ARMED FOR BATTLE

Image result for CLIPART OF MAN WITH A BIBLE The Israelites are leaving Egypt.  Recall with me that Egypt is the metaphor for being enslaved to sin.  There are some 600,000 of them, Exodus 12:37.  (Just think, yesterday, I had a challenge leading 17 first graders to march them out to meet parents after school!) 

The narrator of Exodus adds a phrase which is so important for us who have left our "Egypt, the land of slavery", "The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle."  Exo. 14:12b.  I am amused at remarks on social media which decry the fact that as Christ followers we are in a battle.  I cannot figure out their "let's pretend game" mentality that all is perfect in my world.  Today it is so common to see and hear people "carrying and wearing guns"....yet, I must ask, "Have you armed your mind and heart for the battle that you are in...against your own selfish mindset or against the evil one who crouches at your door, so willing to pounce on his prey?

Foolishly, we think our weapon is our wit, our words, or our strength, but our weapons are the WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER.  The Sword of the Spirit in Ephesians 6, which is part of God's armor provided for us is to be welded.  Sword is the Greek word, machaira, and it could be a large or a small knife carried as a weapon.  Hebrews 4:12 speaks, "For the Word of God is living and active.  sharper than any double-edged sword.  It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;  it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."   As Christ followers, we are to be prepared for battle, yielding to the Holy Spirit within us, being wise and discerning in the use of the weapon, the Word of God. The WORD used in this passage is rhema, which points to a specific word of God for a circumstance.  An example of rhema could be a promise specifically to speak to the circumstance which is pressing you.  

In your present "present traffic pattern" of life, are you equipped for the press?  Are you armed and carrying the Word of God in your mind and heart?   Are you fighting the good fight of the faith?  Forever learning.  In process.  #IHAVETHREESONS.   

 
 

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