Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’- Matthew 7:21-23 ESV

Warrior;
Spiritual intimacy with God is similar to INTIMACY with another human being, it requires 2 parties to BE AVAILABLE and OPEN and COMMITTED- TRUSTING the other person with your HEART, BODY and SOUL! INTO ME SEE- intimacy- is a two-way street. We KNOW them, and they KNOW us! In the book of John Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”. (10:27) Intimacy creates a level of DISCERNMENT that separates that person; their voice, their instructions, their guidance, their level of commitment and belief for you- from the rest of the WORLD.

Leader, in Isaiah’s vision of the coming judgement against the Southern Kingdom, God lamented Israel’s lack of intimacy with God and compared it with non-intelligent animals. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand”. (Isaiah 1:3) As we study God’s word and seek HIS PRESENCE and HIS FACE and HIS WAY…As we DAILY DIE TO OURSELVES picking up our cross…as we decide: TO LIVE IS CHRIST and to DIE IS GAIN, we become more LIKE HIM! As we allow HIM to USE our struggles, and our failures and our TRAUMA and DRAMA- those experiences become HIS CHISEL, to form us into the likeness of CHRIST- we allow HIM TO KNOW us INTIMATELY!

Conduit, it has been said, “There is so much CHURCH in the WORLD, and so much WORLD in the CHURCH- that it is hard to tell the two apart.” Today’s verse should make every TRUE believer shudder a bit! He is talking about CHURCH folk. People at church every Saturday or Sunday. People that went on mission trips and serve in the children’s ministry- for they prophesied, did miracles and cast out demons in HIS NAME! And yet Jesus said, “I NEVER KNEW YOU”! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, (2 Peter 2:15) The Way of Balaam is the WAY OF THE WORLD. COMPROMISE- listening to the FATHER of LIES and thinking you are listening to THE FATHER, ABBA! The Prince of the air, the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD is Satan! Not all blessings that come on this planet, or instructions- are from GOD! We must have discernment and THEN TEST the content of the word we received against the WORD OF GOD! It takes TIME in HIS PRESENCE and DESIRE to KNOW HIS VOICE, and to KNOW HIS WORD, and to DO HIS WILL! There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death! (Proverbs 14:12) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

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The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. – Proverbs 14:10

Warrior;
Bitterness of soul often arises from outward troubles, pains, and diseases of body, losses, crosses, and disappointments. When we MEET people where they HURT, we tell them, “I understand” your pain! Hurting people HURT PEOPLE! If we are honest everyone knows what bitterness and sorrow feel like. When we understand the PURPOSE OF OUR PAIN, the reason we are allowed to hurt, to struggle, to experience things that break our heart – then we are open to becoming SET APART, to the LORD. We are called to be HOLY, for our God is HOLY! (1 Peter 1:16) Nothing creates HOLINESS like enduring pain and suffering to the GLORY OF GOD!

Leader, The verse above can be translated literally, ‘the heart knoweth the bitterness of his soul’. Neither our joys nor our sorrows can be wholly shared with another; no person stands in such intimate relation to us, or can put himself so entirely in our place, as to feel that which we feel. There is many a dark spot, many a grief, of which our best friend knows nothing; the skeleton is locked in the cupboard, and no one has the key but ourselves. But we can turn with confidence to the God-Man, Jesus, who knows our frame, who wept human tears, and bore our sorrows, and was in all points tempted like as we are, and who has taken his human experience with him into heaven.

Conduit, For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;(1 Tim 2:5) Jesus is described by the prophet Isaiah in 53:3; He was despised and rejected–a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Jesus knows the bitterness of your heart, He too was rejected and despised and people didn’t even care! You can be like JESUS by sharing in other’s brokenness and pain. Reach out to them, feel their pain, understand their brokenness and be an encouragement; BE LIKE JESUS! Amen!

Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses. They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand. O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”- Nehemiah 1:5-7,10-11 BSB

Warrior;
Nehemiah is such a great example of the type of Leader, God is calling us to be in these last days. We must remember WHO WE ARE, and WHOSE WE ARE, and WHY WE ARE HERE! We are to do things IN THE WORLD, but we do them because we are IN THE KINGDOM. The things on this planet are temporal, but we were made for ETERNITY, the ETERNAL things. We get to earn our GIFTS in Heaven, by what we do in the battle for our LORD on this planet. Since we are not of the world, but in the world we are called to fight the good fight. 1 Timothy 6:12 is clear: Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. If we are to fight and be victorious we need to make sure we PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD, and be AWARE that we are in a battle and that the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD, the Prince of the Power of the air is working against us through His people and God’s people! We must stay on mission for our Lord and beware of the wiles of the enemy. The Enemy is deceptive, the enemy has false motives, the enemy shows up in many forms and the enemy was to distract us. Look at the temptations of Christ in the desert. In Matthew and Luke, Chapter 4 we hear the devil misquote scripture and play on the details of the moment to dissuade and distract, to demean and delay, to doubt and to do us in! When tempted and distracted, Jesus always responded with- IT IS WRITTEN. The only way to combat the LIES OF THE DEVIL is with the TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE. We must identify the lie, and replace it with the Truth!

Leader, in Matthew 5:21-28, Jesus covers the 6 contrasts: You have heard it said…but I say…. As we saw with Daniel, he was familiar with scripture and let it guide him. When we understand His Word, we are able to better ascertain HIS WILL. We have a whole society built on lies. Scripture says the evil one is the prince of this world (John 14:30). We have lies about what is beautiful, lies about what it means to be successful, lies about God, lies about creation, etc. John 8:44 tells us this about the devil; When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. When you add all that to the fact that the devil even deceives with his identity. The expanded bible puts it this way: This does not surprise us [And no wonder, since…]. Even Satan ·changes himself to look like [disguises himself as; masquerades as] an ·angel [messenger] of light [C trying to fool people into thinking he is from God, who is pure light]. (2 Corinthians 11:14. Nehemiah is a great example of how to overcome the devil and his trickery. First, he did it by discerning the lies of the enemy. The enemy hates anything of God and anyone who represents God. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were deeply disturbed that someone had come to seek the well-being of the Israelites. (Nehemiah 2:10) I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me, and what the king had said to me. “Let us start rebuilding,” they replied, and they set their hands to this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about this, they mocked us and ridiculed us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” (Nehemiah 2:18-19) Once we realize this, the enemy hates things and people of God, we can realize we are in enemy territory. “Then the Jews living among our enemies came and said this to us ten times, “Our enemies are all around us. They are everywhere we turn.” (Nehemiah 4:12) If you are a child of God, you are living in a fallen world and you must realize: THE ENEMY IS ALL AROUND YOU! This is not your world!

Conduit, When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates— Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?”(Nehemiah 6:1-3) Once we have discerned the lies of the devil, and realize the enemy is all around us, now we must stay on Mission. Nehemiah gives us a great example: Nehemiah didn’t come down for the STUPID STUFF. This is a distraction. Realize the world is going to hate you, it is full of haters- and that you are called to a greater good! This allows you to stay on Mission no matter the distraction. Stay focused, stay on mission and stay true to HIS WORD and HIS WAY. Since this is a battle, and since God has no secret agents, it is time to come out of the closet! We live in a time when everybody else has come out of the closet. If it is ok to share your homosexuality and your hatred of all things good and all things God, then why are there still Christians playing SECRET AGENT? Closet Christians NO MORE. Get OUT of the closet, be bold, be proud to be a servant, and agent, an ambassador-in-chains, a CHILD OF THE RISEN KING! We live in an age where everybody is out of the closet, so if you are in there as a Christian, you are in there by yourself! We are to be building the KINGDOM of God, while we are defending ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. Again, another lesson to learn from Nehemiah, through his actions. They had to build and fight. The story gives us the vivid picture of these men with a brick in one hand and a sword in the other. And that certainly says something about our work, about our function. We must use the Word of God to build ourselves up. But we must also watch and guard and fight. The day we put the Sword down the devil will break through and steal! …each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built….(Nehemiah 4:17-18) Soldier on and remember our simultaneous tasks: Build for the Kingdom and Defend with His Word.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 1:1-3 ESV

