Stand

 

Stand

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Job 2;2 “And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

     What if you met a ‘rattler in the grass.  All coiled up and ready to strike.  A movement right or left and he may take your shin.  Even a slow retreat may get the snake stretched out full length with its fangs embedded in your flesh.  The best defense? Stand.  Stare the thing down.  It will finally retreat.

     Oh, we have grand imaginations of our confrontations with the evil one of old.  We don our armor, head out into battle, and knock the enemy down like David and his Goliath.  But it’s usually not like that.  We walk the hike of the day and get startled.  The sudden “hiss” causes us to freeze in our tracks.  Upon seeing the one prepared for harm, we quickly assess our vulnerability.  The “Press to Test” button is pushed as we weigh our position and determine the flight or fight option, but there is one more.

     God commands us to stand.  As I heard a man say the other day, the suit of armor does the fighting.  In other words, we do not resist in our own strength.  However, it is up to us to wear it.  If we indeed are prepared, fear will not penetrate His suit.  When taken by surprise, we will not jerk like a knee reflex.  A sober mind will calculate the needed action.

     He again calls us to stand.  He fought for the Israelites.  He just asked them to show up for battle.  In those other times, when the fight is anticipated or scheduled, He still promises to go with us.

     What if we fly that flag?  What if we bear our cross?  This suit of armor is colorful and identifies us as holy.  It is into battle we take God’s standard of righteousness.  We are called to preserve this world by slowing her decay.

     What do these stands look like?  It may be the kind word at the checkout line.  When conversation goes cross, a certain uplifting word can steer upward.  Perhaps not participating in shop gossip, but being resolved to speak evil of no man. What about turning the channel so little eyes do not see violence?  It is important to note, when we elect to stand, someone may be standing behind us.  We stand for the weaker ones.

     We could consider these little snakes, but they are most venomous.  Little nips we can brush off, but the poison concentrates unless we confront their fangs.  Attacks throughout the day as the world, flesh, and devil take their hits.  It can wear us down.  That is why He has given us supernatural power to resist and stand.

     This world is corrupt.  The days are evil.  We are to hate this life and love Him more. We are to stand and even to stand up.

     Arise!  Stand!  Sons and daughters.  Fight in the trenches of the everyday courses. Show His standard as light even to those that are perishing.

 

                                                     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Successive Revelations

  God’s Successive Revelations Search Me diligently, and I will reveal Myself to you.      Yah, that sound like something God would say.   I understand He revealed the Trinity to us.   I plead ignorance in Church history.   Some theologians, perhaps 400 A.D. came upon this gem that we hold true today.   The idea of the rapture is new on the Church radar.   Late 1800’s?      What if God revealed His truth to His people in time?   Surely, Solomon was the wisest man in his day, but did he know about Pentecost?   Daniel, the far seer, was only shown glimpses.   What did he know of Peter and miracles in the temple?   A certain king discovered God’s truth again and that made for a reformation, but what did he know of the beast standing in the sea?   God gives insight in His time.      I have trained seven children.   As young  children, I did not flood them with...
Read more

She Doesn't Tell You That You Are A Loser

She Doesn’t Tell You That You Are Loser Grace:  The incredible pink cushion between your screwed up decisions and the ramifications wrought by them. Mercy:  withholds the rod.  Grace says, “Now what?  Given you’ve gotten yourself into a marijuana muddied bowl of slime, would you like a hand up?”  She gets her hands dirty. “That’s ok, its just something I have to work through.”  And she does.  Her incredible prayer power burns a hole through overhanging clouds of gloom. My ears pierce in my usual confronting atmosphere.  An auto E.Q. does its job to focus the vibrations to the rear-view mirror.  Anger aligns my head to look straight into traffic.  Twenty minutes of a sub-woofer gets my energy out of the windshield. “Hey, you’re messing with my woman!”  We have an understanding.  She is to be under my wing.  I have violated before, running in a tangent to the graph.  I’ve learned not to overreact.  I conc...
Read more

Perhaps You Don't Know

  Perhaps You Don’t Know      Those present sat in the first pew, on the left and on the right.   The ring bearer was my faithful dorm mate.   Nearly my age and goofier to catch my sister-in-law’s eye, his antics spiced the military wedding.   We, known as a couple since high-school, were definitely going ‘steady’.   Mother-in-law held up the Panasonic cassette player to march the bride.   Proud Papa did say, “Her mother and I.”      It was a humble wedding.   A few were invited.   Even fewer braved the September roads.   The medium-sized First Christian Church of Aurora, Colorado let in the light.   Lack of air flow brought sweat under my suited armpits.   Finally, drops found their place to my forehead and I dropped to one knee.   Grandma thought I had already proposed previously.   A bit of confusion hung in the air until I stripped off my outerwear and got comfortable in the ...
Read more