Today Our Daily Bread Jude

Jude
Greetings from Jude
1This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James. I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and the care of Jesus Christ.
2May you receive more and more of God's mercy, peace, and love.
The Danger of False Teachers
3Dearly loved friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the truth of the Good News. F1 God gave this unchanging truth once for all time to his holy people. 4I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you, saying that God's forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives. The fate of such people was determined long ago, for they have turned against our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5I must remind you—and you know it well—that even though the Lord F2 rescued the whole nation of Israel from Egypt, he later destroyed every one of those who did not remain faithful. 6And I remind you of the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the day of judgment. 7And don't forget the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with sexual immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and are a warning of the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil.
8Yet these false teachers, who claim authority from their dreams, live immoral lives, defy authority, and scoff at the power of the glorious ones. F3 9But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse Satan of blasphemy, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you." (This took place when Michael was arguing with Satan about Moses' body.) 10But these people mock and curse the things they do not understand. Like animals, they do whatever their instincts tell them, and they bring about their own destruction. 11How terrible it will be for them! For they follow the evil example of Cain, who killed his brother. Like Balaam, they will do anything for money. And like Korah, they will perish because of their rebellion.
12When these people join you in fellowship meals celebrating the love of the Lord, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. F4 They are shameless in the way they care only about themselves. They are like clouds blowing over dry land without giving rain, promising much but producing nothing. They are like trees without fruit at harvesttime. They are not only dead but doubly dead, for they have been pulled out by the roots. 13They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the dirty foam of their shameful deeds. They are wandering stars, heading for everlasting gloom and darkness.
14Now Enoch, who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied about these people. He said,
"Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of his holy ones.
15 He will bring the people of the world to judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against him." F5
16These people are grumblers and complainers, doing whatever evil they feel like. They are loudmouthed braggarts, and they flatter others to get favors in return.
A Call to Remain Faithful
17But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you, 18that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to enjoy themselves in every evil way imaginable. 19Now they are here, and they are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They live by natural instinct because they do not have God's Spirit living in them.
20But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. And continue to pray as you are directed by the Holy Spirit. F6 21Live in such a way that God's love can bless you as you wait for the eternal life that our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy is going to give you. 22Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. 23Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There are still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren't contaminated by their sins. F7
A Prayer of Praise
24And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy. 25All glory to him, who alone is God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Yes, glory, majesty, power, and authority belong to him, in the beginning, now, and forevermore. Amen.

FOOTNOTES:F1: Greek to contend for the faith. F2: Some manuscripts read Jesus. F3: The glorious ones are probably evil angels. F4: Or they are contaminants among you, or they are stains. F5: The quotation comes from the Apocrypha: Enoch 1:9. F6: Greek Pray in the Holy Spirit. F7: Greek mercy, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh. ~Lena's Journalin'~
This scripture today is so precious. It is like an outline of purpose. Why do we get saved, why do we walk in faith, not wavering, why to we chose a pathway of life and stay on it? Jude seems to answer all of those questions here.
There is an Anti-Christ spirit in the earth that comes to anyone unknowing of its ploys and offers itself to anyone who will give 'er an ear to listen. It is the spirit of lies and there is no truth at all, anywhere, in it. It masks itself with sweetness, excuses, toleration, and most of all sympathy. We as soldiers and warriors in God's Mighty army must come to recognize and resist and then come against its plight. It only has death as its ultimate promise, in it there is no life. Yes, it may be alive right now and it may seem to be having a great and jolly time, it even bring a certain kind of comfort to the soul, but its end is utter destruction, utter turmoil, its destination is eternal fire.
As is so clearly written here, it is only one portion to "get saved", to be Born Again by God's spirit, but God has made each of us, has redeemed each one of us, and has purposed for each one of us to join His army and be victorious over our own personal enemies and then join in the fight against His. If we do not continue in the faith walk, we have only begun and then quit. God's work barely started and what He had planned in the earth, the assembly of His mighty faithful and true ones, does not come to pass.
Are you a defender of truth? Not your own personal opinion of truth, but truth? God's word of truth. This does not mean you argue and go on strike and picket and boycott (necessarily). It means you live it, you speak it in your own household, with your own circumstances, to your own enemies, first. See that is the true test, that we live truth at home, when all hell tries to break loose over us, in our personal relationships, in our workplaces, in our physical bodies and against our personal faith. Do you defend truth that way?
I'm gonna close today with this one thing.
Truth is found in the demonstration of obedience to God. What has God told you to do? Either through His word, through a church leader who brings the word to you and watches for your soul, or inside of your own spirit; words and ideas that line up with His words? What has He said or asked? Most of what He presents to us are not great ideas and schemes that we have the option to follow. It's not give and take or take and leave it advice. Can I tell you that the #1 enemy , the #1 symptom of an Anti-Christ spirit is disobedience and rebellion? If ever you feel yourself (your old uncovenantal, uncircumcised flesh nature) rise up against anything God is telling you, especially through human and imperfect people, you've got to rise up with the spirit of Christ that is inside of you and resist that rebellion to God! Rebellion was the initiator of Lucifer's fall (which is mentioned here) and any agreement with that spirit, takes us right outside of the blessing territory and into the cursing territory.
What has God said to you? Stop doing such and such and so and so? Have you, trusting the Christ in you that will strengthen you and will lead you to victory? Or did you listen to an enemy who came to you afterwods and said- "hath God said...ya know He's merciful and He REALLY did not MEAN that LITERALLY"? If you've listened to that voice of reason, rise up today and tell that small insignificant voice to leave, to stop speaking in your ear. Use the word of God as Jesus did, "It is written.....MY sheep hear and follow after My voice and the voice of a stranger they will NOT follow!" Amen
Repent, make a change, cause a turn around today! Join the heavenly host of truth and righteousness, stand for righteousness, fall for nothing and no one. Not sin, not lies, not darkness, not sickness (which many, many times is due to the curse of disobedience, the effect of no blessing of walking outside of His will). John 1:14
So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.