Back in 1985 I found myself in a country and providence with which I was very unfamiliar. As an aspiring professional athlete, God by His sovereign grace had secured me a roster spot with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. The name Saskatchewan was not a household name for a guy from Griffin, Georgia. Adjusting to an unfamiliar atmosphere, culture and a climate that polar bears would praise in late fall was definitely a daunting task! Welcoming the extreme weather and playing football on what seemed to be a frozen planet was not what I had anticipated. I should have read the fine print: “CFL players will be practicing and playing in Popsicle conditions!”
Read MoreIn last week’s blog, we began discussing this passage of scripture in which King David gave his son, Solomon, a charge to keep. David, a man after God’s own heart, King of Israel, shepherd, giant-slayer, and a man undefeated in military combat recognized that he was just a man and was destined to die like all other men. So he delivers a final charge to his son, Solomon. A review of this scripture reveals timeless truths that can also be applied to our lives. I invite you to ponder the following points in order to capture David's charge and apply it to our walk with God.
Read MoreAs I considered the topic for this week’s blog, I found myself returning to my early roots of worship as a child in the church. Our tradition of worship was rooted in rich, traditional black gospel music. Songs like Charles A. Tindley's We Will Understand it Better By and By, Leave It There, and Thomas Dorsey's Peace in the Valley, which is the first gospel recording to sell a million copies. I remember well singing James Cleveland's Peace Be Still, God Has Smiled on Me and I Stood on the Banks of Jordan.
Read MoreBefore I continue with the topic of this blog, let’s review some key points from last week’s discussion:
We established an identity for the old man who was passed down from Adam. The old man is our flesh; the sin nature with which we were born.
We were also reminded that our righteous Lord has declared a death sentence on the old man.
In this week’s blog, we will consider the specific steps mandated by our Lord that help us model the Master.
Read MoreBruce Willis is an American actor best known for his role as the infamous John McClane in the high octane and action-heavy Die Hard movie series. In all the Die Hard movies this reluctant protagonist with a “never-say-die” attitude is often out-numbered, out-gunned and out-resourced. However, McClane, even though he is often beaten, busted and bleeding, has this uncanny way of being untouched by the grip of death. It does not even matter what his antagonists employ in an attempt to erase him off the big screen. Whether it is a conflict involving grenades, C-4 explosives, RPG-7 missiles, helicopters or F-16 fighter jets, McClane consistently manages to survive whatever siege he faces.
Read More“He laid down his life for us”
In last week’s blog, I discussed how God’s unconditional and eternal love for us was clearly demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ when “He laid down his life for us.” The Master’s monumental movement of love for us should not cause us to park in our ponderings but should move us to lay down our lives for each other as well. God demonstrated what true “agape” love looks like. We as imitators and servants of the Most High God should be real and revelatory demonstrations of His love in this world.
We are all familiar with the phrase: “Actions speak louder than words.” This is especially true when we scrutinize the sincerity and legitimacy of love in individuals or collectively as a body of believers. As I mentioned in last week’s blog, legitimate love lifts, glorifies and reflects the Lord. In order for us to grasp godly love we must look to His word.
“What the world needs now, is love sweet love…”
“All you need is love…”
“Where is the love?”
All three of the aforementioned statements are part of a plethora of words and songs made popular by songwriters and recording artists. Each song was immensely popular in its time indicating that its topic strongly resonated with its audience. The quest and definition of love has always been a part of our human existence.
In Romans 16:20, the word “bruise” means to break into pieces or to crush or scatter one’s strength. In the past two blogs, we have been examining five different strategies of the Flesh, the World and Satan (FWS) in their attempt to contaminate and corrupt our relationship with God. So insight of these strategies will put us in the position to scatter and crush the strength of Satan’s lies and schemes in our lives. As a review, the five different strategies include:
To invoke our instincts
To intensify its influence
To invigorating our intemperance
To incite intimidation
To instigate your insurgence
Today we will close our study with the last two strategies: Inciting intimidation and Instigating your insurgence.
Read MoreIn my last blog, I began discussing five different strategies that are used by the Flesh, the World and Satan (FWS) to sink and seduce us. As a review these strategies include:
To invoke our instincts
To intensify its influence
To invigorating our intemperance
To incite intimidation
To instigate your insurgence
In this week’s blog, we will consider satanic strategies numbers two and three: intensifying his influence and invigorating our intemperance.
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