The Sword of the LORD

In the sixth chapter of 2 Kings is the story of Elisha the prophet and his young servant who both needed deliverance from a great peril that they found themselves in.   God was faithful to His servants and sent a mighty deliverance in a unique and unprecedented way.   God is no less faithful toward you and me today.   When we find ourselves in difficulties, temptations, trials, or great peril; we can rely on the promises that God has given us in Christ Jesus to lead us to victory.   “Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.  And the man of God [Elisha the prophet] sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.  And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.” (2 Kings 6:8-10).   The king of Israel at...

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27).    “Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.” (John 18:37).   “And this voice which came from heaven we heard...” (2 Peter 1:18).   God wants every one of His children to learn to hear and recognize the voice of his Master and Lord.  God delights to speak to His children and to have them speak to Him.  It is this intimate relationship – this divine fellowship – which God has desired from the dawn of creation.  Man lost that close relationship with God by Adam’s fateful error; but now, in Christ Jesus, it is regained.   When the Lord called Paul to serve Him, He sent a disciple by the name of Ananias to lay hands on Paul to restore his eyesight and speak these words to him: “ The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth.  For thou shalt be His wit...

Good is always the enemy of best.  Doing good things for God is not the same as doing the thing that God asks us to do.  We can fill our lives with many religious activities and good works, and still be disobedient to God because we do not do the thing that He asks.  Saul, the first King of Israel, fell out of favor with God by offering a great sacrifice to the Lord instead of simply obeying what he had been told to do.  Jesus told a rich ruler who had kept all of the commandments since he was a child that he yet lacked one thing from having eternal life.  That man walked away grieved because, despite all his devotion, he could not do the one thing Jesus asked.   After being delivered from the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, the Israelites were then lead by Moses into the Desert of Sinai.  God had told them that He would lead them to a land flowing with milk and honey - the Promised Land - but they didn’t know where that was!  They didn’t know w...

“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18).     There is a path that we all must walk through this life.  It is the course that each of us must run from birth to death.  The Bible teaches that the path of the just (those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior) is a much different road than that of the wicked (those who have not accepted the Lord). Among the just, there is a lot of diversity in the way that people choose to walk their path with God.  Christians are at all levels of growth and spiritual maturity.  Some grow rapidly, moving from faith to faith as they learn to apply God’s Word to their lives, while others seem content to live as they always have and never seek to climb to a higher plain.  We must be careful not to judge or condemn those we feel don’t “measure up” to our standards or preferences, however.  Jesus told Nicodemus, “ For God sent not His Son i...

“ … looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 2).   These three words, “looking unto Jesus,” seem to be at the heart of Paul’s letter to the 1 st century Hebrew Christians, but it is also the heart of the Gospel message to every soul that has received Him from the 1 st century until now.  Paul especially wanted to make sure that these Jewish converts were placing their faith solely on Jesus Christ and His finished work of redemption rather than in the trappings of religion they formerly trusted.   He knew that it would do no good for them to rely on angels, a worldly temple, an earthly priesthood, a temporal Promised Land, a fleshly covenant, or carnal sacrifices to secure their eternal salvation.  All those things were part of the old covenant and were ineffective in bringing God’s people to...