Grenade
WORD PICTURE: GRENADE
Scriptural Reference: Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
1. Have someone(s) read the scriptures from various translations.
2. Show a toy grenade or a photo of a real one. Describe Joyce Meyer’s idea that we need to use the Word of God like spiritual grenades -- that although spiritual enemies come in many forms, we are more than equipped because the Bible provides us “spiritual grenades” with which we can bomb those targets right smack out of our lives.
3. My sharing, offered to spark sharing by others.
What I Shared
I recently had to fight off an old familiar enemy of mine by the name of People-Pleasing (aka Fear of Man). I am going to attempt to share about this as honestly as I can. Hopefully this will stir up the pot and get YOUR ideas flowing.
Almost a year ago to the day, I defeated people-pleasing in my life and spent the ensuing year practicing -- and doing pretty well I thought -- until last week. At that point, I said yes to something just because it was an answered prayer. I guess I thought, “I prayed for this -- I guess I should help.” Wrong! I am learning to treat the word “should” as if I am cursing.
The long story short is that I had to go through a rather agonizing process in order to realize I’d made a mistake. People-pleasing had camouflaged itself and tricked me and now I had to bomb it out of my life again.
Mostly what I had to bomb was fear -- fear that I was not a “nice person” unless I was willing to help with something I had suggested in the first place. So the grenades I took out were as follows:
I am who Christ says I am. I am to go God’s way, not mine or any other man’s. There is no condemnation in having made a mistake-- it’s just me learning to walk out what I had already learned. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me -- so I did -- I quit. I am committed to concentrating on what I DO do, and leave the spot open for the person God intends elsewhere.
In short, I learned so much through this, it could take all night. But the main thing was the need to use the Word of God to bomb the enemy and clear the way for what God wants in my life. Two other expressions come to mind at this point: “sword of the Lord” and “cannon of the Lord.”
Now it’s your meeting!
All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible (NIV).
Copyright by Whitney McKendree Moore, March 2007