“CARE OF THE CARNAL MIND

OR CARE OF THE SPIRITUAL SOUL?”

Is a ‘carnal mind’ the merely human effort of one’s ‘best’ at discerning for himself/herself what one is looking for in life because there is in ‘fallen flesh’ no desire to know what Holy God is up to concerning one’s earthly purpose? I don’t think there is any doubt about that!

Many of the lives birthed in our modern world are strictly ‘fleshly’ in orientation without any consideration of God’s eternal purpose of men willfully choosing their lives as “vessels” of His divine Presence and extensions through them to amazingly touch the world around them with His mercy, grace, and love! They’re “busy” about the “care of the carnal mind” and all it supposes or proposes or imposes!

If there are great, spiritual events in one’s ‘carnal mind’, “it’s all ‘circumstantial’, not providential”, they think! And if anything “great” occurs, it’s from the ‘heart-spring’ of personal initiative not Holy intent! If “dark doors” are before them, carnal minded men ‘might’ say, “Well, that must come from lower powers out of hell”, never sensing ‘godlessness’ is fertile ground for demonic activity without God’s protection against the powers of darkness because they have no intent of being dependent upon Holy God for anything in their fleshly nature since they’re perfectly capable of taking care of themselves!

Natural-minded men are blinded concerning “the lusts of the flesh, the lies of Satan, or the blinded deceits of a world population”! How many ‘natural men’ do you know who discern Holy God as the Author, Creator, and Celebrator of His world, its purpose ordained in Him, and His power and love seeing it come to full fruition in His timing? “God’s on His throne, and all is right in His world?” How many do you know who discern THAT for themselves?

How much of the comprehension of, at least, the care of the carnal mind relates to ‘fleshly comfort’, ‘earthly success’, or a ‘worldly dream or ambition’, imprinted by only ‘self-relevance’ independent of Holy God? Do you even think the masses of earthly-minded men controlled by ‘self-intent’ even care about what Holy God thinks? Personal pride “in my potential” is the ‘self-strutting peacock’ more proud of his ‘feathers’ than his Creator!

Oh, but then, there are the ‘religiously proud’ through the ages, like William Warburton, Bishop of Glouchester, that Charles Churchill wrote about in his article entitled “Independence”: “He was so proud that should he meet the Twelve Apostles in the street he’d turn his nose up at them all and shove his Savior from the wall.” I’d call that “The pride that captured Satan and shamed the ‘fallen angels’!

The cultivation of the mind void of the desire and intent of Holy God is like an automobile without an engine, or birds without wings, or, yes, human populations void of the awareness that the Creator-God came, birthed by the Virgin Mary, sacrificed His own Life on the Cross in “Blood Redemption”, but they continue ignoring Biblical History, just blindly trying to find their way without any consideration why Holy God sent His Son or why, under the Sovereign Administration of Holy God, “Why am I here?”!!

Is it possible that “the care of the carnal mind” rules over many because its finiteness has its own self-imposed limits, and one in that phase of existence only has no interest in God’s boundless, limitless, exceedingly great and unending infinite mercy and grace, especially if it costs them their independence, “if your God expects ME to obey Him”? And, is it possible, that to the extreme, there are those human beings, to the extreme point of pain, troubles, heartaches, despair, troubles, unhappiness, loneliness in the ‘inner man’, strongly twisted together to the point they come to the place to say to themselves, “Not even God cares about me”?

“Care of the carnal mind”? Could such devotion to ‘flesh’, to the ‘temporary’, to the ‘world scene’, to ‘human achievement’ without any need or even a ‘thought’ about God, or a ‘thought’ about the Savior, or a ‘thought’ about ETERNITY and one’s role in it, become so dominate one ends up ‘poverty stricken’ rather than “rich” in the Savior’s love? It’s not an accountant’s ‘ledger’ that will reveal what has the human heart, mind, and soul, because the “kingdom of God’ is not based on men’s bank accounts, investments, stock dividends, royalties, but the eternal reality of ONENESS with the Savior, Master, and True Lord of life that blesses and blesses and blesses, and keeps on blessing ! The richest man in the whole world, past, present, and future, is not the man with huge stocks, bonds, or bank accounts, but the man rich in redemptive faith, the recipient of a transformed life and new heart, and the man entrusted with Heaven’s Good News”, the Gospel, gain, and grip of King Jesus on his heart and mind, and HE’S NOT ASHAMED OF IT!

