Author: rontrujillo

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arugments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Although  a mere man, Paul did not fight the spiritual battle for men’s souls using human ingenuity, or worldly wisdom or philosphies, such impotent weapons are no match and are powerless against the forces of Satanic darkness that oppose God’s people, and cannot free any souls and bring them to maturity in Christ. They are useless against false teaching that leads men astray during Paul’s day, and so it is certainly true of us today. No Paul, however, did not place his trust in these things. The Christian life is warfare that is waged on a spiritual plane, it cannot be seen with the naked eye, but it is real indeed. The word stronghold here is a metaphor that would have been readily understood by the Corinthian church since in the city of Corinth, like most ancient cities, had a fortress built on top of a hill south of the city in which its residents could take refuge. God’s Word is the believer’s weapon that will demolish the Satanic strongholds of false doctrine, that enslave people in believing that they are saved when they are not. It is know as the “Sword of the Spirit” Paul wrote the Ephesian church to put on the full armor of God, emphasizing the only offensive weapon was the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. How important is the studying of Scriptures? For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). God’s Word is living and powerful, from Genesis to Revelation it is known as the whole counsel of God. It is also revealing who Christ is, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

Beloved friend, don’t hold back in your time spent with God in His Word, It will have a dramatic effect in how you live the rest of your life! More importantly, people you love need to hear about Jesus, and His offer of redemption and eternal life. Studying His Word will never leave you without hope.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)

There are among us today, like in the early church, professing believer’s who have strayed from the truth. Such people are in grave danger and the church must do what it can to call them back to their first love (Rev. 2:4). James has in mind here those who have dead faith, and have gone astray from sound doctrine. And have lifestyles that doesn’t match one who is living according to biblical principles. This person who wanders away from the truth puts his soul in jeopardy for the “death” in view here is eternal separation from God and eternal punishment in hell (Daniel 12:2). Knowing how serious a cost this is, the Christian who is walking with the Lord should show his love and compassion for these people and not be swayed to give up on them. Since even one sin can separate us from a holy God, James uses the word “multitude” emphasizing the hopeless condition of the lost, unregenerate sinner. The good news of the gospel is that God’s forgiving grace, is greater than any sin (Romans 5:20) and is available to those who turn from their sins and exercise their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His offer of forgiveness and eternal life.

Dear friend, It is great if you are walking in obedience, but chances are, there is someone in your life who is not, and needs to know what you know about God and His Words of truth the Bible. Won’t you step out in faith and trust the Lord to use you, to help others be turned around before it’s too late?

May the Lord bless your walk with Him!

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Timothy 2:15)

These words from Paul to young Timothy represent zealous persistence in accomplishing a goal. Timothy, like all who preach or teach the Word, was to give his maximum effort to impart God’s Word completely, accurately, and clearly to his hearers of the early church. This is crucial to counter the disasterous effects of false teaching rightly dividing – litterally means “cutting it straight” a reference to the exactness demanded by such trades as carpentry, masonry, and Paul’s trade of leather working and tentmaking. Precision and accuracy are required in bibilical interpretation, beyond all other trades because the interpreter is handling God’s Word. Anything less is shameful and brings reproach to God’s work of salvation.

My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment (James 3:1). So you see that being called into the ministry by God holds with it a greater responsibility and an accountability to God and His people who listen to His Words of truth, to be a wise steward rightly dividing the Word to instruct others not be under the subjection of false teachers. When you know your Bible clearly, and study it regularly, Satan can’t deceive you with the twisting of truth and lead you astray. It’s incredibly shameful for people to be sitting in churches across America, and be illiterate of their Bibles, unless their new converts, and will naturally need to be discipled. The church’s biggest weakness is in trying to win the people over they turn to man – made devices of “feel good” messages, and entertainment instead of the whole counsel of God’s Word. While heaven is so important to the believers understanding of their future destination, so is the teaching about hell, and being eternally separated from God because of unbelief in His Son, Jesus Christ, and His offer of redemption.

Beloved friend, Where are you in all this? Are you a student of the Word? Do you look up the Scripture references for yourself when you read this blog? I hope so. Don’t take my word as the authority, we have a accountability to one another, to ward off false teachers, and red flag false doctrine when we hear it. But you won’t be useful unless you study your Bible! Let God help you with His Holy Spirit, to illuminate His Word in your heart. Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee (Psalm 119:11).

