How Should Christians Prepare for Conflict Ephesians 6:11

God wants us to engage in doing good, but the world we live in seems to be bent on evil. With crime, addiction, broken homes, and broken hearts all around us, doing good sometimes puts a good Samaritan in the target zone of conflict. How do we do good and not fall as a victim of the evil we oppose?

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Ephesians 6:11, NIV*.

God Provides:
God has given us spiritual armor to fight against the darkness of the present world system. He has provided everything we need. He does not just say do good in my name and good luck while you are at it, no, he provides weapons for opposing evil, and the armor to withstand the attacks of wickedness.

Put it on:
The spiritual armor God provides to us is available to all but must be "put on. It is waiting to be taken up. At some point, we need to say I will wear the helmet of salvation I will be shod with the shoes of righteousness I will pick up the shield of faith. We cannot wander through the enemy's camp of this world without wearing the armor and survive spiritually. We cannot assume we have it in place.

The armor must be worn in its fullness; the breastplate without the helmet is not good since it exposes us to a head wound, or if you have a helmet but no sword you will be hard-pressed to gain victory. We are offered a complete set of armor; it is foolish to fail to wear it all.

The Intent of Armor:
We don't wear armor so we can go to a beauty pageant and show off our armor. We are given armor and weapons for warfare. It is expected that we are going to fight the battles of the Lord.

The Game Plan:
We only need to stand against the devil's schemes, there is little about tactics in Ephesians 6 except prayer and the word of God. The victory is already won; we in faith pray and claim victory. We are to take our stand, in ancient warfare soldiers stood side by side in ranks to face the enemy to take your stand is to hold your ground.

There is no armor like God's armor. We have nothing that will equal it. It is perfectly suited to the battle against evil in such a way that no man-made armor is.

I recommend a reading of the entire chapter of Ephesians 6 to learn more about this subject.

To read this in other translations follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

(c)Adron Dozat

Can Christians Be Tempted To Do Evil? 1 Corinthians 10:13

We often feel tempted to do evil. Sometimes the temptation feels so big that we think we have no choice. What should we do?

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can stand up under it." I Corinthians 10:13, NIV.

SEIZE
To seize something is to grab it firmly so it can't escape. We may feel like we have been seized by temptation and can't escape but we have hope in this promise.

The temptations we face are not unique and we all share the same struggle. We can never say, "No one was ever tempted like I was."

GOD AND TEMPTATION
The Lord does not tempt us to do evil; we do evil because we have a nature in us to do wrong and we live in a society that does wrong. God is in control, it would be an offense to his holiness if he allowed us to be tempted to evil in such a way that we could not choose to get out; it would make him guilty of the sin by association, so God must provide a way for everyone who is facing sin.

We can be assured that no temptation is so big that we have no choice. It is not just that God being holy must provide a way out, he loves us and his Son died to pay for our sins. God hates sin and will not trick anyone into sin, and because of his hatred of sin will offer every help so we may "stand up under it."

This verse does not say that temptation will just go away or stop, but that we will have the endurance to finish the time of testing without falling into sin.

A PROMISE
This verse is a promise and like all promises, it can't be left idle and expect to happen. We need to accept the promise and act on it.

 As Christians, we do not live out rules we live a relationship with our Savior. A relationship is a personal thing and we each must bring our Lord into the things we experience. Any relationship must have communication and we communicate with God through prayer; therefore pray this verse and if the concept of claiming the promise helps then do so while you continue to look to God to show you the way of escape.

WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY
We must be vigilant about staying out of situations that lead to sin. We must resolve not to feed the evil we are prone to through modern media, experiences, or associations. We should pray daily to be kept from sin and for God to show us the pathways out of temptation.

A prayer:

Heavenly Father and holy God.
I am prone to evil and fall in sin,
forgive my frequent transgressions.
Give me a heart that resolves to follow you
make me disdain the sin in me
and to turn from opportunities to nurture it
Show me the way out of situations that lead to sin.
make me sensitive to the Holy Spirit's guidance
Help me to follow you singly
and not break from spiritual communion.

© Adron 3/11/12

How Can You Tell If Someone Is From God 3 John 11

Our world is full of wickedness. We want to do good but how do we get away from the evil around us to be a positive influence?

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God, anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." 3 John: 11.

IS THIS A COMMAND FROM THE BIBLE?
It begins with the command, "Do not imitate..." A command is an imperative which must be followed. This command is simple, but we must still pay attention to it. Clearly, we can choose to "not do" evil and resolve to do "good;" we must not live reactionary lives where we act without weighing Gods opinion.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IMITATE?
To imitate is to reproduce the actions of another in yourself. A student learns how to play the piano by watching the teacher put their fingers here and there and moves them so; the student then repeats all those movements and creates the same sound. With practice, the teacher's actions become the students. It is the same when we imitate evil or imitate good, we become what we imitate. We must make doing good daily practice and avoid reproducing the actions that God does not approve of.

