Scripture
Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
~Ephesians 6:16, NLT
Quote
The life of a holy man is a continual warfare with sin, the world, the flesh and the devil.
~John Charles Ryle
There is no doubt that the Christian life is a war and faith is the axis on which the battle turns. Our success in this war depends upon our faith. It is faith in the word of God that gives us a firm foundation to stand on. It is our point of reference, “He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” [Heb.11:6]. John said, “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” No man will ever do anything apart from what he believes. Faith in Christ is the mainspring of the Christian life. It is because I believe in Jesus that I trust Him, cling to Him, follow Him and worship Him. He is my hope, my peace, my strength and my salvation. If God’s word is not true and Jesus is not God’s Son, I have no hope, no peace and no salvation. Those who truly know Christ and have fellowship with Him see their own sin and wretchedness. The closer you get to Jesus, the Light, the more evident your sin becomes. You see your weak and deceitful heart, your vain and selfish nature and the power of sin and temptation.
Jesus is not only our hope, peace, strength and salvation: He is our refuge and our shield. The devil’s aim is to destroy the soul. He works tirelessly to achieve this end. The believer in under a constant assault. The fiery darts of the wicked one bombard us constantly night and day. If we get lax and lower the shield of faith, these darts will pierce the heart and weaken our faith. We have to keep the shield up. How many darts does Satan have in hand? I don’t know but I do know of three: doubt, fear and despair. We must keep our shield in place and our sword in hand. There is no hope of victory a part from the word of God. Someone asks me a question in our bible study class last Sunday that I could not answer. Between Bible Study and worship, I was thinking: If I could answer every question, I would not need faith. But I do not know everything and I do need faith.
Sunday evening I had a lot on my mind. To be honest, I was disturbed and I had no peace. I was fretting over things that I cannot control {like sickness}. On the way to church I breathed a silent prayer: “LORD, I am not in any shape to preach but I am going to the pulpit strictly by faith. I don’t know what is going to happen. It all depends on you.” Then I could not wait to get alone with Jesus on Monday morning. I am telling you folks, the life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I look forward to final battle and to the end of the war. No more sin. No more temptation to sin. No more war! “All is peace forever more on that happy golden shore, what a day, glorious day that will be.”
Extra
LORD willing, we will be going north to Nashville today. Going to see Kathleen Anders. She had a stroke but is recovering. She can use both hands and legs. She is still not talking and she can’t eat or drink. They are going to do another swallowing test today. Tammy told me last night that the two things she loved to do most is eat and talk and she cannot do either. Josh and I plan to go to Memphis Friday evening to see Lincoln who has pneumonia and covid. Pray for the Kallas family.
Joe David, Josh, Spencer and Joe McCaig are flying to DC this morning. They are doing the David Barton Tour. It will be real history, not the synthetic fabricated history that the government teaches.
I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.