Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! –  Matthew 6:22-23 ESV

Warrior;
Dr. J Vernon McGee once said, “All of the Bible is FOR US, some of the Bible is to us”.  This is similar to 2 Timothy 3:16-17; All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. There is something to be said about someone, or a country that ONCE had the LIGHT OF GOD, then chose a different path.  I wonder today about America, and our APOSTASY, our FALLING AWAY from God and walking after our own path of self-righteousness and evolution from a nation founded on the Principals of God, to a nation founding on the principles of Social Justice and ONE WORLD ORDER. God will NOT force himself on us, and He wants us to want HIM.  There are 2 OLD TESTAMENT prophets that highlight the point that God pursues and has Mercy and Grace, however, at some point He will allow those who PULL AWAY from HIM, to face the consequences of those choices. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. (Romans 1:24) Let us look at the OLD TESTAMENT prophets of Jonah and Nahum.

Leader, Jonah, and Nahum are both MINOR PROPHETS.  Both had a specific ministry, to a very specific country and a very specific Capital of that Country.  Jonah preached to Nineveh about 100 years before Nahum showed up on the scene.  Nineveh was the Capital city of the Assyrian Empire.  Jonah was told to Go Preach to Nineveh: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Jonah wanted nothing to do with the Assyrians, they were brutal, they were powerful, and they were enemies of Israel.  We know the story-Jonah didn’t want to go because he knew God would forgive them.  Jonah went, Jonah preached and the entire city turned to God.  In Jonah 3:5 we read, “So the people of Nineveh believed God.”  Now take note of that.  Whom did they believe?  Jonah?  No, it does not say that.  It says they believed God.  They saw beyond the messenger to God, the One who had sent the messenger.  It was the greatest REVIVAL in the history of mankind- 100% conversion from the TOP DOWN! Nahum was written about 100 years after Jonah and 100-150 years before the destruction of Nineveh that was prophesied by Nahum.  The book starts somberly: The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum…. (Nahum 1:1) The Burden from the Vision is JUDGEMENT!  Nahum was not sent to NINEVEH like Jonah, Nahum was not preaching about REPENTANCE, HE was preaching about the coming JUDGEMENT, the coming DESTRUCTION of this mighty power! Jonah was about the LAMB of GOD; Mercy, Grace, slow to anger; LONG-SUFFERING. Nahum was about JUDGEMENT, the LION from the Tribe of JUDAH!  Many people are only getting half the GOSPEL.  Too many people are believing in SLOPPY AGAPE! Jesus is NOT ONLY the LAMB, but HE IS ALSO THE LION! Jesus is the righteous judge! We need the FULL GOSPEL.

Conduit, the wrath of God is part of His righteous judgment. He gives eternal life to those “who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality”. Whereas with “wrath and indignation” He punishes “those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness” (Romans 2:5-11) When a nation, or a person abandons God, eventually God will abandon that nation or that person. When man wills to depart from God, and He allows that will, 2 things can happen. First, God withdraws His restraining and protective hand, allowing the consequences of sin to take their inevitable, destructive course. Sin degrades man, debases the image of God in which he is made, and strips him of dignity, peace of mind, and a clear conscience. Sin destroys personal relationships, marriages, families, cities, churches, and nations. Secondly, when God pulls back His connection with a person or people, He allows them to experience judgement. The Bible is replete with accounts of divine wrath being directly and supernaturally poured out on sinful men. Noah and the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the destruction of Nineveh, were direct consequences of sin, the overt supernatural expressions of God’s judgment on gross and unrepented sin. What about AMERICA?  We used to walk with God, seek His will and honor Him in the public square.  NO LONGER are we a CHRISTIAN nation, no longer are we allowed to say the name of JESUS in a government building or meeting, no longer do we shelter under the umbrella of Yahweh’s protection and blessing.  Look at the chaos in the streets, the violation of the 10th commandment: THOU SHALL NOT COVET.  Abortion on demand, alternative lifestyles, cisgender relationships given preferential treatment, worshipping the earth- the GREEN MOVEMENT, versus the CREATOR of the EARTH, electing leaders who SCOFF at GOD’S WORD, while claiming to be CLOSE TO GOD, a “Good Catholic”! The TIME IS NOW to REPENT, to vote for a return to our BIBLICAL past!  Not just for our politicians, but also for our personal lives. 200-250 years after NINEVEH responded to the prophet Jonah and walked with GOD, Nahum foretold the Assyrian empire being destroyed by the judgement of God.  Nineveh repented and were saved through Jonah. They went their own way again, and they committed APOSTASY and were destroyed, as told by Nahum. America is at about 250 years; it is DECISION TIME!  Will we vote to go our own way, the Progressive way, or will we vote to RETURN to the AMERICA of old–The America that sought God’s will and way for our fledgling democracy?  Or will we continue to elect leaders, who will take us down the dark path of Judgement, because we FORSOOK OUR GOD, and we became our own gods? Whether it is election season or not, it is time to CHOOSE; Life or death, blessing or curse, Wide-path or Narrow-Path, the Way of the WORLD, or the WAY OF THE LORD? Choose this day whom you will follow!