Three things God dropped in my heart this morning as I spent time in His Word. As stern as they seem, they’re three things I believe every Christian must learn to do and teach others to do, too. They encouraged and challenged me. If you are a Christ follower, I pray they do the same for you...

1. Sound the alarm. Don’t grow weary or be silent. Stay alert and on guard.

2. Remove from harm. We are not saviors, but we can be harbingers.

3. Equip and arm. (Ephesians 6:10-20) God equips us with His whole armor. Each piece plays an important role in the battle plan. It is not enough to just know about it. We cannot live without it. Armor up, and teach others to do the same.

As I was reading in James 4 this morning, I was reminded that as believers, we cannot be “friends” with the world. To be a friend with the world is to be an enemy of God. It’s adultery. I’m not being hyperbolic. That’s what the Word says. (James 4:4) We can love our neighbors (Mark 12:31) and even love our enemies (Matt 5:44) without getting into bed with them. As Christians, we are to be set apart. To be set apart is to be different from the world. The ways of the world and the ways of the Word are not the same. We must live by God’s standard, lest we be enamored by the world’s glamor. We cannot be Christians in name only. We must bear fruit (Matt 6:17).

We are either following God and living by His Word (walking with Him) or we are chasing things of this world (turning our back on Him). We cannot do both.

As I read the Word this morning (James 4 and Ephesians 6 specifically), I couldn’t help but think of a time years ago when God illustrated these truths for me through a real life experience. When our oldest son was young, maybe 2 or 3, we had just returned home from somewhere that he had gotten a balloon. If you’re a mom, I’m sure you remember those days well, or maybe you’re living them now. We had on street parking at our house in town, so we were teaching him to get out of the car on the side of the sidewalk and house as opposed to getting out on the side of the street. We had gotten him out of the car and he was standing on the sidewalk with his ballon, when suddenly, he let go of this prized possession. Instead of taking off into the air, the balloon hovered low to the ground and danced down the sidewalk and out into the street. Like most toddlers would, Joshua naturally just chased after the balloon. And this is where the split second scary situation transitions to the slo-mo “Chariots of Fire” pace as my husband raced to the rescue shouting, “Stop!” He saw a car coming down the street straight toward this oblivious little boy enamored by his runaway balloon, and this father did everything in his power to...

Sound the alarm. (Shout.) Remove from harm. (Pick him up and carry him to safety.) And equip and arm. (Talk to him about future dangerous situations.)