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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for November 16, 2009
“Building Specific Spiritual Muscles”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
A man I know tells a story about being initiated as a freshman football player.
The coach wanted him to practice with the varsity team, but some of the varsity players decided to throw up a little resistance. They ganged up on him, took him outside, forced him into a manhole, put the lid on and left him. Finally the coach heard about it and he was rescued.
So why didn’t he just go outside and practice? It’s what he wanted to do. It’s what the coach wanted him to do. Why didn’t he do it?
He didn’t do it because he faced resistance and he was not strong enough to overcome it. If he would have had the strength, he could have overcome their resistance and done what the coach wanted.
So here’s a definition of strength: being able to overcome resistance.
This is easy to see in the physical realm. If he wanted to be stronger, he could start pumping iron. He could focus on his biceps and triceps and lats and glutes and delts and pecs. He could become so strong that the next time those guys tried to resist him he could just push them aside and go do what he was supposed to do.
This is a bit harder to see when we talk about spiritual strength. Ephesians 6:10 says, “…be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” It goes on to say that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” but against “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” It even talks about the “wiles of the devil.”
In the same way that guy can focus on strengthening certain physical muscles, we can focus on strengthening certain spiritual muscles, which we find in Ephesians chapter six. In each of these areas we face resistance, but by being strong we can overcome that resistance and do what the Lord wants us to do.
Verse 14 starts with truth. We need to be strong in the truth. The enemy resists us with deception and lies. He clouds over the truth and even uses half truths.
But we must always deal in truth. We need to seek for truth and make truth a top priority. And not the “here today, gone tomorrow” truth that this world offers, but the Lord’s rock solid, never changing, foundational, eternal truth.
We need to be strong in the truth.
Next we need to be strong in righteousness. The enemy will resist this at every turn. He will look for any way to taint us with unrighteousness – unrighteous thoughts, unrighteous words, unrighteous situations. He mocks righteousness, puts it down, and gets people to do the same. Being righteous is uncool. It’s square. Every generation has its own set of words to look down on righteousness, but that is just resistance. We need to stand up against that resistance.
We need to be strong in righteousness.
Next we need to be strong in sharing the gospel of peace. The enemy resists this. Keep the gospel to yourself, he says. Don’t be pushy. Nobody wants to hear that. Faith is personal, don’t talk about it. He does not want the gospel of Jesus Christ even whispered. He resists the gospel at every turn, and we need to stand against that resistance.
We need to be strong in sharing the gospel.
Next we need to be strong in faith. The enemy tries to riddle our faith with doubt and unbelief. How can you believe anything you can’t see, he whispers. Science is real, faith is a fairy tale. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God, and the enemy wants no one pleasing God, so he resists anything that affirms our faith. We need to stand against that resistance.
We need to be strong in faith.
Next we need to be strong in our salvation. The enemy will tell us it doesn’t matter, or that it was a long time ago, or that we were never saved in the first place. He belittles salvation, mocks being “born again,” undercuts what Christ did on the cross to make us children of the Most High. He says our redemption is nothing, but I say let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
We need to be strong in our salvation.
Next we need to be strong in the Word. The enemy will resist us, try to hinder us from learning the Word. He tells us it’s not true. He tells us it’s hard to understand, that it’s not for today, that it’s not for every situation. He keeps us busy, gives us a hundred things to do, anything but crack open that Bible! He resists our plans to study scripture, and we need to stand against that resistance.
We need to be strong in the Word.
And finally we need to be strong in prayer. The enemy resists our plans to pray. He tells us it doesn’t work, it’s a waste of time, we’re talking to the ceiling. There are better things to do. Come up with a plan to pray and watch the resistance come out of the woodwork. We need to stand up to that resistance.
We need to be strong in prayer.
These are all things we want to do. They are things the Lord wants us to do. So why don’t we do them?
Because we face resistance.
Now remember our definition of strength: being able to overcome resistance.
According to Ephesians 6 we want to be strong in the truth, in righteousness, in sharing the gospel, in faith, in our salvation, in the Word, and in prayer.
The enemy resists us at every turn, but as we strengthen each of those spiritual muscles we will be able to overcome the enemy’s resistance and serve the Lord just as He wants us to do.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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