12/09/2023
CEASE FIRE!
There is a song out by For King and Country. This is a song that every Christian should take to heart. Jesus said the Kingdom is at hand, but we live like it’s far in the future and we have no idea how we should be acting as children of the Most High God.
Mark 3:24 says “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
The first verse of the song says,
“How do we save a life
Pointing fingers?
How can we end the fight
This way?
When blame is the truth we're preaching?
And lies are what we're believing?
No one ever wins
When the goal is to settle the score”
News reports, politics and opinions, these are things that divide us. We blame each other. We point the finger. There are so many lies that are out in the air ways these days. We can’t let that be justification for making others our enemy. Satan and his horde are the enemy, not those that God has called us to reach.
Our negative words that we speak to or about others are the very darts of the enemy that our Sheild of Faith is supposed to protect us from. How much worse when a nonbeliever doesn’t even know he needs a Sheild of Faith. Nonbelievers do not have the full armor of God. How can they?
I want to say that again. Nonbelievers do not have the full armor of God. When we speak negatively to, at or about them, we are firing upon an unarmed person. Also, what are you doing to the prayers of others that are praying for the salvation of that person. Seek the Lord on what you need to be doing. Speak into their lives in a way that opens the door to the Lord.
The Chorus says
One by one we will call for a ceasefire
“One by one we will fight for a better end
One by one we could rewrite the headlines
Standing side by side
One by one, love is building an empire
One by one, reaching out to our enemies
One by one we will make it to the finish line
Standing side by side
Ceasefire”
We are to be drawing them into the Kingdom.
Colossians 1:13 says, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,”
Luke 12:32 says “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
We don’t deserve it, but it is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. But we can’t get there from here. We can only get there from a position of LOVE
1Corinthians 4:20 says, “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?”
2Timothy 1:7 says, :For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
It’s His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, but we have to be in a place to handle it like He would. We are called to be walking like Jesus in order to inherit the Kingdom.
It’s already here, but like 1 Corinthians says, it’s not in word, but Power. Love is Power.
The Bridge says,
“Teach us how to live humbly
Love unconditionally
Transform our hurt into hope
And grant us Your peace
Teach us how to live humbly
Love unconditionally
Transform our hurt into hope
And grant us Your peace”
Romans 14:17 says, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
We need to be all 3 of these things to all those around us.
1Corinthians 13:1-13 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
This is the only way to possess the Kingdom
Recently God has been warning me to not be like Lot’s wife. When they left S***m and Gomorrah they were warned to not look back. Lot’s wife, according to scriptures, looked back. It wasn’t just a backward glance. The words used in that particular scripture means that she looked back longingly.
I can’t even begin to count how many times that I longed for the good ole days. But those days were for their own time. We are to be looking forward to what God has planned for us.
Luke 9:62 says, “But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
That time is past. God has better plans for our future and we can’t go in two directions at the same time.
Something I found interesting in studying this song. The word “Ceasefire” is used in the body of the song 5 times. It is used 7 times in end of the song. In total there are 12 “Ceasefires” in the entire song. That is God’s government. His Kingdom.
Did you know that on a firing range anyone can call for a cease fire. This is a safety factor for everyone’s safety. So it should also be in the church as a safety factor. In love, call for a Cease Fire.
Let us love unconditionally and one by one let’s call for a Cease Fire.
By Pastor Nancy Schultz
Christian Life Fellowship Church
Kennewick, WA
In conjunction with Harmony International Ministries