May the Lord bless your walk today!

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength. (Isaiah 26:3-4)

A fixed disposition of trust in the Lord brings peace that the wicked can never know “There is no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.”  ( Isaiah 57:21). Such reliance does not include Christians who are double-minded, in the NT James writes: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally and with out reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-8). Jesus gives us another example of double-mindedness “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and dispise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). Mammon stands for earthly materials and treasures, especially money.

So you see God has something for the believer whose heart is completely His. It has nothing to do with circumstances, because perfect peace stands out in the midst of chaos. You will have a profound witness in your walk when people around you see what you value most, a personal relationship in Jesus Christ, that’s based on trusting completely in Him for all your needs. Everlasting strength– Litterally is the expression of God as “Rock of Ages,” a rocky cliff where the trusting one may find shelter from their enemies attacks.

Dear friend, does this describe you? Is Jesus your Rock? your Refuge and Strength? You too can be blessed by Him with a mind of peace.

May the Lord bless your walk!

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. (Hebrews 12:11-13)

Many Christians are quick to avoid painful trials in this life today. Focusing only on that which is not making them feel very secure, or feel that this suffering trial is undeserved, and therefore plead with God to remove it quickly. The Christian life after all should make us all more happier, right? We want all the perks of a child of God, but not parts that make us feel uncomfortable, or take us away from what is familiar. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” (v.6) When experiencing trials in this life, the believer must not allow the circumstances to get the best of them, but must persevere. God is stretching us for good reason, He knows what is needed in this time of our life, and is conforming us, with loving nail pierced hands into the image of Christ. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:16-17) Proof of the believer’s sonship and ultimate glory, is that he suffers for his faith, be it in the form of ridicule, or physical persecution because of his Lord.

Dear Friend, If God is begun in you a great and mighty work, He will use all such suffering to His glory, and if He is behind your chastening, then He is using it to conform you even more into the image of Christ. The unique care is that our Father knows what is needed for a strong in faith spirit filled life.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)

God reveals through Paul the tricotomy of man. The three parts of man’s being: body, soul, consciousness and spirit. The spirit is dead (by the decision of Adam in the Garden) until we receive the Lordship of Jesus Christ and then we are made alive. Once dead in trespasses and sin, but now alive unto God through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Now humanism, and psychology today teach the dichotomy of man as the soul and spirit of man are synonymous. But it is only those who are born-again by the Spirit of God and experience the Spirit – filled life are true trichotomists because our spirit has come alive again. The Bible says that, The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit, neither can they know them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).  It’s only when you’re alive in the Spirit of God that you can know the spiritual things about God. Those who approach God and His Word from a natural wisdom and understanding come away confused when they get to the things of the Spirit, and rebirth (John 3:3-8).

That your whole man, all three of you, be preserved blameless, that is, escaping the judgment to come at the returning of, or the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the initiator, the One who calls you, and He is faithful.

Beloved friend, Be of good cheer, having confidence that having begun a good work in you, He will continue to perform it.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. (Psalm 96:7-9)

Genuine praise always includes holiness. This from a redeemed people who once was not able to worship God in the splender of holiness. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who has enabled us to come into that place of worship in spirit and truth as God demands us to. Jesus makes this clear to us in John chapter 4, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” (John 4:23)  The glory of the Lord is more than just His majestic splendor. It includes all of the reasons for admiring and praising Him, such as His acts of creation (Psalm 19:2) and His greatest creation mankind (Psalm 8: 3-5). To worship the Lord for us today, is to create the atmosphere of love and devotion to the only One True God who is worthy of all praise and glory and honor! This love of giving of ourselves Paul describes in the NT: Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet – smelling aroma. (Ephesians 5:1) The Christian life is designed to reproduce godliness as modeled by the Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose image believers have been recreated through the new birth. The beauty that God’s people in worship settings create is a foretaste of what heaven will be like in all of its splendor and glory in His presence.

