In 2.Cor 10:4-5, we read, “4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
If there is one thing we know for sure, being a Christian is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. We Christians are faced with the same sufferings of life as a heathen. Christians get sick, Christians have cancer, Christians slip up and cause havoc in their lives and their families lives because of their sins. So why then should anyone want to become a Christian?
If being a Christian is all about your fire insurance to keep you out of hell when you die, it makes Yehovah (God) out to be a distant, aloof God who is not interested in our lives here on earth. This is how we Christians present Yehovah to the world; we make Him out to be this distant, cold-hearted older man in the sky who does not care one bit of what is happening to us here on earth as long as we dont end up in hell when we die.
The Bible, on the other hand, gives us a different impression of Yehovah. In Matthew 6:25-34, Psalm 23, 91, Deut 28:1-14, the Bible says Yehovahs greatest desire is to show us how much He loves us here and now. Yehovah wants to help you; He wants to guide you, protect you, heal you, and show you how much He cares for you under one condition: You have to show Him that you love Him and want Him to be your God. He will never force Himself upon anyone, so you get to choose who you want to serve. You can choose not to serve Yehovah and decide to have someone else as your god. The consequences will, of course, be hell when you die because it will make you guilty of adultery and idol worship. Or you can choose Yehovah as your God and know for sure He loves you efficiently and tangibly.
How do you show Yehovah that you love Him?
The Bible says it by Torah obedience, not by your faith in the cross and what His Son did for you. Matthew 6:25-34, Deut 28:1-14, Psalm 23, 91, John 14 all agree; we love Yehovah by obeying His Torah. If we follow His Torah, we have chosen Yehovah to be our God, and we will know for sure He loves us efficiently and tangibly.
Why would anyone want to become a Christian? According to Paul, Yeshua, and Yehovah, because of the Torah. The Torah is our guarantee for Yehovah’s help and salvation in our trials and hardships of life. It guarantees He will be our God in this life, and when we die, we will live with Him in the New Jerusalem (heaven).
Perhaps you are wondering what the Torah is? Torah is a Hebrew word meaning instructions. You will find The Torah (Yehovah’s instructions for life) in the first five books of the Bible. We Christians usually refer to the Torah as the law of Moses.
The law of Moses, and our adherence to it, guarantees us Yehovahs help and salvation when we obey it. (Matt 6:25-34, Deut 28:1-14, John 14). Our obedience to the law of Moses does not guarantee a problem-free life. As Christians who obey Moses, we face the same challenges and circumstances as any other human being on planet earth. But because we obey, we know we have an advantage and a hope a heathen does not have; our advantage is our God Yehovah. Yehovah, our God, will fight for us, deliver us, save us, heal us, provide for us when we obey, but He does not promise when it will happen or how it will happen. The only thing He guarantees is that it will happen at the right time in the best way possible, as long as we obey. So how do we handle having to wait for our salvation from whatever it might be facing us right now? In the book of Exodus and Deuteronomy, the Bible says if we obey and continue to obey, Yehovah our God will do for us what He did for Israel in the desert, for Job, and Paul. Because they never stopped being obedient, Yehovah gave them the grace to wait and grace for their needs to be met while they waited for His salvation. So whatever salvation you are waiting on today, if you obey and keep on obeying, He will provide grace while you wait, and He will see to it that you will be saved in the end from whatever is facing you right now.
Is it easy to wait? No, not at all. The Bible even says so in Ephesians that while we are waiting, the devil will do his best to try to tempt us into doubting Yehovah. How does he try this? In our minds.
The devil knows that our victory lies in what our mind is focused on. As long as we have the law of Moses as the object of our faith and the fact that the cross reconciles us, the devil knows we have authority over him. (Rev 12, Rev 14). If he can tempt us to doubt Moses’ law, he knows he will have authority over us because we will no longer be righteous. To achieve his goal, he fills our minds and emotions with “what if” thoughts hoping we will accept one of them as the truth.
What are what-if thoughts?
They are what is happening in your life right now + a lie. They go something like this, “you know you have cancer, what if this cancer will kill you?” or “you know you can’t pay that bill, what if the bank foreclosures on your house?”.
How do we resist thoughts like these?
In 2.Cor 10:4-5, we read, “4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
The word Paul uses here for arguments means to reason, and for pretension means a barrier. Paul is saying here that we demolish every reasoning and barrier that sets itself up against the Torah (the law of Moses) of Yehovah. One such example of reason and a barrier would be “what if” thoughts. When the devil suggests that your circumstance will have the worst possible outcome and believe his lies, you have created a stronghold and a barrier in your mind. How do we demolish them? By taking them captive and make them obedient to Christ. How do we take a thought captive, and how do we make it obedient to Christ?
The Greek word Paul uses here for obedient is hypakon. Hypakon means to be submissive to a spoken order and teaching. So how do we make a thought submissive and obedient to a spoken order and teaching, and what teaching and what spoken order? Paul says, to the spoken orders and teachings of Christ.
Christ taught us to obey Moses, and we know the Bible says when we obey Moses, we can know for sure Yehovah will help us, save us and give us grace while we await His salvation. So when a “what if” thought hits you, you take it captive and make it submissive to Christ by choosing to reject it and not accept it as truth.
How?
If you have health issues, you take them captive and make them submissive by reminding yourself, “I am healed because I keep the law of Moses.” If you need money, you take it captive and make it submissive by reminding yourself, “I have enough money to pay this bill and provide for myself and my family because I keep the law of Moses”.
This is what Yeshua teaches us in the Gospels; we believe we have received on account of our obedience before we receive it. So when you think you are already healed, already provided for even though your circumstances and sight say otherwise, you believe you have received before you receive it on account of your obedience. Then and only then are you promised it will happen, and you will be healed, delivered, and provided for.
If there is one thing we know for sure, being a Christian is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. We Christians are faced with the same sufferings of life as a heathen. Christians get sick, Christians have cancer, Christians slip up and cause havoc in their lives and their families lives because of their sins. So why then should anyone want to become a Christian?
Because of the Torah, the Torah (the law of Moses) and our adherence to it is what separates us from the heathens. The Torah and our obedience to it are what guarantees Yehovahs help. The Torah and our obedience to it are what give us salvation here and now and in the afterlife. The Torah and our obedience to it is our only way to love Yehovah and His Son Yeshua and how they feel loved by us.
So choose today to take every thought captive to the Torah, and you to will see how much Yehovah your God loves you.
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