Will Carleton, in “The Ancient Miner’s Story”, wrote: “But I have learned a thing or two; I know as sure as fate, When we lock up our lives for wealth, the gold key comes too late.” One wonders if the ‘ancient miner’ ever knew or had any inkling at all about “true wealth” that only comes, lastingly, in one’s oneness in Christ alone as Lord, Savior, and the Master of, yes, Eternal Life!

Paul wrote challenging, enlightening words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5, so ‘eternal-life-instructing’! He said: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

“Temporary”? Does that mean not permanent to you or those around you? Does temporary mean I don’t have to be serious about my ‘present’, though my ‘present’ may be the key to what Door or door I walk through as ‘eternity’ calls my name? Some have never even considered that the ‘temporary’ IS only a stepping stone toward the ‘eternal’, blessed or unblessed, good or bad, fleshly or spiritual, Satanic or Master-Jesus oriented – it seldom enters some minds, though they see themselves as a very ‘profound person’. “I operate on ‘common sense’, not like those Christians who talk about ‘spiritual sensitivity’ to the things of God and obedience to what He reveals – not me!”

“Temporary”? “The sower sows the word.” That’s Christ Jesus speaking in Mark 4:13-20, and He’s explaining “cares of the carnal minds” AND “the care of the Spiritually-Re-born Soul in oneness with Christ”! Jesus said: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan COMES IMMEDIATELY and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have NO ROOT IN THEMSELVES, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. BUT these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Is the word of God being sown by the wayside of the earthly population on any and every continent of our world? It’s happening! But is it received by every citizen of all nations? Of course not! “Few there be who find it,” Jesus said, but, yes, there are those who hear, receive, repent, and obey, yielding themselves to the Lordship of Christ!

And, receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of some lives in some countries has cost them their lives – having traveled to India and other countries in Asia, I knew those who became ‘martyrs for the faith’! But, with Paul, (Acts 20:21), they were willing “to testify…repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”, even if persecuted or killed!

There was a particular time when in Madras, India, I was preaching on the streets before my conference there started, when two young men confronted me, threatening me that if I came back tomorrow, they would come and kill me. I told them of the time and place where I would be preaching the next day. When the time came, our church musicians were singing, but my translator, Pastor Anand, came and said, “If you’re going to preach, you better do it now, because there are ten to twelve men close by headed this way, each one carrying a machete. I preached, prayed, extended an invitation to trust Christ, and when I finished my prayer, I saw the two ‘mob leaders’ on their knees before me. They prayed to receive Christ, and were baptized by Pastor Anand and became a part of his local church!

Yes, there are those who hear the word, accept it, repent, are baptized, and begin to bear the fruit of the Indwelling Christ! And there MUST BE “the care of spiritual souls”! In Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus said: Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

And, in the care of spiritual souls, I’m sure there are those who endorse ‘sinning’ as THE option every believer has, even if Christ Jesus Himself said: “Go and sin no more”! What does Matthew 18:6 tell us, again, Jesus speaking? “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea!”

The evidence that a man or woman, boy or girl, has been delivered FROM SIN is their sorrowful heart over what their sin nature cost Christ on the cruel Cross! And they have no desire to shame the “Blood Atonement” but to live only the overcoming life in and through Christ’s Resurrected Presence within them – they die daily to themselves and the old sin nature that Christ may be honored through them! In 1 John 1:7 the beloved John wrote: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”

In his book “My Utmost For His Highest,” Oswald chambers wrote: “If I walk in the light as God is in the light, not in the light of my conscience, but in the light of God – if I walk there, with nothing folded up, then there comes the amazing revelation, the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin so that God Almighty can see nothing to censure in me. In my consciousness it works with a keen poignant knowledge of what sin is. The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To walk in the light means that everything that is of the darkness drives me closer into the center of the light.”

Do you believe Jesus when He said, “And, lo, I am with you always…”, and because of His promise one can sin if he/she chooses? Walking with Him in one’s spiritual pilgrimage day by day, feeding daily on His Word, relying upon the Holy Spirit to guide us only in the way that honors Christ, does not open a door of ‘fleshly choices’ to do as I please, even sinning if I can’t help it. Where does that come from? What “strange gospel” is it that grants “do as you please if you since a desire to sin – Jesus understands.” No! He doesn’t understand ‘flesh’ ever choosing consenting to sin if He’s Captain of one’s Ship of Faith and Obedience! He’s given you the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all truth”, not to concur with your desire to do as you please!

