Saturday 14 November 2015
LIFTING MY VOICE: THIS DAY WE FIGHTIn this, the second of my new blo...
LIFTING MY VOICE: THIS DAY WE FIGHTIn this, the second of my new blo...: THIS DAY WE FIGHT In this, the second of my new blog posts, I am using as a starting point, a blog I originally posted on Friday, 17 May...
THIS DAY WE FIGHT
In his book, "This Day We Fight - Breaking the Bondage of a Passive Spirit", American pastor and author, Francis Frangipane recounts a scene from the third film in the "Lord of the Rings" series, "The Return Of The King". Quoting from page 32 of the book, Francis Frangipane writes: In a scene from the third Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King, Aragorn seeks to inspire his outwardly outnumbered men against what seems to be sure defeat: Hell's swarming legions have amassed before them and the courage of Aragorn's fighters is weakening.
Riding along the front lines of his gathered, but rather lowly, army, he shouts: I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day....This day we fight! By all that you hold good on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West!
The day we committed our lives to Jesus Christ and He became our Saviour and Lord, we were enlisted in an army - but unlike a soldier in a physical army, who may after a time decide to leave the ranks of the military and return to civilian life, our commitment to fighting our enemy, Satan, is a life long one, and we dare not remain passive in our stance toward our foe. If we do not take up the offensive position toward him, he will seek relentlessly to weaken us to the point of being ineffective in the Lord's army. After all, as Jesus said in John 10:10, the thief (Satan) has his unwavering aim to STEAL, KILL and DESTROY - Us!
As I was pondering the quote above from Francis Frangipane's book, "This Day We Fight", I thought about the passage in Ephesians 6 where the apostle Paul encourages the Christian to "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His Might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Four times in the verses Ephesians 6:10-14, Paul admonishes his readers to STAND. Verse 13 says: Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to, to STAND.
As I read and watched the impassioned cry of Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings, I was amazed at the last sentence:............"I bid you stand, men of the West."
Isaiah, one of the major prophets of the Old Testament, writing at around 700 BC, said this in Chapter 59 verse 19: So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the West,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
It seems that as each day passes, all that we hold dear in the West, as in western nations and society is being attacked and eroded. For those who do not hold to a Biblical worldview, there are no longer any moral absolutes. What once was white is now black with all shades of grey accepted in between.
Truly the words of Isaiah the prophet spoken some 700 years before Christ are true of our times:
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter. Isaiah 5:20 NIV
Whether it concerns issues such as Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage, Euthanasia, or all the implications of Political Correctness, including the seeming blindness of politicians and media for the most part - to the very real threats to our way of life, and future well being by fundamentalist Islam, the common denominator in thousands of terror attacks committed since 9/11 - the need has never been greater than today for Christians who are committed fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and who are committed to obeying the Word of God, the Bible - TO STAND FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and TO KNOW WHAT we are standing FOR, and AGAINST according to the unchanging standards of Truth and Righteousness in the Word of God.
That being said, Australia, my home country has just had a national election, and against all the odds and in defiance of almost all election analysts, opinion polls and mainstream media, the government led by conservative born again Christian, Scott Morrison, has been returned with a slight majority. Christians are in agreement that a government change to that of the Labor Party, led by Bill Shorten would have been disastrous for the nation - for the economy, social order, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, protection of children from radicalised sex education and rubber-stamping a culture of death, with free tax-payer abortions provided by public hospitals in all states and state and Commonwealth-sanctioned euthanasia.
Amongst Bible believing Christians across the nation, there is a sense of jubilation and a sense of relief that the evil agenda of the Labor and Greens parties has been thwarted - at least for another three years. But this is not a time for Christians to be complacent.
This election victory has been won largely because thousands of God-fearing Christians across the nation, have petitioned the throne of Grace, through intercessory prayer and fasting for righteousness to be exalted in this nation - and God has answered those prayers, enabling the conservative Coalition parties to win what has been called the "unloseable" election for the Australian Labor Party.
I, along with many other other followers of Christ, are sensing a positioning for Revival in Australia with this election result providing a prophetic foretaste of the turning of the tide of evil in the nation, with the Holy Spirit being poured out on young and old, ushering in a Great Awakening in this land.
In the year 1606, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros gave this continent the name "Australia del Espiritu Santo" or Southland of the Holy Spirit. Look out Australia - you are going to see your prophetic destiny fulfilled with the Church of Jesus Christ marching forth as an army with banners proclaiming loud and clear that: "Jesus Christ is Lord." He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and many, many people of all ages are going to have their lives totally transformed by the power of the Living God.
"Even so, Come Lord Jesus." And we will give you all the glory due to your Name!
Friday 13 November 2015
STARTING OVER
with Peter Harvey
If you have stumbled across this blog, via my Facebook site or by accessing through other internet portals, may I say welcome This is the first of what I hope will be many to come.
As to the frequency of these blog posts - at this point in time, I am not intending to promise a new post, daily, or weekly - or even monthly, although I hope to write these "Lifting My Voice" blogs on a regular basis. Let me put the above in another way: My intention, at present, is to post blogs regularly, but not necessarily at regular intervals.
There are a great many "voices" in cyberspace, as well as in other more ancient forms of mass media - newspapers, radio and television to name the more obvious. You may well think - here is yet still just one more voice. With the advent of social media viz a viz Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., it seems like everyone has an opinion on everything, and they are not afraid to often share those opinions publicly for one and all to see and ponder. Personal frustrations and attitudes are often vented on unsuspecting readers in ways that normally would be only shared with one's inner circle of family, friends and associates.
