Quote from Forum Archives on August 25, 2005, 8:52 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

The transition to a new website has begun. It will take several months to
make this transition and during this time the old website will remain at the
current url www.theburningbush.org and the new website will be at the url
www.theburningbush.net. Both websites will remain active until the
transition is complete and new devotionals will be posted at the new and old
websites. All of the devotionals written during 2005 are available at the
new site. One of the new features is the ability to post your prayer
requests and praise reports automatically to the site.

The new website url is www.theburningbush.net

Join the Burning Bush Prayer Group! Send and receive prayer requests and be
a part of a great ministry. More than 400 wonderful people make up this
group. To join send an email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Please sign the GuestMap at The Burning Bush website. You can plant your
country's flag on the map and leave a message. You can find it on the front
page at www.theburningbush.org

recognize His ownership. There is an old saying, that

The Burning Bush Devotional

1,521 New Subscribers since November 2004

08.25.05

Fighting The Good Fight

(Originally sent 03.26.03)

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 arguments 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.

Matthew Green with Reuters writes, "The U.S. Marine's rifle was pointing
straight at my chest. 'I was just about to shoot you,' whispered the figure,
suddenly realizing I was a reporter, and not an Iraqi soldier, stumbling out
of the shadows of the moonlit desert. For both, it was a nerve-racking
moment." The war in Iraq has seen attacks by Iraqi forces dressed in
civilian clothing and even in American and British uniforms. Allied soldiers
have suffered casualties when those surrendering suddenly attack. Very
little trust remains of the possibility of the enemy observing the norms of
civilized warfare. The U. S. Marines have an operating maxim, which says,
"Be professional, be polite, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."

As Christians we too are in a war. In this spiritual war the enemy does not
fight according to our rules but every dirty, evil, lowdown trick is in the
enemies' constantly evolving war plan. However, we are not to use the
weapons of the physical world to prosecute this spiritual war. It is
tempting for us to have the same operating maxim as the U.S. Marines
especially when we have experienced personally some the tricks of the agents
of the enemy. The enemy will sometimes appear to be our friend, or even one
of us as the apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, "For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of
Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of
light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to
their works."

So how are we as children of God to respond to this insidious and totally
evil enemy? We must have the proper attitude and weapons. To prepare for our
continual, daily, and nightly warfare we must begin by putting on Christ. We
must be clothed with the attitude, and perspective of our Lord Jesus. We
should ".put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14a)." We are also to put
on the full armor of God as the Bible states with some detail, "Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians
6:11-12)."

The armor of God includes truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, the
shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God. As we move forward in battle we are to be in constant
prayer as Paul says, "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit (Ephesians 6:18a)." As we conduct the battle we are to remember to,
".walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in
lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy (Romans 13:13)." Because the love
of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit (Romans 5:5) we
must remember that, "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love
does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not
seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)." We are to crucify the
flesh and its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24) and allow the fruit of
the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - Galatians 5:22-23a) to show forth
in our lives through our speech and actions.

The war in which we are called upon to fight is most difficult and as a
final exhortation remember the words of the apostle Paul who says, "Do not
be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21)," and let
us, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you
were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of
many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:12)."

Copyright © 2003-2005. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. The Burning Bush
website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998 the email
version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Please pray for the following, the full prayer requests are at
www.theburningbush.net: Jim Orange, Sue, Joshua, Alta, Richard, Alicia,
Amanda, Joey, Madison D and add'l requests, Rita's family, Mona's family,
William, Marc, Morgan, Ashleigh, Jason's family, and Mark.

The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful resource. I would
like to encourage you to visit this great site at ww.crossmap.com. Crossmap
has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit
Crossmap's sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at
www.christianpost.com.

If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link to my free
links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free links is near the
bottom of the front page www.theburningbush.org.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may
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Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are posted at:
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There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the devotionals are
archived associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a complete
archive at the Burning Bush website and the address for the archive is
www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

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