"We Are At War"
Let us give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, for buying our freedom. Jesus paid the highest price � His life! His life was full of rejection, ridicule, persecution, suffering, shame, hunger and thirst. Jesus endured all those and more to break the bondage of satan. Jesus set the example for each person to live by and to walk by. He used the Word of God in every situation. He spoke love and He showed love and compassion to all those He encountered. Today, He still extends that love and compassion to all. Regardless of a person�s social standing, their past or present, color doesn�t matter, good or bad � He still loves them (us) all. Time and time again God has used people for His work, who �good� people have turned their back to and rejected. If you don�t believe me I encourage you to study God�s Word. I especially challenge you to study the 12 disciples and Paul. The foolish things to confound the wise� Now is the month we celebrate Christmas, a time of family and love. A time of togetherness. A time of eating until we can�t eat anymore and giving unwanted gifts we can�t afford. Many people are alone, some cold and hungry. Some in prison or sleeping on the street. Many families will sit down with empty chairs of loved ones who have gone on. The seats of many soldiers will also be empty at the family table. A war is going on this Christmas. A war with our troops fighting against people driven by satan to worship false gods. But there is a larger, greater war going on! Bullets, mortars, bombs and tanks can kill the body, but there is one who desires our souls. (Matthew 10:28) As you read our message during this time of busyness and festivity, people are going to hell. A spiritual war is going on and every true child of God has been called to duty! In Matthew 10, Jesus gave power to fight and told us what to expect, because �We Are At War!�
The Word of God in Matthew 10:1 states: �And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against (over) unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.� Oh can you hear and understand what happened there? Power was given to wage war on the devil and all that follow him. Power to break the chains of bondage that are being used to drag souls into hell. Power to show compassion to the vilest sinner! Power to heal the sick. Some may say, �Oh, that was for the disciples, for then.� Let me tell you, �DON�T BELIEVE THAT LIE!� That lie will take you to hell and possibly many that you love. YOU have power to know THE TRUTH! That Truth will set you free today, right now! You can march into battle unstoppable! That power was poured out on the day of Pentecost and it is still being poured out to all who can follow God�s instruction (Acts 2:38), and as many as will receive it. Look around. People are lonely and hungry. They belong to God but someone has to show them love and compassion. Anyone wearing the name of Christ must not take it lightly. DON�T bring reproach to His name. Apply yourself in the manner that Jesus did concerning the less fortunate. Fight a good fight. Go to the hospital, nursing homes, missions, streets, prisons, jails and homes where people are in need. Take the war to the enemy (satan) in the hi-ways and bi-ways! YOU are at war, and none of us can fight it sitting comfortably on a pew or in an easy chair warm and full. �We Are At War!�
Continually throughout Matthew 10, Jesus gave instruction. After giving power He said, �Go!� NOT go to church and sit down! It�s time for eyes and ears to open. The pastor, the evangelist, the teacher can�t do it alone! They can�t do it all from their own pocket. The body of Christ has many members, and if one part fails to operate, it makes things hard or almost impossible for the rest. Yes, each of us has responsibilities! We are all called to GO and FIGHT. When a man in this country refuses to go to war he is called a coward. If he tries to sit home when everyone else goes to fight, he�s called a disgrace, a draft-dodger. Oh my, my! There are some draft-dodgers in this spiritual war today. It is a disgrace and brings reproach to CHRIST! Too many pastors have to carry the load alone, dipping into their own meager funds fighting to keep church doors open. People have come into the church and sat down. It�s warm in the winter, cool in the summer. It�s comfortable � people can socialize and stay out of the war while convincing themselves they are �serving God�� HA! They say, �It�s safe there on a pew � I�ll just sit and mouth a few words of prayer or song.� See, it takes faith to step out into the war. Jesus ran into some of those �sitting back� people in Matthew 9 when He came to the ruler�s house. The ruler�s daughter seemed to be dead. The faithless crowded all around taking up space having a pity party. In 9:24, Jesus told them �give place�. Let me tell you what He really said, �Get out of the way.� Then He worked a miracle. Now we must ask ourselves a question: �Are we a reliable working part of the body, or are we merely in the way?� �We Are At War!�
If you�re truly using the power that Jesus made available, then you are keeping your responsibilities. That means you are constantly preparing for battle. To fight the fight we must unceasingly seek the Kingdom of God and all it has. We must hunger and thirst after righteousness. We must hunger for God�s presence and constantly fight for the faith. We must maintain a strong will to resist satan, by clinging to God�s Word and rejecting �religion�! The men and women who are soldiers in God�s armies are Christians (Christ-like, having the nature of God). They are not �religious�. Religious people serve under any god � they are self-serving � worshippers of the created, not the Creator! They are draft-dodgers and they are many. The boundaries of hell have been enlarged for a reason: people are staying out of the war and offering �religion� instead of Christ. Not having time or sitting on your financial support during God�s spiritual war has a price. The price is SOULS. If you are guilty, don�t wait too long. YOU may pay, with your soul. I may seem hard, but I had sat down to write a completely different message and the Holy Spirit gave me this one! I love you all, and there�s no time to play. Friends, I refuse to let even one go tumbling into hell without fighting for that soul! And it doesn�t matter whose soul it is. �WE ARE AT WAR!�
I encourage each of you to read all of Matthew 10. Jesus wanted us to know what we were getting into when we stepped into war, taking up our cross. You think people love you and will never turn against you? Take up your cross and truly stand for Jesus, and the crowd of friends and family thins! When you take up that cross and GO, satan takes the gloves off. Sitting a pew, mumbling a head prayer and worshipping with the mouth instead of from the heart, dropping a $5 into the offering plate when it should have been $50 � that�s no threat to satan or his dominion. Start to pray, start to seek! Start speaking God�s Word boldly to whosoever. Start standing for the truth of God and trouble will come, because you just became an enemy of satan. Sit still and be quiet and you�re satan�s friend� Again in Matthew 10 Jesus warned of this, but He tells us that we WILL be taken care of � that we are important! Look through God�s Word and I challenge you to show me one place where God left His obedient children to fend for themselves. I went to war several years ago. Then God put Kim beside me. We became even stronger and more of a threat against the gates of hell. Oh, but time after time and time again we�ve seen our God move for us. People, even loved ones have looked at us and thought us crazy. Some have even disowned us � both blood family and family of God too! It�s not �normal� to depend on God or to step out of your comfort zone. People don�t like those who are different, those who are not �normal� by the world�s standard. We appreciate our few faithful who support the ministry financially � they give out of their necessity � but most of the funds needed come out of our pocket. Kim has been tossed from job to job, nothing ever seeming to be permanent or paying what she�s worth. Yet still she pays her tithes and gives offerings. Paid the slack in the ministry expenses and gave many hours of labor. November and December have been hard � Kim was laid off from her state job the day before Thanksgiving. It goes on but God is still faithful. We have had to pray and fight discouragement ourselves. We stand on and believe God�s Word! We are often reminded of Galatians 6:9. We refuse to quit or to give up, but fully turn the support of this ministry over to God. January�s newsletter is in the balances. I love each of you. My Brothers and Sisters in prison, I am not abandoning you. If we cannot send out newsletters, our ministry will continue writing one on one, so write to us. I will return a handwritten message given by the Holy Ghost. I�ve been blessed to have so many men and women open up to me concerning what happened with them in their lives. I am always available and have not forgotten how to pray. As I close this I ask for your prayers for this ministry and our family. I ask that you seek God concerning where YOU need to be in this war � follow Him. I encourage you to find true men and women of God and stand beside them, and even behind them when they need you. Know the Word in your heart and the Holy Spirit will lead you, giving you discernment. You are every one precious and important to us, and to God. Having said all of that in this time of war, Hi-Ways & Bi-Ways Ministries and House Upon A Rock Tabernacle with all of our families, wish you a merry CHRISTmas, and a blessed 2004, filled with the power and presence of the Lord!
In Christ's Love, Bro. Don George
Special Prayer Request:
Pray for all the servicemen and women and their
families.