You who are reading this, may or may not know that I previously published a blog which I called "Peter Harvey's Blogs". These were published over a couple of years, the last being written and published online just after Chistmas last year - on the 28th December. That blog was called: "No Longer A Baby". That one, and indeed all my blogs until then can still be read by going to peterandtessa.blogspot.com. I believe the Lord inspired me to write those blog posts, and that you may find encouragement from reading or re-reading some of these.
You will have noticed that I have given this first of my new blogs the title: "Starting Over". This title has a twofold application - the first being in regard to the fact, that, after almost eleven months silence in blogger cyberspace, I have, with the encouragement of my wife, Tessa, decided to again tap the computer keyboard keys in an orderly fashion to produce, I hope, something by way of interest, inspiration, and intelligible input (Ah! Isn't the alliteration an admirable addition to the writer's repetoire of resources).
The second, and, undoubtedly more wonderful application of the title : "Starting Over" relates to the fact that, as a Christian, I know personally, and am, and will be forever grateful to the Living God, that He is the God of the Second Chance. He gives each one of us the ability in life to start over. To the person who has never made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of the World, the Bible says: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life". We are all born with a sin nature, and because of sin, we are separated from God. In His love for fallen humanity, and in His desire for each and every person to be restored to fellowship with Him, He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ - to be born as a baby in a manger in a dirty stable in the town of Bethlehem, a few miles south of Jerusalem in the land of Israel. He did not, however, remain a baby. That baby grew to become a man, and at the age of thirty, commenced a period of ministry of three and a half years - attested by healings, miracles, signs and wonders, and a message of eternal hope to a people who were living without hope.
Jesus died a cruel death on a Roman cross, as a criminal, although He had never sinned. In the book of Romans, chapter 5 verse 8, in the Bible, it says: But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our part, as sinners separated from a holy God, is to acknowledge Christ's death on the cross in our place, as punishment for our sins, and to accept the free gift of eternal life offered to us by God the Father. As we, by faith, come humbly to God's throne in repentance, we are born again by the Spirit of God to live a new life, casting off the shackles of the past with all its disappointments and disillusionment to start over with a life filled with purposeful living now, as well as hope for the future.
For the Christian, one who has known the Lord for a short time, or one who has been a follower of Christ for years - even many years, or decades, the nature of God is that He says, if you or I feel we have missed it along the way, or we have wandered off the path of life, and are simply going through the motions, or we have even, as Christians, been ensnared by sin, He is still the God of the Second, Third, Fourth and so on - Chance. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, as he is called in Revelation 12:11, will seek to discourage you and me from believing there is any hope for us when we have failed. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
As the apostle John writes in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
It is not popular to be a Christian - a Bible believing follower of Jesus Christ in 2015. Everything Christians stand for seems to be counter culture. But personally, as difficult as it is and will increasingly become for those who uncompromisingly take a stand for Biblical truth and Godly values - I wish to state here and now, that as for me and my wife, by the grace of God, we will stand boldly for righteousness. We are grateful to the God who offers each one of us the awesome privilege of Starting Over with Him.
God Bless!
You will have noticed that I have given this first of my new blogs the title: "Starting Over". This title has a twofold application - the first being in regard to the fact, that, after almost eleven months silence in blogger cyberspace, I have, with the encouragement of my wife, Tessa, decided to again tap the computer keyboard keys in an orderly fashion to produce, I hope, something by way of interest, inspiration, and intelligible input (Ah! Isn't the alliteration an admirable addition to the writer's repetoire of resources).
The second, and, undoubtedly more wonderful application of the title : "Starting Over" relates to the fact that, as a Christian, I know personally, and am, and will be forever grateful to the Living God, that He is the God of the Second Chance. He gives each one of us the ability in life to start over. To the person who has never made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Saviour of the World, the Bible says: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life". We are all born with a sin nature, and because of sin, we are separated from God. In His love for fallen humanity, and in His desire for each and every person to be restored to fellowship with Him, He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ - to be born as a baby in a manger in a dirty stable in the town of Bethlehem, a few miles south of Jerusalem in the land of Israel. He did not, however, remain a baby. That baby grew to become a man, and at the age of thirty, commenced a period of ministry of three and a half years - attested by healings, miracles, signs and wonders, and a message of eternal hope to a people who were living without hope.
Jesus died a cruel death on a Roman cross, as a criminal, although He had never sinned. In the book of Romans, chapter 5 verse 8, in the Bible, it says: But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Our part, as sinners separated from a holy God, is to acknowledge Christ's death on the cross in our place, as punishment for our sins, and to accept the free gift of eternal life offered to us by God the Father. As we, by faith, come humbly to God's throne in repentance, we are born again by the Spirit of God to live a new life, casting off the shackles of the past with all its disappointments and disillusionment to start over with a life filled with purposeful living now, as well as hope for the future.
For the Christian, one who has known the Lord for a short time, or one who has been a follower of Christ for years - even many years, or decades, the nature of God is that He says, if you or I feel we have missed it along the way, or we have wandered off the path of life, and are simply going through the motions, or we have even, as Christians, been ensnared by sin, He is still the God of the Second, Third, Fourth and so on - Chance. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, as he is called in Revelation 12:11, will seek to discourage you and me from believing there is any hope for us when we have failed. The Bible says in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
As the apostle John writes in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness".
It is not popular to be a Christian - a Bible believing follower of Jesus Christ in 2015. Everything Christians stand for seems to be counter culture. But personally, as difficult as it is and will increasingly become for those who uncompromisingly take a stand for Biblical truth and Godly values - I wish to state here and now, that as for me and my wife, by the grace of God, we will stand boldly for righteousness. We are grateful to the God who offers each one of us the awesome privilege of Starting Over with Him.
God Bless!
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