29 Dec WORD WAR III (NEVER LIVE IN A GRAY WORLD WHEN YOU HAVE A BLACK AND WHITE BIBLE!) PART 2
The Bible tells us in I Timothy 4:1, “Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” In this powerful verse the Greek word translated “expressly” means “clearly or vividly.” The Greek word translated “last” is “hystemos” which means “last of the last.” The Greek word for “depart” is “aphistemi” which means “to step away from, to resist, to desert or withdraw. The Greek word for “seducing” is “planos” which means to “slowly wander away.”
If you’ll give me a little liberty, this verse could easily be paraphrased from the Greek language like this: ‘The Spirit speaks clearly or vividly in the last of the last days, that some should step away from and desert the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits (which will tempt people to slowly walk away from the Word) and doctrines of devils.’ In other words, deception will be a huge weapon of the enemy to get some to slowly walk away from the Word of God!
Here is the good news…YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A ‘SOME’!
As you can see, the war in the last days is over the Word of the Living God! Let’s talk about it.
Seven WORD War Wonders:
- The war is over the Word (Gen. 3:1)
The Bible tells us, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:26-28). “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).
In these verses God clearly spoke to mankind and then the war against the Word was on. In Genesis 3:1, the Bible tells us, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Notice from the beginning, the devil was after the Word… “HATH GOD SAID?”
In Matthew 4 and Luke 4, you find Jesus when He was here on this earth having a face- off with the enemy. Here the devil tempting Jesus “If thou be the Son of God….” Jesus is the Word (see John 1:1-14) and once again, the devil is questioning “the Word.”
In Mark chapter 4, Jesus teaches His disciples about the sower sowing the Word of God and in this powerful parable, Jesus teaches us when the Word is sown the devil comes immediately to steal the Word of God. Directly after Jesus taught this parable about the Word of God, He directed His disciples to get in a boat and “go to the other side.” Immediately a storm arose to once again dissuade His disciples from His Word (see Mark 4:38-42).
Remember this: The devil’s assignment is to get you to look at the storm around you instead of the seed within you!
- The Word of God is the most powerful force in the universe (Heb. 1:3).
Here the Bible tells us, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
Notice the phrase “upholding all things by the word of His power.” Notice it doesn’t say “Upholding all things by the power of His Word.” If it said this, then the power of His Word would be just one source of His power. However, by using the phrase “word of His power,” He demonstrates that His Word is the preeminent source of His power. Even the powerful Spirit of God was only “brooding over the face of the earth” (see Genesis 1) until God spoke!
Have you ever been on a roller coaster? Normally you will see or hear instructions to “keep all arms and legs squarely within the roller coaster cart you are riding in.” In the same vein, God is telling us in these very unique times, to get every aspect of our lives over on the Word of God!
If you want your marriage upheld…get it over on the Word! If you want your children to be upheld, raise them on the power of His Word! If you want your finances to be upheld…get them over on the Word! If you want your health to be upheld…get it over on the Word! If you want your peace to be upheld…get your mind over on the Word of God! If you want your joy to be upheld…you guessed it…get it over on the Word of God!
Do you remember Matthew 14 when Peter was walking on the water? Well I hate to bust your Sunday school bubble, but Peter was not walking on the water…He was walking on the Word! Jesus spoke one simple word to him, “Come”…and in that one simple word there was enough power in it to UPHOLD Peter as he walked on the water! It was only when Peter got his eyes off of Jesus and onto the storm that he began to sink!
In 2020 and beyond, now more than ever, if you want to be upheld…get your life over on the Word!
Next month we’ll continue our series!