<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Philippians 4;1-3<div><br></div><div><b>1. &nbsp;Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.</b></div><div><b>2. &nbsp;I entreat Eu-odia&nbsp;and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.</b></div><div><b>3. &nbsp;And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>Spiritual warfare comes at us from three directions. &nbsp;All our warfare is ultimately with Satan, but we do not see him directly. &nbsp;Instead, we see his three means of attack.</div><div><br></div><div>&nbsp;The first is our <u>outward</u>&nbsp;warfare&nbsp;with&nbsp;the unbelieving world. &nbsp;His weapons are government,&nbsp;culture, media, and&nbsp;entertainment.</div><div>The second is the struggle between Believers<u>&nbsp;beside us</u>&nbsp;in our own fellowships<u>,</u>&nbsp;to maintain the spirit of love in the bond of peace. &nbsp;This manifests itself mostly in the form of fellow Believers in our churches who offend us.</div><div>Thirdly, the struggle&nbsp;<u>&nbsp;within</u>&nbsp;our own hearts and minds, between the carnal old-man and the new man born of the water and the Spirit.</div><div><br></div><div>All three of these combat zones are defensive struggles.&nbsp;We are to hold the peaceful&nbsp;ground Christ has already&nbsp;won for us, this is where we are safe, knowing we are always in the Father’s will even if we are suffering, such suffering is&nbsp;suffering with Christ. &nbsp;We are&nbsp;not to&nbsp;yield our peace in Christ to&nbsp;the assaults of Satan,&nbsp;we are safe, with everything we need,&nbsp;regardless of which direction&nbsp;the attack comes from.</div><div><br></div><div>That is why Paul tells the person he addresses as <i>“yokefellow”, </i>(an unnamed leader in the church in Philippi)<i>&nbsp;</i>to help two women who are at odds with each other&nbsp;to ‘hold their ground’&nbsp;<span>by “</span><span><i>standing firm </i><u>in</u><i>&nbsp;</i><u>the Lord</u><i>,…”to agree </i><u>in the Lord.”</u>&nbsp; In Christ we always have his peace and are content.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>As Believers, we are constantly tempted to leave the Mind of Christ and re-enter our old carnal minds. &nbsp;This is where we get our feelings hurt, this is where we become fearful, this is where we become angry and&nbsp;resentful. &nbsp;Our subjective emotionalism is really faithlessness, an accusation that the Father is somehow failing us because we have been allowed to suffer&nbsp;insults, offenses, being&nbsp;ignored, disrespected, misunderstood,&nbsp;or threatened. &nbsp;Such things are allowed by our loving Father. &nbsp;To be <i>“in Christ”</i>&nbsp;is to share&nbsp;with him in the hatred of Satan. &nbsp;It is an honor.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Christ humbled himself, he abased himself, he had no need to defend himself, his vindication was assured. &nbsp;He spoke the truth only in love with perfect peace. &nbsp;When he was slandered, or insulted, or falsely accused, he never yielded to pride or being indignant. &nbsp;He did not take it personally. &nbsp;He only loved his enemies (as well as his stupid ignorant&nbsp;misunderstanding&nbsp;disciples). &nbsp;If anyone ever had the ‘right’ to be angry and frustrated at those he sought to serve, it was Jesus. &nbsp;But, instead, with infinite patience he just kept on serving and teaching. &nbsp; In the end he knew the truth would eventually&nbsp;be known. &nbsp;His Father was his Defender. &nbsp;If his Father allowed others to assault him, misunderstand him, or falsely accuse him, he embraced it as coming from the will of the Father. &nbsp;He knew it would all be to his glory in the end.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Holding our ground <u>in the Lord,</u>&nbsp;is to&nbsp;embrace everything in our lives as coming from our loving Father. &nbsp;He is using everything for good in the lives of His children. &nbsp;In Christ, we are called into God’s own perfect peace, mercy,&nbsp;and love. &nbsp;There really is <u>nothing to fear!</u>&nbsp; If we are tempted to be feeling fearful, angry, irritated, frustrated, offended, and unappreciated…grant us wisdom to know the carnal old-man mind is trying to temp us to leave Christ and your own perfect love which calls us to suffer with Jesus.</span></div><div><span><u><br></u></span></div><div><span>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, grant us to abide in faith believing with&nbsp;certainty that all that we must deal with is from your own loving hand. &nbsp;Deliver us from temptation to return again into our prideful, fearful,&nbsp;carnal old-man minds. &nbsp;Bless us to abide in the Servant Mind of Christ and be at peace, knowing You dear Father allow it. &nbsp;Deliver us from playing into the hand of our enemy. &nbsp;&nbsp;In Jesus we pray, Amen.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>Love,</span></div><div><span>Dad/Baba/Eric</span></div><div><span>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</span></div><div><span>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”</span></div><div><i></i></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Philippians 4;1-3
1.  Therefore, my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.2.  I entreat Eu-odia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.3.  And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

Spiritual warfare comes at us from three directions.  All our warfare is ultimately with Satan, but we do not see him directly.  Instead, we see his three means of attack.