Dear friends, when we live with an attitude of worship and praise, we reflect the beauty of the Lord in our lives that brings to Him the praises of His people in accordance to His will.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

The Greek word “peace” here refers to both the call of God to salvation and the consequent peace with Him, and the attitude of rest or security believers have because of that eternal peace. God’s Word to us should have a most profound reason of assurance than any other book of literature we read. The call of salvation is encased in the humbled act of obedience and love Christ demonstrated to His Father, in dying on a cross to purchase our salvation once and for all (Hebrews 9:28). We have nothing to do with this except to accept God’s offer of forgiveness by faith and believe in Him (Christ the Lord) as our Savior and Messiah. What peace we forfeit in simply not believing that God’s grace is so sufficient to meet all of my needs now, today, as His child. We have such the benefit of knowing the end of all of this earthly life, because God has detailed it for us in His written Word the Bible. For all of eternity we will be with the One, who loved us and gave Himself for us, so that we may escape the coming judgment to this world. We rely upon to0 much of our feelings and of our own wisdom to make us feel secure in life, putting the assurance on what I have to do to make it happen. The Scripture should permeate every aspect of the believer’s life and control every thought, word, and deed. We have examples from Israel’s history to be warned of how longsuffering God is with us.

They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel, But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leaness to their soul (Psalm 106 :13-15). The Jews forgot what God had most recently done on their behalf, and focused only on the enslaved life of Egypt’s provision, and doubted that they would have water or food in their journey out of bondage and into their future’s freedom.

Dear friend, Let us be the most thankful people for what Jesus Christ has done for us at Calvary’s cross. We are to witness to the world around us of His great love and His grace and goodness so that others may too accept His offer of salvation.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first (foremost) commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-30)

The quote Jesus used is from Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the Shema, (Hebrew for “hear” Deut. 6:4)  The Jewish rabbis had determined that there were 613 commandments contained in the Pentateuch, one for each letter of the Ten Commandments. Heart…soul…mind…strength – The use of the various terms is not meant to delineate distinct human faculities, but to underscore the completeness of the kind of love that is called for. To say “I love God” when understood to be the greatest love of all, Is to say, “I love God with my whole being, my heart, my passions, my ambitions, with everything that is about me that it will show the love of God.” Love your neighbor as yourself – This is a quotation from Leviticus 19:18. Again, part of the the commands from the first five Books (Pentateuch) it is not a mandate for self-love. Rather, it contains in different words the very same idea as the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). It prompts believers to measure their love for others by what they wish for themselves.  Jesus took the Pharisees’ question one step further by identifying the second greatest commandment because it was critical to an understanding of the complete duty of love.

Dear Christian friend, We have people in our lives every day who need to be not only loved this way, but see the courage it takes to live out our love for God, in a very practical way demonstrating the greatest commandment of God, and follow your steps of the second commandment, of loving others as yourself.

May the Lord bless your walk today!

But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:14)

Christians at Pergamum had remained strong in the face of powerful external threats. Jesus commended them for remaining true to Him and not renouncing their faith even when a faithful witness named Antipas was executed in their city, “where Satan has his throne” (Rev. 2:13). Their greatest threat was not external, however. It was a subtle system of thought within their own fellowship which Jesus identified as “the teaching of Balaam” (v.14). Most people remember Balaam as the frustrated Old Testament character who was reprimanded by his donkey (Numbers 22:21-35). But the story of Balaam goes on to chronicle an insidious deception that threatened to destroy God’s people even as they were poised to enter the Promised Land. Among the strong Christians at Pergamum were some who had embraced a doctrine that legitimized sexual behavior that had been previously prohibited. Under the guise of freedom, they were being enslaved. The doctrine of grace was given a twist that turned liberty into license. A people who had been strong in the face of persecution were unthinkingly caving in to the temptations of their culture. Resilient to external threats, they became careless with their own character.

Beloved friend, We can’t be lax in regards to Christian charcter. To say that we live in a culture that is saturated with compromise with ethical values is an understatement. For a Christian today, to be Biblically moral about sexual behavior, is to be politically incorrect, and untolerable with the values this world embraces. The more of our celebrity endorsements to these unbiblical values, the more power these compromised virtues take on, even from the members of the church from which you attend. Let us remember one thing, The Bible is always going to dispell the confusion. This is the counsel from which we take to be our own true moral compass and direction in life. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8)

May the Lord bless your walk today!