Love and Protection

 

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17 [AMPC])

Yesterday, I was reading about the armor of God in Ephesians 6 in the Amplified translation of the Bible. In verse seventeen, Paul said, “Take the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.” I had never read that last part before, “that the Spirit wields.” Yes, we understand each of these pieces of armor is God’s armor for His children who take and wear it. In our heads, as we read this chapter of Ephesians, we know this armor comes from God and helps us in our battles. The question though is this; how many of us just take it and do what we think we must do? God did not intend His children wear it without His power, strength, guidance, encouragement, and knowledge.

Consider verse seventeen. The point of this verse is you must take hold of God’s sword and join Him in holding the sword while He defends you or leads you. Do you understand this? The same thing should happen as we put on each piece of armor. The armor is God’s. He gives it to us and commands us to put it on each day, just as Paul commanded the Ephesians. Never do Christians have ownership of the armor they wear. The armor comes from God to help us.

This same thing applies to each piece of the armor we take and wear. Consider it this way. Wear the helmet to protect your head and keep remembering God is your salvation. Put on the shield of faith so you douse the flaming darts and arrows Satan shoots your way to kill you and lead you to doubt God and His protection and goodness over you. Continue to have a strong faith. Put on the armor of preparation to cover your feet. These armored shoes will prepare you to be ready with the good news of Christ, with firm-footing and stability to battle in rough terrain without doubting God. They will lead you in God’s path for your safety and His purpose of peace. Put on God’s breastplate to protect your vital organs and to give you His integrity and righteousness through Jesus. Tighten the belt of truth around you so you will always know God’s truth and can defeat Satan’s lies and not become distracted and forlorn by them. With each these pieces of armor, always pray in the Spirit with every kind of prayer. By doing this, God encourages you as you wear it and you have faith in Him in all things remembering He is almighty. Most of all, put on God’s complete armor, by which He saves you from Satan’s distresses, so you can resist him and stand firmly in your faith in God.

So many of us pray for the armor of God then walk away thinking, “I've got this.” Instead of this attitude, we should put on God’s armor and walk with Him holding onto His sword, wearing His helmet, tightening His belt around our waist, stepping in faith in His shoes, and raising His shield, so He wins the battle for us. By doing this, God receives the glory, He encourages us in our faith, grows us to be like Him, and we become closer in oneness with Him. Each piece of the armor of God is for bodily protection and a minute-by-minute reminder that God is the One who goes before us, behind us, above us, and with us. His armor protects us from doubting, from fearing, from quitting, and from falling. 

The Spirit wields the sword.

We hold it with Him while He swings it for God’s glory and our good. 

When was the last time you took God’s armor and allowed Him to protect you and be your champion?

Gift

 

¹⁴When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:14-15 [NIV]) 

      If you have been to church or read your Bible, you will have learned of this discussion Jesus had with His disciples about little children and their guardians. These guardians sought Jesus’ blessings on their children. This happens today when a famous person comes to our towns and cities. We seek an audience with that person so they can kiss or hold our child. This blessing makes our heart feel good. In our minds, to be in the presence of a famous person means we are famous for that moment. We are someone more than the sum of our individual parts; it must be true since that well-known person chose to be with us. Later in life, we remember that time and recall how special we felt to have the famous person choose to be with us and to hold or kiss our child. Was this what the guardians of the children in Mark 10 wanted? Did they seek Jesus so they could have their moment of fame? Conversely, did they seek Him because they believed in Him as God’s Son and wanted God’s blessing on their children? We can look at this from the child’s perspective. Did the children hold back from seeing Jesus or did they run, skip, and scamper to Him? Let’s consider Mark 10:13-16.

