Tempering our Weapon. Revised and amplified.

 In Isaiah 52:12, the Prophet declares:

“But you will not go in haste or go in flight;
For the Lord will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
Isn't it comforting to know that we don't have to watch our back, that the Lord protects from the attacks of the enemy from behind? All we have to do is keep our armor on, take up our shield of faith and the sword of His Word and use them efficiently. See a list of our spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:10-18

As spiritual warriors, we have spiritual weapons to combat and defeat the enemy in prayer and gain the victory in life. We are also figuratively speaking essentially a weapon in the hand of our captain of the Host. Speaking of the servant of the Lord (which we are), Isaish declares:
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
³ He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. ”
⁴ But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.” Isaiah 49:2-4

The enemy knows our weaknesses and uses this knowledge in his schemes to try and defeat us. But, the Lord will help us in our weaknesses if we recognize them and ask for help.
Another way our enemy attacks is in our place of strength. We run the risk of being defeated in those areas because we are prone to self-sufficiency and independence. If we rely in our own strength, the enemy will encourage us to move in our own ways and will defeat us.

Usually there are 2 ways we can react to adversity.
• First, we can think that it's the devil's work and ask God to rebuke him by the authority of Jesus’ name.
• Second, we can realize that the Lord is sovereign and the devil can only do what the Lord allows him to do and that the Lord is providing us with an opportunity to strengthen us and teach us an enduring lesson thus helping us to mature.

In Isaiah 54:14-17, the Lord declares:
“In righeousness, you will be established;
You will be far from oppression,
For you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not
Come near you.
If anyone attacks you, it will not be my doing
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.” (or will fall because of you).
16: See, "it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.
17: And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc;
no weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you." (The tongue that speaks the lies of the devil against us directly or indirectly)
this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from me."

One thing I learned when I took a course in forging metal during my technical studies is that you use different kinds of cooling agents to temper the metal that you are trying to shape. Perhaps we could use the analogy of the forge and tempering with oil to understand the way the Lord works in our life to make us an instrument ready to use.

In forging, the blacksmith heats the metal to a certain color that indicates that the metal is ready for a certain application. If he wants the metal to be very hard, but brittle, he heats it to a glowing red, almost white and cools it very rapidly in water. If he wants to be able to work with the metal, he brings it to a blue and plunges it in oil which allows a slower cooling to provide resilience to the metal.
The piece of metal doesn't say to the blacksmith: Ouch, I don't like the way you are pounding on me and heating me up and cooling me down. 

 

…https://lightnseed.blogspot.com/2014/03/tempering-our-weapons.htmlDrip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it. 9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker— one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? 10Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”  Isaiah 45:9

 

 

 
Sometimes in our Christian life we need the cool refreshing water of the Spirit to soothe our souls. However, there are times when the Lord is trying to purify us, make us more resilient, more usable, less brittle and breakable. I Corinthians 13:4 says: “Love is not easily angered.” Are we sometimes brittle, easily offended and engage in spiritual joust with our brothers using Bible verses, swinging our sword to prove that we are right?

So the Lord uses His Spirit as the oil to cool his weapon or instrument down.
This requires patience on our part as we have to let Him do His work in us until He says that the season of preparation is over and we are able to be used by Him for His purpose. Look at verse 16 again.
And this comes right after the beautiful chapter 53 on our Lord Jesus-Christ, the suffering servant. What a lesson!

When the blacksmith wants to fan the fire, he directs the bellows in one focused place and that place radiates heat throughout all the cooling coals and that's the spot where he plunges the metal. So sometimes the Lord will concentrate on one spot in our life and we have to stay there until we understand what He is trying to do, and decide to let Him mold and forge us into an instrument that he can use after tempering us with the oil of the Spirit . That's His prerogative as the Lord of our lives.

Jean-Louis

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Preparing the Way for Jesus' Second Coming

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon

Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, Build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
The Lord has made proclamation
To the ends of the earth:
“Say to the Daughter of Zion,
See, your Savior comes!
See, His reward is with Him,
And His recompense accompanies Him".
Isaiah 62:10,11.

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, the 1st advent, in the power of Elijah.

Now we Christians have to do our part to prepare the way of the Lord for His glorious appearing, the second advent. Matthew 3:3 declares: “It’s the voice of a man crying in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for Him”. Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. John the Baptist is the one who would prepare the way according to his father Zacharia´s prophecy in Luke 1:76-79 (NASB):

“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Interestingly enough Elijah performed many miracles, but John performed none.

Ways to follow in John´s footsteps and prepare the way for the Lord’s second comingAs John was preaching repentance and heralding the first coming of Christ in the flesh, so the main work of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus-Christ through words and deeds in preparation for His second Coming as King and Judge of all the earth.

Jesus said: “Among those born of women there is none greater than John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he". 

 

How is it possible? 

 

Here the Lord is making a direct connection with the attitude of John (He must increase, I must decrease) and the attitude that should be the distinct characteristic of the servant of God found in Philippians 2:5. 