In “The Pastor’s Guide to Effective Ministry”, (Edited by William H. Willimon, Beacon Hill Press, 2002), there’s a powerful word from the Puritan Thomas Watson. He said: “The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. “When I awake, I am still with Thee” (Psalm 139:18). The thoughts are as travelers in the mind. David’s thoughts kept heaven-road. “I am still with Thee.” God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this way we may test our love of God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think upon God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?…A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner (guilty prisoner) thinks of the judge.”

Revelation 5 speaks of “The Worthy Lamb of God”, with Revelation 5:12 and Verse 13 saying: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” with Verse 13 following: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Would YOU dare say that’s your hymn of praise to the Reigning Christ in your life because your “Life-Walk” IS testimony He has inspired to “the caring of your redeemed soul” honoring Him daily?

Rev.E.A.Hoffman and Rev.J.H.Stockton, in the “American Hymnal” of the early 1930’s wrote a hymn entitled “Glory To His Name.” It says: “Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name.

I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, There at the cross where He took me in; Glory to His name.

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in; There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory to His name.

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet; Cast your poor soul at the Savior’s feet; Plunge in today, and be made complete; Glory to His name.

Glory to His name, Glory to His name; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name.”

Do YOU sing the “Glory Song” to Jesus because He applied His shed Calvary blood to redeem you from your bondage in sin? It’s time – there is no promise of ‘tomorrow’! Romans 15:13 declares: “NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ARE YOU A SPIRIT-FILLED DISCIPLE ABOUNDING IN ETERNAL HOPE IN JESUS?

By J.Farrell Fisher

AUGUST 20, 2014

It’s, yes, astounding to me that as I read Spurgeon for his pastoral insights and phenomenal handling of God’s Word, I come across statements that birth a new direction of preparation in preaching or teaching God’s Word. He said, [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.19, p.274], “The flesh sees honey in the drink, but faith at once perceives that there is poison in the cup.”

And there certainly is an eternity’s difference between man’s ‘flesh’ [his old, fallen sin nature] and God’s biblical faith. Spurgeon spoke about ‘flesh’ or ‘This sin is a very pleasurable thing, why should I not enjoy it? Surely I may eat this fruit which looks so charming, and is so much to be desired.” And you realize:

‘Flesh’ is blind to God and His Word. ‘Flesh’ is blind to sin, twisting Truth, distorting human personality and divine potential, grieving and gripping the inner man in Satanic slavery, promoting self-potential apart from divine intent, brutalizing divine purpose and plan, enslaving the ‘flesh’ to a godless life, omitting FAITH as THE DIVINE REMEDY OF AN IMPRISONED SOUL, substituting sin as the open door to true freedom when in reality it leads to chains and bondage and a cell or existence of fleshly limitation. ‘FLESH’ IS LIFE WITHOUT GOD!

Spurgeon went on to say so profoundly: “Faith spies the snake in the grass, and gives warning of it. Faith remembers death, judgment, the great reward, the just punishment, and that dread word – eternity. Faith sees the end as well as the beginning. Faith, while the feast is going on, reminds the revelers of the reckoning. Faith feels that she cannot buy the transient joys of earth at the countless cost of an immortal soul. ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’

Blindness to God and His salvation is hopelessness with faithlessness as the uncertain foundation of one’s existence. Self-trust, self-determination, self-will, and self-rule are the four cornerstones of our empty dwellings but faith is the solid and sure foundation.

Without biblical faith, one is void of understanding of the very heart of God. In Ezekial 18:31-32, God speaks today to you personally: “Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die…? For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”

That’s the very heart of the Lord God of Eternity – and He knows you, loves you, and wants you to be one with Him! It was John Calvin, in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” who wrote: “Faith is a knowledge of the benevolence of God toward us, and a certain persuasion of His veracity.”

It was Edwin Hubbell Chapin who said: “Skepticism has not founded empires, established principles, or changed the world’s heart. The great doers of history have always been men of faith.” So true!

And when it comes to human existence that is passionate for more, it’s only by faith that human existence is changed by Divine Presence through repentance toward God and FAITH in the finished work of Christ at the Cross! Truth-faith is “looking up to God,” “looking in to one’s heart-need,” and “looking around as to where one is to settle in serving and sharing our Lord and Savior”!

But, of course, multitudes live by ‘superstition’ rather than faith in God’s finished work. Others live by their mental superiority to the less fortunate because it’s ‘education’ that makes a man – not repentance and faith! Others have settled in to proving their own worth and value by what they do – not what has been done at Calvary’s Cross. It was Napoleon Bonaparte who once said: “All the scholastic scaffolding falls, as a ruined edifice, before one single word – faith.” It was Jesus who said in John 20:29, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed.”

