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Ministry Blog

An open blog for Warrior at Heart members. 
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  • Learn It, Live It - Ephesians 6:13-17 (Part 2)

    04-Sep-10 20:58 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    Learn It, Live It - Ephesians 6:13-17 (Part 2)

    Ephesians 6:13-17 - Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breast plate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

    "so that...you may be able to stand your ground"

    Giving up ground should not be an option.  Why?  In battle the worst thing that can happen is to give up ground to the enemy.  Especially ground gained for us by Jesus.  When Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross so that his blood could make us white as snow; he gained ground for all of us who accept him as our Lord and Savior.  The cost to gain that ground was great.  We have got to stand our ground so that we don't give up what we gained through our relationship with Jesus.

    Verse 14 - "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth around your waist..."

    To the Roman soldier the belt was key, the belt was the center piece to the armor he wore in battle.  The belt holds it all together.  What is our belt?  Our belt is knowing and living in "truth".  First, we must know the truth, we must know the truth as it pertains to God's Word.  Second we must live truthfully and honestly, we must be honest with God, ourselves and others.

    Knowing and living in truth is so important because one of the Satan's most important tools is deception.  The first example of deception in the Bible is in Genesis when he deceives Eve.  He offers lies and the counter is the belt of truth.

    How have you been deceived?  Do you live any false truths?  Has Satan gotten you to believe something that is not quite right, close...but not right about your relationship with Jesus?

    How have you been less than honest?  Have you blamed others for you sin, or justified sin because of how others have treated or sinned against you?

    Lord I pray that you would reveal to us those areas where we have been deceived, where we haven't been honest with You, ourselves or others.  Lord help us to come clean in these areas so that we can be firmly planted in Your truth, that we can be completely honest and truthful with You, ourselves and others at all time.  Lord help us to put on the belt of truth daily and live it.  In Jesus name.  Amen!

    God Bless!
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  • Learn It, Live It - Ephesians 6:13-17

    30-Aug-10 08:12 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    Learn It, Live It - Ephesians 6:13-17

    Ephesians 6:13-17 - Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breast plate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

    I can't tell you how many times I have read these lines and been inspired in my personal battles.  How many times I've come back to this verse when I was feeling beat up and lost.

    There is so much information in this passage, and I for one have really not gotten past the metaphor Paul used and gotten into the practical application of the verse and what it teaches regarding how we should live our lives so that we are prepared for the battle we live in.

    Verse 13 - Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes

    So that when the day of evil comes...not in case the day of evil comes...so that when it comes.

    1 Peter 5:8 - Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

    When does the day of evil come?  It's most likely to come when we are at our weakest.  When we are tired, when we have suffered loss, when we are least prepared to deal with it.  No matter when, it will come and the point of putting on the full armor of God is so that we are prepared for it.  We don't pull out the armor of God on that day...we put it on now and live it.  So that when that day comes we are prepared.

    My plan is to dig deeper into each of these verses over the next few weeks.  God Bless
     
    Joe
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  • Looking for that Saul-Paul moment?

    24-May-10 09:41 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    Acts 9 is where you find the story of Saul and how Jesus encountered him.  It's a story worth reading if you haven't before and worth reading again if you have.  It's a story of a un-deniable (especially to those involved) interaction between Jesus and Saul which completely converts a religous zealout who hated and persecuted Christians to a Christian himself.  The conversion is so complete that Paul spends the rest of his days spreading the word of Jesus enduring beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, imprisonment and finally death.

    Are you waiting for that Saul-Paul moment in your life?  I think there are a lot of people who are.  Are you looking for the un-deniable interaction; a moment that once happens; you know would change your life?

    Would we recognize it if we saw it?  Would I, would you?

    2 Samuel 22:26 and Psalms 18:25 both state "To the faithful you show yourself faithful..."

    Remember that Saul was very faithful to God; he followed all the rules, he knew the Bible (the first five books of the Bible) like the back of his hand.  What Saul didn't know, what he didn't understand was that Jesus was God.  It took a very impressive show of God to show Saul the error of his ways.

