2Co 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
It is interesting to see the context of this very well known verse. Paul is addressing “some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.” He is talking about a certain group of Corinthians who do not hold him in high esteem. In fact, it is well known that they say “his letters are weighty and powerful but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible.” You see, they were judging him on his outward appearance. He was not tall, dark and handsome, and he had no motivational speaker skill sets. Oratory was not his wheelhouse. And so, comparing themselves among themselves, and measuring each other in an outward fashion, how the man looks, how the man speaks, they found Paul wanting. Yet Paul, although he walked “in” the flesh, as we all do, did not walk “according” to the flesh or war according to the flesh, quite the opposite.
Those who walk /and or war in the flesh create strongholds within themselves. They are argumentative and high-minded and exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. They have been taken captive by their own thoughts of themselves. They judge according to the outward appearance and what they all think of one another. It is pride in all its many forms and pride is a “high thing,’ or a high place in the mind. And the thing about the high place of pride is that there is only one way to go from there, they must fall. When Paul comes, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he will use the mighty weapons of God to pull down, or cause to fall, the strongholds. These are the fortresses that exist within the mind and soul where pride dwells. By the wisdom of God Paul will demolish their arguments and ever other high thing that exalts “self,” over Christ. Coming against these men by the authority given by God is Paul operating within his sphere of influence, for it is God who commends Paul, God that anointed Paul and God who appointed Paul.
So brothers and sisters, let us glory in God and compare ourselves to Him. Let Jesus be the high water mark. Never compare yourselves to anyone but rather strive to imitate God. Eph 5:1 tells us to imitate God. 1 Cor 11:1 tells us to imitate Christ. Be followers in His footsteps. Do not compare yourself to someone else, for you may compare favorably when comparing one with another. Yet when compare ourselves to God it is always a humbling experience and should be. When we keep this short account brothers and sisters its keeps pride at bay. It never allows us to exalt ourselves or indeed any other man. If you shall glory in anything, do not glory in yourself or any other man or woman but rather glory in God. In glorifying God and keeping ourselves humble in our own sight and in the sight of the Lord we are being raised up and equipped with enormously powerful spiritual weapons that is more than able to pull down on the spiritual strongholds of men and their high places. When we walk in this manner, God Himself will raise us up to dwell in high and lofty places where He fellowships with the lowly and the contrite.
The great high point of my life, was my death. When I was born again I stood like Peter , James and John on the mount of transfiguration. And just like them, I mistakenly thought it was time to build something. Little did I know that quite the opposite would be true. It was time to dismantle everything. Or to say it more accurately, for everything to be dismantled. And this would take place in the depths of the valley floor, not on the top of a mountain. Chambers writes “Before sanctification we know nothing, we are simply put in the place of knowing, that is, we are led up to the cross. In sanctification, we are led through the cross.”
Can you say that you life is one of being “led through the cross?” Has it been a process of being crushed and broken in the darkness of the valley floor? Have you spent much of your life trying to scramble up unattainable mountains? Supernatural joy and likeness to our Lord comes not in the building of structures in high and beautiful places. It comes in the midst of surrender to the dismantling process in the depths of the valley of the shadow of death. And the purpose for it all is to transform us into useful servants of the most High God. We too often think of the cross as a place of deliverance, rather than a place of transformation. The transformation is indeed the fruit of our deliverance.
The cross is not the beginning of the life of Jesus, it is the culmination of it. Our transformation begins the moment that we take up our cross. Being brought to the cross is one thing, being nailed to it is quite another. Staying there is one thing when you have no power, staying there when you have the power to come down is quite another. Between the two positions lies a great gulf, on one side is life and on the other side is death. To live in Christ we must die. The mountaintop will come in good time, when He lifts us from the valley floor and takes us home. In the meantime, our business is the business of dying, its the business of the cross. Our calling is to die daily.
You have gathered here today in defiance of darkness and tyranny. You have come here to fight as free men and free men you are, for it is I that gave you that very freedom. So you see with your eyes that you are few and they are many, you see that you are vastly outnumbered. Will you fight today?Read the rest of this entry »
There is a time for shouting and praising God, but if we are ignoring the knocking, then we must stop shouting. If our lives are not reflecting the Glory of God, if we are not becoming like His Son, daily, then all of our shouting and praising God will just be so much noise. How tragic for the church of the living God if, when He looks down, He does not see praise but just a group of people making a noise.”Read the rest of this entry »
“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in heaven, but few who bear His cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds many to share His feast, but few His fasting.All desire to rejoice with Him, but few are willing to suffer for His sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking of the bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of His passion. Many admire the miracles, but few follow Him to the humiliation of the cross. Many love Jesus as long as no hardship touches them.”
This is a vision that I had as I stood on a terrace in Croatia. My wife and I went there last year on our 25th anniversary. Before I went the Lord had shown me that I would meet someone there and that it would be significant, just did not know that He was talking about Himself. The whole piece was my vision, He gave me a new way of writing my testimony and of writing about coming into His presence, then the Word that He gave me for the church, I wrote in red at the end. I pray that this will challenge and convict you………….
They will gather together and throw in their gold and rise up and play, or in this case, fall down and play. You see the people are without leadership, and the Lord has with-held His rain. So the people have demanded gods to go before them, listen to what they said to Aaron…”make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. “
She put her head back against the wall and looking upwards told me that she was in no position to even try and refuse this. She was blown away that God had answered her and her husbands prayer so immediately (she did not know that I had messed around for several week) She could not wait to get home and share this with her husband. Higher critics could explain this in the natural, but the supernatural is God talking to His people, directing them and of course, His perfect timing.
A Call To The Remnant 