     Jesus was in Judea, in this passage. After being tested by the Pharisees about teachings on divorce, a different discussion with Him began. People brought their children to Him for Him to bless them by placing His hands on them. The disciples rebuked these people. At this, Jesus saw and corrected the disciples. He wanted the children to come to Him. Jesus made the children an example for adults. In a society where children had no power or say in life, Jesus placed them on a pedestal as a teaching model. This pointed out children are important. Jesus made sure the people who listened to Him and those who would hear and read about His words and actions later would recall this point about salvation. He told the people the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like children (vs 14). He did not say it only belongs to or is for children, but people like them. Did this mean people who are full of energy, weepy, needy, quiet, humble, trusting, sincere, welcoming, or accepting? Yes, Jesus calls all people to receive salvation. He specifically told what He meant with this statement by His comment in verse fifteen. He said people must receive the kingdom of God like a child. The kingdom of God belongs to children, and only those people who receive it like a child may enter it.

     The definition of “receiving” helps us understand what Jesus meant when He said a person must receive the kingdom of God like a child. “Receive” comes from the Greek word dechomai. Dechomai means to receive in a warmly welcoming and receptive way. Whenever someone gives anything to another person, two actions occur, giving and the receiving. Receiving cannot occur without giving, but that does not mean every person receives each thing given to them. Jesus taught, in this passage, that the children actively received in their innocence and simplicity what He offered. They did not stand back and question what Jesus would want from them, what motives He had, if He attached strings, and why they should receive it from Him. Most children happily and actively accept gifts given to them. In their innocence and trust, they actively welcome gifts into their lives. In this passage, Jesus said people must receive the gift of salvation and eternal life He gives with welcoming and active acceptance.

      Like a coin, receiving involves another actor–the Giver. No one can receive anything if nothing is given. Like a child actively and warmly receives a gift with innocence and simplicity, a giver of a gift must actively pass to another person what he or she wants to give. In this case, Jesus said God gives His kingdom to people who are like children (vs 15). If nothing is offered, nothing can be received. Still, if something is offered, it does not have to be received. People, being wary of receiving something for nothing for fear the price will take away their freedom, often choose not to receive a gift. They do not trust the giver and sometimes the gift. People often lack this trust and faith in the Giver, and they will not accept the gift Jesus offers to them.

      In these verses, Jesus raised people’s perception of children. Their innocence, simplicity, and greater willingness to act, set them apart as the best example at that moment to show the response needed for people to become children of God. God, the Giver of salvation and life in His kingdom, offers this gift to each person. Jesus made the point each person must actively accept the gift. To be an active receiver, a person should be like a child who warmly and with trusting faith accepts God’s gift of cleansing from sins and eternal life. Each person who accepts a gift actively participates in the transaction with the giver. For righteousness and eternal life with God, a person must actively join with God in receiving by faith what He offers because of His grace and love. This gift requires a high level of self-involvement from the recipient. When both sides of this transaction occur, blessing happens. The greatest blessing of any person’s life occurs, a restored relationship with God.

      Will you be childlike and respond to God calling to you to accept His gift? Will you warmly receive what He offers you-cleansing from sins and a place in His kingdom for eternity? God keeps knocking at the door to give us the gift of His grace and love. You need only open the door and let Him in to give you a place in His kingdom. Life for us should be about having righteous relationships with God and other people. Life as a child of God is about receiving His gifts with trusting faith. Life as His child is a blessing. 

What keeps you from having the trusting, innocent faith of a child?

Give that to God and ask Him to give you faith.

Faith is a gift from God for everyone who asks.

Love Abounding

 

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. (Philippians 1:9 [NIV])

            “Love,” some say, “I understand all about it.” Others may disagree and say it confounds them. Love, without understanding its basis, is just another word whose meaning may change with the times. Paul had a particular and perfect standard in mind when he wrote his letter to the church at Philippi.

            The starting conjunction in verse nine requires us to understand what Paul said earlier in the letter. In verse three, he said he thanked God for the Philippian believers and prayed with joy because of their partnership with him in the gospel. Verse six tells us the basis for Paul’s prayer. It says, “Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Paul understood God would complete the work He began in them upon Jesus’ return. Because of his close relationship with God, he understood what God begins in a person He completes. God is the basis for love.