    What are you doing with your life while you wait for that moment?  Are you showing yourself faithful?

    Joe Eckert

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  • Suffering versus the Passive Wrath of God

    14-May-10 08:27 | Joe Eckert (administrator)
    Hebrews 12:2-3 - Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

    Hebrews 12:4-7 - In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.  For what son is not disciplined by his father?

    The other day I heard the concept of the "passive wrath of God" for the first time.  The passive wrath of God would look something like this:  You are born, without blemish, perfect in every way.  You have an amazing life with no hunger, no pain, no struggles with sin, no sickness, no un-met needs, no wants and no untimely death or sorrow.  Basically the world at your finger tips, you appear to be blessed.  You die and when judged, the Lord says I knew you NOT and you are cast into the firey pit.  You went through life with no need to turn to God, no need to rely on Him.  This would be the passive wrath of God.

    Foruntately for us He loves us and wants us to learn to rely on Him.  He places opportunities in our lives to come closer to Him, to learn to depend on Him and to love him.  Opportunities you say?  Yes!

    In our hardships he is perfecting our faith, in our struggles with sin, the pain we endure from a lost love one, from what ever is going on in your life, He is teaching us to rely soley on Him and not our own devices.  He is calling us closer and closer to Him.

    Romans 8:18 - I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

    Don't let your suffering get you down, rejoice in it knowing that it's bringing you closer to God and that none of it will compare with the glory of God.
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  • Are you pursuing your calling or your potential?

    03-May-10 05:54 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    Matthew 3:15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fullfill all righteousness"

    I'm not sure about your Bible, but in my Bible these are the first words in RED.  This is the first direct quote from Jesus (at least in the ordering of the books of the Bible) in the Bible. 

    Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptizer and John said "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"  John's calling was to prepare the way for the Lord (Isaiah 40:3) and part of that calling included baptizing Jesus.

    Are you pursuing your calling or your potential?  There are so many things each of us have the potential to do in this lifetime.  The number of things we can do, that we can pursue are endless.  We can get so caught up in that "keeping up with the Jones'" pursuit of our potential that we forget to pursue our calling. 

    I think it's very fitting that the first words in red are Jesus telling John to continue in his calling to prepare the way of the Lord.  Now if John wouldn't have pursued his calling, I'm sure that God would have figured something else out, someone else would have baptized Jesus.  So He doesn't need us to pursue our calling to accomplish his work, but he wants us to pursue our calling to accomplish his work.

    How much more fruitfull would be pursuing your calling versus your potential?  How much more happy would you be?

    Are you following your calling?

    "Let it be so now..."

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  • Psalm 139:1-18 - How well He knows us!

    26-Apr-10 16:57 | Joe Eckert (administrator)
    1 O LORD, you have searched me
    and you know me.

    2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.

    3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.

    4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you know it completely, O LORD.

    5 You hem me in—behind and before;
    you have laid your hand upon me.

    6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

    7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?

    8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

    9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

    10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

    11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,"

    12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

    13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother's womb.

    14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

    15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place.
    When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

    16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
    All the days ordained for me
    were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

    17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

    18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand.
    When I awake,
    I am still with you.
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  • Be Trained, Be Ready

    30-Mar-10 13:19 | Joe Eckert (administrator)
    There are two verses that have been strongly laid on my heart since before the first of they year.

    2 Timothy 3:16-17 - All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

    2 Timothy 4:2 - Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season, correct rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction.

    "...so the man of God may be..."

    Isn't this what we are striving for as a Christian?  To be a man of God?  It's what I am striving for.  To not just be known as a man of God, but to live the life that a man of God would live.  To me these verses are key.  The scripture is so useful.  I see more and more relevance in scripture to my life and the lives around me the more I focus on and study it.  There doesn't seem to be a situation where the scripture doesn't have something to say.

    We need training to be a man of God and we need to be ready at all times.  I learned just this last week that I can't take time away from my training and my preparation.  I did and I wasn't ready when a brother needed help.  I need to be ready at all times, I must be ready at all times if others are going to be looking to me for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training.