 The first is our outward warfare with the unbelieving world.  His weapons are government, culture, media, and entertainment.The second is the struggle between Believers beside us in our own fellowships, to maintain the spirit of love in the bond of peace.  This manifests itself mostly in the form of fellow Believers in our churches who offend us.Thirdly, the struggle  within our own hearts and minds, between the carnal old-man and the new man born of the water and the Spirit.
All three of these combat zones are defensive struggles. We are to hold the peaceful ground Christ has already won for us, this is where we are safe, knowing we are always in the Father’s will even if we are suffering, such suffering is suffering with Christ.  We are not to yield our peace in Christ to the assaults of Satan, we are safe, with everything we need, regardless of which direction the attack comes from.
That is why Paul tells the person he addresses as “yokefellow”, (an unnamed leader in the church in Philippi) to help two women who are at odds with each other to ‘hold their ground’ by “standing firm in the Lord,…”to agree in the Lord.”  In Christ we always have his peace and are content.
As Believers, we are constantly tempted to leave the Mind of Christ and re-enter our old carnal minds.  This is where we get our feelings hurt, this is where we become fearful, this is where we become angry and resentful.  Our subjective emotionalism is really faithlessness, an accusation that the Father is somehow failing us because we have been allowed to suffer insults, offenses, being ignored, disrespected, misunderstood, or threatened.  Such things are allowed by our loving Father.  To be “in Christ” is to share with him in the hatred of Satan.  It is an honor.
Christ humbled himself, he abased himself, he had no need to defend himself, his vindication was assured.  He spoke the truth only in love with perfect peace.  When he was slandered, or insulted, or falsely accused, he never yielded to pride or being indignant.  He did not take it personally.  He only loved his enemies (as well as his stupid ignorant misunderstanding disciples).  If anyone ever had the ‘right’ to be angry and frustrated at those he sought to serve, it was Jesus.  But, instead, with infinite patience he just kept on serving and teaching.   In the end he knew the truth would eventually be known.  His Father was his Defender.  If his Father allowed others to assault him, misunderstand him, or falsely accuse him, he embraced it as coming from the will of the Father.  He knew it would all be to his glory in the end.
Holding our ground in the Lord, is to embrace everything in our lives as coming from our loving Father.  He is using everything for good in the lives of His children.  In Christ, we are called into God’s own perfect peace, mercy, and love.  There really is nothing to fear!  If we are tempted to be feeling fearful, angry, irritated, frustrated, offended, and unappreciated…grant us wisdom to know the carnal old-man mind is trying to temp us to leave Christ and your own perfect love which calls us to suffer with Jesus.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, grant us to abide in faith believing with certainty that all that we must deal with is from your own loving hand.  Deliver us from temptation to return again into our prideful, fearful, carnal old-man minds.  Bless us to abide in the Servant Mind of Christ and be at peace, knowing You dear Father allow it.  Deliver us from playing into the hand of our enemy.   In Jesus we pray, Amen.
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in the living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation, and we are His.”




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