Announcement: New blog is coming...

As I mentioned in an earlier post (see 2/15/16 post), I have been reading an eye-opening book written by Mr. William Gurnall, titled "The Christian in Complete Armour".  It is so deep in describing how a Christian needs to learn how to wear one's spiritual armor properly, that it is in 3 volumes due to the extent of the material.   I believe every serious Christian should purchase his book, if possible,  as it has become a life changer for me and those who have read it.  These include not only friends of mine, but also other well known people, such as David Wilkerson,  Charles Spurgeon and John Newton .

However, understanding that it may not be possible for people to purchase this book, and knowing the importance of believers having this knowledge, I believe the Lord wants me to start a new blog, with the purpose of passing on to you the information that is inside Mr. Gurnall's book.

I know that I can never hope to aspire to write as he did, but I strongly believe that the Body of Christ is in much need of learning this so they can put it into practice in their daily lives.  The Church has gotten very weak, and many deceptive teachings are taking it away from its original doctrines.  This has not only served to weaken believers, but more seriously, has given new believers a wrong belief system from which to start their Christian walk.

In addition, we have an enemy that continues to not only stop people from becoming true Christians, but also daily, sometimes even hourly, attempts to attack those who are believers.  We can never be strong enough Christians without knowing the importance of the spiritual armor and how to implement it into our daily lives.  It is our duty, with God as our Commander in Chief, to learn how to become better soldiers in this fight we are in.

I do not fool myself into believing that I can pass on, in a blog, what took a lifetime for Mr. Gurnall to write.  I continue to re-read each book of the 3 volume set myself as each time I read it I find new, important  things that were not evident to me the previous reading.  So it is with humbleness that I take on the task of passing on to you, by way of this new blog, what I have learned, and continue to learn, from Mr. Gurnall's book "The Christian in Complete Armour".  When I feel it necessary, I will quote sentences, or even entire paragraphs, from Mr. Gurnall's book, as there are times when the original writing comes across in a way that has much more depth and meaning, and would be watered down if rewritten by my hand.

Update: The link to the new blog is ready. You can find it at the upper right corner of this blog under the section called "My Blog List".

Spiritual Deception is Alive and Well...

Chapter Seventy-three:

Ever since the founding of the Christian faith, there have been false teachers who have purposely tried to deceive and confuse believers.  Their ultimate goal is to cause believers to walk away from the truth found in the Bible, the truth of who God is and what He is truly like.  If a question of doubt about God's character ("Did God say...?",  Gen. 3:1) can be planted into a believer's mind, then the deception has taken root and will oftentimes bear fruit.  

Sadly, there continues to be false teachers in our day, and I believe they have distorted the truth about God at an unparalleled rate.  Therefore, I believe it is extremely important we regularly remind ourselves as to the TRUE nature of  God, so as not to be deceived by the latest false teachings of the day.  

The goal of false teaching is to cause believers to compromise the truth found in the Holy Bible, so as to influence them to leave the narrow path that leads to everlasting life, in exchange for the broad path that leads to destruction.

What is God like?

 If you were to ask the average Christian believer what God is like, I am sure you would hear such terms as "loving" and "forgiving".  Some may even add in some big fancy words like "omnipotent" and "omnipresent", but if those people were to be totally honest with you, I believe they would struggle in going much further in describing what God is really like.  They may have an experience to tell you about or have stories to relay that they have heard from others, but for the majority of us, sadly, we have a very limited view of what our Holy God is truly like. 

However, if you were to ask that same person to describe a family member or a good friend, they could probably talk for several minutes, describing the characteristics of the person, their likes, their dislikes, what makes them laugh, what makes them upset. They can describe this person in detail because they have developed an understanding of what he/she is like. They have learned about that person's character, their nature. And the way this has happened is as a result of spending time with that person and developing a relationship with them.

Unfortunately, many have only learned about God's character from hearing a sermon, or listening to a teaching or from what they have read in their Bible, if they own one. And while those are ways that we learn something about God, they are rather limited in their scope as it is human nature to focus only on those characteristics that we find appealing or acceptable. It is quite common for us to view God as we see ourselves or to try to conform Him into some idea, or mold, of what we think He should be like.

However, The Bible teaches that there are many sides to God.  The characteristics of God are many. He is sovereign, holy, just, wise, loving, merciful, faithful, compassionate, and forgiving. But, we also need to remember that He will be the ultimate judge of this world and is absolutely intolerant of sin and any forms of rebellion.  He unquestionably expects obedience, surrender, holiness, self-control, and ongoing transformation to the likeness of His son, Jesus Christ, from His followers. As you can see, there are many aspects to God that we often overlook or do not want to acknowledge.

