Prepare Now for the Battle to Come

Has the church shown its readiness for economic hard times?

That was the question being considered by Jorge Claudio in this post on Ed Stetzer's blog.

Below are my comment and prayer regarding that post:

Jorge,

Great observation!

I think I heard this from John Piper first. The church should ALWAYS be living with a "wartime" mentality. Not spending as fast as we get (or faster for that matter) but store for the long battles.

May we (especially myself) see the lifestyles we are forced to live in the lean times and strive to find a lifestyle that will sustain us and, by God's grace, others through every battle (short or long) for the sake of Jesus' name.

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts.

In Christ,
Matt Taylor

What do you think the church (as a whole and/or as individuals) needs to do to be prepared for the battles to come?

Farming the Fruit of the Spirit

Since the fall, farming has taken the sweat from the brow of man. We may not all be farmers now but we all know the effort we put in to bring food to the table. The fruits of our labor take great effort to get. But what about the fruit of the Spirit? Does that take effort to get?

I contend that it does. Paul told the Philippians and us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is going to take effort to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. But thanks be to God that he is right there to help us! Paul continues by saying that it is God who is working in us.

Let's fight to display the fruits of the Spirit. We can praise God now for the desire within us and later when he brings forth fruit for the glory of his name.

Focused Fighting - Bible Reading

In my last post I spoke about fighting distraction and how this is for God's glory. It pierced my heart. Focus is such an important part of the good fight. There is so much that is vying for out attention. So where do we start?

We start with Bible reading. Focused Bible reading will start our minds on the path of spiritual thinking. It can reveal distractions in our hearts and need in the battle for joy. It will give us a place of refuge through out the day. It will keep us focused in the quiet and calm in the chaos.

Focus today on God's word written for your instruction and joy.

FIGHT the good fight!

I have begun working out again recently. I have not seen much results yet. I know I will if I strive for it. This got me meditating on 1 Timothy 6:12. The Christian life is a fight. A fight that will end in joyful rest. And a fight which has a goal that has been accomplished already by Jesus. Yet I fight now to experience more and more of what I will experience when I see Jesus face to face. Do you have a desire to fight? To fight to mortify sin?

If you do not desire to fight against sin or you aren't sure that you will experience joyful rest with Jesus, please click this or comment below.

The Way of the Righteous

I couldn't figure out which option I thought was right from this post.

This is how I would put it:
1. My goal, prize and treasure is Jesus.
2. That end being sealed by the Holy Spirit and evidenced by my faith in the finished work of Jesus, I strive to increase my joy by forsaking the ways of the wicked and living the ways of the righteous.
3. I long for the day when all my ways are righteous and I see Jesus face to face.

How would you put it? Is this actually one of the options or a different option?

Reclaiming Definitions

In the battle of ideas definitions are important. We need to fight for them!


Reclaiming Definitions: Without the Holy Spirit we are demonic not spiritual!

FREEDOM!!!

Men do we fight for the freedom of our hearts as William Wallace fought for the freedom of Scotland? We are in a battle men. A battle to free our hearts from the chains of sin. Jesus has given us the power. The Spirit has given us our defenses and our weapon. Let's go and fight for our chains to be cast away, our joy to be increased and the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be exalted in the hearts of all men. FREEDOM!!!