Ecclesiastes 3:8
There is also a time
for love and hate,
for war and peace.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
In
1965, a band called The Byrds recorded “Turn, Turn, Turn”, a song
written in the late 1950s by Pete Seeger, and set to music and first
recorded in 1962 by the Limeliters. I would venture to say that anyone
over the age of 40 knows the Byrds version of this song…and probably
some among the younger generations are familiar with it, as well. They
may NOT realize that its lyrics are almost entirely a scripture passage
from Ecclesiastes!
In 1965, this song was relevant,
because of the Vietnam War and public sentiment - both pro and con.
Verse 8 in particular had special significance then – and the same could
be said today, for a variety of reasons. As a country, we seem to be
operating quite heavily in the “time of hate”…and people appear divided
over issues as significant as women’s rights – and as ridiculous as
whether a dress pictured on the Internet is actually blue or white.
What
does this verse mean for us today? I believe that God is calling us to
examine our hearts and minds and determine whether we are on course as
Christ’s disciples…or whether we have veered off track. Have we made
this a “time” of hate and war with others over all sorts of issues –
many of which are rather mundane and insignificant? Or have we listened
to God and found a “season” of peace and love – and lingered there as
we interact with others?
According to the Bible, discourse and
war are appropriate when battling the devil and the evil that he can
bring to bear. I’m talking about “Spiritual warfare” more than physical
fighting…”battling” the enemy with prayer and communion with God - and
efforts to serve Him even when Satan tries to distract us. We must
despise the devil and his antics. But we must not hate other
people…we must do everything in our power to avoid combat – both
physically, mentally, and emotionally.
I do not wish to begin a
debate over whether war is necessary or appropriate. That is not my
point. I want to remind each of us that each day, you and I must “pick
and choose our battles.” God wants us to seek His will and word before deciding which way to turn. How well are you doing these days?
©2016 Debbie Robus
Showing posts with label Spiritual warfare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spiritual warfare. Show all posts
Daily Devotional for July 2, 2013
Isaiah 2:4
He will settle arguments between nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never make war or attack one another.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Shortly before Christmas Day 1943, Charles Brown, a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy, was flying his first WWII combat mission over Germany. His B-17 had been shot to smithereens, several crew members were injured… and his tail gunner was dead. As Brown looked out his window, he saw German 2nd Lt. Franz Stigler fly alongside him in his ME-109. Brown assumed Stigler would finish off him and his crew… and indeed, Stigler had his hand on the trigger to do so.
But Stigler thought of his own older brother, killed earlier in the war. Here was his chance to mete revenge… and to earn a medal for valor – Germany’s highest military honor – if only he could score one more kill. But as Stigler looked at the bloodied body of the tail gunner, he realized that he would be committing murder. He knew that to fail to complete this mission could result in execution if someone reported him. But as a man who had once studied for the priesthood, Stigler pressed his fingers to his rosary and realized that he lived by a Higher Code of honor. So he saluted American pilot Brown and safely escorted the crippled plane to the German border.
I encourage you to take a few minutes and read this entire story at http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/09/living/higher-call-military-chivalry. Learn how the lives of these men – and countless others – were changed forever on this December day in 1943. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but see God’s hand in this…how He settled the arguments between nations for at least two young men. The reason I share this story with you is twofold… 1) we are nearing our country’s Independence Day… a time when we pause to celebrate our freedom - and those who helped secure it; and 2) this story serves to once again remind us of God’s profound desire for us to live together in peace and harmony… a desire so intense that He would convict the heart of one enemy of war and prevent him from firing on another.
In our daily living, God is hard at work providing us with opportunities to choose to “remove our hand from the trigger”… to operate by a Higher Code of honor… to create and preserve an atmosphere of peace – for ourselves and for those in our midst. This is so characteristic of the God we serve… to want us to get along and operate in peace and calm so passionately that He would go to great lengths to convict us to do the right thing. God wants us to experience serenity and harmony so much that He would provide us with a “safe escort to the border” while enemies swarm us. God is calling on us to “pound our swords and spears into rakes and shovels” and never make war again.
The question for today is this… who – or what – are you battling? Where are you experiencing chaos and turmoil… where so you need to surrender to a Higher Code of honor – GOD’s code? Who do you need to “salute” and “escort to the border” with a heavy dose of compassion and grace? Have you considered what might transpire as a result?
