Daily Bread 11-18-17
Luke 14:31-33
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage, and dessert the conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
When we first come to the Lord our lives change. Our inner being is changed and peace comes about. We are filled with a genuine desire to become better at serving Christ and the world is a better place. As we grow we see our lives in the world improving and sometimes we let these things of the world overtake the things of Christ. One thing that we have been given our own power over is our power of making choices and decisions. We, in a way, have been made king over our direction. This scripture and this lesson is to remind us that the battle that we face spiritually cannot be won with worldly things. Even though God made our lives better and supplied us with families, husbands, wives, children, homes, jobs, generally fixed our lives, we must remember that spiritually we must still submit fully to him. None of these things can get in between our love for Christ. No matter what kind of help that he gives us carnally not one bit of it will allow us to become victorious spiritually. Eventually we will have to make concession and, in the end, be forced to surrender part of what we have to keep the enemy from completely consuming us. The word of God and the Spirit of God says that there is no concession or negotiation with the devil. With Christ on our sides we need not negotiate as we have been given all we need to conquer. We must think about this before we make these carnal decisions as the more we take on of the world, the less we will have for God. Are we capable? The answer is that all things are possible in Jesus Christ. If we want to be his disciple, his follower, we must remember to submit to spiritual ways and spiritual things. Making God first in EVERYTHING we do. Let us put it this way, if we are being attacked in our spirit and we draw a sword, will it help? No. But the more swords that we have , the more we think that we are capable of anything. Problem is, we don't even know how to pick those swords up much less fight with them. Even if we did fight that way we could we could only pick up one sword at a time and we would surely be outnumbered and defeated. We would be outnumbered and have to retreat. God did not make one of us to retreat or compromise with the world or evil but we must follow him. If we want to be disciples, let us get rid of our thinking and beliefs that do not agree with the teachings of Christ and pick up our crosses! It is the only way that we will eventually endure to the end and reach our heavenly reward. In Jesus Christ let all things be established. He is our savior and our savior alone. Let nothing get between. Have a great day!!!