Go, Stand, and Speak
Dearly beloved of God, “God did not give us the spirit of cowardice but of power and of love and of sober thinking.”
God our Father has given us the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.
“He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the time of the ages.”
“Those things were manifested in the present time by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who makes death inactive and brings life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Read II Timothy 1.
If we are to manifest sound thinking, sober thinking, we must believe the Word of God concerning Jesus Christ’s accomplishments. The right way of believing comes by hearing, by hearing the Word of God concerning Christ.
God our Father does not want us to be conformed to this evil age, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may prove what is the good and well-pleasing and mature will of God.
God our Father does not want us to remain carnal thinkers, we are to think sound thoughts, and be transformed by the truth of the gospel so that we prove the will of God in practice. We walk by believing what God says.
Dearly beloved, although we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, they are not carnal, but powerful by God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and leading captive every kind of thinking in obedience of Christ.
Don’t be shaped by worldly thinking, dearly beloved; don’t set your affection on the things of this world; set your affection on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. This is sound thinking; all else is carnal thinking, and it is insane.
If you listen to “the news” it is easy to see the wisdom of the world and just how insane the thinking of this evil age is. This wisdom does not descend from above; it is earthly, natural, and devilish. It leads to confusion and every evil deed.
How did they stand against evil in the First Century Church? They witnessed the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ and his accomplishments. They spoke the gospel of the grace of God, and followed Jesus Christ’s example of delivering people from the oppression of the devil; teaching and ministering to those in need as God worked in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Beloved, none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For this reason, Christ died and lived again that he might be lord over both the dead and the living. He died for all so that they who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised from the dead.
"Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his ability.
Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you are able to stand against the strategies of the devil, because our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, against authorities, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against spirits of wickedness in the heavenly realm.
Wherefore take up the full armor of God so that you are able to resist those things in the day of the wicked, and when you have accomplished everything, to stand. Stand therefore with your loins girded in truth, and clothed with the breastplate of the justness of God, and your feet bound with the readiness of the gospel of peace.
With all these things, take up the shield of the [right way of] believing, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the wicked one.
Take also the head covering of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with every prayer and prayer request in the spirit and watching in this very thing with all perseverance and in prayer request concerning all the holy ones.” Read Ephesians 6:10-18.
Dearly beloved of God, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, and of power, and of a sound mind. Use your mind, your mouth, and your stand to bring glory to God. Go, stand, and speak the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ. It is the gospel of the grace of God.