Will this be the year that you celebrate Independence Day with a new perspective… free of the burdens of discord with others? Shouldn’t it?
©2013 Debbie Robus
He will settle arguments between nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never make war or attack one another.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Shortly before Christmas Day 1943, Charles Brown, a 21-year-old West Virginia farm boy, was flying his first WWII combat mission over Germany. His B-17 had been shot to smithereens, several crew members were injured… and his tail gunner was dead. As Brown looked out his window, he saw German 2nd Lt. Franz Stigler fly alongside him in his ME-109. Brown assumed Stigler would finish off him and his crew… and indeed, Stigler had his hand on the trigger to do so.
But Stigler thought of his own older brother, killed earlier in the war. Here was his chance to mete revenge… and to earn a medal for valor – Germany’s highest military honor – if only he could score one more kill. But as Stigler looked at the bloodied body of the tail gunner, he realized that he would be committing murder. He knew that to fail to complete this mission could result in execution if someone reported him. But as a man who had once studied for the priesthood, Stigler pressed his fingers to his rosary and realized that he lived by a Higher Code of honor. So he saluted American pilot Brown and safely escorted the crippled plane to the German border.
I encourage you to take a few minutes and read this entire story at http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/09/living/higher-call-military-chivalry. Learn how the lives of these men – and countless others – were changed forever on this December day in 1943. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but see God’s hand in this…how He settled the arguments between nations for at least two young men. The reason I share this story with you is twofold… 1) we are nearing our country’s Independence Day… a time when we pause to celebrate our freedom - and those who helped secure it; and 2) this story serves to once again remind us of God’s profound desire for us to live together in peace and harmony… a desire so intense that He would convict the heart of one enemy of war and prevent him from firing on another.
In our daily living, God is hard at work providing us with opportunities to choose to “remove our hand from the trigger”… to operate by a Higher Code of honor… to create and preserve an atmosphere of peace – for ourselves and for those in our midst. This is so characteristic of the God we serve… to want us to get along and operate in peace and calm so passionately that He would go to great lengths to convict us to do the right thing. God wants us to experience serenity and harmony so much that He would provide us with a “safe escort to the border” while enemies swarm us. God is calling on us to “pound our swords and spears into rakes and shovels” and never make war again.
The question for today is this… who – or what – are you battling? Where are you experiencing chaos and turmoil… where so you need to surrender to a Higher Code of honor – GOD’s code? Who do you need to “salute” and “escort to the border” with a heavy dose of compassion and grace? Have you considered what might transpire as a result?
Will this be the year that you celebrate Independence Day with a new perspective… free of the burdens of discord with others? Shouldn’t it?
©2013 Debbie Robus
Daily Devotional for February 9, 2012
Galatians 5:16
If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey your selfish desires.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Dictionary.com defines the word “selfish” as… “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.” My “daily humor” calendar quote for today was… “What do you get from a pampered cow? Spoiled milk!” Selfish people are often spoiled… and rotten in more ways than one!
Let’s be perfectly frank here… true Disciples of Christ do not have time to be selfish. At the same time, Satan has all the time in the world to try to con us into doing exactly this! He will tell us that it’s okay to think about ourselves for once. He will remind us that we deserve to be happy, pampered, at the top of the heap, given special treatment… or to do as we please, regardless of how it affects others. He will make whatever is tempting us so alluring and enticing that we will feel like we simply have to have it!
If you think for one minute that the devil doesn’t have a lot of power, you are sadly mistaken! And if you think that digging into the Word of God, cloaking yourself in prayer and growing closer to the Holy Spirit will make him go away, you are in for a rude awakening. As long as you are selfish and spoiled, the devil doesn’t really care… he’s got you right where he wants you. But start listening for God’s voice… start letting the Holy Spirit guide your heart… and your real challenges have just begun?
So why bother? Why not just be selfish and get what we want (or what we think we want), and forget about having to deal with all the mess that Satan will try to make of our lives if we stand up to him? Because Satan is no match for the power of the Holy Spirit. As we grow in faith and learn to live by the Holy Spirit… to walk the path that He shows us… we grow stronger in our ability to stand up to Satan’s challenges. We learn to lean more on God and less on ourselves… and we actually find that our desires become more like His and less selfish. And that… as they say… is where the magic happens!
