(Part Five – “T”)
Time In God’s House With God’s People
What does it take to F-I-G-H-T the spiritual fight we all face every day? It takes first and foremost Faith in Jesus Christ accompanied by Intentional prayer, God’s living Word, and Holy Spirit power.
Our next weapon that helps us crush the enemy is Time in God’s house with God’s people.
Sadly our enemy, the devil, has dealt us a cleaver blow by lying to us and causing us to believe the church is old fashioned and irrelevant. If he had his way he would convince us all that the church is unnecessary and that we don’t need to be part of God’s house with God’s people to fight the spiritual fight. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, the church (God’s house with God’s people) is called “God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)
Did you catch that? It’s actually called the foundation of truth. Do you know why? Because it’s in God’s house with his people that we are taught the truth of God’s word. That’s why it’s so crucial to our spiritual fight. We need to know the truth so we can spot a lie when we see one.
Look at it this way… your enemy, the devil, is trying to use everything in this world to convince you that you don’t need the truth of Jesus Christ which is taught in Bible-teaching churches around the world. He will do anything he can to cause you to be too busy, too proud, and too spiritual to spend time in God’s house with God’s people.
In short, he wants you to fight alone. But Jesus didn’t die for you and his church (Ephesians 5:25-27) so that you can fight your fight alone. He died so that we could be part of his family.
He did this so “that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Ephesians 3:10-11)
So I would suggest that we not “neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25) and stop trying to fight the fight alone.
Bottom line… if you’re not in God’s house with God’s people your fighting alone. We need each other to win.
Action Steps to F-I-G-H-T The Spiritual Fight:
- Read Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37. Even though you’re quarantined doesn’t mean you can’t be part of God’s house and involved with his people.
- Start watching services online.
- Join an online small group and get into a community of believers who will encourage you. You need this!