RESOLVE
There are thousands of opportunities to "imitate evil" every day, so there are thousands of opportunities to "do good." Opportunities like a saying a kind word, a smile, a gift, a donation, a minute spent in prayer, a hug, or a warm handshake, a little note, or a helping hand. We tend to slip into doing evil, but must resolve to do "good." It takes effort and concentration and awareness.

IS GOOD FROM GOD?
Only God is good, "Anyone who does what is good is from God." Evil is not true of God's people. We should pray for God to show us the good to do and look for it. We must not let our gaze rest on evil, but fill our vision with good- with God.

WARNING
The acid test is that "Anyone who does evil has not seen God." Do we make a habit of doing evil? If we do it maybe we have never come to God in faith in the saving work of his son on the cross, and our salvation is in doubt.

Resolved to take this verse to heart and really refuse to "do evil but what is good?"

To learn more about finding a personal relationship with God then follow this link to my other blog.\

(c)Adron Dozat 5/11/11

What is Evil According to The Bible. 2Chrnonicles 12:14

We live in a troubled world and many bad things happen- often by the hand of other people. It is clear that evil exists. What is surprising is that the Bible teaches how close it is to each one of us.

"He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord."  2 Chronicles 12:14 NIV.

EVIL
When we think of evil we think of history's despots and dictators, we think of mass murders and cannibals, and humanity twisted into psychological monsters of crime against the innocent. It is a shock to see the definition of evil in this scripture as being simply that a man "did not set his heart on seeking the Lord."

THE HEART OF EVIL
This sums up the life of an ancient king, Rehoboam who ruled the people of Judah. The Bible records the evil he did and gets to the heart of his evil; and the heart of evil was the heart of the man. It was simply that “he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.” As a descendant of Solomon; you would think he would do great things. He had the advantage of a good family, a prince’s education, wealth, and leadership but that did not spare him the title of evil. He is one of those "ifs," if he had set his heart on seeking the Lord he would not have been branded as a person of evil.

FIRST
We wonder which came first; the evil or the heart that does not seek the Lord, but does it matter? The warning is very clear, whether it is not to become evil that we must seek the Lord or because it is evil if we don’t seek the Lord; either way not seeking the Lord and evil go together. We say, "OK. I have done a few bad things but I am not evil," but what does the verse quoted above say? No matter what arguments we come up with the connection remains evil and the heart that does not seek the Lord go together.

SEEK THE LORD
Many point to a few religious duties and count the occasional performance of religion as seeking the Lord, but the condemnation of Rehoboam was his heart. We must not casually seek the Lord on a few celebrations annually. One may serve the church, community, and God, teach Sunday School, give themselves to charity work, even be an ordained minister but if the heart is not set on seeking the Lord the danger of evil is ever-present.

Let us seek the Lord with all our hearts. Make it a daily discipline, spend time in prayer, reflection, study of the scriptures, and become active in a faith community that honors God. Remember the promise of the Bible "you will seek me and you will find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

To learn more about finding the Lord and becoming saved follow this link to read my other blog.

(c)Adron Dozat 3/26/11

How To Start A Personal Revival. Matthew 3:2

We often feel that our spiritual life is drying up and we are in a time of regression. We want revival but are unsure what to do or how to start.

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven, is near.” Matthew 3:1, 2. NIV.

CONTEXT
The beginning of Jesus' ministry to the lost world began with John the Baptist's simple but hard message: “Repent.” If we want to receive the ministry of God’s Spirit in our lives, we must lay the foundation of repentance.

SIN
No matter who we are, we have sins in our lives. We may be the smartest or most talented but there is some sin to deal with. Even in the empty uncultured place like the desert, the message of repentance was necessary. You are never too high or too low that you do not need to examine your life to see if you need to repent of something.

REPENTANCE
Repentance covers a lot of things and it is sad that today we have reduced it down to some trite truisms like repentance is going the other way. Yes, it is but that is only the beginning. Today, we say repentance is “Changing our mind,” but we think it is only like a decision between two candy bars and we change our mind between the two.

• It means we must see the wrong that we do that offends God and cease to do it.
• It is humble.
• It is a statement that God is right.

Pray For A Personal Revival

• It is to cherish sin no more.
• It is an openness to the correction of The Lord.
• It ends our previous way of thinking.
• It does not happen without God.

SEEK
If we do not repent, we are not prepared for the further work of God in our lives. The big problem
is we live in a time when good is bad and evil is good, so we no longer know what we need to repent of. We need God to tell us what we do that offends him. Ask God to show us our sins so we may take action and not do them anymore.

