All Through Jesus' Rule (song)

 C.S. Lewis said in his classic "The Screwtape Letters" book that there are two errors people fall into about the devils. One is to disbelieve in them and the other is to believe in them with an unhealthy interest and obsession. The devil and his demons are equally pleased with both errors. Thus, it's important to maintain the right balance in our view of the spiritual battle that we are all in as followers of Christ. As Ephesians 6:12 tells us, we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with spirits, forces and powers in the heavenly realms! We don't have to be scared of them though and we don't have to let them push us around. Jesus empowers us to resist the devil and his demons. Through the power of Jesus' Name, we can even command demons to obey in Christ's Name. We need to be aware of the battle going on around us and be brave and bold in standing strong with the full armour of God on us. We only need faith the size of a mustard seed in Jesus to tell a mountain to jump into the sea- and it will be done! Stand strong in faith in Jesus. Do your devo in 1 John 4:4 and you'll find that the One who is in us is greater than the one in the world. He has won the victory!

"All Through Jesus' Rule" (parody of "Through Being Cool" by Devo; copyright by Nathan Ludwick 7/15/2020)
(1 John 4:4, Revelation 20:10, 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, 2 Corinthians 10:1-6, Mark 16:14-20, Matthew 12:22-32, Matthew 12:43-45, Matthew 17:14-21, Luke 11:14-26, Luke 10:17-20, Romans 16:20, Ephesians 6:10-20, 2 Timothy 1:7)

We're through being cool
We're through playing cool
Eliminate the lily-livered bits
You wanna barge ahead?
We're gonna need Jesus!
Christ will show those evil spirits He's God
When one leaves from a fallen house
Returns, brings in seven more too
Want these parasites to be cast out?
Matt. 12- it declares- Look through 29
Luke too- 11 find
Plan strong man to bind first- by Jesus!
Time to clean some house!
Indeed plunder the house!
Waste then is laid to a divided house!

Even if you lack big faith
Only factor's in Whom it's found
Faith of mustard seed-sized grain
Throws mountains all around

Even if you lack big faith
Mighty plants form from seeds now
Faith of mustard seed-sized grain
Throws mountains all around

Corinthians, 2
Look to 12:10, dude
Depend of Grace- Power perfected in weakness
Lord, the demons obey!
We can tread on snakes!
Rejoice that Christ picked our souls to be saved

6 Ephesians- as Paul found,
The fight's unseen- in Heavenly realms
Like Alien, chests that burst out
They're there in the air

We're through being fooled
We're through being tools
2 (Two) Timothy 1:7 verse it says
We're not fear-imbued
Accrued Spirit's tools
Power, love, self-driving through Jesus
Trust Him!
Stand firm! Jesus rules!
We're fueled by Him too!

Cross Beams

      Maybe we shouldn’t pray for God to take away sinful desires. These continue to plague us in the form of temptation and that won’t go away until the devil is locked away in Hell for good. They also plague us in the form of the spiritual battle between the old man of sin and the new man in Christ. That battle will continue to wage until the day we are in Heaven with Jesus. And until that day, the world will still be here egging us on to accept what God says is wrong. This is the three-pronged war we must fight every day.
      Instead, we should pray for God’s grace and help to stand up under temptation and not give in to it. Pray that He will strengthen us to resist the devil so that he will flee from us. Pray that we will have His power to ignore the world and its evil desires that are passing away, and instead do the will of God- that is the way of life eternal; knowing Christ as Savior through trusting His death and Resurrection for salvation.
       And then we are called to keep walking on the straight and narrow path, though it be beset with painful trials and struggles that we must endure. Yet we keep on, asking Jesus to pick us up and set us right again when we fall, but always moving forward on that path and still seeking to obey God out of gratitude to Him and reverence for His precious sacrifice. It is not a misguided effort to repay Him or earn what He’s already given to us for free- it is rather an effort to fulfill the call and charge He gave to us in Ephesians 2:8-10. We must do the good works He prepared in advance for us to do. And He has warned us that following Him will not be easy. It will be hard and it will demand harsh sacrifice on our part as well. But we can never give more than what God has already given. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us on the day of Christ Jesus. No matter how hard our sufferings are, let us boast in our weakness so that Christ may be revealed as strong in us.
      And let us trust God not to lead us into temptation but rather to deliver us from evil. Let us trust that He can and will give us the way of escape when we ask Him for it. Let us endure hardship like good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus daily. And as for you brothers, never tire of doing what is right. God bless and Godspeed.

Blind

(Note: This was written in 2018 and my brother's album was released in 2008. I have just recently come across it again and thought it was worth publishing here. And I still LOVE this song and listen to it and others from the album regularly. These are some things I've drawn from books (Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God" for one- which is the book the Sunday School class happened to be reading at the time of this writing, by the way) and other stuff I'd been kicking around for a little while. The pastor preached from 2 Peter 2 last Sunday before I wrote this and in the course of looking in my Bible during the sermon, I noticed 2 Peter 1:9 and I thought it fit perfectly with Kevin's song "Blind". )

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of this release from my brother Kevin.