Warrior;
By all accounts, the Apostle Paul is a key player in God’s Kingdom. He was God’s instrument to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, He was God’s instrument to pen a majority of the NEW TESTAMENT, He IS GOD’s role model for many to follow. It is Paul’s Words, divinely inspired, that great men such as Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, and countless others have used to surrender and commit their lives to the sufficiency of Christ! When Paul would encounter people or connect with an individual he would greet them, in a remarkably similar pattern. Notice the words in this typical greeting in his letter to the church at Ephesus: GRACE, PEACE, BLESSED! As children of Jehovah, as Sons and Daughters of the RISEN KING these are words that we should all greet each other with, and words we should grasp, and share and believe! Searching the Pauline letters you will find Paul usually began with a salutation that always includes the words, “grace to you and peace” or “grace, mercy, and peace” as in the case of 1 and 2 Timothy. Paul’s salutations include the writer, the recipient, and the greeting proper, which follows the style of other letters of his time. Paul’s salutations consist of the normal Greek and Hebrew greetings, “Grace to you and peace”. Again this shows Paul’s ability to connect with his audience. He was dealing with basically 2 groups, Jews, and Gentiles: Hebrews and Greeks. We understand today in order to connect with people, you must meet them in their ‘map of reality’. Paul also extended the concept of ‘Blessed’. What an interesting way to approach people, as we meet them to bring Grace, Peace and Blessings to them! When you come into people’s lives, what do you bring to them?

Leader, the right word, at the right time, can change someone’s life. The wrong words, at the right time- if someone allows, will destroy them! Words can build up, bless, curse, encourage, and motivate or they can also tear down, hurt, and cause horrible scars. Proverbs 15:4 says, “A soothing tongue [speaking words that build up and encourage] is a tree of life, but a perversive tongue [speaking words that overwhelm and depress] crushes the spirit”. When you enter a conversation, or the space of someone else, a home, or a meeting- what do you bring? In Genesis 1:1 we are told in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Our first introduction to God is as CREATOR. 25 verses later, we read that we were made in the GOD CLASS. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. (Genesis 26a,27a) We were made to CREATE. When you interact with people, what are you creating with them, within them and between you? After you have been with people, do they feel BLESSED? In the Bible, a blessing is depicted as a mark of God’s relationship with a person or nation. When a person or group is blessed, it is a sign of God’s grace upon them and perhaps even presence among them. To be blessed means that a person or people take part in God’s plans for the world and humanity. Who have you BLESSED today, who are you going to BLESS to today, who have been BLESSED by you entering their lives? This is a litmus test of our walk with GOD! Who feels more connected to God, because you have entered their life? How well are you creating blessings in others lives? Whose life is better, BLESSED, because you have intersected with them? This is the fruit of your walk with God! How does your harvest look? Follow the FRUIT, to the ROOT!

