Category: Stan Peterson

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by Stan Peterson

Ft. Benning, GA. Training grounds for the U.S. Army infantry. I attended basic, and 90% of all my training at this one post. Upon first coming onto the post you will undoubtedly run into Iron Mike. Iron Mike is a huge statue of a soldier, with a M-16 rifle in his left hand. He stands looking over his shoulder and with his right arm signaling advance to those who are behind. He is an icon and symbolizes the infantry motto “Follow Me”.

As I read the words of Jesus in Luke 9.23 “if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me”.

It brings me back to Basic Training for a moment, but more importantly it reminds me of the basic tenet of Christianity. The cross and Jesus’s words to “follow me” .

The desire of my heart is to follow hard after God! This means WAR!

We are in a battle daily! The lusts of the flesh and the world come hurling at us at 65,000 images taken in on an average day. This war is like no other war, it is one of spiritual nature and not of the physical. The enemies are different, the weapons I am used to are no longer effective, and the strategies are upside down. But OHHHHH how our God has given us Himself (Romans 8.9), His weapons that are mighty for pulling down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10.4), and His mind (1 Corinthians 2.16).

We see the strategy of God in Luke’ s writing, calling us back to the basics. The War can get complicated and we must simplify it.

Simplification comes by stripping down to a warfare mentality by Denying oneself (rights/ entitlements), taking up our cross (remembering Jesus’s death and our unification in that) and obeying Jesus by following Him. This is for our good and God’s glory. Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

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by Stan Peterson

The written word and the living word are inseparable the two are one:

Rom. 4:13″ For the promise, that He should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect.”

The promise comes through the written word which was spoken by God and fulfilled in the living Word (Jesus). God’s promise/Word was fully realized/actualized in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Gospel. That is why Jesus says it is finished….. He is the culmination and fulfillment of the promise.

The just shall live by faith, faith in the life and work of Christ Jesus. God’s word, ‘what God said’ came to pass. The fullness of God’s name/reputation (for my name’s sake) came to pass as that which is TRUE in and through His Word which was spoken at Creation (for God said let there be light) to Creation (Adam and his descendants) and through Creation (the prophets and Apostles). God’s stamp of authentication of who He is (the Word) was declared by the Father John 1.18. The Father brought out fully (the Word) and set Him on display for the World and all of Creation to see. Christ did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

John 1.14 states: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” God’s glory fully displayed in and through His Word! Jesus is perfect in His being and perfect in His doing/action. Jesus is the long awaited Christ, Jesus is the very Son of God revealed to us in the book. Thanks be to God!

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by Stan Peterson

I can so easily compartmentalize my life and separate it into nice, easy-to-manage little chunks.

I wake up early, spend time with my Lord, run off to work, come home, love my wifey and kids, eat dinner, do family devos, check the computer, send off a couple of e-mails, make a couple of phone calls, read from my book, then go to bed!!!!! I can do all these things, but without faith I am just a dead man walking.

I can go through the motions and say all the right things but on the inside be filled with bitterness, anger, criticism, and self pity. I might be passionless, without joy, without peace, without love … and BEARING NO FRUIT! I might be merely existing and not living out the life that God has intended me to live, the abundant life (John 10:10).

Life might be wasted because I did not seek the One who gave it to me, and failed to see and hear the Lord in the “little things of life” — because I was too busy. I might miss the beautiful sunrise stretching forth over Mt. Rainier, while working on the 27th floor of the Columbia Tower. I might miss being able to encourage a coworker as he tries to open up to me about his life. I could fail to see and meet the need of my beautiful wife when I come home and not make couch time (conversation time). I might walk right past my daughter, who is begging me to come swing her, as I take out the trash and do my duties around the yard.

But oh! how wonderful our God is when I am abiding in Christ. He gently prompts me to walk in the opposite spirit, so I miss less and less of the really important things in life. I am reminded of His mercies and grace, and of my ever-present need for them. I can access the wonderful power that is greater than the power of sin in my life. I experience His love for me and the payment He made, that I am His and He is mine. The Spirit and I work together and I am washed with His great and marvelous Word!

These powerful truths wash over me like a flood, and I am renewed by them and marked by them. The affections of my heart are made alive for my Lord. I am reminded that I am more than a conqueror, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

May our hearts be made alive together in Him to His Glory.

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