Call of Duty: Be on guard!

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. I Corinthians 16:13

This is our call of duty! To be on guard, to stand firm in the faith, to be men(women) of courage and to be strong! Let us look at each one up close.

What does it mean to be on guard? Why is it important?
It means to be alert or vigilant against the devil; and also it means to be ready for the imminent return of our Lord.

The Bible says in I Peter 5:8, Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

If we slack even a little he will devour us alive. No, don't be afraid of his prowling. Scripture teaches us to, Resist the devil, and he will flee from us. James 4:7.

Apostle Paul instructs us in Ephesians 4:27, "...do not give the devil a foothold." A foothold is all the devil is looking for, to get in and settle down squarely in our hearts, instantly ridding off our joy and taking reign over our thoughts and actions.

A little temptation, a little stumble, a little pride, little self pity is all it takes to derail us from our Spiritual journey. Therefore it is extremely important to watch out for his cunning schemes.

Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." You can read more about the Full Armor of God by clicking here, which we will also discuss at large one of the days.

Finally it is also important to be on our guard or keep watch, because we do not know on what day our Lord will come. Matthew 24:42

More on our Call of Duty tomorrow... Stay blessed!

Many are invited, but few are chosen

Many are invited, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14

No one can deny the fact that they have been invited for the wedding banquet of the Lamb. Message of salvation is spreading so fast that tons of invitations are sent out each day. The catch is, the exact date and time is not mentioned on the invitation. What does that mean? It only means that it could be anytime and the invited are expected to be available in a twinkling of an eye.

Ah! That's the problem. Many of us have accepted the invitation momentarily. But are we ready for the wedding? Have we washed our selves? Do we have our clothes ready? Have we picked the shoes? Do we follow the directions to the wedding hall? No, no let's not panic... We are given specific instructions as to how to be ready. As long as we follow that we are good.

Let's review the instructions real quick that Apostle Paul shares in Ephesians 6:11-18: I will break it down for easier list:

* Put on the full armor of God
* Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist
* With the breastplate of righteousness in place
* And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
* In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
* Take the helmet of salvation
* And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
* And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
* With this in mind, be alert
* And always keep on praying for all the saints.

With all these checked out, we are all set for the wedding!