On my walk I noticed a peculiar sign. It read: WATCH FOR FLYING PROJECTILES. I was next to a golf course. But, I mused, all projectiles fly. That's what the word denotes. If the projectile is grounded you wouldn't have to watch for it. So, I'll go back tonight and paint over the word "flying." It'll simply read WATCH FOR PROJECTILES or GOLF BALLS IN THE AIR. I'm just kidding.
But then I thought of this verse in the passage outlining the Christian's armor. Ephesians 6:16 "...in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish ALL THE FLAMING ARROWS of the evil one."
These demonically empowered projectiles constantly whiz toward us. To ward them off we must take up (our responsibility) the shield of faith. Like Enoch of old, we must walk with our God, looking to Him, reading His Word, depending on Him, pleasing Him, praying, etc., etc.
In short, it's the walk of faith. Such is our daily protection and must be our moment by moment alertness........The Apostle put it this way: "We walk by faith, not by sight."
- dick christen
Do you know why a car's WINDSHIELD is so large & the rear view mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE.
So, look ahead and move on.
"Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil" (Prov. 4:24-27).
The man without a forward purpose is like a ship without a rudder. What makes life complicated is multiplicity of motives. What makes like victorious is singleness of motive. And as Spurgeon remarked, "Spiritual life depends on the purposes we cherish."
Has any Christian been more focused than the Apostle Paul. He declared, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
- Dick Christen
The guru instructs, "Compasses! Get your compasses." The poor souls are looking for divine direction for life. Christians have that! They prize the Bible as the very Word of God and read and ponder it for direction in every aspect of life. It's a lamp to their feet and a light to their pathway. It shows the way for every aspect of life. In Bible times they strapped small lamps to their legs allowing a lighted pathway in the dark.
Joshua declared, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success" (Joshua 1:8).
In other words: Christians, loving the Book, possess a compass for life. We call it a truth-compass, a moral-compass, a make-sense-of-life compass and a know-how-to-live compass. Besides it has 'the message of all messages' for the saving of our souls from sin, hell, and death.
No wonder that Abraham Lincoln said, "In regard to this great book I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to men. All that the good Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book."
When people have tooth decay they go to a dentist. When Christians have TRUTH decay they need at once to 'brush up on their Bibles,' have the decay brought to the light and then proceed to root it out through the forgiveness and change that God gives. If they don't it is like heavy clouds making a compass meaningless and unable to give the necessary direction sought. As my dad often said, "Sin will keep us from the Book; but the Book keeps us from sin."
John Wesley remarked, "I want to know one thing, the way to heaven.......God Himself has condescended to teach us the way.......He hath written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book!At any price give me the book of God."
- dick christen
