Weather report from heaven: Sunny and bright with an abundance of light, and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”- Ephesians 6:12-18
Insight: One of the things that I find very helpful in my faith walk is to look back at the Ancient names that the Jewish people had for God and apply it to my current situation. This reminds me that God has many different attributes and characteristics that are meant to provide the help we need in our life journey for exactly what we need, when we exactly need it. God is bigger than our wildest imaginations. He is Omniscient ( All Knowing ) Omnipotent ( All Powerful ) and Omni-Present. ( Everywhere at once ) He cannot be, nor should He be, shrunk down to our life size box we try to fit Him into so we can better understand Him. However, He does want us to know Him and His ways in a most personable manner.
Tonight we will consider the name Yahweh-Sabbaoth, which means the “Lord of Hosts.” The Bible mentions myriads of angels, who wage war against the armies of hell, who try to destroy mankind. Jesus Christ is the Lord of hosts, the Captain of the armies of heaven. The enemy is so subtle and deceptive that he has convinced us that our enemies are people who think differently than we do, or look differently than we do, or vote differently than we do. He has us running around all over the place spewing hatred, vitriol and anger against our fellow man, while the whole time he is busy capturing lost souls and leading them into eternal damnation.
The real battle that is taking place is in the heavenly realms and it is raging, far above our human understanding. It is fierce and it is an eternal war that will be only won for good when Jesus comes back to earth and defeats the enemy once and for all. But until that time, we are all caught up in this battle for our souls, whether we know it or not. Whether we admit it or not. The battle is way too intense for us to handle, so we must call on the powerful name of Yahweh- Sabbaoth in order to bring God into the battle on our behalf. He alone is the One who can win this fight and His Heavenly Armies are needed for our protection, so call on the full body armor of God as Ephesians 6:12-18 above says and then let Yahweh-Sabbaoth lead you to the final victory over the enemy of your soul.
Prayer: God we thank You that you are Yahweh- Sabbaoth, the Lord of Hosts and that You and your Heavenly Armies are fighting a spiritual war on our behalf that is eternal and intense. Through Christ we have gained the victory and let us live out our victory while on earth with fear and trembling, reverence and awe, of who You are Lord and what You have done for us. We pray in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen!
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