What Christians Can Learn from David's Old Weapons?

The Bible has the story of King Joash and the wicked queen, his paternal grandmother Athaliah.  As you know that Athaliah had done the unthinkable.  I could not imagine how a grandmother could move so heartlessly to kill her whole family so nobody would rival her.  She carried out the order when Ahaziah had died and so had her hellish mother Jezebel.  One may realize that Athaliah was a Feminazi to the very core by her actions.  Feminazis today consider her a victim of chauvinism but she is not.  The problem was not her gender but her illegitimate six year reign.  She was guilty of treason herself.  She didn't want to lose whatever power she can grab and she was a very power hungry queen... and I would be led to believe he manipulated her husband Jehoram to kill his siblings.  What the father Jehoshaphat did, the son Jehoram did... which Athaliah was involved for eight years as a queen, one year as queen mother during Ahaziah's reign and six years as sole ruler, which was not a legitimate position.

Joash was raised in the Jewish Temple built by Solomon for seven years.  Athaliah thought she had already won but Jehosheba feared God.  She took Joash the youngest son of King Ahaziah.  It was time to announce the rightful heir to get rid of the wicked queen.  The High Priest Jehoiada started the rally.  I just thought that the odd marriage of Jehosheba who was very young to a very old man Jehoiada was most likely to insult her.  But it was by God's favor that this happened.  And at this point, Jehosheba whether or not she was Athaliah's daughter, wasn't the issue.  She certainly did not approve of the ways of her father Jehoram but of her grandfather Jehoshaphat and her great-grandfather Asa who brought revival to the land.  But Jehoshaphat committed the grave mistake by having his son Jehoram marry that nasty woman Athaliah.

In 2 Kings 11:10 and 2 Chronicles 23:9, we read of David's old spears and shields.  What was amazing was that they were kept in good condition in the Temple of Solomon.  As you know, Athaliah desecrated the Temple, she made Baal worship the official religion of Judah hence the curse up to the fourth generation.  And on the seventh year, everything was going to be a rude awakening for a wicked Feminazi queen.  The wicked Feminazi had it coming.  The spears and shields were used by the men of God, to protect the new king from the wickedness that was Athaliah.  If Athaliah knew he existed, she would have him killed to stay in power.  But with the old spears and shields, they did the impossible, to protect the rightful king and slay the illegitimate queen as intended.

What can then we learn from the old weapons?  Today I am not talking about the local New Testament churches having spears and shields or old rifles.  But we have old but timeless weapons that we can use against the battle in the spiritual realm.  Remember that the struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, against powers.  And the old weapons that are still in the Church remain are given to God.  Remember these old weapons are what can topple down the terrors of the likes of Athaliah:

1.) The Bible.  

Ephesians 6:17 calls God's Word as a sword.  God's Word is sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).  One many consider how the Bible though scoffed by men, is able to pierce through the consciences of people.  I have observed how many people who at one point say that the Bible is just a fairy tale book are desperate to debunk it all the time.  Ironic isn't it?  It's because the Bible is able to cut through the conscience and remove false doctrine.  

Isaiah 29:11-13 has the sealed Book, the Book which was sealed and cannot be read, the other cannot read because he or she was not learned.  That was one of the greatest strategies of the Devil to prevent people from going near the Bible.  Forbid it and keep people ignorant.  

The Dark Ages had the Bible as an outlawed book which could not be read except with permission of any Roman Catholic authority at the order of the Pope.  William Tyndale a great Baptist preacher was burnt to a crisp by the Roman Catholic institution for sharing the Word of God.  John Huss a born again Christian prior to the Reformation, was burnt to a crisp for the same reason.  Martin Luther was outlawed for printing the Bible in German.  In Muslim states, the Bible is also a banned book.  They consider it a threat to their Koran.  They are aware of the dangers of an open Bible.  So that's they they have outlawed it!

Another strategy was to keep people ignorant.  I simply scorn at the idea of atheists who say that Christians are anti-intellectual never mind what truly happened in history.  Under Mao Zedong's regime and Pol Pot's regime, these atheist dictators killed the learned.  It was figured out that they killed the learned because of fear of the Bible.  The same goes with North Korea, purposely keeping people ignorant.  If they said that the Bible is just a book of fiction, why do the fear it so much?  It is because they hate life, they love death (Proverbs 8:26).  It should be funny for a group of people who think the Bible is utter fiction and a fairy tale, however display by their actions, their hatred for God.

2,) Prayer to God 

Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29 talk about prayer and fasting.  

Prayer is the very communication with God.  Famous preachers like Charles Haddon Spurgeon talked about prayer.  True prayer is true power.  Prayer is the very act of worship, to God and Him alone and prayer is to Him alone.  Christians are taught to worship God in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).  1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing.

Now what does it mean to pray without ceasing?  Does this mean to be in your knees all the time and never get up?  Not at all.  Instead, to pray without ceasing is to understand, always have the attitude of prayer towards God.  To pray without ceasing is to be in His will.  To pray without ceasing is to have this attitude always, "Prayer does not change God, it changes me."  Prayer is the very communication with the Father.

It shames me really when I fail to pray my morning prayer.  If a Roman Catholic could set time to wake up early to pray the Rosary for fifteen minutes, why could I set prayer time with God from the heart and increase it?  Charles H. Spurgeon on prayer said, "A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church."
But there is the problem... why are our prayers not effective?  Remember do not treat God as a genie or a personal fairy.  God cannot go against His holy nature.  For example if I pray that the President dies, God will certainly not answer that.  But if I ask God for the President's salvation,  He will certainly honor it.  James 4:3 warns that none must pray to God for our own convenience but rather ask God's help that we may glorify Him.