 

In the eyes of the Savior, humility and faithfulness in announcing the Gospel of Salvation and knowing and obeying the Lord is more important than being perceived as a great spiritual leader by performing miracles, signs and wonders.

 

In chapter 13 of John, Jesus shows His disciples how to serve one another.
With the right attitude of a servant:

• Kneeling is a posture of humility, and readiness for service.
• Taking his clothes off  shows vulnerability (figuratively).
• Acceptance of others, whoever they may be (not acceptance of or participation in their sins or their sinful life style) 
Ex: Judas who was not a true believer was not sent away until before Jesus started the teaching on the Holy Spirit which can be shared only with true believers. He not only allowed Judas to partake of the last supper, but He also washed His feet.
• Focus on the work at hand: Jesus who knew that Judas was about to betray Him didn’t rebuke him and send him away. He was focused and refused to be distracted by His knowledge of the heart of man and the terrible next few days leading up to His death.

A little further down, Jesus tells His disciples: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” and elsewhere “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. It is wonderful to receive instructions from our Lord and to get the understanding from the Holy Spirit, but the blessing comes from applying the teaching of life and truth which results in bearing fruit.

Jesus’ teaching is not only about the spiritual side of life but also about practical preparation. The work of God is done on both levels. Luke 12: 42, 43 tells us that the faithful servant feeds the other workers their portion of food, at the right time. But before that, the table must be set, the floor cleaned, the chairs properly arranged. Is it not the duty of the deacons or the persons in charge in the church to make sure that everything is ready in order for the service to begin and for the pastor to feed the flock with the Word of God?

Old Testament examples of preparing the way for others
When Israel was in the desert, the Angel of the Lord went before the people preparing the way for them. The 12 spies were sent to the land before the Israelites were to go in. The 2 spies went to Jericho before the army marched around and defeated its inhabitants. David prepared the way for Solomon to build the temple by giving to him the instructions and the plans that the Lord had revealed to him.
The prophets prepared the way by proclaiming the word of the Lord before a battle or when instructing the people of Israel.

Examples found in the New Testament as well 
Jesus sent Peter and John to prepare the way for the Lord to have the Passover supper with His disciples. In Acts 19:9 the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him not to fear the Corinthians because He had many people in this city. He was preparing the way for Paul to preach, teach and plant churches. And even now the Lord Himself is preparing the way for us to meet Him one day soon and be with Him eternally. He is preparing us a new tabernacle to dwell in, a new glorified body fit for heaven.

Jesus said: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s kingdom there are many dwelling places, I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am”. What marvelous words of comfort from the very lips of our Lord and Savior!

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to reveal to us the Lord Jesus, His person, His works in us and through us. 

The people of Israel were to follow the presence of the Lord in the ark of the covenant. Now under the new covenant of the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer guiding him, instructing him what to do, where to go, what to say and how to say it just as the Father did with His son Jesus while He was on this earth. 

We will know where to go and what to do because our Lord Jesus delights in revealing His will to His faithful servants who want to do His will and please Him in everything. Joshua 3:4-5 (NIV)
Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.” Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

The Lord has given His body various positions of leadership and various spiritual gifts to help us grow and do the works of service, but it is the responsibility of all the members to be diligent and not only serve others, but prepare the way so each of us might serve more effectively.

Ways in which we can prepare the way to help other people 

For example, a husband not only helps his wife by praying for her and with her, but also anticipates her needs, physical and emotional. He can relieve the burden of a hard day, by helping her with the household chores or taking care of the children. This is not only washing her feet and washing with the water of the word, but preparing the path on which she will walk more safely, surely and securely.

Let's remember that we are sheep and we follow, but also shepherds who go in front of whoever the Lord has given us to watch over and to prepare the way for them to follow the great and good Shepherd more closely. We can also warn the people of the many stumbling blocks and traps from the enemy, remove the stones, so to speak and make their paths smoother.

A neighbor can do the same by praying for a neighbor’s salvation and provides some help and fellowship in order to show them the love of Christ and witness to them and invite them to church.

All this can be done to prepare the way for the Lord coming. This is a way to help all parts of the body of Christ, our brothers and sisters to grow into the fullness that the Lord intended for us.

Someone helped us and prepared the way by showing us kindness and talking to us about the Lord Jesus and how to be saved. May each of us do the same and in this way fulfill the commands of our Lord to reproduce and produce good fruits for His kingdom and His glory.

In closing, here is a quote from the New Testament looking forward to the time in which the Lord will bring down the New Jerusalem from Heaven:

In Revelation, we find the same words of promise spoken in Isaiah by the Savior Himself:
“Behold, I am coming soon!
My reward is with me
And I will give to everyone
According to what he has done…
Blessed are those who wash their robes
That they may have the right to the tree of life
And go through the gates into the city”. Revelation 22:12,14.
Amen, Come Lord Jesus.  

                                          

                                            _________________________

Written and published by Jean-Louis Mondon November 2009. Revised February 2026.

 

COPYRIGHT NOTICE:  © [2026] [Jean-Louis Mondon] All Rights Reserved.