Psalm 73 ministries

As an Uber driver, I have many opportunities to meet people and sometimes, hear their stories. Today I had a gentleman who stroke out a conversation about many things with me. One of them was about work. We talked about how sometimes this generation lacks work ethics and a desire to work hard to get the things they want. He told me that when he was a boy, his dad used to take him to an airport to hang around with his work buddies. He was only fourteen and started doing some things to help around the planes and helicopters. After a while, the workers told his dad: "Hey, you got a good boy there, what about you bring him every weekend for him to fill the planes and the helicopters with gas and do some other things around the airport and we'll teach him how to fly? Well he did. His love about flying grew and now, as a middle age man, he's a professional helicopter pilot. What a story of hard work! But it doesn't end there. He started getting comfortable and started talkin...

 I would like to take a break from our series on spiritual warfare and talk to you about "listening to the voice of God". It's kind of interesting that God led me to this subject since Paul ends that section on the armor of God talking about prayer. "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). Isn't that neat? I believe the whole armor of God is encapsuled between these two bookends, truth (v.14-the belt of truth) and prayer (v.18). And isn't prayer one of the ways you listen to God's voice? Indeed, it is. How do you discern that you're listening to the voice of God or somebody else's? Remember our heart is deceitful and perverse (Jeremiah 17:9) and we listen to it plenty of times. Don't we? We also listen to the lies of Satan when we submerge ourselves into this world and not God's Word and therefore caus...

  After carefully considering the belt of truth, the first element of the armor, we come to the second one, the breastplate of righteousness. "Stand  therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness" (Ephesians 6:14) The word rendered here is the Greek word for coat of mail. According to Barnes commentary, it is the type of armor that covered the body from the neck to the thighs, and consisted of two parts, one covering the front and the other the back. In other words, it protected the vital parts including the heart and the bowels. It was made of rings, or in the form of scales, or of plates. They were fastened together in such a way, that they would be flexible, but at the same time, they would  guard the body from a sword, spear, or arrow. It is referred to in the Scriptures as a "coat of mail" in 1 Samuel 17:5 and  Nehemiah 4:15.  We are told that Goliath's coat of mail weighed five thousand shekels of brass...

 Now that we've been able to understand our enemies in our spiritual battles and how vicious they can be, we're ready to immerse ourselves into the armor of God and its different elements. We will be able to understand what God has provided in order to defense ourselves against the devil and his minions. Paul is picturing a Roman soldier and his armor and giving each one of its elements a spiritual context. First, let's see how adamant Paul is about us utilizing the armor of God. In reality, he's commanding us to do so. In Ephesians 6:11, he says: "Put on the whole Armor of God". The original Greek says: "clothe yourself with the armor, sink yourself into it". In verse 13, Paul says: " take up the Armor of God". In the Greek, it literally means to use it. One thing is to clothe yourself with it and a totally different thing is to use it. Paul is commanding us not to just wear it but to use it for our own personal benefit. What is that benef...

 In the 1992 film " Under Siege", actor Tommy Lee Jones and his rock band, gets hired to perform in the USS Missouri battle ship heading to Pearl Harbor for decommissioning. In reality, Tommy Lee Jones is leading a band of terrorists with a mission to take over the ship and steal its nuclear arsenal. What they don't know is that actor Steven Seagal, the ship head cheff, is a decorated navy seal who is willing to defend the ship and avoid the attack at all costs. In our lives, we are always under siege ( under attack). We are always in a spiritual battle with the devil and his minions. For illustration purposes, Tommy Lee Jones and his band of terrorists  represent the devil and his demons, and Steven Seagal and the ship staff represent Jesus and His angels. The apostle Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 6:12 (ESV): "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, again...