2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
This morning, I am led to begin a new segment of our series on spiritual warfare, “Truth Matters.” Our always-righteous God has always taught us that knowing the truth is of paramount importance and staying in it is what we should do. JN 8: 32, “You will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” We all know there are a host of citations throughout the Bible that deal with God’s will concerning the truth and its importance to us. Let’s look into the question of why this is. The real reason is that Satan masterminds an evil coalition: 1) the world; 2) the flesh; and 3) himself. There is also an unholy trinity discussed in detail in Revelation: Satan, the antichrist (Satan’s political leader) and the False Prophet (Satan’s religious leader). All of this is in direct opposition to God and His teaching. We who are faithful are indeed Satan’s enemies. We used to be God’s enemies until Christ’s death on the cross, our repentance of sin, and our confession of faith in the Son. RO 5:10-11, “We were God’s enemies, but He made us His friends through the death of His Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life! But that is not all; we rejoice because of what God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has now made us God’s friends.” We all know that the world, led by the flesh, is gaining more and more in numbers right now. A good example is the atheist who was successful in getting the ninth circuit court of appeals to make it illegal to have people in the western states recite the pledge of allegiance to the US in public places, because it contains the words “under God.” These were added during Eisenhower’s administration in the 1950’s. It is my personal hope that this will be overturned in the near future. This man got on TV to express his desire to do the same with our constitution which has wording directed at the very reason this country was founded in the first place, the search for freedom of worship.
RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.” These precious and valuable words from God through Paul make God’s will clear as crystal. We are told to yield our fleshly selves to God’s transformation for a key purpose. God wants us to be saved, so that we can dwell with Him in joy and fellowship for eternity in heaven. There are few blacks and whites in this life, but his is one of them. Either we obey this command, or we end up as Satan and his followers will being tormented eternally in the lake of fire and sulfur, permanently apart from our Creator. An exacting description of the problem is seen in EPH 2: 1-3. “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. At that time you followed the world’s evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God’s wrath.” If we truly understand what is said here, we begin to appreciate the magnitude of the gift out of God’s grace that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross really is to us. We will also be highly motivated to take the advice given to us in EPH 5: 15-16, “So be careful how you live, like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days.”
Where the flesh is concerned, God gives us remarkably detailed information on how it is a problem to us in trying to live “in Christ.” RO 7: 14-25 is one of the best places to see the mechanism for how the devil likes to work. I have often said his favorite place of attack is the mind. That is certainly explained in RO 1: 18-25. RO 1: 26-32 shows how evil control of the mind translates to evil actions. But, RO 7: 14-25 reveals the conflict that goes on in a believer. His outer fleshly self begins with greater power over him before he comes to faith and when he is young in faith. As he matures in faith, his inner, spiritual self gains more and more power over his outer self. That is with an often-painful conflict. Paul writes about doing what he doesn’t really want to do, because of the influence of his flesh. We have to wait until verse 25 before God reveals the only way out of this conflict. RO 7: 24-25, “What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, Who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God’s law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.” We need to be reminded that EPH 1-3 reveals the blessings and relationship we have with God when we obey only Him. EPH 4-6 tells us how to maintain that relationship.
God’s will for the entire church, the Body of Christ, is expressed in EPH 4: 3-6. “Do your best to preserve unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God’s has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all mankind, Who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.” We must accept that until Christ comes, we must battle the relentless attacks on our faith that Satan and His followers send. It is incredibly important that we know that we have been equipped to fight these battles and to endure the pain, suffering, and loss involved in them to victory in the name of Jesus Christ. God isn’t playing with us to entertain Himself. He is allowing these battles to be opportunities for us to advance our sanctification, the process by which He prepares us and perfects us, so we can have eternal life with Him. You see God’s truth, the truth of His teaching, is so important, because in heaven there can be no evil, no lies, no deceit, no pain and suffering, and most of all no idolatry. The time has come, if we have not already done it, to examine our lives to see if any of these or other forms of evil are in them. This is not to be done to encourage guilt; but to be done to find ways to expunge sin. God has commanded it!
PRAYER: O Lord, there are people in our lives, maybe even ourselves, who have allowed Satan to gain a stronghold in them. When we hold grudges, for example, we are allowing Satan to lead us into replaying what got us mad over and over again. It’s a vicious cycle, one that prevents us from producing spiritual fruit and affecting meaningful relationships. More importantly, Dearest Lord, it separates us from You. The only One Who can break through this viscous cycle is You through the Son’s teaching and our obedience to it. We pray today that You will give us the faith, courage, and fortitude to see the truth of our sinful ways and to stop believing Satan’s lies. JN 8: 44 tells us the he is the “father of all lies” and a murderer. What he does is to murder human souls and bring people to spiritual death. While the conflict between the inner spirit and the outer flesh is often painful, we thank You for allowing it to happen and for Christ’s rescue of those who obey Him. As we mature spiritually, we become closer and closer to what You want us to be. The opportunity to do that is what prompts our heartfelt thanks to You and the Son for His sacrifice on the cross. There are people, Dear Abba, who know Your Scriptures in their minds, but because of Satan’s stronghold on them, they block them from entering their hearts and thus, converting their thoughts and actions to godly thoughts and good deeds. We pray today for people with this problem, because we know that it ruins their lives, and if not dealt with, will bring them to second death. We humbly confess our own sins and refrain from judging others. We leave the judging up to Christ, Who alone has the authority to carry it out [DN 7: 13-14]. PS 32: 1-2, “Happy are those who are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Happy is the man whom the Lord does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.” We must remember the salient lesson of 2 COR 5: 21, “Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made Him share our sin in order that in union with Him, we might share the righteousness of God.” The relationship we have with You, Dearest Abba, is the most important relationship of our lives. We should never forget that. We offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, and eternal praise and thanks for all that You are and all that You do. In Christ’s holy name, we pray. Amen.
In tomorrow’s message, I am led to look at the enemy’s objectives and how the truth can foil them. Each day I like to end my message with something about God’s love for us. It is because I’m led by the Spirit to do, particularly because I know that some of you are under siege by the devil just as I am. That means you may be experiencing pain, suffering, and loss just like I am right now. I can preview one of Satan’s objectives-to give us so much pain that we are tempted to blame God and forget the big picture of God’s wonderful plan for us. Let’s not let him get away with this. Let’s remember the constancy of God’s powerful love, compassion, and patience for us. The best way to do this is to stay each day in His word and pray often to Him. He is eager to love each of us and to answer our prayers [JN 15: 7]. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn