I will guard the truth of the Gospel

From: January 8-14, 2004

THEME: I will guard the truth of the Gospel 1 Timothy 6:20, 21 Here Paul’s advice to Timothy is to always guard the truth of the gospel. To take care, to guard it from errors, deviation, and everything that comes against it. Jesus our Teacher and Savior said clearly; “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32. Do you know the truth? Christ is the way, the truth and the life. And the Holy Spirit will guide you to all truth. John 16:12 – 14 People will come up to you trying to contradict what you say. But we will not remain silent. Mathew 10:26, 27. Who must remain silent are those who walk in darkness and have not received the Sun of justice, and are mistaken and frustrated. They will try to test you in everything you say. Then we will bravely keep the truth and the faith that has been given to us. As time goes by, we have to get hold of the truth and seize it. In this world we can’t negotiate this truth with no one, not even ourselves. Our hearts can betray us or get hardened. We must guard our hearts. Proverbs 4:23. As we walk in the Lord’s path, we acquire experiences and hear or see things in others who live astray from God that can harden our hearts. Be careful! When a heart hardens it loses sensitivity, and this is very dangerous. We need sensitivity to know and discern all that surrounds us. Those who walk away give many unjustified reasons trying to blame others or this or that for their harden hearts. But the reality is that the truth of the gospel has departed from them and there is no faith in their lives. They have lost. Never let this truth go; guard it as the greatest treasure! “I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts.” Psalms 119:63. David said this and we should say it too. If we start walking with those who don’t fear God, we will start to be, to see and do as they do. This is why we should unite with the Father in all He has prepared for us. Definitely we have to take hold of the truth. Proverbs 23:23. A believer has to continually grow and reach maturity each day. This is a spiritual process. As we perish in the flesh, then the Lord starts to grow in us and that is the spiritual part. What can we do if the Holy Spirit departs from us? Is there something more after God? Everything would end. We are struggling for a life and its eternal life. That is why Paul spoke to Timothy in that way. 1 Timothy 6: 20, 21. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, 5 Paul insisted that we must struggle against all arguments that are against the truth and the faith of the gospel. Praise the Lord for our weapon is not carnal! There are those who think they can fight this battle with their own craftiness (astuteness), but this is not possible. This is a carnal weapon. The wisdom given from the Holy Spirit is the spiritual weapon we need. There is a big difference between both. One who is in the flesh cannot be similar or related to one who is in spirit. This is why we must be careful of what we hear and not let this dominate our lives. I cannot fight with human or carnal astuteness. This only produces treason,

betrayal. Our weapons come from God and they are powerful. It comes from God and it’s what we need, God’s weapons. Sometimes as Christians we find ourselves trying to defend the truth, but the truth defends itself. Paul said that there are fortresses of arguments and deceit surrounding us which we have to destroy not with our own understanding but with weapons powerful in God. The devil stirs up strong obstacles to stop us and we cannot destroy him with physical or carnal weapons, but with the power of God. The gospel speaks the truth to deliver us from evil. The prince of evil, Satan, rises from hell to destroy and kill us, preparing voices and arguments to destroy us and not let us standing. The devil arises against the knowledge of God in our lives. 1 Peter 5: 8, 9 But the only one who can give you a word in that bad day is the Lord. The knowledge of the word will make you conquer. What is life if we cannot accomplish? Retain, keep the word in your life, and keep the truth. Revelation 3:11. We are soldiers of the Lord and we must always have our sword (the word) active for the battle because it’s against the devil that we fight. Let us not sleep or rest in our spiritual life; we must fight and use the whole amour of God. We refer to Paul’s call, guard the truth and fight for it. And we have to do it maintaining the mildness and tenderness of Christ in our lives. The tenderness of Christ will never leave us. Paul spoke about this because he fought as a soldier of the Lord. Beloved, how many thoughts come to our mind? Then, we should take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. It’s as if Paul had told Timothy: “be careful of the arguments you hear from those who say they have the truth.” We are a chest where the truth of Christ’s thoughts is. This is why I have to guard myself, from those who argument that they have science and knowledge. We have to guard our minds; our life and all that God has put in our hands to do. Let no one take eternal life away from you. Let no one take away the ministry God has put in your hands. Jesus will remain by our side with tenderness and never leave us. We have to maintain with integrity the truth we have known and the essence of the gospel. Let us not harm the truth; for it’s what we represent of God. We have to take care of what we have because it doesn’t belong to us. Let us learn from Jesus, our teacher who accomplished and was successful. We should not listen to what wants to steal our faith. Satan’s fortresses want to mutilate our lives, but we will knock them down. AMEN.