I am still looking into our Spiritual Armor as provided us by our being One with GOD through Christ. The greater revelation of our being in Christ in this the Church Age, New Covenant of Grace or the Age of Grace. As our having been in grafted into the side of Jesus after His death while He remained in the grave as also seen in the women being taken from man in Genesis 2, as a secret or mystery of GOD. Just what are the source of our battles, or what is the soul's enemy. But first Pastor Hoekstra and his revelation of Grace. Then I will look at the Spiritual Armor Provided us in Christ and as has become my norm I will add any inspiration when the LORD enlightens me.
"A Ministry of Mercy and Grace"
"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart." (2Corinthians 4:1)
"In addition to heavenly liberty, GOD desires to mark our lives with other spiritual characteristics. One of these is the Godly encouragement that comes from living and serving under a ministry of mercy and Grace. The worlds churches that at one time may have been active in the first commandment of the Lord Jesus have become stagnant and overcome by the laws, traditions, rites, rituals, ceremonies, doctrines, customs and holidays of a false god, being preoccupied with these and other worldliness.
The service we now render to the LORD is based upon mercy: "since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy." We deserve condemnation by GOD while we remain under the law of works and separation from Him for eternity. Instead, GOD has mercy upon us, forgiving us our sin of unbelief. "Not by works (that have the appearance) of righteousness which we have done, but not according to His mercy He saved us" (Titus 3:5). Furthermore, by His mercy He enlists us in His service. "And I thank Christ Jesus our LORD Who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy" (1Timothy 1:12-13). Our ministry is also about Grace. "I became a minister according to the Gift of the Grace (which is) of God given to me" (Ephesians 3:7).
In light (understanding and knowledge) of having this type of ministry (one related to Mercy and Grace), "we do not lose heart." If we were called to serve GOD based on our merit and our resources, we would lose heart. We can periodically be tempted to discouragement, as we serve our GOD. Paul's testimony of service is similar to many of GOD's servants down through the ages. "For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears" (2Corinthians 7:5). At times, we too are surrounded by impossibilities and threatened by apprehensions. What are we to do in such unsettling trials? "For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls" (Hebrews 12:3). No one faced more battles and betrayals than the Lord Jesus. Yet, no one served more faithfully. In battle after battle, the Father brought Jesus through victoriously. We can count on the LORD to have mercy upon us. He Will give us His Grace and Faith to bring us through victoriously as well.
Remember, our service of the LORD is based upon Mercy, Grace and His Faithfulness. "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)."
The Soul's Enemies:
Psalm 71:1-11 "In You, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame! In Your Righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come; You have given the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my GOD, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For You, O LORD, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon You I have leaned from before my birth; You are He Who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of You. I have been as a portent to many, but You are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with Your praise, and with Your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me; those who watch for my life consult together and say, "GOD has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is none to deliver him."
Psalm 86:14-17 and Psalm 94:21, 109:20 "O GOD, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set You before them. But You, O Lord, are GOD merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast Love and Faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me; give Your strength to Your servant, and save the son of Your maidservant. Show me a sign of Your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because You, LORD, have helped me and comforted me."
Psalm 94:17-23 "If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, "My foot slips," Your steadfast Love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul. Can wicked rulers be allied with You, those who frame injustice by statute? They band together against the Life of the Righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my GOD the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our GOD will wipe them out."
Psalm 109:14-20 "May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out! Let them be before the LORD continually, that HE may cut off the memory of them from the earth! For he did not remember to show kindness, but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted, to put them to death. He loved to curse; let curses come upon him! He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him! He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones! May it be like a garment that he wraps around him, like a belt that he puts on every day! May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life!"
Jeremiah 2:29-37 "Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me, declares the LORD. In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion. And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do My people say, 'We are free, we will come no more to You'? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. "How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways. Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things you say, 'I am innocent; surely His anger has turned from me.' Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, 'I have not sinned.' How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them."
Jeremiah 18:19-23 "Hear me, O LORD, and listen to the voice of my adversaries. Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your wrath from them. Therefore deliver up their children to famine; give them over to the power of the sword; let their wives become childless and widowed. May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be struck down by the sword in battle. May a cry be heard from their houses, when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon them! For they have dug a pit to take me and laid snares for my feet. Yet You, O LORD, know all their plotting to kill me. Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from Your sight. Let them be overthrown before You; deal with them in the time of Your anger."
Ezekiel 13:8-16, 17-19 "The LORD GOD said: "Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the LORD GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divination's. They shall not be in the council of My people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD GOD. Precisely because they have misled My people, saying, 'Peace,' when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, saying to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the coating with which you smeared it?' Therefore thus says the LORD GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in My wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in My anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD. Thus will I spend My wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the LORD GOD.
"And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them and say, Thus says the LORD GOD: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to My people and keep your own souls alive? You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to My people, who listen to lies."
Ezekiel 22:23-31 "The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the LORD GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Therefore I have poured out My indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the LORD GOD."
Luke 22:28-30, 31-34 (Jesus is speaking) "You are those who have stayed with Me in My trials, and I assign to you, as My Father assigned to Me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death." Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me."
Ephesians 6:10-17, 18-2 "Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of His might. Having put on the (LORD Christ the) whole armor of GOD, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the (light, the yoke of the LORD Christ, in Matthew 11:28-30 and as GOD clothes the grass He also clothes us in Christ, Luke 12:28, as the Glory of GOD was on man in Genesis 2) whole armor of GOD, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of Truth, and having put on the breastplate of Righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the Gospel of Peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of Faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of GOD.
Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the Mystery of the Gospel (GOD in Christ and Christ / GOD restored within you), for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."
1Peter 5:6-11 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of GOD so that at the proper time HE may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because HE cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the GOD of all Grace, Who has called you to His Eternal Glory in Christ, Will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. The Amen."
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