 It is my opinion that the Christ of the average believer today is not the Christ of the Holy Bible.  It is a distorted image that portrays Christ as being soft and timid and discards that side of Him that is angry over the state of this current world, and especially the poor spiritual condition of His Bride, the Church. They have simply modified Him to fit their needs, their view of how the world should be. 

We are not willing to let God be who He declares He is. We want to change, correct or alter Him so that we can make Him more acceptable to those who find His ways rather narrow minded and not in line with modern views of life. We certainly do not want to be called "intolerant" or "narrow minded", so we bend our beliefs just enough to fit into both camps. Some followers have taken all the judgment, justice and hatred for sin out of the very nature of God and we are left with a mushy God who just loves everybody and accepts anything.

If truth be told, many of the difficulties the Church has struggled with over the years have arisen from beliefs about God that were simply untrue, or from over emphasizing one of His characteristics over His others. To focus on any one characteristic to the exclusion of another is like looking at one piece of a picture to the exclusion of the rest.  For instance, some focus solely on God's desire for justice and His intolerance for sin and preach only "fire and brimstone", all the while downplaying the grace and mercy that God offers us.  

 
There are people who believe God has a very strict set of rules and guidelines we must follow, all the while ignoring the fact that when one is a believer we no longer walk in bondage and slavery, but in freedom and liberty.  

Then there are those who overemphasize His love and compassion to the exclusion of His intolerance and hatred for sin and the fact that He is a Holy and just God, and now we are left with a God who overlooks our sin.  I believe this is why many today have a hard time accepting the fact that God is a God who will judge the just and the unjust...they have focused solely on God being a loving God.  This makes us feel better because we can now believe everything will work out just fine in the end if one simply has good intentions and love for their fellow man.  

 
All of His characteristics, His nature, must be kept in balance. We tread on very thin ice, indeed, when we ignore any of His characteristics that we do not like, or do not line up with what we think God should be like. I believe it bears repeating because it is so very important...to magnify any one aspect of God and diminish the others is always wrong. 

God is who He is, and we had better learn to accept this because if we remove any one of the characteristics of God we weaken our entire concept of Him.  Sadly, the Church has lost its majestic concept of God.  No longer do we gaze upon Him as the Holy God that He is. We do not sense His divine presence. In our busy world, we have so little time we no longer spend time alone with Him in adoring praise.  We have brought Him down to our level and no longer sing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty."  No longer do we prostate ourselves before him, as the angels fly around His throne day and night, singing "Worthy is the Lamb". God has simply become "the man upstairs".

Many will have a difficult time getting free from their wrong ideas about God.  These wrong ideas put up roadblocks in our walk with Him. They cause fear, uncertainty, unbelief, doubt and mistrust in our lives. We know we are to trust Him, but when difficult times arise, we soon find just how little we really do trust Him. And this is all a result of not really knowing who He is and what He is really like. Many have an incorrect view of what He is like and this must change if one is  going to follow Him and know Him intimately. 

Often the difficulties we face are due to our unwillingness to accept God as He is. We insist upon modifying Him to suit our own needs or our own ideas of what He should be like. We have set limitations upon Him, but just think how reassuring it would be to know that we serve a God who has no limitations. For many, the void between knowing about God and really "knowing" God is due to lack of time spent in His presence and reading the Scriptures, with the intense desire to discover more about Him and develop a deeper relationship with Him.  

We tend to pick and choose what Scriptures we will read and in doing so, we do not see the overall character and nature of God come to light. Some will focus on the Old Testament and say, "See, He is a  God of judgment and  cruelty", while others who focus on the New Testament will decide that He is really a God of only love and mercy and He proved that to us when He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.  The problem we develop when we only look at part of a person's character is that he/she becomes out of balance.  It is critical to our understanding of God that we understand Him in His totality, even if it goes against what we would find more comfortable in our own theology.

I challenge you to ask God to reveal to you what He is truly like. Spend time in the Word and in prayer getting to really know "Him" and not just about Him. You will find that He never changes, He always stands by His Word, and He is very patient.  But you also have to reconcile that with the fact that He is a God of judgment and can have no tolerance for sin, no matter how minor. 

 
If you cannot reconcile all the different aspects of God, then you will have a difficult time walking with our Holy God.  You will ultimately walk away with a different version in your mind of who God really is and what He is like, and that will be to your detriment. You may feel better compartmentalizing and rationalizing "your" version of God, but that will not change who God really is. God cannot change and He will not change.  It is simply impossible for Him to change who He is or any aspect about Himself. Scripture tells us that "He is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).  And for those who feel that He has to change to keep up with the times, they will sadly find out just how wrong they are. 

