Tag: testing

Chess Match For Our Souls

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Chess Match For Our Souls

I move my pawn, and you move your rook, a chess match of moves and counter moves. The fight for the ultimate prize is heaven. When dealing with the Devil never turn your back, never underestimate. The whiles of the Devil are cunning and smooth, the deepest desires of your soul are brought forth. Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” If we love then we should know love. Love is defined in 1 Corinthians 13 4-13 “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” When we say I love you this is what it should be. We must learn to love one another in the truest of words. When we play our game of chess the Devil will lie and deceive us. Colossians 3:13 “ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” We as a society are cruel and sinful. When given the choice we hung an innocent man on the cross instead of Barabbas a known criminal. If Christ can forgive us for condemning him to death, and not just for that, but the entirety of our sins, we can forgive those who wrong us, and forgive those for walking the path of sin. James 5:20 “Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Lastly Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” If we sin because we are lost, and we love the sinner, we must rebuke the sin, but not give up hope on the sinner. If we can take the pain we can make the sacrifice. Never forsake those whom you love. Humans make mistakes, never give up on love and never give up on what you know to be biblically right. IF we love we can defeat the Devil in this chess game we call life.

The Strongest

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The Strongest

Living day to day is never for the weak. The ability to fight the fight is something that takes time and effort, and a lot of faith. As the strongest are often the ones who take the brunt of the fighting, we must remember that the war is not that of flesh and blood but of principalities, the spiritual plane, the fight for our very souls. We may never fully understand how lucky we are, but if we understand nothing else, we must know God is for us. We may fall and fail our fellow man, and fail ourselves, but in the words of Thomas Wayne “Why do we fall, so we can learn to pick ourselves up.” It’s okay to get knocked down, just always fight to stand again. Be vigilant against the whiles of the Devil. He will sneak and lie, whisper, and deceive to achieve his goal. The great deceiver is always on the hunt to find a chink in the armor. Defend yourself.

Sword forged in fire

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Sword forged in fire

When a sword is made in the traditional sense it is placed in fire, pounded, shaped, heated, cooled, pounded on more. It’s no surprise that scripture teaches us how our faith is tempered. Just as the sword it placed in fire and pounded, our faith is also tested in a similar fashion. James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” When life is hard, when spiritual warfare is well underway, those of faith are tested on the spiritual battlefield. We don’t always know why bad things happen, we don’t always know why our lives can go from what seems like long stretches of happiness to spin out of control to chaos. Isaiah 48:10 “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” When King David was a young boy he made a name for himself by killing Goliath with nothing but a sling. David would spend the next 20 years running for his life, fighting for it, his faith being tested over and over. Just as David would have to trust in God, believe God’s intentions would always be in the promise that was made to David to be King. The number of times the testing of faith is mentioned in scripture is many. Deuteronomy 8:2-5 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” It’s easy to say you have faith when life is love and roses. When you’re all alone and it seems like tomorrow will never come. When life has you at your lowest, when depression and pain is all you feel, that’s when your faith, when God will peer into your heart and see what’s truly there. 2 Corinthians 11 Paul describes being beaten, shipwrecked, threatened, on the run from those who meant to kill him, and yet while Paul was facing execution during his imprisonment he wrote some of the most influential letters in the Bible. His faith was tested to the max. Job lost everything he held most dear and he survived knowing that God loved him. Gods grace, mercy, and love are all some people have. Through the fire we are forged. Never forget no matter how bad it seems, through the Lord all things are possible and all wounds can be healed. Learn to trust in the Lord and let go of the pain and hate that fill your heart.