One of the biggest and most selfish desires we have is to say whatever is on our mind as soon as we think it. In many ways, death and life are in the power of the tongue. We have the power to speak great joy into the lives of others… or great pain. And which do you think the devil prefers? By learning to listen to the Holy Spirit… by operating in His desires instead of ours… we learn to control our mouth… and all other actions and behaviors begin to change, as well.
Controlling our tongue is a very hard thing. Checking our words… stopping to think about what we say before we say it…does not come naturally for most of us. The only way we have any chance of accomplishing this is by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us… by giving our selfish desires over to Him and working to fulfill His desires instead. The first step is to want to walk in the Holy Spirit… to choose to surrender selfish desires. Once we determine to do this, we are in the right mindset to ask God to help us accomplish it.
If we could begin to operate in the desires of the Holy Spirit… if we could begin to control the words we speak and make sure they are pleasing to Him… we could see great changes in our own lives and the lives of others. We could start to surrender our selfish desires in all areas of life for good. We would still be pampered… but when God does the pampering, the results are never spoiled. Isn’t it time we changed directions and began seeking the desires of the King of Kings… the One who can truly give us the deepest desires of His heart… and ours? Are you ready to go from “spoiled rotten” to “royally blessed”?
©2012 Debbie Robus
If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey your selfish desires.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Dictionary.com defines the word “selfish” as… “devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.” My “daily humor” calendar quote for today was… “What do you get from a pampered cow? Spoiled milk!” Selfish people are often spoiled… and rotten in more ways than one!
Let’s be perfectly frank here… true Disciples of Christ do not have time to be selfish. At the same time, Satan has all the time in the world to try to con us into doing exactly this! He will tell us that it’s okay to think about ourselves for once. He will remind us that we deserve to be happy, pampered, at the top of the heap, given special treatment… or to do as we please, regardless of how it affects others. He will make whatever is tempting us so alluring and enticing that we will feel like we simply have to have it!
If you think for one minute that the devil doesn’t have a lot of power, you are sadly mistaken! And if you think that digging into the Word of God, cloaking yourself in prayer and growing closer to the Holy Spirit will make him go away, you are in for a rude awakening. As long as you are selfish and spoiled, the devil doesn’t really care… he’s got you right where he wants you. But start listening for God’s voice… start letting the Holy Spirit guide your heart… and your real challenges have just begun?
So why bother? Why not just be selfish and get what we want (or what we think we want), and forget about having to deal with all the mess that Satan will try to make of our lives if we stand up to him? Because Satan is no match for the power of the Holy Spirit. As we grow in faith and learn to live by the Holy Spirit… to walk the path that He shows us… we grow stronger in our ability to stand up to Satan’s challenges. We learn to lean more on God and less on ourselves… and we actually find that our desires become more like His and less selfish. And that… as they say… is where the magic happens!
One of the biggest and most selfish desires we have is to say whatever is on our mind as soon as we think it. In many ways, death and life are in the power of the tongue. We have the power to speak great joy into the lives of others… or great pain. And which do you think the devil prefers? By learning to listen to the Holy Spirit… by operating in His desires instead of ours… we learn to control our mouth… and all other actions and behaviors begin to change, as well.
Controlling our tongue is a very hard thing. Checking our words… stopping to think about what we say before we say it…does not come naturally for most of us. The only way we have any chance of accomplishing this is by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us… by giving our selfish desires over to Him and working to fulfill His desires instead. The first step is to want to walk in the Holy Spirit… to choose to surrender selfish desires. Once we determine to do this, we are in the right mindset to ask God to help us accomplish it.
If we could begin to operate in the desires of the Holy Spirit… if we could begin to control the words we speak and make sure they are pleasing to Him… we could see great changes in our own lives and the lives of others. We could start to surrender our selfish desires in all areas of life for good. We would still be pampered… but when God does the pampering, the results are never spoiled. Isn’t it time we changed directions and began seeking the desires of the King of Kings… the One who can truly give us the deepest desires of His heart… and ours? Are you ready to go from “spoiled rotten” to “royally blessed”?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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