Pray and ask God to show you your sin, and ask him to give you the will and the power of the Holy Spirit to change.


To learn more about how to come to God, please see my other post. CLICK HERE.

(c) Adron 3/18/11

The Bible's Most Sublime Message About God is For Today - 1 John 1:5

Does God have a message for you? Does He have a message of hope for our dark world?

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5.

A MESSAGE
God does have a message for us today. He is communicating to us through creation, conscience, the Scriptures, and ultimately His Son where God revealed the heart of that message through Jesus and preserved that message against all assaults for two thousand years just to deliver that message to us today.

This message is not a bunch of laws with do's and don'ts or about some system of living but it is a message about the person of God. We do not need more rules or programs we need more of God and the message is the most foundational truth about God that there is.

LIGHT
It is the message we need to hear today, "God is light..." The light is good. It reveals things, shows things; it gives color, depth, value, hue, and a million things. The light goes where nothing else can. Light drives the darkness away. God is all this and more. People need light and thrive in light. Our world today needs light- we need God.

     * Light gives hope.
     * Light reveals,
     * Light comforts.
     * Light heals.

NOT ONLY LIGHT BUT...
Not only is God light but just in case we had any doubt we are reassured that in him is "no darkness at all." Here is about the only time you should get excited about the word "NO." darkness is scary and if God had any spot of darkness it would be a bad precedence.  The God of the Bible does not have a dual nature like other religions were good and bad live together in a tense harmony. The slightest compromise of light in God would be the precedence for all darkness.

ALL
God is light and there is not even a hint of evil, or sin, or wickedness in Him. He is ALL good. He has NO darkness AT ALL. That means he will not respond to the allurements of darkness like pride, anger, vanity, greed, sin. Our dealings with God will be in the light. On the other hand, His light will illuminate any darkness in our hearts. He sees our hearts in his light. he sees the struggles, trials and hurts we go through; because of his light, he sees them truly and clearly.

We find confidence knowing He is good, He is light, and He is holy. Every time we come to Him we can be sure He is acting from a basis of light, never of darkness. He sees our hearts in His light.

To come to God is to leave the darkness behind and become a messenger of light.

If you want to know more about how to find God's light in your life CLICK HERE.

(c) Adron Dozat 

To Proclaim the Lord, A Forgotten Beatitude; Psalm 89:15

God Loves You

The Bible pronounces many blessings, but one of the most important may be one of the most overlooked.

"Blessed are those who have learned to proclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence."
Psalm 89:15 NIV.

BLESSING
The word “Blessing” can mean “Happy,” or “Glad.” It is more than being fortunate, it means God has given His approval, assistance, and favor.  Scripture makes it clear that God wants to bless us.

PROCLAIMING
This blessing begins with proclaiming God.  To proclaim something is to shout it from the rooftops. We should boldly declare in the marketplace, streets and wherever the greatness of our Great God.

To proclaim God is a skill to be learned.  The gift of evangelism is the kind of gift that gets developed and matures with use, yet if we don't have this gift we may still learn to declare God's greatness. When we get frustrated with sharing our faith we should press on to discover how.

God blesses us when we proclaim Him, and we experience joy, just ask any who are faithful to share their faith and they will tell you how much joy it gives them.

GOD IS OUR BLESSING
The second part of this blessing is God himself.  It is awesome to walk in the light of God's presence, We long for mountaintop experiences with God but shouldn't we long to "walk" in his light? Walking sets us apart, humans walk in a way that no other creature does. It is a daily and common experience for any healthy person.  To walk in the presence of the Lord must become our daily habit and choice.

LIGHT
God's presence brings light.  Light reveals sin, shows the way and clarifies what we see.  Light gives safety and comfort. We know God is omnipresent but to walk in the light of God’s presence is to choose to count on, recognize, and honor God's presence.

CHOICE
Blessings almost always involve choices on our part.  We must avoid things that darken His light in our lives.  Disobedience and sin do what no other power in the universe can accomplish- it can darken God’s light, at the very least in our lives and at most in the world around us.  Let’s put away even the most minor sin and choose to walk in His light.

TWO TRUTHS TOGETHER
These two truths go together for you cannot do one without doing the other.  We cannot proclaim Him if we are not walking in the light and if we are walking in His light we will be compelled to proclaim Him.

Resolve to walk in his light and to proclaim Him.

To learn more about how to have a relationship with God CLICK HERE.

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above.  
* * * * *
If you know someone who needs encouragement you should order a copy of my book of poems of comfort and hope. 
You will be glad you did. 

$9.62
Plus Shipping and Handling
$2.99 for the Digital Version

Use the share buttons below to save and share this to your social networks. 

(C) Adron 2/9/11