Faith! What an intriguing, inspiring, entrusting word, that calls by personal examination, inward acknowledgement, and mind and heart full surrender to the God who blesses one with SAVING FAITH! Look at Ephesians 2:8!! “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God…”

Romans 1:16-17 is so clear! It says: (Paul speaking), “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just [or justified or ‘just as if I’d never sinned’] shall live by faith.”

We WERE dead in our trespasses and sins, the Gospel is preached, the Spirit convicts and convinces, and by grace through faith, repenting, believing, and trusting, we are born to new life in Christ!

It was J.P.Scholfield who wrote the hymn, “Saved, Saved!” It says: “I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true; I love to tell how He lifted me And what His grace can do for you…

He saves me from every sin and harm, Secures my soul each day; I’m leaning on His mighty arm. I know He’ll guide me all the way…

When poor and needy and all alone, In love He said to me, ‘Come unto Me and I’ll lead you home, To live with Me eternally…

Saved, by His power divine, Saved, to new life sublime! Life now is sweet and my joy is complete, For I’m saved, saved, saved!”

We’re SAVED BY FAITH, but I believe also that there is SECURITY IN FAITH! How could one ever believe that God saves, and yet His salvation is ‘insecure’?

It may be Old Testament scripture but it is the Word of God, and the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 26:2-4, said: “Open the gates that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. YOU [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord is everlasting strength.”

In John 17:3 Jesus prayed to Father-God for us! He said: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.93], wrote: “God has ventured all in Jesus Christ to save us, now He wants us to venture our all in abandoned confidence in Him. There are spots where that faith has not worked in us as yet, places untouched by the life of God. There were none of those spots in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours…The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we take this view, life becomes one great romance, a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.”

For the true believer there is to be that steadfastness of hope in us that what God has started, He will finish! In Job 13:15 Job told his ‘friends’: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” The process of faith requires the patience of faith, yes, patience with yourself!

Robert Browning, in “The Ring and the Book,” wrote: “There is but one way to browbeat this world, Dumb-founder doubt, and repay scorn in kind – To go on trusting, namely, till faith Move Mountains.” That means “hold on” in the journey of faith; “don’t let go” in the stressful times; “eyes on the goal” as you press in to Jesus!

In Revelation 3:10-13 Jesus speaks to us who are in His ‘church’ today: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

WE’RE SAVED BY FAITH, WE’RE SECURE IN FAITH, BUT ALSO THE JOURNEY OF FAITH IS A TEST OF CHOICE IN BEING EITHER INFLUENCED BY THE WORLD AROUND US OR OVERCOMING, YES, WORLDLY TESTS AND TEMPTATIONS BY EITHER REFUSING TO INDULGE IN THE FLESHLY STANDARDS IN THE WORLD OR TO LIVE SURRENDERED DAILY TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST! And I’m sure it’s both!

In I John 2:15-17 the beloved John challenges every believer: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him…

For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

It’s really interesting that Paul challenges all believers in 2 Corinthians 10:5 to “bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” when, sadly, too many professing believers will yield to a world spirit that will dishonor Christ, but the Holy Spirit emphasizes one daily being transformed “by the renewing of the mind.”

There is a vast difference in human existence between those enslaved to their old sin natures or freed by the blood of Christ and birthed into “a new creation” that is, yes, divine in nature! In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul described those in bondage to the “old man”: “And you He made alive, who were dead [spiritually dead to God] in trespasses and sins,

In which you once WALKED ACCORDING TO THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,

Among whom also WE ALL ONCE CONDUCTED OURSELVES IN THE LUSTS OF OUR FLESH, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

The ‘world spirit’ is powerful, tempting, lying, attractive and addictive with deadly alternatives and outcomes, enslaving, binding and bruising, contagious, producing sick spirits in the mind and heart, destroying, poisoning, entrapping, stripping of even common decency, which is what Paul was describing to Titus when in Titus 2:12 he spoke the opposite of worldly teaching that ‘covers’ or ‘denies’ ungodly and worldly lusts, but that true faith, saving faith, transforming faith, teaches us “to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”

Worldly people are aware of ‘spiritual failure’ or ‘spiritual darkness’ or ‘spiritual emptiness’ which drives them to find ‘something’ or ‘someone’ to fill them up with something, but what they seek and find never satisfies because true satisfaction in life only comes by our Lord’s Resurrection Presence!

And guess what? His Holy Word tells us: I John 1:7, “If we walk in the light as He [Jesus] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.” GLORY TO GOD!