https://kevinludwick.bandcamp.com/album/come-home

      The song "Blind" is still one of my favourites on it (along with "Come Home", of course.)
I just recently listened to the CD again in my car. :-)
The topic raised is a super important one that I have wrestled with over the years. I have gotten to a place of being settled with it but it still crops up every so often. It seems lately I have been bombarded with the issue of grace/faith vs. works in regards to salvation.
     It came up in a discussion I was having with a friend recently and then showed up again in an article I happened upon and then yet again during Sunday School and church service yesterday and again today in a Bible verse post on Facebook.
      It is important to do as 2 Corinthians 13:5 says and examine ourselves to see that we are in the faith. It's also important to remember Jesus' words in Matthew 7 that not everyone who calls to Him, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of Heaven- only he who does the will of The Father in Heaven.
     Motivation makes a huge difference. Am I trying to build a resume of "righteousness" so I can impress God with good works and manipulate Him to get what I want? Or have I truly recognized that I have no righteousness of my own and even my good works are as filthy rags before the holy God? (Isaiah 64:6)
     Thus, I repent of both my wickedness and my righteousness because I recognize that there is no good in me. "All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us have turned to our own way and The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) (That verse is one of the earliest I remember learning and it was a key one in bringing me to salvation as a young child.)
    Sometimes I used to think, growing up as a MK and PK and hearing the Gospel at an early age and getting saved when I was around 5 or 7, I didn't really have a dynamic testimony like Nicky Cruz or the Apostle Paul. I mean- I wasn't out robbing or killing people. But I knew that I wasn't always truthful or obedient or selfless. And all those sins are equally as bad and offensive before the holy Lord. Thus, every Christian has a dynamic testimony, whether coming to Christ like the prodigal in Luke 15 or (hopefully) like the elder brother. (The parable doesn't say if he repented but he's the image of the Pharisee we can so easily become who needs to repent of supposed righteousness.)
    And I sometimes feel like this is an easy trap to fall into for those raised going to church and knowing about Christ at an early age. (Not that it's bad to have either one of those things in place- it's a great thing!) I've sometimes wondered how I can even know if all the things I've done that I think are good are really a result of The Holy Spirit working in me because I've asked Jesus to save me and I rely on His completed work of death on the cross and Resurrection to pay for my sins- OR that I am really still relying on my good works.
     There's the conundrum right there. Yet I don't have any good works of my own. There are places I've seen growth in my life to be more like Christ, including areas I would not be comfortable or desiring to do on my own. Anything good in me is Jesus Christ, not me.
I believe He's God and He's true and He has done what He said He would and when I die or He returns, He'll take me to Heaven instead of banishing me to Hell (as I deserve)- just as He said He would. That's the beauty of grace believed by faith- which produces the good deeds in gratitude to the One who gave His life to save me because He loves me! I love Him because He first loved me! I thank Him for all He saved me from and even for the doubts and fears that He helps me overcome because they make my faith reaffirmed and stronger.
     I still struggle with these things at times because I know Satan likes to get Christians so messed up and freaked out about their own salvation that they can't very well be used by God to help bring anyone else to Christ. Thankfully, He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world! 1 John 5:13 says we can KNOW we have eternal life because of our faith in Jesus. Habakkuk 2:4 as well and 2 Corinthians 5:7. We walk by faith and not by sight.
     In grappling with this, I have found a number of things helpful- prayer, Bible reading and memorization (particularly of promises that speak directly to this- John 6:37-40, John 6:68, John 8:32-36, John 10:27-30, Galatians 3, the whole book of Romans, Philippians 2:12-13, Ephesians 2:8-10, Jeremiah 31:3 and lots of others), counsel from respected Christian leaders and friends, and writings from Christians and awesome songs.
Here are some articles I found helpful in this recent spate-

https://www.versebyverseministry.org/bible-answers/how_do_i_know_im_truly_saved/

And

https://capmin.org/is-salvation-by-faith-alone-in-christ-alone/

And books like "The Ragamuffin Gospel" by Brennan Manning and "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan.

I also recommend awesome songs like this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfGvXfe9LK8

And

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY06uA9mUlw

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOftdxtQgmA

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lfJdDqzbk

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axQWC4Y5jTI

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMGYk3SLArk

And

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXQJFQINq_U

And, of course- Kevin's song "Blind"- which leads me back to this Scripture to close on. (Particularly note 2 Peter 1:9)

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partners of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:3-11)

Daily Struggle

       Do you ever have that experience of going from a spiritual high to almost immediately after a spiritual low? I mean, just after reading The Bible and spending some time in prayer and really being wowed and excited by the passage I read, I find myself slipping into totally the opposite direction with flipping through Youtube video clips from shows that can generally be clean but also slip into foul territory at times unfortunately.... 
        That's one of the worst problems with having literally millions of video choices at hand, between the Internet in general and all the many channels on cable, etc. There is always a responsibility to be careful of what we take in and one I continually have to keep guarding myself on. I do generally try to be cognizant of this and steer clear of things I know are not wholesome at all, but I also know there are times I've allowed myself to watch things that I've immediately regretted and never desired to see anything afterward. And I have gone to Jesus in repentance and asked His forgiveness and I know He's faithful to do it- but I hate to keep running into this scenario so many times in life....
         The spiritual answer behind this is defined for us in The Bible, of course. It's just like Paul talked about in Romans 7:15-25- I know the good I want to do, but it's the bad I don't want to do that I wind up doing. I still need The Holy Spirit to keep working in me and guiding me to the right thing. As Ephesians 6:12 makes clear, the struggle is real. ("For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.")- That's exactly why we need the armor of God strapped on each day for spiritual warfare. (Ephesians 6:13-18 go on to tell us more about this- the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes prepared with the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith to extinguish those fiery darts of the enemy, the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit [i.e. the Word of God] and we need to be praying at all times in the Spirit.
       What else can we do in the fight? Certainly pray without ceasing and ask for God's help in standing firm- and resist the devil, as James 4:7 and 1 Peter 5:8-9 teach. And when we do fall, remember God's promise in 1 John 1:9 to be faithful and just and forgive us and cleanse us of all our sins when we confess them to Him. "I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)