Fiery Trials

Monday, October 24, 2022

Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.  Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.  If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.  

1 Peter 4:12-14

It’s important to learn to stand against both big and little things the devil throws in our pathway; God's people have always had to do that.  There are enough false things out there to trip up any believer, from lunatic cults to nationalism-driven manipulative politicians from the far left or right. 

While there are all those spiritual traps Satan provides, there is also the reality that we are beings of the flesh as well.  Sometimes we are like the cartoon character, Pogo:  We have met the enemy, and he is us!  

God knows us; He knows our frame, that we are dust.  And so, God provides spiritual protection.  The apostle Paul called it the whole armor of God.[1]  If we will take it, and put it to the intended use, we will be successful in waging spiritual warfare.

Joe Lewis was the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.  He fought, 71 times; he lost only once.  During the fifteen years he held his title, he defended it 25 times. 

Bill Stern, the voice of American sports on radio interviewed the Brown Bomber toward the end of his career to find out the technique or secret that Lewis used in fighting his opponents, and how he could win over people who often were much larger than he.  His answer was very simple, I study my opponent, I plan my fight very carefully.  The results are always the same.  I'm never surprised and I stay on the offensive. 

That's pretty good counsel for dealing with the devil.  Satan wins many of his attacks and victories because he surprises us.  We continually live shocked.  The believer has no reason to be shocked, intimidated, or surprised by the attack of the enemy – none whatsoever. God has given us the armor and the battle plan to overcome his attacks. 

Like Joe Lewis we must never underestimate the enemy!  But with that, let me remind us all, that even the enemy’s worst fiery darts hurled at our lives cannot pierce the shield of faith; that is why God can promise us a blessing every time the world, flesh, or devil throws something else in our path.

For You Today

Take a deep breath, and invite God’s Spirit to have complete control in your day.  With that release of control, exhaled towards Heaven, the blessing of peace and God’s rest will descend on your head, like a crown you will wear with distinction and honor!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

       Ears Open - Heart Straight - Eyes on the Road - Sure Foot   and   Between the Mountains

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] Read Ephesians 6:10-18

Ready

Friday, April 24, 2020

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control.  Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.  So you must live as God’s obedient children.  Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires.  You didn’t know any better then.  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:13-16

It wasn’t long ago that I heard news of the passing of my 9^th grade English teacher, Joe Gulizio.  His students referred to him as Jumping Joe, because when it came time for the annual faculty vs. student basketball game, for a 5’9” guy, he could mix it up with the biggest and best of them.  He also had an amazingly accurate two-handed “set-shot”.   

For an English nerd he was quite the athlete.  Given my love of any sport where you could catch, kick, throw, hit, or bounce a ball, I admired Mr. Gulizio.  I also kind of feared being around him.  He made me do things like stand in front of the class to give a book report.  I once pretended to be sick for a whole week because I knew my turn was coming up.  In my weakened condition on the first day back, there was little mercy from behind the teacher’s throne; Mr. Brownworth, welcome back…you can now give your report.  It probably would’ve hurt less if it wasn’t for that smile silently bellowing, I’ve been in touch with your parents, you slacker…get up here and squirm.  I didn’t hate the book; actually, I loved it.  I just hated standing in front of people who were expecting me to talk.  My way of avoiding my distaste for doing that was to avoid preparing for it, hoping the day wouldn’t arrive.  I think Jumping Joe knew that…what a sadist!

Sixty years is a long time to arrive at the understanding that Mr. Gulizio was teaching much more than English literature in 1961; he was bent on forming strong character.  Jumping Joe was teaching me to be ready.  He wanted my head to be in the game, prepared and focused on thinking, learning, speaking up, and remembering that life isn’t just a ball game (which isn’t a bad background for a future preacher). 

So, there is a definite parallel between 9^th Grade English Lit and life as a believer.  Peter’s admonition to the church was to be ready, prepared for the spiritual battle of your lives!  And, to do that, it was, as Peter’s friend and co-laborer, Paul wrote, necessary to put on the armor of a Christ-warrior:

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.  For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.  Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.  Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.  Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.  For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.  In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.  Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.  Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.   Ephesians 6:10-18

For You Today

Our spiritual battles are no different than Peter’s or Paul’s.  Every day we are faced with an enemy that would rob us of our joy, our witness, and our faith.  The choices for life as a disciple of Jesus Christ are only two – faithful or not faithful. 

Jumping Joe Gulizio would say, it’s your turn; he must have been quoting Jesus.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO 

Title Image:  Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on 1 Peter see Standing in the Sweet Spot and The Sacrifice of Self-Control

This Holy Week - Part 4

[1]

Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, March 29, 2018

“These are your instructions for eating this meal:  Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand.  Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover.  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt.  I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!  But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying.  When I see the blood, I will pass over you.  This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.  “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.  This is a law for all time.  Exodus 12:11-14^(NLT)

Friday evening Jewish families will be gathered all over the world to celebrate Passover, the moment God’s very special chosen nation was born.  They ate the bread of haste, and marched out of Egypt on their journey to the Land of Canaan.  Now that sounds simple and jubilant, doesn’t it?  It was jubilant; how could the end of 400 years of slavery be other?  But simple is another story.  Passover is a beginning, not a conclusion.

That rest of the story includes many battles, wrong turns in the wilderness, judgment and conquest.  Winning the right to occupy the Promised Land was a snap compared to walking the straight and narrow of keeping it!  The whole record of Israel’s history is spiked like the stock market…up one day, and crashing the next.  Every time you blinked someone was doing evil in the sight of the Lord, getting punished, and the next day the cycle would start all over again.  Rags-to-Riches, Hero-to-Zero, and back.

If that story strikes a familiar chord with our life experience, it’s because Israel’s story is our story too in this way:  Like Israel, we are born into humanity in an instant; the next threescore-and-ten years are a labyrinth of exploration, pain of wrong choices, momentary happy times, and lots of surprises.  It’s not all melancholy, but Life-101 can be a tough teacher! 

If repeating the mistakes of our ancestors isn’t enough, most of us also find new ways to create potholes in navigating our life’s highway.  Trouble, like Job’s sparks flying upward from the fire, is the way of humanity.  If it isn’t a natural disaster, we create enough unnatural ones, wars, terrorists, meddling relatives, greed, lust, envy…and so the minefield continues.  

The people who celebrate the Passover are the same as those who come to the Lord’s Supper table.  We all eat the bread with urgency, with the taste of bitter herbs on our tongues, remembering the acrimonious darkness of sin and how it enslaves us.  And we try to heed the instructions to be fully dressed, wearing sandals of peace, helmet of salvation, belt of truth, and staff/sword of the spirit in hand[2].  All of this signifying we’re ready to move-out, drop it all, leave everything behind at the sound of our Lord’s voice.

Is it any wonder the Christian life is called a pilgrimage?  When you live life as a pilgrim, home is always somewhere else.  As with Augustine[3], how can we be at rest anywhere until our souls are at home with Him?

For You Today

If you celebrate a seder (Passover) meal, or the Lord’s Supper this week, remember this is the mark of a pilgrim; you’re a traveller…you’re not home yet. 

So, travel well, be sure-footed and safe, as you stay close to He who leads the way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Ephesians 6:10-18

[3] Augustine, Confessions