FOUR (4) GLORIOUS SPIRITUAL WEAPONS

I have been reading with great interest a number of articles posted recently on LinkedIn. They almost all involve a spiritual message. It is as if our Lord were using these people and this forum as one of His many instruments to communicate to His spiritual children and warriors the birth pains of a new world order, namely the Kingdom of God in and on earth.

There are so many words which could be used to convey His messages, but I will use only four (4) words and expand a tiny bit on each of them. God's spiritual warriors, my spiritual brothers and sisters, are all undergoing the same or similar disciplining and training as I am. Much of it is painful, but in a good way. And what good soldier doesn't undergo training and discipline? At times, we need to be refreshed, hence why I write of these spiritual weapons.

In God's timing, He will use them to convey spiritual messages through us to the world so that He may take His rightful seat on the throne of the Kingdom of God in and on earth. The time and seasons are ripe for this to take place. When, you may ask? The answer my friend is I do not know, nor does our King, Jesus Christ, but our Heavenly Father does. Suffice it to say that time and space are not relevant in the spiritual world.

As I wrote earlier, I will keep my message short, much the same as our Lord did while on earth. To my recollection, only on a few occasions did He ever use more than a few words. The most prominent to my mind was when He addressed the “alleged” spiritual leaders or priests of the day. In most of those cases, He did not mince His words.

An excellent example is the Gospel of Matthew, and entire 23rd Chapter. A careful and prayerful reading and meditation of this passage will reveal to the reader that when He was “blasting” these “alleged” priestly leaders of the people, He used the words “Woe to you” seven (7) times! Now the number seven in spiritual circles denotes divinity (as in the world was figuratively created in seven days). In fact, if you were to search out how many times the word “seven” or a derivative of seven such as seventh or seventy is used in the Bible, you would arrive at a total of 518 times, 437 times in the Old Testament and 81 times in the New Testament.

I apologize for digressing from what I promised would be a short message, but I thought I would make mention of the foregoing fact as it somewhat touches on “time.”

Here are the four words, which are absolutely vital to God's spiritual warriors. They are “meat,” not “milk” by which we are trained, disciplined and mature: PRAYER; MEDITATION; LOVE; and FORGIVENESS.

It would be very foolish, presumptuous and unwise of me to restrict God to only four (4) words, but if you were on a life raft in the middle of the ocean under the heat of the burning sun, these words would save you and others. The life raft, ocean and sun are all figurative analogies for our spiritual walk and battles.

These four weapons, if I may use that term, used in combination or by themselves, have the power to utterly demolish the strongholds and attacks of our spiritual enemies.

If you would permit me, I would like to, for the sake of sanctified brevity and conservation of thought, group these four words into two pairs: PRAYER with MEDITATION, and LOVE with FORGIVENESS.

Let us refer to these twosomes as a pair of spiritual boots for our daily walk and a pair of spiritual gloves to protect our hands if/when we have occasion to use them, again figuratively.

When I awaken each morning, I always begin with quiet, uninterrupted prayer and meditation (or silence) before our Lord, asking Him in a few words (sometimes more if the occasion calls for it) what His will is for me that day. At the end of the day, before I sleep (usually while in bed or on my couch downstairs looking outside), I take inventory to see where I have done as I have been asked to or failed to do what I have been asked to. I sometimes fail to hit the mark, but that is expected and you or I are not to needlessly beat ourselves if/when we miss the mark which God has set for us. We learn some of our greatest lessons from our mistakes. Is this not a proven fact in your life; it is in mine?

Throughout the day, I do my utmost to maintain a mindset and heart full of love and forgiveness towards everyone. Am I always successful in doing so? The answer is an emphatic “NO”! But, with spiritual practice, discipline and maturity I am able to overcome myself and the world. I cannot even begin to overestimate the importance and fruit of these four weapons or these two pairs of words. There are no powers in this entire universe, especially those of our enemies, spiritual or physical, which can overcome the effects that love and forgiveness bring to the battlefield. They are liberating, and they are extremely robust and dynamic.

I could continue writing, but I did promise to keep my message short, which is already in danger of missing the mark.

To conclude then, you my fellow sufferer in Christ and spiritual warrior, must keep these four spiritual weapons in your quiver/sheath at all times and ask our Lord to remind us to use them always. Four spiritual weapons, PRAYER, MEDITATION, LOVE and FORGIVENESS. They are free-of-charge and accessible at all times. Use them my brothers and sisters. Use them wisely; use them often. You will reap fruit a hundred-fold for God's spiritual children and in your own life, not to mention that you will also, and most importantly, bring a smile to our Lord's face because of your FAITHFULNESS, a fifth spiritual weapon (Godly attribute) we will talk about another day.

A great, glorious day to all!