            With verse nine, Paul stated what God would perfect and how and why He would complete it. His prayer spoke about the Philippians’ love, knowledge, and depth of insight. Upon looking at these words further, we understand the word “love” comes from the Greek word agape. Agape is love defined by God because it comes from God. Agape love is part of God’s character. Nothing changes it. God’s love is pure, true (Psalm 86:15), faithful (Psalm 107:8-9), and unending (1 Chronicles 16:34) like Himself. John stated in 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 the love of God is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, rejoices with truth, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, and never fails. When Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9, “This is my prayer; that your love may abound more and more,” he meant may the love of God, that overflows abundantly to you from Him, grow in you and overflow more and more from you. The love of God in a believer occurs because that person prefers to love Him above his or herself. This Christian chooses to love God, which means growing to know Him more by listening to Him, studying His word, praying to Him, and obeying Him. Paul prayed the Philippian believers preferred to love God more than any other earthly thing, including themselves, their families, their aspirations, and their stuff. This love, Paul prayed for them, would abound. It would exceed and overflow in abundance from God’s overflowing love.

            This love would abound more and more because of their knowledge and depth of insight. The knowledge Paul wrote about is what they would gain firsthand from a relationship with God because of their preferred love for Him. Paul said this knowledge would come from walking daily in close communion with God. It comes from a growing experiential knowledge about God and from God. God’s love would abound from each believer because of His love for them and his or her love for God. God is the source of agape love and the giver and growth of it. The growth of agape love would cause a growth of knowledge about God, divine knowledge. This knowledge includes who God is, was, and always will be, what He has done, and the relationship each person can have with Him through Jesus. The depth of knowledge Paul wrote about was divine knowledge about God.

            The depth of insight about which Paul wrote is God’s ethical laws. Knowing God’s ethical laws and obeying them is a growth process that leads to purity and blamelessness, sanctification. When a person’s love grows for God and other people, sanctification of the person (growth as a Christian) occurs. Sanctification is the growth of holiness. Holiness comes from righteousness as given by God upon a person’s profession of faith, upon forgiveness each day as a person repents and confesses his or her sins to Him, and as that person strives to live by His ethical laws. God gives the ethical laws and the power to live by them, like He gives His love. God can give ethical laws because He absolutely is righteous and holy. Morality emanates from Him. God enables each believer to love Him more and more and to live with a growing depth of insight into His moral laws. The Christian must seek Him and ask for His strength to stand strong in his or her faith. This standing firm for God grows and shows the person’s love for God and other people. It refines the character of the believer. God gives insight from His moral laws to Christians about what is best. In that action, He refines the person by removing the dross of secularity from him or her. This discerning and purifying is sanctification growth. This process continues until the day of Christ’s return to earth to claim His followers.

            Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians and prayed their love would abound more and more from the source of love, God, and overflow abundantly from them to God and others because of their growing relationship with Him and their understanding of His moral laws. God gives the love that grows and the knowledge of Him and His ethical laws. He enables Christians to have His love and to live morally. God gives the power to live as His child in a sinful world. He is the source for love and morality. Paul wrote a Christian’s abounding love, knowledge of Him, and depth of insight bring glory to and praise of God.

            How far have you walked on the road with Jesus in your discipleship? Did you trust in Jesus and confess your sins, but not return to Him? Did you believe and confess, then get trapped trying to get the best things the world offers? Did you profess faith in Jesus and follow Him with the rest of your life? A Christian’s journey is a marathon. Your commitment to God is forever. Have you been faithful to Him? God’s love is always faithful, true, pure, and righteous. He asks you to keep walking with Him day by day and year by year. Stand firm. Run resolute. Let your love abound more and more in the knowledge of and depth of insight in God. 

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! (Philippians 4:1 [NIV])