Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Weapons of our Warfare 9

"Love"

“We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses.
Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s
strong places. We destroy people’s argument and every proud thing
that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We capture every
thought and make it give up and obey Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:4-5 ncv

The King James Version says: “For the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds” (2Cor. 10:4). Paul’s fifth weapon is love. Christianity is all
about love one another. Without love, Christianity means nothing.
Paul talked about that love is the greatest gift (1 Cor. 13). His motto
was “Without love, I am nothing.”

What kind of weapon do I need to know about true love for God then?
What God asks of those who believe in Christ and receive His salvation
is our devoted love. Our devoted love to God is very important to Him
because this will influence us to love our neighbor, including our
enemies. Holy Spirit is the one who helps us keep our devoted love
to God and keep the love in our character because God is love.

Why is this weapon of God’s love in us so important? Jesus had
predicted that “love of many will become cold” because iniquity
will get worse (Matthew 24:12). What would cause this? “Many false
prophets will come and cause many people to believe lies. There will
be more and more evil in the world, so most people will stop showing
their love for each other” (Matt.24:11-12 ncv). This may be
discouraging, but wait, Jesus has more.

Jesus also said that there will be people who will keep their faith
until the end and we will be saved (Matt.24:13). That is, the presence
of God’s love will be powerfully manifested in our character. By using
this weapon against the enemy, we, the born-again believers will come
forth victorious.