"Stand For Jesus"

"And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:6) Be prepared for the battle!!! Because it will be fierce, and there will most likely be bloodshed! That is how I envisioned the warfare that must take place for some of the strongholds to be taken down. But the funny thing was, that I was not necessarily the one who was fighting the battle; but I was definitely the one who was taking the Stand! The point to what Paul is saying in the verse above, has to do with being prepared; we must become ready, or be alert; which means that we are ready for anything. Sometimes in order to take a stand for what you believe, requires that you are prepared to defend that belief by guarding your mind from anything which will come against it: Anything! Yes, anything includes your own desires! We tend to focus so hard on the exterior, we sometimes forget about the interior. Do not be fooled!!! I am more than certain that the desires of our hearts are things that must be taken into consideration. It is not necessarily sinful desires that I am talking about here; but, what it is that our heart actually desires to do. For example: do we desire to serve the poor, or do we make it a burden that is part of our ministry for the Lord? Do we desire to share the Lord with those that are lost, or is it something that we feel obligated to do? Where is your heart really at it when comes to serving Jesus? It is okay to be a bond servant for the Lord, as long as you have had the ring put in your ear, meaning that you serve Him because you want to serve Him. For those that may not know what that means: In earlier days, if a slave was set free, he could choose to still serve his master anyways; and to signify that willingness, he would have a ring put through his ear to show that he was a willing slave, or a freed slave that is choosing to serve his master. This is the concept of the readiness which Paul is talking about; a willingness to serve is a heart that has prepared itself by saying, I am yours Lord! And then standing upon that, by destroying any thoughts that are contrary to that agreement...