I love Oswald Chambers’ statement in “My Utmost For His Highest” when he said: [p.268], “The evidence that I am delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me.”

WE’VE SEEN THE FACT THAT WE’RE SAVED BY FAITH, WE’RE SECURE IN THE FAITH, WE FACE A TEST OF CHOICE IN OUR WALK, BUT ALSO WE ARE INSTRUCTED TO BUILD OURSELVES UP ON “YOUR MOST HOLY FAITH,” WHICH IS JUDE 20-21! It says:

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most Holy Faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life…”

You do understand “new birth” which tells us there are infants in the faith walk, children learning about the faith, teenagers tested about their allegiance to truth, young adults, maturing adults, senior adults, all growing in grace and gripping the truth practically of a sanctifying faith, understanding maturely they’ve been “set apart” in honoring our Lord and Savior!

I’m sure that much of our salvation -walk as infants in the faith and energetic children of faith is based upon, mostly, head faith, but as one matures in the faith-walk a person begins to discern ‘heart-faith’, that is, one willing to be led by the Holy Spirit of God and matured by faithfulness in and to God’s Holy Word.

No doubt this is why Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Saving, sanctifying faith is not in what I do, but what has been done through the sacrificial life of Christ and my absolute certainty and acceptance of His finished work on the Cross where He took me to the Cross with Him, and I was there crucified with Christ, and now He lives again and through my available body! It’s not “us” – it’s “Christ in us the hope of glory”!

There is such an illuminating word Jesus spoke in Luke 21:16-19. It says: “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience [steadfastness, disciplined walk] possess your souls.”

Does that relate to believers “putting on the whole armor of God”? Does that mean “seeking,” “searching,” “claiming,” “dressing,” “receiving,” all that our Lord has promised? I love Chambers’ words when he said: “Faith is not a pathetic sentiment, but robust vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love.” WOW! What are you building your life of faith upon?

The journey of faith is a joyous journey, but sometimes there are those who “depart from the faith” – and it’s you and Jesus only! In 2 Timothy 4:16-18 Paul told his spiritual son, “At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

I wrote a message last week entitled “Dark Nights – Bright Lights.” Redemptive faith is not a dark night, but the “Bright Light” of Jesus Himself – His Light never grows dim!

I pray you understand that at times a militaristic call to arms does arise for true believers, but without a doubt, I believe, Paul is talking here about a war against your own flesh, a war against the world spirit of unbelief, and a war against Satanic and demonic activity!

Discern Matthew 24:3-14 as you personally choose to do so, but don’t ignore or try to ‘sugar-coat’ our Lord’s words as He talked about the signs of the times and the end of the age! Jesus said: Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the ends of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.

For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”

I hope you understand that what has been spoken by Jesus is to alert ALL of “perilous times.” Our Lord and Savior high-lighted some very vital truths about these particular times called “last days”. He said: 1]. It will be a time of great deception. Verses 4-5. 2]. It will be a time of great conflict. Verses 6-7. 3]. It will be a time of great suffering. Verses 8-10. 4]. It will be a time of open sin. Verses 11-12. 5]. It will be a time of great opportunity. Verses 13-14.

Are you prepared? Are you alert? Are you well-trained? Are you equipped? Are you prayed up? And, I would ask, ‘Are you ready to die for your faith?’

In Ephesians 6:16 Paul tells us, “above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

LASTLY, HAS ‘YOUR’ FAITH LED YOU TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO STAND FAST AND STRONG? In Galatians 5:1 Paul wrote: “Stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”

You do know that if Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed – no more bondage, no more slavery, no more chains, no more fear of an eternal hell, no more entanglements of poor choices.

It was Robert J. McCracken who wrote: “We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls.” Oh, that once again true American history be restored to our classrooms!

Again, Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” I’m telling you, “standing fast in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,” is why John recorded Jesus’ word for us in Revelation 3:10, “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

It’s more than enduring and persevering – it’s standing tall before Holy God with a heart of thanksgiving and joy for His gift of FAITH!! “For by grace you have been saved THROUGH FAITH, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God!” Glory!

Ray Palmer and Lowell Mason wrote the hymn, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee.” It says:

“My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine! Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away, O let me from this day Be wholly Thine!

May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire; As Thou hast died for me, O may my love to Thee Pure, warm, and changeless be, A living fire!

While life’s dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide4; Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow’s tears away, Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside.

When ends life’s transient dream, When death’s cold, sullen stream Shall o’er me roll; Blest Savior, then, in love, Fear and distrust remove, O bear me safe above, A ransomed soul!”