Articles
Will Messiah and His Angels be a Shield to You?
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
February 2015
Written for Wisconsin Christian Newspaper
Powerful Picture! I see a man who is apparently expressing and receiving affection with one woman, yet also looking past her to another woman with whom he has linked hands, behind the back of the first. It is a masterfully simple picture of subtle deceit and duplicity in relationships. Though of course, we can’t really do anything “behind the back” or out of the awareness of our Elohim, it may also represent a spiritual idolatry.
Many believers content themselves with their usual expressions of faith: regular church attendance, efforts to be a good person, and to do the right thing. They are content to hear the Word as understood through someone else’s eyes and do not hunger and thirst for their own knowledge of Him. On the surface, they appear to be model believers. If this man in the picture represents them, then the woman right next to him is the outward appearance of his faith expression.
However, the second action of surreptitiously interacting affectionately with another woman at the same time would represent how much other interests or pursuits haven taken away the full measure of devotion from the first: material gain, pornography, sporting events, hobbies or past times, etc. He has said that He is a jealous God; desiring us to desire Him alone! This is a form of idolatry that our Father warns us repeatedly to avoid! It is not just among the rank and file of members but also among those who lead.
We live in dangerous times with stability intentionally threatened all over the world: wars and rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, famine, diseases. Men and women who defy our God are rising up to create a name for themselves, to establish their supremacy and control over all. If you will, a modern day Babel, and attempts to solidify worldwide power into the hands of a few. These efforts were primarily geographical and political in past decades, but have been ramping up in the recent past to now include “the church” as well. This is just as the Word tells us it would be prior to Messiah’s return.
Grievously, many church leaders today have become part of that whole system through various inroads of government programs and contracts. Perhaps, like the man above, they do not realize how much these ventures detract from loving our Father and our Messiah with our whole heart, mind and strength. Even if they do see, they may not see it as a problem. The “go along to get along gang” is alive and well, I’m afraid.
When events in the world are so far beyond our reach to personally overcome, the remnant, those who seriously cling to Messiah, want and need to know that they are indeed able to claim the promises of His covering! I remain concerned that:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Matthew 7: 21 NKJV
Many believers today who are aware of the dangers developing just under the surface and on the horizon, are frightened. They look for assurance but do not find it. This is one area that my coaching and mentoring often addresses, even if they originally came with other needs. This need surfaces in great anxiety! And many are not aware of the reciprocal nature of His covenants.
There are parameters given in the Word --the Law, His Righteous Teachings-- over and over again, to help us find assurance of our place under His covering. They do involve our conscious and intentional agreement to honor Him and His ways first. When we demonstrate our faith through our actions and our walk, HE is honored and free to provide His shield to us! Otherwise, we are just honoring with our lips while our hearts are far from Him, not really set apart for His purposes. (Is. 29:13, Matthew 15:8)
What /who might you be holding hands with?
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
...When wisdom enters your heart,
And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things, From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness
All of Proverbs 2 for context NKJV
Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.
Proverbs 29:18 NKJV
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men;
judge for yourselves what I say.
All of 1 Corinthians 10 for context
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