The Sword of the LORD

As the air grows warmer, and the trees begin to clothe themselves in greenery, I am reminded of the perpetual ebb and flow of the seasons around us.  Just as surely as summer explodes into fall, I know that fall will eventually fade into winter which, in turn, will yield to spring's regeneration.  Many people complain about certain seasons, or various aspects of them, but I have grown to appreciate them all.  Just as there are challenges to every season, there are also just as many blessings that can be found in each one.    Each season is unique and offers opportunities or tasks that are specific to that time, and that time only.   People who lived during the 18th and 19th centuries understood this much better than we do in this modern age.   They paid close attention to the changes of seasons and the phases of the moon.   "Moon seasons" governed when the best time to fell wood, plant various crops, or drive cattle to market would be.   There were things that our anc

“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him [Gideon] , and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.   And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all His miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.   And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? ” (Judges 6:12-14).   After Moses had led the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt and through the Wilderness of Sinai, God chose Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.   Joshua and the armies of Israel set about conquering the people of Canaan in fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that the land would belong to his descendants some day.   Israel, however, was unable to drive out all of the inhabitants of the land,

"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:6, 7).                                                                                                             Edwin Cole, who has been called “the Father of the Christian Men’s Movement,” has said that the definition of faith and the definition of fear are the same.  He said, “ Faith is believing that what you cannot see will come to pass.  Fear is believing that what you cannot see will come to pass.”  This being true, it appears to me that it requires the same amount of effort to believe as it does to fear.  Why, then, does it seem so much easier for us to fear?  The real danger is in the result of our choice to fear, or to believe; and, make no mistake, it is a choice.  The result of fear is that we become paralyzed and unable to act.  Th

In his letter to the church that was in Ephesus, Paul mentions many types of human relationships that we all experience in our lifetimes; and how we, as believers, ought to function harmoniously within those various relationships.  He expresses the idea that, in Christ, both gentiles and born-again Jews are now joint heirs of eternal life, and have access to the Father through the Holy Spirit that has been poured out on them.  Together, they have been placed in the same body, and are being built up into a spiritual temple, and a household of faith, so that the enmity that once existed between these two groups is now abolished in Christ (2:11-22).  Later, Paul addresses the oneness of the body of Christ and the importance of maintaining the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace.  He recites the core beliefs that every believer should hold in common with one another: one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all; and that we s