As A. W. Tozer said, "What peace it brings to the Christian's heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood.  He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one.  Neither does He change His mind about anything. God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. God will not compromise and He need not be coaxed.  He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part." 

 We need to fully understand God's character and nature in order to truly know and trust Him so we can unquestionably obey and follow Him. When times are difficult, you will want to know what kind of God you are following.  You must know what kind of God God is, because during the uncertainty of trials and struggles that may be all  that you have to fall back on.  As Job said in Job 13:15, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face."  He was able to sincerely say that because He intimately knew God's character.

A must read..."The Christian in Complete Armour" by William Gurnall

Chapter Seventy-two:

When I wrote the last chapter some time ago, I felt that I had written all I was to say and was to leave this blog up on the internet for people to find and read. And that has happened and continues to happen.

However, lately I believe I am to tell you about a book that has changed not only my life, but the lives of my friends who have also begun to read this book. None of us can put it down, it so compelling of a read!

I wondered when I began reading this book why I had not heard about it sooner.  After all, it was originally written in the 17th century, and in the 1980's, David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade" was so impacted by reading the original version (written in Elizabethan English), that he and a group of devoted believers re-wrote it into "a modernized abridgment", which is what I have been reading of late.  I believe I was not led to reading it sooner because I was not spiritually ready to receive and put into practice what this book presents.

David Wilkerson wrote, "The Christian in Complete Armour" should be in the library of every man and woman of God.

John Newton, author of the hymn "Amazing Grace," said, "If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour."

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Gurnall's work is peerless and priceless; every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive."

 For many of my friends and myself, we believe we are living in unprecented times and this book has come into our lives for such a time as this.  I will caution you that this book is not a simple, quick read such as a novel or history book, but is a book that will demand your attention, your applying its principles and, most importantly, will demand self examination about how you are living out your Christian walk.

It is, what I like to call, a field manual for the Christian soldier.  It will challenge you to do deep self examination into how you allow your flesh to influence your life negatively.  It will teach you how the enemy will use your fleshly weaknesses as a way to find a weak spot in your spiritual armor.  It will teach you how God is our Commander in Chief and what He expects from us, and how the enemy attacks us.  But most importantly, we will be taught how we as soldiers of Christ are to conduct ourselves and prepare ourselves for battle.

If you desire to be used by God and are eager to learn more about being a warrior for Christ, I encourage you to go and buy the book titled "The Christian in Complete Armour" by William Gurnall.  If you are not comfortable reading old-style English, I would suggest that you do as I and my friends have done and buy it in the "modernized abridgement" version, which can be purchased in the full set of 3 paperbacks, or can be purchased purchased individually (Volume I, Volume II and Volume III).

The ISBN number, in the U.S.A., for the 3 volume modernized abridgement version is: 978-085151-568-7.  If you don't want to buy them as the set of 3, each book is sold individually with it's own assigned ISBN number.  A website that I have used to purchase the set for myself and to give to my friends is: www.christianbook.com.  Please note I have no affiliation whatsoever with this website, nor do I receive anything from them monetarily or otherwise.  I am only telling you about this website so you can purchase either one or all three of Gurnall's books for yourself.

As Second Timothy 2:4 reminds us, "No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer."  This book will teach you how to become that type of soldier.

After reading the 3 volume set the first time, I could understand why it was the compilation of a lifetime's work for Mr. Gurnall.  It was obviously written by a man who was writing from personal experience. God bless you as you read and implement what you read in his book.  You will be amazed at how much your walk with your Lord and Savior will change!

Living in the last days...

Chapter Seventy-one:

The Bible says that the end times will come as God's wrath did in the days of Noah, when people were going about living their lives, doing their normal daily routines (Matthew 24:37-39).  It also says that no one knows when this time will come, not even Jesus (Mark 13:32).   It is not my intent to be an alarmist, but I do believe it is important to be prepared.  Just as we prepare for possible weather problems and stock up necessities such as food and water, we need to be prepared, spiritually.  However this time of preparation is not something we can leave until just before the proverbial storm hits and hope that we make it through.  I believe that we should already be living our lives in a manner where we find that we are already prepared for whatever trouble may come, whenever it comes. And, my friend, it will come.

Unfortunately, many today are spiritually asleep and do not even realize it nor care.  It is more comfortable and certainly easier to live our lives as though things are just fine. We want to hide away when we hear bad news because we have a difficult time living with a lot of negativity, and admittedly, it can become very overwhelming.  However this is no time for being spiritually lukewarm and we must not ignore our need for being ready.

