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Beauty In The Battle

August 16, 2022August 29, 2022 krisshetter

"Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to our holy name and glory in your praise."  Psalms 106:47

Holy God, the heavens are your battleground! You fight against the cosmic forces over darkness. Your power and majesty are at work all around me through the unseen world of the spirit. And through my earthly worship I take up your sword each day to withstand any evil, in your Son’s name. Amen

One of my favorite lines by Jesus in the Bible is, “Get behind me, Satan!” as He rebukes Peter for having the wrong mindset about Jesus’ work. His exact words are repeated in Matthew 16 and Mark 8. Jesus also uses similar words in speaking directly to Satan in Matthew 4:10 with “Be gone, Satan!” I jokingly use these phrases when donuts appear in front me. Recently, however I heard teaching about spiritual warfare and I realized I had the completely wrong approach to it.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield;
    my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy,
    and with my song I praise him." Psalm 28:7

We so often talk about rebuking Satan or fighting our “Goliaths” when in reality we shouldn’t be speaking to the devil at all. It’s dangerous work that I would venture to say most of us are not prepared to withstand. Even the archangel Michael used God as his shield rather than his own words. Instead, we should be relying on the incredible power of the Trinity to fight our spiritual battles.

Along this same line I once told a friend we shouldn’t be asking, “What would Jesus do?” but rather what would Jesus want me to do? We are not fully man and fully God. We are just man. And we need to acknowledge that alone we only have the power given to us through the Spirit. God, through His great love for us, will take care of the rest. Isn’t that beautiful and amazing?

So what do we do? We enact the famous lines from Ephesians 6 and put on our armor of God. We stand firm in God’s truth. We fit our feet with Jesus’ gospel of peace. We arm ourselves with the shield of faith and the sword of God’s Word. In other words, we allow God to fight His glorious fight with the devil while we do the seemingly mundane acts of worship, studying our Bibles, praying for intercession, baptizing in His name, and spreading His Word of peace and salvation.

Friends, we need to start saying, “Get behind my Lord and Savior Jesus, Satan.” He is the blinding shield, the kryptonite against evil. He is the most powerful weapon we could ever imagine to ward off the arrows lobbed at us. Each time we open our Bibles, go to church, show love to a stranger, speak the Gospel truth into a friend we place that shield firmly in place for God to enter into battle.

A Bigger Kingdom

August 8, 2022August 22, 2022 krisshetter

"Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him.  Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness."  1 Chronicles 16:29

“Holy LORD I am so grateful there is You. You who are above all, above all kings and leaders. Above my need to be ruler of my own kingdom. Your Kingdom is full of the glory of your majesty and nothing, absolutely nothing is better than that! Amen”

I kept hearing today about the glory of God’s kingdom, His presence being above all with nothing greater than Him. Through songs, scripture and even the sermon from church. “No one, no one, no one, no one but You LORD is higher or greater” is the song verse that happens to be playing right now as I write this.

How often do we forget this? We have our tiny kingdoms that we work so hard to protect and maybe even rule over. Our schedules, our bills, our children, our stuff, our opinions – all things so much lowlier than what God’s kingdom has to offer us. And we too frequently forget to look above our kingdom walls toward His holy skies and fall on our knees in reverence.

"For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." Colossians 1:16

I just got through reading this verse in my current study about God the Son. Yet another poke at me to remember who made it all and who is fully in charge. And even more shocking to some – who it is all for.

Look around, none of this is for your kingdom or mine. It’s all for His glory. Which, because God loves us so much, His kingdom is also ours – for those who believe and obey His commandments. He wants so much more for us. Not just our little kingdoms. Yes, He wants us to take care of all He has gifted us but for the greater kingdom. That means each time we have the opportunity to teach our kids about Him, we do. Each time we should show love and forgiveness to our spouse, we do. Each time we see the chance to use our financial gifts to glorify Him, we do. Each time we can show hospitality in His name, we do.

Friend, the Kingdom doors are so wide, welcoming and beautiful! Drop to your knees and give thanks to God He is so much bigger than this small world we have built. And turn yourself into the only offering He has ever wanted – you.

To God Give The Glory

August 1, 2022August 18, 2022 krisshetter

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11

Holy Father, Loving Jesus and Ever Present Spirit, today I will exalt you; I will praise your name forever. Great are you, Lord! You are worthy to give all glory and praise! I will speak of your glorious splendor and majesty. I will tell of the power of your wonderful works and I will celebrate your abundant goodness and proclaim your great deeds. Amen*

A few years ago, I started a prayer project. I had no problem asking God for things to happen in my life. I also didn’t struggle with asking for forgiveness. And I always added others to my petitions. What I had a difficult time doing was praising God. Not just thanking Him for what He has done for me, but praising Him for who He is. It seemed silly and flowery.

As my faith has progressed, I’ve realized how important it is for us believers to acknowledge God’s magnificence, power and well, just plain awesomeness. It helps to put our whole lives into perspective. It reminds US who really is in charge. So, I started the 30 Days of Praise series. Eventually I went on to write 30 More Days of Praise and then 30 Days of Thanksgiving.

Recently, I kept seeing the word “glorify” in the study I’m doing about the Trinity. I started looking into the differences between praising God and giving God the glory due to Him. I found this helpful description of praise and glory:

Praise (ἔπαινος; epainos) means the excellence of a person. Glory (δόξα; doxa) means splendor and greatness. Honor (τιμή; time’) means respect and high status or value.
Dr. Thomas Clothier

And it got me thinking how I need to up my praise game. God isn’t just excellent in the ways He shows up in my life. He, without anything to do with me, is full of splendor and awesome in power! Jesus’ every move was to glorify the Father. The Father loved and glorified the Son. The Holy Spirit came to live in us to glorify Jesus’ act of salvation and to continue the work of the Father. The Trinity uses us to glorify the work of creation – it’s beauty and mystery.

We glorify him when we care more about what he wants than about what we want. Even better, we glorify him when we want the same things he wants.
Peter Krol, Knowable Word: Helping Ordinary People Learn to Study the Bible.

I’m not sure I can fully describe the glory of God through words but I’m going to make an attempt to show how our everyday lives can be lived to give Him the glory due. Please join me on this 30 day prayer journey of glorifying God and watch as His love for us unfolds into a beautiful story.

*This prayer was taken from parts of Psalm 145, “David’s Psalm of Praise.”