JULY 30

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

NAMES FOR GOD:

JEHOVAH ELOHIM AB—LORD GOD OF OUR FOREFATHERS

JEHOVAH EL ELYON—LORD GOD MOST HIGH

JEHOVAH EL EMETH—LORD GOD OF TRUTH

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This month we will read the book, “Whatever Happens – How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart.”  By a contemporary author of many best-selling Christian books, Robert J. Morgan.  He took care of his wife when she had MS, until she went home to her Savior.  “He knows of which he speaks.”  I pray that this book blesses you.

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Philippians 3:1-3

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!  For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,”

(for clarity, I will also use the Amplified version as well as the NKJ above)

Philippians 3:1-3

“Finally, my fellow believers, continue to rejoice and delight in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble for me, and it is a safeguard for you.

 Look out for the dogs [the Judaizers, the legalists], look out for the troublemakers, look out for the false circumcision [those who claim circumcision is necessary for salvation];  for we [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, set apart for His purpose and] are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory and take pride and exult in Christ Jesus and place no confidence [in what we have or who we are] in the flesh—”

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WHATEVER HAPPENS….LEARN THE TECHNIQUES OF SPIRITUAL SELF-DEFENSE

Everyone is trying to figure out why the world is so violent.  There might be legislative reasons or laws that need to be changed (AND ENFORCED!), but at the heart of it is one simple thing – when a society turns away from the truth of Scripture, it begins to disintegrate.

According to the book of Genesis, in the days before the flood, “the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence” (Genesis 6:11).  Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the son of Man” (Matthew 24:37).  He said that the last days would be characterized by “the increase of wickedness.” (Matthew 24:12).

2 Timothy 3:1-3 says, “there will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves ….boastful, proud, abusive ….without love … without self -control, brutal.”

How are we to stay safe in a world like this?

I cannot guarantee we will never experience threats, danger, acts of violence, thefts, or any of the rest of it.  We’re living in a dangerous world, and that’s all there is to it.

But we can live so that Satan will never be able to truly hurt us in any ultimate way.  Paul gives us five techniques for spiritual self-defense in Philippians 3:1-3 (see the two versions of those verses at the beginning)

REJOICE IN THE LORD

The first thing he told them here was to rejoice in the Lord.  This isn’t a suggestion.  It’s a commandment to rejoice in the Lord.  This attitude, this activity, this habit will be a safeguard to them.

The Greek word for safeguard “asphales,” means to be secure and rendered safe.  In other words, we rejoice in the Lord because that attitude is like a protective shield around us.

I have never thought of joy like this before.    I recall finding Psalm 100 at a time when I was serving the Lord out of a sense of duty and drudgery.  It says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.  Serve the Lord with gladness” (vs 1-2).  That really changed the way I went into every day’s duties.

When I read about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, I realized that I could not, within my own natural self, produce the joy of the Lord.  I had to be yielded and open to the Spirit so that He could produce it for me and in me and through me.

I also learned the importance of joy in leadership during the difficult time in my pastoral career.  It seemed like everything had gone wrong at the same time in serious ways.  I was overwhelmed and on the verge of faltering under it all.  But the Lord gave me 15 Bible verses about joy and told me to go onto the platform and smile and teach the Bible with joy.  Something about that reassured the people, steadied the church, and got us to a better place.

So I’ve thought of joy as an electrical generator, as the necessary ingredient for Christian service, as the result of the Holy Spirit’s working in my life, and as a powerful mechanism for leadership.  But I had never before thought of Joy as a safeguard, as a shield, a weapon, an invisible cloak around me, or as a guardian who served as a security officer.

When I go to churches as a guest speaker, I’m usually met and shadowed by one or more security officers.  At one church, some of them are off-duty Navy SEALs.  I love those guys and I’m never afraid of anything when they’re nearby.  But I had never thought of joy as a Navy SEAL assigned to me by God for my own security.  But here’s Philippians 3:1, telling us that the joy of the Lord is the safeguard of our souls.

Paul drew from the book of Psalms here, I’m sure.  The psalms tell us over and over to rejoice in the Lord.  Paul was using the language of David.  What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord?  It means you have developed the habit of elevating your innermost spirit by learning to recall all the truth you know about the Lord and His grace toward you.  Do you need some reminders of those truths?  Here are just a few:

There is a God, and He made you.

He knows your failures, but He still loves you

He knows your weakness but helps you

He knows your problems but guides you through them

He died for you

He rose again for you

He ascended into heaven for you

He reigns in authority

He is coming in glory

He has given us the Bible with all we need to know within its covers.

He wants to use us and has a plan for our lives.

The troubles of this world are passing away.

The day of His return is drawing near.

We are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.

Heaven is ahead of us.

And we are “persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)

You cannot bring those things to mind again and again without your heart and spirit being elevated.  There is joy in the Lord, and there is joy in all there is about the Lord.

The joy of the Lord is a safeguard.  It protects you against fear, dejection, weariness, worry, temptation, sin, pain, sorrow and the devil and his demonic forces.

Satan doesn’t know what to do with a joyful Christian.  He can do a lot with believers who have lost their joy, but you might as well try to hold an inflated basketball underwater as try to submerge a joy-inflated Christian.  Joy is an attitude, an activity, and a piece of armor.  It is a safeguard for the soul.  (that’s why the Word emphasized it so much).

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