation, He is the one who will help us to complete our walk of faith. To do so we must keep our hearts set on Him, and for that to happen we have to make Him our priority in life.

So as we are surrounded in scripture by these great men and women of faith, you will find that these three things became evident as a part of their life. They learned to lay aside the things that would only become a weight in their life, hindering them in walking with God. They learned to address and deal with sin in their life, like Moses choosing to give up the passing pleasures of sin to instead walk with God and His people. They also had a focus on the Messiah to come, even though they never experienced in their lifetime what He would come to do. Run your race of faith and you will win!

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker

Adults Excluded; Little Children Only Welcomed --- Joe McKeever

“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it” (Luke 18:17).

Big shots need not apply.

Pride disqualifies all applicants.

Therefore, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time,” meaning, whenever He gets good and ready. That’s I Peter 5:6. Well, the first part of it is.

This fellow wrote to me recently to say why he no longer attends church. He is burned out on four decades of shallow sermons and considers himself far beyond the kind of pap his pastor ladles out to the unthinking sheep on Sunday. He has written scholarly essays on his beliefs and would be happy to send them to me.

Don’t bother.

Even if this were the case, that the pastors all serve milk to babies on Sundays and never meat to the healthy, the man is missing a huge point about church participation.

We go to church to do the Lord’s work with His children. Sometimes we are laboring alongside other believers, ministering in the community and the world. But sometimes, our ministry is directed toward one or more of them. We are instructed to take care of each other, particularly, the weak and defenseless, the widows and the orphans.

If we would do the work of the Lord with other believers, we have to learn humility and submission. The Lord expects us to listen to the other members of the team, to respect them, pray for them, and encourage them.

To be effective in serving Christ in and through the church, we must come to an appreciation of the lowliest and least skilled, the neediest and the humblest.

In short, we have to become little children.

That’s why Paul pointed out that most big shots cannot be found in church.  “You see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that ‘are,’ that no flesh should glory in His presence” (I Corinthians 1:26-29).

Some, thankfully. But “not many.”

We’re grateful for the exceptions, for people who have made it big in this world and still humble themselves to join with the Lord’s people as one of them and not above them, as a fellow co-worker and not a celebrity to be honored.

We admit begrudgingly that sometimes God’s people make it difficult for a celebrity to come among them as a fellow sinner-saved-by-grace willing to do the lowliest work without expecting royal treatment.

Sometimes we fawn over professional athletes or other “stars” who show up in church.

Not a good thing. We should let them worship and come further into the congregation as they feel it safe to do so.

Now, back to the subject of childlikeness….

“Humble yourself.”

Never pray for the Lord to humble you. Frankly, you might not survive the experience since the Lord seems to use a heavy hand in doing so. Check out the humility He put upon King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:28-33. Never ask the Lord to humble you.

A missions leader told me once that no one has a greater problem in learning a foreign language than a missionary with a doctorate. “To learn a new language,” he said, “one has to become a little child and be willing to mess up, to embarrass oneself, and to get up and try again. And there’s something about a Ph.D. at the end of one’s name that throws up a huge barrier to that.”

We must become as little children to enter the Kingdom–to be saved and confess Jesus Christ openly–and to continue to work in that Kingdom as growing and obedient disciples.

At no point are we given the green light to take the shackles off our egos and give free rein to our pride.

Pride is always a problem, ego is ever a challenge, and humility is forever in order.

“God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). The first part of that verse says, “He gives more grace.” How wonderful is that.

The only people not receiving “more grace” is the proud. These are the self-contained packages who are complete within themselves and resist anything from God. Foolishly, they insist on inanities like “I’m scientifically minded; only the sheep depend on faith” and “I can do it by myself; only the weak need a God.”

The day will come–we pray it will–when that self-sufficient one will see what a small egotistical package he had become, and will humble himself before a mighty God. When that happens, let him pray the prayer of the fellow in Luke 18:13, “O God, be merciful to me the sinner.”

Let him be like the prodigal who suddenly awakened to find himself in a pig pen. “He came to himself” and he said, “I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants'” (Luke 15:17-19).

The day you humble yourself and renounce the lordship of your life and become a little child by faith in Jesus Christ will be the greatest day of your life. Nothing truly important or lasting will happen until then; a million great things will happen afterwards.

One final reminder.

The Lord will be sending you continual opportunities throughout your days for you to further affirm and demonstrate your childlikeness. Whether you think of these as tests or as opportunities depends on whether you have learned to enjoy spiritual growth.

The strongest people I know enjoy challenges to their self-sufficiency; the smartest people I know love tests which drive them closer and closer to the Lord Jesus.

The greatest people in the world are humble. And, in the Kingdom of God the greatest are the servants.

By Joe McKeever

Pastor and Singer Marvin Sapp Reveals How Greatest Gift From Late Wife Inspired New Transparent Record.

When gospel singer and pastor Marvin Sapp's late wife, MaLinda, knew she was going to draw her last breath on Earth after a battle with colon cancer five years ago, she made sure to leave her adoring husband with some powerful last words that would eventually help inspire his 10th album.

"The greatest gift my wife gave me was a statement before she passed," Sapp, 48, told The Christian Post. "She knew that there was nothing else that they could do, she literally said to me, 'honey if you want me to be happy in my transition, promise me after I transition that you will live.'"

MaLinda's last words have seemingly transformed into Sapp's latest album titled, "You Shall Live," his 10th offering to the body of Christ through music that seems to be his most transparent work to date. Sapp is a decorated gospel musician who has been recognized with numerous accolades like 22 Stellar Awards and 10 Grammy Award nominations after 25 years in the business.

As a singer, Sapp has made history, becoming the all-time highest charting gospel artist in Billboard‍ 's history when he released "Here I Am" in 2010. Yet, despite monumental moments like these, the artist who created songs like "Never Would Have Made It" has proven that even preachers need to be encouraged.

"I found myself going through the last four years of my life literally having to speak and declare and decree things over my life to keep me consistently encouraged. That's what the record is really about," Sapp told CP. "It's really about affirmation, declaration and us as individuals really just reciting that living is the only option and anything else outside of that isn't an option at all."

The album is the type of record that was created for a multi-generational family to enjoy with traditional worship songs like "Honor and Glory" and "Holy Spirit Overflow" bringing the elder members of the family together, and the edgier sounds of songs like "Yes You Can," that will bring the youth to their feet.

Sapp said he wanted to keep the record "churchy but funky," which is a formula he has mastered throughout the years. While he hopes to minister to people through song and make their lives better with "Yes You Can," the pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, also touches people beyond his church's walls on social media.

Whether it's speaking out against injustices or about his own personal insight, Sapp explained why he feels it is important to consistently use platforms like Facebook and Twitter to share his views with millions of people.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-and-singer-marvin-sapp-reveals-how-greatest-gift-from-late-wife-inspired-new-transparent-record-140042/#ImpIVT2BBFumL7y7.99