Another problem is sin.  As said never come unto God with sin one hand and prayer in the other.  For example, what shall we make it for a husband who begs pardon from his wife but he is at the same time being intimate with his paramour?  Certainly he had made a fool out of himself.  What shall we say of the servant who begs for forgiveness but hides a dagger?  Certainly that is treachery.  Isaiah 59:1-2 has God say that you must confess your sins.  And perhaps we ask, what are we praying for?  Are we asking God to change or Him to change us?

Now what about fasting? Certainly I do not talk about mandatory fasting like the 40 days of Lent but rather, I talk about voluntary fasting.  Sometimes, we need to fast to spend time with God.  Skip a meal or two.  And fasting in the Bible in Isaiah 58:6 says about fasting is to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free?  The problem with most people with fasting is that they simply make it an excuse for sin.  They fast for 40 days like avoiding meat (1 Timothy 4:1-3) and then after that, they go back to their sinful lives.

One may consider this to be an act of fasting.  One may start to actually do some menial labor not for public approval but because one wants to reach out.  One may assist one's servants by making their jobs easier without making them lazy.  For example, Christian leaders may play genuine concern over their employees like giving them better pay for hard work, being  kind to them, not being oppressive but rather possessing both firmness and gentleness.  Remember it's not good for a person to be overly strict as it is njot good for a person to be overly lenient.

3.) Soulwinning

You cannot get rid of door to door evangelism.  Acts 20:20 has the example of door-to-door preaching.  I just thought of a few examples of soulwinning methods was with Evangelist Ray Comfort of Living Waters though none of them may beat the achievements of Spurgeon, Gill or any classical Christian preachers.  But we do have evangelism as a weapon.  Door to door evangelism is a very powerful weapon that changes lives.

But the problem can be this weapon can be a  blunt knife as well.  Modern evangelistic methods today fail to attack sin.  I could remember listening to Ray Comfort's "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversion".  Both excellent videos on Youtube showed why today evangelism is a blunt knife and a rubber bullet because it fails to really attack the core issues that need to be attacked... to which the issue is SIN!  Today, many modernistic preachers have deduced the Gospel to merely "receiving Christ", signing a decision card and "repeat after me".

Remember Jesus Christ DID NOT say, "Who in here wants to ask me into their hearts..." but it's "REPENT ye and believe the Gospel..." as the preaching message.  The Gospel commands repentance of sin.  The Word of God is the seed, the problem is the condition of the soil.  Unless a person is convicted of sin, then we have the problem of the hard ground, the rock under the soil, the thorny ground and the good soil.  A good gardener removes all possible problems to planting.  Likewise, evangelism always must break the person down before they can even savingly believe.

Pastor Paul David Washer of Heartcry Missionary had stressed so many decisions for Christ which turn out to be false ones.  No tears, no sorrow, no repentance for their sins... I can't help but agree with what he said about false repentance going on.  People who do not know the severity of sin, don't repent of it cannot genuinely repent of their unbelief.  Now I don't expect a perfect repentance either but the problem is, unless a person repents of their sins, they will just turn God away.  And today, the dirty trick is to make them say the sinner's prayer, get them to attend a church that plays church and we declare them saved even if they are not.  Antinomians and false professors were never saved to begin with... and they are just as Hellbound as the Pharisees of today!  A proper evangelism tackles with sin and shows what sin is about.

3.) Christian lifestyle

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 that to let your good works shine before men.  Remember that Christians have their good works.  They are saved to serve and not to sin. But as saved Christians are, there are times they fall down.  Now while I certainly believe in the perseverance of the saints which distinguishes true and false converts, but Christians can stumble down to carnality for a time, but they never become carnal Christians.

So why is lifestyle so important?  There is the statement that Dr. John F. Macarthur saying, "You are the only Bible that the world will ever read.  The world doesn't judge you by your theology but by your ACTIONS."  And the problem today is, some Christians have compromised to a certain extent, even if they are not living wantonly.  Like you might end up finding a Christian who at a certain point failed to give the glory to God, another falls into an extramarital affair... although they are not habitually sinful, but such a sin can cause a testimony to break.  No wonder in Psalm 51 that David prayed to God to restore unto him the joy of salvation.

The call of the Christian is saved from sin, not saved in sin so show they must show the world the difference.  Titus 2:11-14 shows that the grace of God appears unto all men, to teach men unto good works to make Christians a peculiar people zealous unto good works.  James 2:18 would also say if you are truly saved, show it by your works.  True faith will bring forth works, faith without works is a dead faith but many times, Christians at times fail to produce fruit consistently.

Hebrews 12:5-6 and John 15:1-8 show that God has His remedies.  While the false convert is thrown away, He prunes the believer.  He cuts off every sin and excess from the believer so they bear more fruit.  God doesn't tolerate His children to sin and will not hesitate to spank them.  With a God who spanks me every time I sin, how can I live a life of sin aside from the fact that I'm grateful for saving me?  Christian good works defeat the dead works of unsaved men, to show the difference between the good work and works that are just for show business.

Bible studies, prayer and fasting, soulwinning and good works are timeless weapons in God's Church!