Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. II Tim. 2
And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. Mk. 4
The above scriptures show two types of "Christians".
One type carefully guards his life so he can stay free to serve God. For if we allow ourselves to become entangled with the situations of this life, we bind ourselves with the entanglement. You can't "fight" the battles of God (the real war) if you are bound up with the projects and cares of this life. So that good soldier recognizes this and keeps free whenever possible.
Recently I decided to look into changing TV service. I felt I might be paying too much for my satellite system. But when I checked carefully, I found I would only save a very small amount by switching and the price would go up after a few months to that which I currently pay. But the greatest problem for me would be the disruption that would come if I had a person come into my house and install new equipment. If I did that, I would not be free to read the Bible. It would consume me in the secular project. I was so glad when I got the facts and decided not to do this project.
These entanglements keep us from serving God.
Comparing this to a "good soldier" ... The good soldier takes care not to be captured by the enemy. For he cannot serve in his army if the enemy ties him up. If he is bound hand and foot with ropes, he cannot be a good soldier. All these secular activities are like ropes that bind us. It can take days or even weeks for us to be restored after we get bound up.
The second type of person is that person who hears the word of God but all the projects eat him up. He makes wrong choice and chooses to follow flesh and do the projects or involve himself with people and he is consumed. Thus Jesus explained he cannot do the word of God because the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the
lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh
unfruitful
So it is very important for us to avoid unnecessary entanglements ...
Also when we are entangled with the affairs of this life, it sometimes takes weeks before we can be fully restored to the position we were in before we became entangled.
And we cannot hear properly from God nor can we do the work of God until we are completely restored.
The same thing happens when we allow ourselves to go into strife with another person. We cannot read the Bible properly nor hear from God nor do the work of God until everything has been worked through and we have come to a state of peace again where that person is concerned. It can take days or even weeks to be restored and in the meantime we cannot do the work of God. I hate this condition and I recognize it and I really try to avoid it whenever possible knowing it will stop the Holy Spirit and cripple me for days or weeks.
===========================