First and foremost, we must be in a very close relationship with Christ. We need to ask the Lord to continue to show us any sin that entangles us so we can repent of it. We need to be growing in holiness and spiritual maturity.  Also, we must get serious and walk away from any fleshly desires that we continue to dabble in, knowing that they are not only a major inroad for the enemy to use against us, but they will continue to be a roadblock in our walk with God.

Isaiah:55:6-7 tells us, "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."  Our walk with God must be getting stronger so that we are keenly attuned to His words of direction and warning as evil will continue to grow. We can walk with God, not in a spirit of fear of the unknown, but with the assurance we are walking with the one who will lead and guide us through all difficulty.

We need to do a serious personal inventory and ask ourselves several important questions in order to ascertain the areas that we need to improve upon.  How well do we know our Bible? Will we be scripturally ready to give an account for why we believe as we do? You may want to ask the Lord if there are certain portions of Scripture He wants you to memorize so that not only will the Word be hidden in your heart for your own strengthening, but so the Holy Spirit will be able to bring it to your remembrance when the time comes when you need to share it with another. 

Can we explain to another why he/she needs the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior? Are we doing our best to bring the lost into the Kingdom of God? Do we have a strong enough relationship with the Holy Spirit?  Are we spending time in prayer and fasting?  How prepared are we to deal with attacks from the enemy? Do we understand the purpose of the armor of God and do we utilize it on a daily basis?  Are we a people of boldness that can stand up to persecution and accusation?  And, most importantly, what teachings or beliefs have we allowed into our lives that have eroded away at the very foundation of the Gospel?

The last days will be a time when it will be easy to become distraught and distressed.  Even now, we can easily become preoccupied with how pervasive evil and sin is in the world and depression and sadness will try to overwhelm us.  I believe this is one of the reasons why Scripture puts so much emphasis on watching our thoughts, what we think about, and in today's age of high-tech we need to be careful of what we allow into our minds through various forms of media.   Philippians 4:8  tells us plainly, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  We will need to purposely think on those things that are good so that the seeds of despair and hopelessness cannot take root. Again, our focus has to continually be upon Christ and furthering the Kingdom, and not on what we see going on around us.

One of the most difficult things we may have to struggle with will be watching our loved ones walk away from the truth of the Gospel and not follow the narrow path that leads to life. They will choose to follow the way that many others will follow, the broad path that leads to destruction. When you try to warn them, they will disagree with you and walk away from what you are trying to say to them. 

Matthew 10:34 warns us that, "Christ came not to bring peace but a sword to divide even families."  Scripture is telling us here that even those we care about the most may turn their backs on us because we are believers and it is at that moment we will need to decide who we are going to follow.  Our loved ones may not be open to our words of concern and warning. During those times, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open their eyes so that they may see and be saved. Also pray that God will give you the strength to walk away, if need be, and be willing to leave them in God's hands.

It is important that we not allow ourselves to become so overwhelmed that we lose our joy and peace in the Lord. The joy of the Lord is to be our strength and has to be our strength . This joy is not as the world gives or understands, but is the joy that only a child of God, a follower of Christ, can comprehend.  As we continue to abide in Christ, pray without ceasing, and meditate on the Word of God day and night we will have that peace. Philippians 4:7 assures us, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

The Apostle Paul experienced many times of trial and trouble, as have many who have preceded us in this life. He reminds us in Philippians 4:12, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."  Paul was a man who was in and out of trouble from the minute he began to walk with God and he ended up giving his very life for his beliefs.  Yet he knew that "it would be better to be with Christ" (Philippians 1:23), and that is what encouraged him to continue despite the many challenges he faced. 

We read that Daniel "purposed in his heart" (Daniel 1: 8-16) that he would not go against what he felt was the right thing to do.   While we may feel we fall short of being one of those whom we consider spiritual giants of the Bible, we, too, need to continue to live a life of unmovable determination in our heart that we are going to stand for Christ, regardless of the cost. Daniel lived a life, just as we must, of having his focus on the eternal things to come. 

Be assured, knowing that Jesus is praying and interceding for us before the Father (Hebrews 7:25). God has promised that He will watch over us and care for us during the time of unparalleled trouble. He will provide whatever we need to endure. However, He does want us to be aware and be spiritually prepared.  Although Satan's goal is to try to destroy the people of God, God will watch over us and will not allow it to happen. We can take comfort in God's promise regardless of what circumstances look like.  And as Luke 21:28 says, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads, because your redemption draws near."

These words of A. W. Tozer should be an encouragement to us all: "Only that man has a right to be unafraid who has fled for refuge to the mighty Savior. Such a man knows the danger is there, but he also knows that his Almighty Lord will bring him safely through and present him at last faultless before the presence of God."