“Do Not Lose Your Rewards”

Collosians 2:18-19 (KJV) “Let no man BEGUILE you of your REWARD in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the HEAD, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of GOD.”

I recently spoke and wrote on “THE BEGUILEMENT OF THE CHURCH” so now since Paul has brought it up again, I will attempt to say more about the “THE BEGUILEMENT OF THE CHURCH” and how Satan wants you to lose your reward and why. He is still, after all of these years, trying to make a liar out of GOD and trying to get humans to obey him instead of being obedient to GOD. If you’ll remember, satan had declared that he wanted to take over GOD’s throne, in other words he wanted to be GOD. That’s why he was cast out of heaven.

In 1 Corinthians 3:14 (KJV) Paul is writing to those Christians at Corinth about the TRIAL that all Christians will go through and he says “If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward” I am very sure that you and I are not working to obtain these  REWARDS but are working for CHRIST because we LOVE HIM and HIS CHURCH, but never-the-less REWARDS are stored up in HEAVEN for us because of that work. Of course Satan can not stand to see anyone HAPPY or to receive any REWARDS for the work that they do for CHRIST’S KINGDOM, so he does his best to cause us to do and think FLESHLY THINGS so we will lose some of those rewards in hopes that that loss, will make us angry with GOD and cause us not to continue to serve HIM as we should. So, satan use men, and a lot times those that he uses are our FRIENDS and FAMILY, to discourage us and cause us to walk away from our service to GOD. Now, let me say this, very quickly, that these FRIENDS and FAMILY, are not doing these things on purpose to hurt us but are fooled or BEGULIED by satan so that the “SPREADING of the GOSPEL” will be impeded and so that lost souls will not come to believe in CHRIST or will not become BORN AGAIN, and also to cause unsuspecting CHRISTIANS to actually be found “FIGHTING” against GOD and HIS PURPOSE. Now let us look at this first statement: “voluntary humility and worshipping of angels”:

This phrase really means to, of your own free will, will bow down and worship angels instead of God the Father, Jesus, in other words, God in all of his entirety, ALL that HE is. There is nothing wrong with angels or believing that they are real, because they are real, VERY REAL, and are among us here on earth, they exist in this world for a PURPOSE, which is, as MESSENGERS, to bring us good news of GOD’s presense among us, to bring us comfort of GOD’s WORD, comfort that GOD has placed them here and around us to sometimes protect and guide us, and I believe has assigned some to each “BORN AGAIN” person, read with me:

Matthew 18:10  (KJV)  “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven THEIR angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”. They show us that GOD is REAL and that they are protecting us for HIM.

We are not to worship them but know that they come from GOD and are to assure us that HE IS ALWAYS with us, to keep us safe and comforted. But as I said earlier that we are not to WORSHIP them or put them in the place in our lives that is RESERVED for GOD only. These people that are teaching that you should revere or worship ANGELS are, as Paul says in these verses, “INTRUDING INTO” areas that they have no right to be delving into. They are trying to get you to place these beings in the wrong place in your life, they are sent by GOD but are not GOD. Those that would teach these things are, as Paul says: “intruding into” things and areas that GOD has not taught or led them to, and continues on to say that they are “..vainly puffed up by (their) fleshly mind.” Paul goes on to say “..not holding the head..” And of course you and I know that we are to have the “MIND OF CHRIST” we are the BODY not the HEAD. We are to WORK–WORSHIP  and WITNESS as the HEAD of the CHURCH, which is JESUS, leads us to do.

We as the BODY of CHRIST are nothing without the HEAD. We would just be floundering around accomplishing nothing, being useless. Paul, then goes on to talk about “JOINTS AND BANDS” which are the LIGAMENTS and NERVES or all of the other sensory things that the HEAD uses to control the the arms, legs, feet, mouth, ears, eyes or all of the rest of the BODY that the mind controls. They are the things that KNIT us together and cause us to work as a TEAM, as a CHURCH, if you please. The BODY without the HEAD, without JESUS the CHRIST, could do nothing, could have no increase. Brothers and Sisters we have got to work together, through the LOVE that GOD has put within us or we will accomplish nothing for CHRIST. But if we LOVE one another as CHRIST LOVED us, we will be a powerful witness for GOD,  and a GIANT of a witness for the KINGDOM, and GOD will continue to USE US. Each individual of the BODY supplying their part to cause that increase. HANG IN THERE, Brothers and Sisters in CHRIST, keep on LOVING, keep on PRAYING, keep on WORKING, and GOD will KEEP ON USING US.