"BEWARE"

"Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"  (Jude 9)

Football coaches did much to get us into good physical and mental condition for games, e.g., plays prepared, what to expect, etc.  What they did not do is tell us to trash-talk the opponent.  The U. S. Government and press are doing exactly that towards Vladimir Putin.  I have one response to them:  STUPID.  The only result of trash-talk is to make the opponent an even more formidable opponent, and in Putin's case, more likely to take measures which will lead to more and more tragic results.  We all are familiar with the phrase, "a cornered rat."

Our text has always been a caution to me when doing "spiritual warfare."  I remember a number of times when entering the Pergamum Museum in Berlin, Germany, that I sensed a grave caution from our Lord Jesus to walk in as did, "Michael the archangel...."  This is not fear, but an awareness that this is not just a summer Bible School or Pentecostal shoutin' meeting.  Warfare of any kind, physical or spiritual, is a gravity of life, the latter of which, has eternal consequences.  "See to it that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise...."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray we all, "walk circumspectly."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Hebrews 12:2