This past month has been one of change. Recently, I have been using "wine" for running MS Windows programs on my Ubuntu (which is a Linux operating system) computer and this week I installed a number of programs, one of them being Chessmaster (The Grandmaster Edition). I didn't count them, but there must be at least 50 different chess sets and one of them looks very similar to the above picture. And what is chess anyway, but WAR. And WAR is...
2 Corinthians, Chapter 10 (NASB)
2Co 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!
2Co 10:2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
2Co 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2Co 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2Co 10:6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
2Co 10:7 You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.
2Co 10:8 For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,
2Co 10:9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.
2Co 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible."
2Co 10:11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.
2Co 10:12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
2Co 10:13 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
2Co 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
2Co 10:15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you,
2Co 10:16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.
2Co 10:17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.
2Co 10:18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
2Co 10:2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
2Co 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2Co 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2Co 10:6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
2Co 10:7 You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we.
2Co 10:8 For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame,
2Co 10:9 for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters.
2Co 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible."
2Co 10:11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.
2Co 10:12 For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.
2Co 10:13 But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.
2Co 10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;
2Co 10:15 not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you,
2Co 10:16 so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another.
2Co 10:17 But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD.
2Co 10:18 For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.
I remember a sermon I heard in chapel from 1978. I don't recall the speaker, but the message was this: we are in a war that has two fronts; the saved and the unsaved. Our mission: Be fishers of men and keeping the saved saved. The key here is the word WAR. Although we may not use physical weapons, still confrontation does exist. We use thought and persuasion and most of all THE BIBLE to do God's will.
Remember this...
Matthew, Chapter 28 (NASB)
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
And it won't be an easy thing to do because people are still people and they don't like change. I especially like the photo because it reminds me how difficult our warfare can be. LOOK AT THE BOARD- it is not a pretty ornament; it has been used and by the looks of it- A LOT!!! The truth is that being a Christian isn't easy, but it is our task. I have a graphic in my library that is entitled: What is the best vitamin for a Christian?? - B1. Enough said!!!