Part 6 Finishing the Race Part 2

Part 6 Finishing the Race Part 2 Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Our Christian walk in this life is described as a race; there is a set course for each of us to run, this race cannot be viewed in terms of time or space, what is meant is something far more dynamic. This race is more like an obstacle course as well as a battle, the phrase prokeitai agon was the usual Greek expression for the race which was to be run and means “The battle lieth before”  This is an apt description of the Race we are to run. This race is beset with obstacles traps and fierce opposition and finishing the course requires great endurance. Demons surround us; powers of darkness block our way, but just finishing our course results in great rewards. The Battle lieth before We are heading into the greatest conflict of all time, to finish this race one must become a warrior. If we do not learn to fight we will not survive the race. To be a warrior in this end-time army of the Lord is a great privilege and a great honor. There is coming soon a time when all evil will be put down and Christ shall reign as king of Kings and the earth will be at rest and there will be war no more, however today we must fight, fight for truth and righteousness. Wining the battle on the inside The battle first is within us, and winning this battle is part of the race we must run. The subduing of the flesh and the ungodly motions of our soul is a battle that must be won. Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? These end-time warriors must win the battle with the flesh; this requires a death, a death to self, a laying down of our lives, the submitting of our will to God so that we live only for Him and seek only the Kingdom of God. In the days that lay ahead Satan will unleash his whole arsenal against the people of God in order to disqualify them from the race stopping them from finishing the course and accomplishing Gods pre-ordained plan and purpose for their lives. We will not survive what is coming unless we first win the battle on the inside, only then can we go forth in this end-time army and push back the darkness and replacing it with the Kingdom of God. 2 Corinthians 10:6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. The “Hold the Fort” mentality I remember as a child in church singing the hymn “Hold the fort for I am coming” however we are not called to just hold on until Jesus returns, we are called to take the Land. The encroaching darkness will overcome you as a Christian if you do not fight it. Many Christians are just holding on waiting for Jesus to return not realizing that before the Lord returns there is a great battle to be won, if we do not win the battle on the inside then begin to take back the ground that Satan has taken externally in the earth we will not survive. 2 Timothy 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The Spirit of Babylon Let’s not be naive in our understanding of what is going on in our day. As we see events unfolding around the world at such a terrifying pace with such brutality and absolute disregard for human life, we must see the spiritual dimension which is behind the continuous and increasing escalation of lawlessness in the earth. Behind the chaos, and confusion we are seeing in the world is the spirit of Antichrist, and the enemy has a strategy that involves the extermination of Israel and the Church. The battle which continues to rage in Iraq and Israel is picture in the natural as to what is happening in the spiritual, it is not a coincidence that the territory of Iraq is the same territory in which “Ancient Babylon” was located. Whatever your political and ethical view is on the War in Iraq, you need to be mature enough to see the prophetic implications as God uses this conflict to show us what is happening in the spiritual realm. We know spiritual Babylon will fall, but not without a great battle. Revelations 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Daniel 7:18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. There is a coming spiritual war the likes that have never been seen before. Some in this war will not be able to stand because they heave not won the battle on the inside not joined the battle externally against the enemy. Daniel 7:21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. Some of this teaching may alarm some Christians, the church has been in the “Hold the Fort” mentality for so long and has been lulled  and deceived into believing that all is well, Jesus is coming and we will all be caught away before it gets to rough. It is time to wake up we are in a mortal conflict and it gets worse before it gets better, we must fight or loose the battle. I read some where that a Christian leader was saying I’ve read the last chapter and we win, this is both naïve and misleading, there is a battle coming and the point is, not all will survive it. When the Chinese communist army overran china hundreds of thousands of Christians were slaughtered, some of those who escaped confronted their Christian leaders asking them why they did not warn them that this could happen to them. Whether we like it or not we are in a battle and we must fight to survive, there is coming a time of peace  when Jesus will reign  on earth during the Millennium, BUT THIS IS NOT THE TIME;  TODAY WE MUST FIGHT God Bless youNeville Johnson © June 2006