2012-11-16
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, I was led to write about the message of the little book of Joel concerning the coming Day of the Lord when judgment will be accomplished. JL 3: 2, 12 are only partly about the judgment of ancient Israel, and have application to our time that we must be accountable to the Lord. [The Lord speaking] “I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehsoshaphat [Judgment]. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My inheritance, My people Israel, for they scattered My people among the nations and divided up my land... Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.” How can we choose to waste the agony our Lord Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane and His blood shed on the cross for us? [LK 22: 45-46; LK 26: 41-46]. Imagine how the Father feels at the presence on the Temple Mount of the Dome of the Rock at the very place where Herod’s temple once stood. Imagine His disappointment at seeing a modern day mosque being built below the surface, and how archeological evidence of the Jewish claim of 3000 years on this real estate is being tossed as rubble into the Kidron Valley. This judgment is a reality, but God offers us His help in avoiding the temptation that leads to such disrespect of what He already offers us.
A point of gratitude comes in Scriptural evidence of the temple of the Spirit being in the true believers. 1 COR 6: 19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought for a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” When tempted to abuse our bodies, we are defiling the “temple of the Holy Spirit!” It’s a good reason to avoid all the temptations around us which cause us to have compromised health-cigarettes, overeating, drugs, or whatever. Moreover, we are also housing His Kingdom on earth in our hearts. LK 17: 20-21, “Once having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The Kingdom of God does note come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is within you.” Surely, that is another reason why we should take good care of ourselves. We must remember that we are “new creations when in union with Christ Jesus” [2 COR 5: 17]. We do have the power to say “no,” when tempted to do evil and when tempted to not take care of these earthly bodies, which house the Spirit. If we pray to our God for His help, He is only too ready to give it. PS 46 :1, “God is our Refuge and Strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” The triumph over sin began in the Garden of Gethsemane [LK 22: 42] and was completed with Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection [LK 23: 45-46; LK 24: 2-6].
There are some truths that make avoiding temptation difficult. MK 14: 38 tells us, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” That reminds us that, “Your enemy the devil (our tempter) prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” [1 PET 5: 8]. This means we must be watchful. He is cunning and knows how to discover our weaknesses and go for them. In my case, he attacks me through my troubling relative’s behavior. But, there is very important reconnaissance we mustn’t forget. EPH 1: 18-20, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.” Yes, I cite this passage often, because it gives us comfort to know that we are fitted with the power to fend off temptation rather than to give in to it. Each of us has our own set of temptations, and we must be alert to what they are and when we are being tempted. Then, we can remember the presence and intervention of the Lord and to ask Him for them. While we can pray that temptation won’t come to us, it’s a fact that it may well. But we can also pray that God gives us this strength to fall back on and His help to avoid the devil’s work. As for our Lord Jesus, He can relate to our predicament, for certainly He Himself, experienced temptation. HE 4: 15-16, “For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then, approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” One example of Christ’s power to help came at the time that His impulsive disciple, Peter, cut off the ear of Malcus- a servant of the high priest- at the time of His own arrest. JN 18: 11, “Jesus commanded Peter, ‘Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?’” LK 22: 51 demonstrates Christ’s power and willingness to right a wrong, “But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And He touched the man’s [Malcus’] ear and healed him.” Our Lord Jesus set the example for us, and showed us that we can depend on Him to fend off temptation, if we only will.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before You with reverent hearts and heads bowed. This morning, we have been looking at some places in Your word, which reveal how You will help us in the face of temptation, when we have the wisdom to ask You for it. All of us have times of temptation, and the ones which should be our greatest battles are the ones which adversely affect us and many others when we give in to them. We are grateful that our Lord Jesus gave us the same power the Father used to raise Him from death to eternal life to do battle against the devil in spiritual warfare. Perhaps the most common temptation we have in our society is to be materialistic, greedy, and unkind to others. Today, I ask for prayers for all those people in business who think nothing of downsizing the careers of other employees in favor of greater remuneration for themselves, for bosses who don’t care about their subordinates, and for subordinates who feel no pride in their work or respect for their companies. Prayers are also needed for people from all walks of life who reject the Lord and refuse to turn to Him when help is needed. Our God has revealed, in PR 9: 10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” We can feel greatly comforted when we turn to the Lord and listen for His direction. PS 37: 23-24, “The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every details of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Yes, our Lord, really does care about their details of our lives. We should pray to know His will as well as secure His help. PS 143: 10, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” PS 4:1, “Answer me when I call to You, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer.” No matter what kind of distress we have from the work of the devil, You will hear our prayers and answer them [PS 116: 1]. For that and so much more, we offer You our thanks and praise in Christ’s holy/mighty name. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will look further into how God helps us when we have trouble with temptations. We will also see, at the behest of the Holy Spirit, how Christ’s choices are driven by His love. This will show readily how we are not facing the devil’s temptations alone. Not only are we well-equipped to battle him, but we, like the young David facing the giant Goliath [1 SAM 17: 45-49], come against him with our Lord God Almighty; we are on His team, the one that wins in the end. While the war we have against the devil hasn’t yet come to an end, it will. If we have faith in our God, then we know that the events in the book of Revelation that cover the end times and heaven beyond will come true. We can have confidence in approaching our Lord’s throne, because of what is said in EPH 3: 12. If ever we question Christ’s power against the devil, we can reread MT 4: 1-11, the story of His temptation in the wilderness. We should never forget how it ends, because that’s the same power we can remember to use when we face temptation. In any event, PS 145: 18-19 is true. “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.” There is great truth supporting this in PS 71: 20-21, “You send trouble and suffering to me, but You will restore my strength; You keep me from the grave; You make me better than ever; You will comfort me again.” This important reconnaissance will help us to face the enemy with the confidence that we can prevent him from drawing us down, down, down toward disaster. We are on God’s team, the winning one! Praise and thanks be to our Lord forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.
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