READ: Isaiah 39,40; Psalms 82; 2 Corinthians 10
SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 10: 3
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary,
they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ.
OBSERVATION: We often hear about world leaders’ call to fight against
poverty, illiteracy, injustice, and oppression. However, within a few days or
months, they forget about it or become busy with other activities. On the other
hand, whether we want it or not, we Christians are always involved in a
spiritual battle. The Bible says, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood”
(Eph.6:12). We are to fight against false teachers, false doctrines, and anything
that blinds the minds of people to see “the light of the Gospel that displays
the glory of Christ” (2 Cor.2:4). In Corinth, some false teachers boasted
themselves and questioned Paul and his authority. They waged war against Paul with their series
of accusations. Paul refused to use any worldly warfare against them. He
understood it was a spiritual war, and “weapons of the world” were useless in the
spiritual battle. The devil tries to build invisible castles that make us think
we cannot win our battles against him. We need weapons that “have divine power to demolish strongholds.” In
Eph.6:17, Paul says the weapon that attacks the devil is “the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.”
In verse 5, Paul says about what
he does with the spiritual weapons. First, he destroys every argument and
speculations that are against the knowledge of God. As we all know, there are
many false and superstitious beliefs, false teachings, worldly philosophies, and
theories that oppose the knowledge of God. With the word of God, we need to demolish
them. Secondly, Paul writes about confining or controlling all ungodly thoughts
and making them obedient to Christ. If we do not make a worldly thought
obedient to Christ, it would grow like cancer and enslave us to sin. Here, we
see that both actions are in the present tense verb, which signifies that we
must continually do them in our daily Christian life. We win our spiritual
battles, “not by might nor by power” but by the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ
makes us victorious Christians.
APPLICATION: I am a soldier of Jesus Christ. I will not depend
on worldly weapons in my fight against the devil’s schemes but will use the
armor of God. I will resist the devil and every thought that stand against the
knowledge of God. My goal is not to boast of my spiritual gifts and weapons but
to bring more people to obedience to Christ.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for your word that enables me
to stand against the devil and his schemes. Jesus, thank you for the victories
you have won for me. Holy Spirit, help me to depend on you in every spiritual
battle against worldly and sinful thoughts. Amen.
- Arputharaj Samuel
+91 9538328573
Day - 264
No comments:
Post a Comment