    Pressing into Jesus, learning and studying are things we must continue to do.  It needs to not become something we do in this life, but how we live in this life.  It needs to become second nature; that is when we will be ready both in and out of season.  God bless!
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  • What kind of life do you want to live?

    22-Feb-10 08:12 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    What kind of life do you want to live?  How does that compare to the life you are called to live?  Is there a difference?  If so, why?

    I think our earthly beings long to be known, we long to live a life where our legacy lives on long after we are gone.  We long to be part of an epic, to not only be part of it...but to be the center of it.  To be the hero, the one remembered and talked about for ages to come.

    Is that the life your being called to?  Maybe.

    The problem with wanting to leave a legacy, wanting to be remembered for ages...is that in the end it's not likely to happen.  Some people get rich enough to donate to colleges and get a building with their name.  Some people attain high positiions and get into history books.  But for the rest of us; when it's all said and done, we may only be remembered for a generation or two at the most.  Eventually all the people who we affect in this life will pass...who will remember us then?

    I think that most of us are called to do the simple work.  The work that simply is to be done for the glory of God.  We are called to lead and raise up our families.  We are called to do His work in our community.  We are called to help and feed the poor, the orphans and the children.  Each of us have something, some holy discontent that we are called to in this life.

    If there is a legacy we can leave that will last it's with our family.  A legacy that comes from our children seeing us knowing, loving and serving the Lord to the extent; that they do it as an example to their children; and they do it as an example to their children and so on.  Something that becomes a family tradition...

    In the end we are called to do little things in His great big story.  A story He has lovingly invited us into.  Go live your part well and teach your children to do the same.  God Bless!

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  • Are you content in all circumstance?

    12-Jan-10 06:18 | Joe Eckert (administrator)

    This is from the 1/12/2010 Daily Encouragement email.

    I heard a pastor on the radio say something like: "If we can't be thankful for what we already have, how can we be thankful when we get what we want?"  This really nailed me.  I spend so much time wondering and day dreaming about what I want, about how things could be...that I usually overlook what I already have.  Do you too?
     
    Philippians 4:11-12 - I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstance.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
     
    Are you content in your current circumstances?  Or have you gotten caught up in our culture, trying to keep up with the Jones family?
     
    1 Timothy 6-10 - But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.  Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
     
    We live in a culture where there seems to be a fine line between being seen as content and seen as being lazy, seen as being not content and having desire, passion and drive.  But is it really one or the other?  I think you can be lazy and not content, just as you can be content with what you have and still have desire, passion and drive for improving. 
     
    The question really becomes about the heart.  Where is your heart?  What is your motivation to do what you do?  Is it about you or about Him?  Is it about your glory or His?
     
    "But godliness with contentment is great gain." - Let's set our heart on Him, let's be content and happy in what He has already blessed us with, let's walk on His path and be blessed in His ways.
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  • 2009

    04-Jan-10 16:05 | Wayde Krueger
    Wll we made it through all of the anniv. of Dez's passing on to be with Jesus. Spring, easter, her boys' birthdays.Summer, fall, our birthdays, no happy birthday daddy from her this year. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. One more date, the anniv. of her passing, the 7th. we are doing good though I almost lost Terri a couple of times, didn't think we would make it through Thanksgiving, tears in the stuffing. But we made it and Lord willing we will celebrate our 28th wedding anniv. this month. We were recently given a book by the pastors wife, they are our dear friends, by C.S. Lewis called "A Grief Observed" This is a random collection of notes he wrote after he lost his wife to cancer. They were found by a friend after he passed away and published under a suedonym for some time and then under his name. We also found a copy of Carol Wimbers book 'The Way it Was' in it was Carols candid stories about John Wimbers death and also about their son who died of cancer. Terri has done remarkedly better since reading 'A Grief Observed.' She went out and bought flowers for the house, that was cool. Most of our progress has been from knowing we have endured.
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