Being On Guard!

6/12/05

 

Are you an easy target?

1 Pet. 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

In other words.....”Your enemy wants to take you down!”

Some things that happen in our life are unexplainable and that’s God’s business. But what about the things that happen in our life because we allow it? Because we did not stand guard.

What Is The Immune System?

Our immune system guards us against germs such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi. A sophisticated interplay of many different kinds of immune cells act to quickly attack germs trying to enter the body. Those with a weakened immune system are naturally more prone to illness.

What happens if we become weak in standing guard against the very enemy of our soul?

The Bible makes it very clear that there are three areas in particular, that we are to guard...

We are to guard our mouth.

We are to guard our heart.

We are to guard our mind.

Guarding our mouth.

Ps. 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;

keep watch over the door of my lips.

Pr. 10:14 Wise men store up knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

¹⁴ (Living Bible) A wise man holds his tongue. Only a fool blurts out everything he knows; that only leads to sorrow and trouble.

Pr. 18:6 A fool’s lips bring him strife,

and his mouth invites a beating.

⁷ A fool’s mouth is his undoing,

and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸ The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;

they go down to a man’s inmost parts.

Guarding our heart--the seat of our desires.

Pr. 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart,

for it is the wellspring of life.

Whatever you desire the most, whatever you love the most--is your master!

We all have desires. The question is--what is our first and foremost and how do we know that’s true?

It’s easy to say “Oh the Lord is my number one desire.”

The proof is seen in our actions.

Do we compromise?

Do we love God’s Word enough to make it something we love to read and study?

Do we practice the Presence of Jesus in our life each day?

Do we involve the Lord in everything we do?

Do we trust the Lord Jesus for each and every part of our life?

Do we find excuses for not following through with things God has put on our heart?

Jesus never said “If you love me you won’t love anyone else.”

Mat. 10:37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

The amount of our devotion to Jesus is not measured by how much we hate life!

Guarding our mind--walking in truth.

Pr. 2:11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Pr. 7:2 Keep my commands and you will live;

guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.

³ Bind them on your fingers;

write them on the tablet of your heart.

Pr. 4:13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;

guard it well, for it is your life.

Pr. 4:20 My son, pay attention to what I say;

listen closely to my words.

^{21 Do not let them out of your sight,}

keep them within your heart;

^{22 for they are life to those who find them}

and health to a man’s whole body.

2 Pet. 3:14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

Mat. 16:5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶“Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ²⁹I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. ³¹So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

Mk. 13:21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. ²²For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. ²³So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

²⁴“But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,

and the moon will not give its light;

²⁵ the stars will fall from the sky,

and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

²⁶“At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

²⁸“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. ²⁹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. ³⁰I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³²“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come.

1 Tim. 6:20 Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, ²¹which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith.

2 Tim. 1:13 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.