2013-07-05
Good Morning Dear Ones,
It’s not much fun to write about Christ’s enemies, but it’s very necessary. God gives us this reconnaissance in the Scriptures, because He wants us to be aware of them, their traits, why they are Christ’s enemies, and most of all, to remember that we have been given the same power the Father used to raise the Son from death to eternal life to overcome the devil and his agents. In 1 PET 5: 8 and JAS 4: 7, He reminds us, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour…Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” It can’t be clearer than that. Yes, Dear Fellow Believers, the enemies of the Trinity are also our enemies, due to our covenant relationship with our Lord.
The Lord has used all the writers in the Bible as His mouthpieces, and we should be grateful for that. Their messages are always consistent, and, even when emotionally painful to hear. They work toward the eventual victory of good over evil and establishment of the Kingdomof God. Let’s look at 2 COR 11: 13-15, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” The cunning evil one has many such agents working with him to bring about sadness, disaster, cruelty, and other things that don’t please God. At this juncture, I would be less than responsible if I didn’t bring up the issue of discernment. When our faith is strong, we begin to truly understand that our lives “in Christ” are actually a working covenant partnership with Him. We ask for discernment and wisdom; He grants it to those who ask with a genuine desire to remain righteous, just, and fair, as He is. PS 51: 6 and PS 119: 125, “Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom…I am Your servant. Give me understanding, so that I might understand Your teachings.” How remarkable that if we can’t think of how to ask the Lord in our own words for the same things, He gives us words to use! And if we are feeling timid or afraid, we can know God’s will through verses like 2 TIM 1: 7, “For what the Spirit of God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us the power of love and self-discipline.” We are reminded, EPH 3: 12, “In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
What is here so far is very general in nature, and it’s helpful to look at an example of how it applied from my own life. While I had been offered admission at BrandeisUniversity, I was unable to afford the tuition, let alone the trip to MA from CA at the time. So, I opted to put myself through, doing my undergraduate work at San FranciscoStateUniversity, carrying 21 units per semester and working the graveyard shift at a Chinese food factory and cooking in restaurants. This is a time in one’s life when he or she is trying to find what one’s career should be, what core beliefs should one take from home and which to reject, and establish what psychologists call his life script. For awhile, the peace-seeker in me looking for calm (where there was little to be had) and quiet time for study (also in short supply), was swept up in the Transcendental Meditation program from Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi. Please understand that there is nothing wrong with meditation unless it is used as a replacement for one’s core beliefs. In other words, meditation, if practiced, is just fine, however, it should not replace one’s religion. With the same immature gusto that Peter showed when Christ washed his feet [JN 13: 1-15], I went into this program headlong. Foolishly, I paid their fee to receive a mantra (a nonsense syllable to repeat in one’s mind during meditation). When I look back on the lack of wisdom in doing this, I realize how little sense this makes. Anyone can meditate with a syllable of one’s choice without the payment to an organized group. What I lacked was life’s experience to understand this. My ridiculous schedule continued throughout the ensuing years until I finally completed my schooling. Sadly, if today’s college students wanted to put themselves through, they couldn’t without incurring significant student loans or the help of their parents. And when I think of this and other groups to which I have belonged in my life, MT 7: 15’s warning applies. “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” The desire to be included in some groups is made to appear harmless, when in reality, it takes us away from the God’s teaching. That’s why it is so important that we are in the word daily and have an active prayer life. We need every bit of the reconnaissance God gives us, to be prepared for the onslaught of His enemies, who are also ours, as His covenant partners.
Repeatedly, I must ask the question: Why don’t we learn from the past mistakes of others throughout mankind’s history? The only logical answer is refusal to read about mankind’s history through God’s vision found in the Bible. How many of us have actually read the entire Bible? It’s a question only each individual can answer for himself. There was a time in history when Israel, set apart by God from all other nations by her belief in monotheism (belief in one God), wanted to be like it’s neighbors. She wanted a human king, after having a period of being led by judges, and she wanted a way to combine her belief in Judaism with the idolatry her neighbors practiced, and she entered into ill-advised alliances. This resulted in Israel being divided into two kingdoms, Israel with its capital in Samaria in the north and Judah with its capital at Jerusalem in the south. There was a series of 19 kings who ruled Israel, each displeasing God by mixing idolatry with Jewish customs. In the south, some kings were righteous, e.g. Josiah and Hezekiah; and some kings were not. The net results were the Assyrian Captivity of Israel beginning in 722 BC and the Babylonian Captivity of Judah, beginning in 586 BC. Neither kingdom was released from these captivities until 445 BC. Ezekiel, a Jewish leader of the exiled settlement near the Chabar River in Babylonia wrote God’s words, in EZK 6: 9, “Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember Me-how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from Me, and by their eyes which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices.” The rest ofIsrael is scattered among the nations and lands. Israel was amid the first of two devastating dyasporas [scattering and loss of nationhood] in her history. The enemies of God were allowed to deal out God’s punishment forIsrael’s idolatry. And what about our attitude toward Him today? We must search our hearts for it now. Do we engage in idolatrous practices?
PRAYER: O Lord, we are here making an attempt to shuck off our pride and to return to a humble covenant relationship with You. We are imperfect, often forgetting to pray, forgetting to search through Your word every day for the advice we need to live righteous lives in Your Son. PS 19: 12-13, “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.” We can repeat David’s confession of sin to help us convey our own to you. PS 51: 2, 10-12, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing Spirit to sustain me.” Dearest Abba, this soul-cleansing confession also applies to our request for Your help in uncovering the subtle sins we commit, the ones of which we are not immediately conscious. We desire to be better servants and friends, better covenant partners for You. We make these confessions and utter our hopes in the holy and mighty name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Hopefully, we will be in that minority who will learn the lessons mankind’s history has for us. To that end, we’ll examine some of the cunning and sly ways that the evil one and his cohorts have fooled people in the past into adopting ways that put distance between them and God. When we realize that God and all His covenant partners share the same enemies, we will take heed and remember that we have been given the power to find off the devil (and his followers) as described in EPH 1: 18-20. We need to use this power in the best way we can, because we should remember that God never allows us to be challenged beyond our ability to have firm resolve [1 COR 10: 13]. There is never a time when we shouldn’t bow our heads with genuine reverence and pray for wisdom and discernment before having an opinion or taking any action. Our God loves us and nothing can separate us from that love [RO 8: 28, 38-39]. With His help, if we are willing to always seek it, we won’t slide down the slippery slope of the traps the adversary tries to set for us. Praise and thanks be to our Lord forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson. All Rights Reserved.
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