JOSIAH-MINISTRIES

 Therefore God Is Not Ashamed To Be Called Their God

                                         Finish the Fight    part 3          Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I Timothy 6:12

            Paul, in his letters to Timothy, encouraged Timothy to continue the good fight of faith. Letting up or being complacent was never an option. In 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul sees himself at the other end of this battle “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  As I read about Paul, I see a servant who never let himself become complacent. After his conversion, Paul pressed on until he reached the end of his life.

            I want to talk about how this should be evident in our own life. When we get saved, or baptized with water or the Holy Spirit or healed or delivered it is a starting point not the climax of our walk. In this Study I am going to relate this to being healed. Please keep in mind that this study should be applied to all of our walk and service to the Lord.

            In I Samuel 13 and 14, we see Saul and his army hiding from a great number of Philistines. His son Jonathan and his armor bearer go up against a garrison (about 20 soldiers) and kill them all. As the commotion is happening the Philistines started trembling. Then the earth started trembling until it became a great earthquake and the Philistines began killing one another. When Saul’s men figured out it was Jonathan who started the commotion they looked upon the battle field and saw the Philistines killing each other. They joined the battle and pursued their enemy and destroyed their foes.

      As we have prayed for people and witnessed the Lord heal or deliver them, I compare that to when Jonathon and his armor bearer defeated the garrison. As the Lord continued to move and Saul’s army looked on, I see that as those who see this miracle in their own lives, but not complete. They may feel better, but there is still a little pain or discomfort left. Israel was not willing to just let the army retreat and regroup to fight another day. They pursued and struck down their foes. Making it unlikely that this enemy could attack them again, or at least in the near future. Receiving healing or deliverance is an awesome experience, but we can not stop there. Jesus did not heal people so that they could return to their sinful lives. Jesus told Legion to return to his city and tell everyone what the Lord had done. (Mark 5:19&20)  In John he told the man to stop sinning or something worse would come upon him. ( John 5:14 ). When I asked Jesus into my heart he healed my marriage and delivered me from alcoholism. He did not stop there. In the years that followed he delivered from smoking and many other hindrances. Some of those old habits did not leave without a fight, but they had to go. In there place God placed his Holy Spirit in me so they could not return.    Jesus said in Luke 11:24-26 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ^25 And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. ^26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”  The first two times I quit drinking, I thought it would be ok to have a beer or two. I was wrong it did not take long before alcohol had control once more. The Lord made it clear that it was not ok for me to drink at all. I asked him to take this away from me and he removed all desire to ever drink again. He swept the house clean and filled it with his Holy Spirit. Praise God! I have not had a drink in almost 29 years[i].

In Matthew 25:1-13, I believe that the 5 five foolish virgins could be an example of the luke warm believers who choose not to grow and truly follow Jesus. Salvation is not just fire insurance. It is making a life long commitment to the Lord. It is pursuing him. It is trusting him to meet all your needs and so much more. If we say the sinners prayer and return to our worldly ways, when the door is closed we could find ourselves in the place of the foolish virgins. For myself, being delivered from alcoholism was just a first step. As I allowed the Holy Spirit to lead me, the things that were not of God were removed or just fell away. Sometime it was a battle and other times it was easy. I’ve found that I have the choice to submit to the Lord or resist the Lord. Many times it is a battle that we need our brothers and sisters to help. Healing and deliverance is for all believers, our part is to allow God to do it. I have read that it should have only taken 11 days to travel from Egypt to Canaan(the Promised Land). Because of Israel’s’ actions, it took 40 years. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, a whole generation died in the wilderness.  How different it should have been had they trusted God and not acted in fear, sin and unbelief.

The Bible does not allow part time believers or saints. It calls for a life fully given to Jesus. In Revelation 3:1-22, John speaks of the believers being “luke warm” I see them as those who choose not to grow and pursue the things of God. They view Christianity as nothing more than a way to get rich or to look good before man or some other worldly desire. True conversion will bring about a changed life if we will let the Holy Spirit do his work. I worked with Gary Ridgeway (the Green River killer) for many years. A couple years before he was arrested, I tried to talk to him about what the Lord was doing in my life. He was attending a large prosperity driven church at the time and all he wanted to talk about was how God wanted his business to succeed. There was no evidence of true salvation in him that I could see. I met him in 1977 and during the time I knew him, he always considered himself a Christian. How different his life would have looked if he had been delivered from the evil spirits that drove him and truly was a Christian.

One of the hardest parts of being in a healing ministry is, seeing people greatly healed or delivered and choose not to pursue the enemy and destroy him. There is an enemy and he wants to destroy not only God’s people but all people. If we receive healing and choose not to walk with the Lord, we probably won’t recognize this enemy when he tries to return.

            See Luke 11:24-26. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ^25 And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. ^26 Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

            A few years ago we witnessed an awesome healing. After the healing the person was filled with Holy Spirit and water baptized. This believer never grew a whole lot. There were areas in her life that were never fully given to the Lord. As a result, there have been many unnecessary physical battles that had almost taken her life. When left unchecked, this enemy will seek to destroy us. When we choose to grow, we can learn the authority we have in Jesus’ name to defeat this enemy, in our own lives and in the live of those we are called to minister to. In the name of Jesus, we can be set free completely from our past. But if we don’t seek it, chances are we won’t find it.

  After his conversion Paul lived his life fully for the Lord. He compared it to race and was in it to win. He encouraged Timothy to live in the same way. If we really believe the Bible we should that there is a day when “the door will be closed” (Matthew 25:10). I want to hear the Lord say to me “well done good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23). My goal is to serve the Lord to my last dieing breath. There will be a time of complete rest, but it’s not on this side of eternity. This message took two Sundays to deliver and I still could have gone additional weeks. Read the book of Acts and see the tenacity of the early church and ask God for the same for yourself. 

In II Samuel 11, David sent his army off to war while he remained in Jerusalem. In the past David led the army, but this time he remained at home. It was during that time when he was at ease, that he fell to temptation with Bathsheba. What happened as a result was one of David’s worst sins. If David had gone out with his army as he had in the past, none of this would have happened. While David was at  ease in the safety of Jerusalem, I believe complacency and boredom took over. In my own life I have found that when I am at ease I am at risk to fall into temptation. I don’t see where the Apostles were ever at ease. We are fighting an enemy who never rests.                                                                                                         I Peter 5:8 says;  Be of sober spirit,  be on the alert. Your adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring  lion, seeking someone to devour.

             There are times of peace and rest when we are refreshed by the Holy Spirit, but in those times we must guard against boredom and complacency taking hold. We are charged with bringing Christ to a dying world. Our reward and rest will come when we stand before Jesus and he says” Well done good and faithful servant, enter into your rest.” Halleluiah! May God give us the strength to finish the race until the end.

            May God bless and keep you and give you the strength to finish the fight.

            Yours in christ, Marty Griffeth 

 

            

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