“O Jesus, I know that I want You above everything else. Put power within me to run after You. Take away from my heart all idolatry–all desire for things, for people, for places; but, Son of God, I pray that I may learn to love You and run after You, and like Paul to do this one thing: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

There is no greater call than this, and this call has certainly and definitely come to our hearts. What are we doing with it? God and the devil are watching to see what you are doing with this one call—to have Jesus, to know Him. The enemy is working overtime to keep people from knowing Jesus. If we grow careless over this one thing—knowing Jesus—darkness and confusion will enter our souls, and we will become enamored of other things.

God has called upon us to deny self, to hate self, to love Jesus, to want Him, and to seek for Him with the whole heart. If God has put that cry into our souls, we ought to nurse it and make sure that it increases in us. As we seek Him He draws nigh to us; that seeking spirit becomes our portion, and we become desperately hungry for the Lord. Oh, there’s the voice of the bride, “Where is He whom my soul loveth?” Your whole attention is riveted on Him. There is nothing else that satisfies you.”

— Hans Waldvogel

“Spiritual warfare often takes on the most mundane of appearances. Some of the most destructive things a Christian can do to Satan’s dark kingdom occur through a life of purity, acts of kindness, Christlike forgiveness, humility, and self-sacrifice… Consider for example the ultimate spiritual weapon: the blood of Jesus is the thermonuclear bomb of spiritual warfare that has forever changed the game and has already rendered Satan a defeated foe… 

The cross of Christ was the ultimate act of spiritual warfare. Yet it hardly looked like a dramatic display of eternal military might. On the contrary, it looked like utter weakness, total loss, and complete failure. What seems powerful and effective in the flesh is often completely impotent in the spiritual realm. Likewise, what seems weak and small to the human eye can make the realms of darkness tremble. The most effective spiritual warfare occurs below the surface, in the depths of our character, godliness, and sacrifice...

In fact, to emphasize how practical spiritual warfare is, consider the armor listed for us in Ephesians: truth, salvation, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, and God’s Word. These are all invisible attributes made visible only by a Christian lifestyle. Further, every item mentioned here directly contradicts the spirit of the age—the demonic Antichrist spirit. This should reinforce the truth that our internal alignment with God and the behavior that proceeds from that alignment are vitally important to spiritual warfare…

Paul uses strong military language out of a deep concern for the personal holiness of his audience (which includes us). He does not want to see the churches—the precious people for whom he has poured out his life—taken down by a flippant attitude toward evil in all its forms. He encourages them to prepare for battle against temptation. And once they have done everything possible to get ready, he encourages them to rise up and actually fight the battle. Today, ask God to reveal areas of temptation and sin that that you may have been ignoring. Allow Him to renew your mind so that you are aligned with His Word and His character.” — Daniel Kolenda

 

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

The hand of the Lord hath wrought this (Job 12:9).

“Several years ago there was found in an African mine the most magnificent diamond in the world’s history. It was presented to the King of England to blaze in his crown of state. The King sent it to Amsterdam to be cut. It was put into the hands of an expert lapidary. And what do you suppose he did with it?

He took the gem of priceless value, and cut a notch in it. Then he struck it a hard blow with his instrument, and lo! the superb jewel lay in his hand cleft in twain. What recklessness I what wastefulness! what criminal carelessness!

Not so. For days and weeks that blow had been studied and planned. Drawings and models had been made of the gem. Its quality, its defects, its lines of cleavage had all been studied with minutest care. The man to whom it was committed was one of the most skillful lapidaries in the world.

Do you say that blow was a mistake? Nay. It was the climax of the lapidary’s skill. When he struck that blow, he did the one thing which would bring that gem to its most perfect shapeliness, radiance, and jewelled splendor. That blow which seemed to ruin the superb precious stone was, in fact, its perfect redemption. For, from those two halves were wrought the two magnificent gems which the skilled eye of the lapidary saw hidden in the rough, uncut stone as it came from the mine.

So, sometimes, God lets a stinging blow fall upon your life. The blood spurts. The nerves wince. The soul cries out in agony. The blow seems to you an apalling mistake. But it is not, for you are the most priceless jewel in the world to God. And He is the most skilled lapidary in the universe.

Some day you are to blaze in the diadem of the King. As you lie in His hand now He knows just how to deal with you. Not a blow will be permitted to fall upon your shrinking soul but that the love of God permits it, and works out from its depths, blessing and spiritual enrichment unseen, and unthought of by you.”

— J.H. McC.