Conduit, Grace, as Paul stated, comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ. Paul understood that it is a divine attribute, a uniquely Christian concept not found in other religions and belief systems. Outside of Christianity and Judaism, no other religion teaches a God who loves, accepts, and forgives human beings- not based on anything we do, but in spite of what we do. God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son lavish Their love on human beings because that is who and what They are. God is love personified (1 John 4:8; 1 John 4:16). GOD’S AGAPE love, His supreme love can be better called, GRACE! Grace is the giving of every good thing to those who of themselves deserve nothing. Titus 2:11 puts it succinctly; For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men! 1 John 3:1 ties the words together; See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. In the book of Numbers, the Priestly blessing (Num 6:22-24) is the most familiar passage; “Yahweh bless you and keep you; Yahweh make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you—and give you peace.” The central message of the blessing is stated in the closing Hebrew word, šālôm, translated “peace”. In English, “peace” connotes the absence of war. It can also describe a state of tranquility. But the peace of God in the priestly blessing includes good health, security, inner harmony, wellness, material prosperity, and a long life. Consider this; GRACE has benefits and one of these benefits is reflected in the word “peace” which the Apostle always associated with GOD’S GRACE. In fact, the order is significant. First grace and then peace. Until we know and appropriate grace, we cannot experience peace. “Peace” was a typical Jewish greeting (see Judges 19:20), but for the Christian, it carries a much deeper meaning than it did among the ancient Hebrews. This brings us to BLESSED! When we have GRACE, that brings PEACE– that shows and proves, we are BLESSED! Today, walk in the GRACE of GOD, so you can have the PEACE of GOD and WITH GOD, and then you will walk as one who is BLESSED! The world says, “no justice, no peace”. The blessed say, NO JESUS, NO PEACE! Know Jesus; Know GRACE, know PEACE and be BLESSED!

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”- Numbers 6:22-27 ESV

Warrior;
This section of the Bible is called the Aaronic blessing. Of course it is called this because God commanded Aaron, from the Priestly Tribe of Levi, to Bless the Israelites. From the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, this excerpt on the Aaronic blessing is adapted from, with help from Olive tree Ministries. “The act of blessing is deeply rooted in Israelite culture. It bears a wide range of meaning. On the one hand, Jacob’s stealing of Esau’s blessing and the latter’s inability to acquire another from his father, Isaac (Gen 27:30-38), provides a glimpse into the near magical power of a blessing. In that story, to bless is to bestow power for fertility and well-being, which, once spoken, takes on a life of its own. On the other hand, the expression of divine blessing appears to be no more than a stereotypical exchange for “Hello.” The book of Ruth provides an example of how the invocation of divine blessing was part of the everyday language of greeting, for example, when the harvesters welcome Boaz with the words, “The Lord bless you”” (Ruth 2:4).

Leader, God gives us choice. I believe that the worst thing God has given mankind is FREE WILL! I have attempted to give Jehovah back my free will, to no avail. I continue to pray for God to MAKE ME do the things I should do and NOT do the things I should not do. Just like Paul, myself, and many other DISCIPLES OF CHRIST have prayed: “For I DO NOT DO what I want, BUT I DO the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:15, 18b-19) We must realize apart from GOD, we can do NO GOOD! Our Spirit MIGHT be willing, but our flesh is weak! Jesus, our CREATOR, knows our frame. In the Garden, when Jesus’ soul was UNTO DEATH, He spoke this to his disciples. Today often used as a rueful admission of weariness or other physical weakness, this idiom was first recorded in Matthew 26:41, where Jesus tells his disciples: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Because of our WEAK nature, our flesh we must daily CHOOSE to follow GOD and to NOT follow the ways of this world! 19“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

Conduit, ‘A gift that is commanded is NO GIFT at all’! That is why God gives us FREE WILL! Olive Tree Ministries in a blog, breaks down the Aaronic prayer, “The first verb in each line summarizes an activity of God upon the worshiper, and the second describes the results of God’s actions. The result is a threefold blessing. The first emphasizes concrete gifts—blessing and security (guarding). The second stresses the hope that God will be well disposed toward the person (to lighten or shine upon the worshiper) and thus temper judgment with mercy (to be gracious). The third asserts that God will pay attention (lift his face), thus providing fullness of life (peace). The prayer is framed by an opening (“The Lord bless you”) and a closing (“and give you peace).” That in essence is the prayer we should have for ALL. The Lord Bless you and give you PEACE! We must remember the foundation of this blessing is recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 30:11-16; “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.” This is our choice, will we die to ourselves daily? Will we crucify our flesh, by crucifying our heart? Will we transform our thinking, and NOT conform to the thinking patterns, the way of this world? NO JESUS, NO PEACE. KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE! Choose well this day, and the next, and the next…! May the Lord bless you and give you PEACE!