2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
This morning, the Holy Spirit leads me to write about what God has to say about avoiding seduction by the great liar and deceiver, Satan. The time we are spending on this “Truth Matters” segment of our Spiritual Warfare series is really God’s will. 1 TIM 4: 1-3, “The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons. Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron. Such people teach that it is wrong to marry and to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten, after a prayer of thanks, by those who are believers and have come to know the truth.” As I see it, our objective is to do what God directs us to do to keep these numbers down. Previously, I commented that we do not know which people have been called by God to have faith and which haven’t. Therefore, we must be willing to boldly and with sensitivity, share the Gospel and witness to our own faith. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. I used the word, “boldly,” here, because it is a word which Paul uses often. It is meant that we must overcome our natural reserve and share God’s message accurately, so as to reveal God’s glory and our faith in Him. And yes, this passage is true. We won’t always succeed. But, it won’t be for lack of trying.
Ephesians 4 has some wise advice that we need to take to avoid seduction by the devil. In a section on the unity of the body, Paul writes God’s will in this matter. EPH 4: 15, “Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, Who is the Head. Under His control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.” We all know that for the human body to function, all its systems must work in concert with one another to carry out its purpose. The same is true for the church. Within each congregation, people with different spiritual gifts given to them must use them to do God’s work with Christ in leadership. I personally have been in congregations that do not do this and am now privileged to be in one that does. When congregations don’t value each member and work on God’s agenda, there is political partitioning. If it goes far enough, it can lead to the splitting and/or destruction of a congregation. I have experienced this chaos personally, and it is very painful indeed. The devil loves this.
There is another level at which we should understand this citation too. It is that congregations should work on God’s agendas with other congregations. No congregation is a complete entity unto itself. Each congregation is another part in the Body of Christ. Both God and the Son have made their agenda clear in the Scriptures. That is a compelling argument to me as to why there shouldn’t be refusal to cooperate on God’s agenda between congregations. It also explains why God’s agenda should be every congregation’s first priority. Other issues will get solved if it is. Many people don’t understand this. The devil wants us to bicker, disagree, put human agendas first, and sin and sin and sin! We shouldn’t give him what he wants.
EPH 4: 25-26, “No more lying, then! Everyone must tell the truth to his fellow believers, because we are all members together in the Body of Christ. If you become angry, do not let you anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.” This passage gets right at the heart of a lot of squabbles in the home as well as in the church. You all know that I have said often that it is never constructive to hold a grudge for any reason. I still stand by that. God’s business is the truth. He wants it spread throughout the world. Sadly, He is not getting His way right now. We must do all that we can, both as individuals and as congregations, to spread God’s truth in our lives. Doing so can force someone who is lying to feel the pain that might lead them to stop this sin. We don’t have to be bulls in a china shop to shed God’s light on dark lies, but we do have to stand up to doing it. We must go to God and ask Him for the wisdom on how to handle each situation we encounter. Many times anger is a product of not understanding a situation. We need to take the time to get clarification, so that we can proceed with love, patience, and kindness in helping another person see the truth. And yes, there are times when we must take bold action if the person telling a lie refuses to stop. I encountered a situation where someone was “grinding his own ax” telling lies and refused to stop. It was necessary for me to ask for help from my pastor about this. It is a situation where bold action was necessary for the sake of the rest of the congregation. While difficult and painful, we must take action as long as we have prayed first and God tells us we are doing His will. These are examples of ways to avoid seduction by Satan. There is more to say on this subject, and I promise to take it up in tomorrow’s message. In the meanwhile, we should all meditate on how we might recognize Satan’s lies and what we should do about them in our own lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, all around us Satan tries to make inroads into our lives. He insinuates himself into our homes and churches, desiring to bring chaos and misery. We praise You for giving us the power to thwart his efforts and appeal to You to make Your wisdom known to us in handling each individual situation with which we are confronted. Today, You lead me to look carefully at PS 109, the pleas of a man in trouble who knew You to be a just, loving, compassionate, and magnificent God. His prayer is also ours. PS 109: 1-5, 15, 26-27, & 30-31, “I praise You, God; do not remain silent! Wicked men and liars have attacked me. They tell lies about me, and they say evil things about me, attacking me for no reason. They oppose me, even through I love them and have prayed for them. They pay me back evil for good and hatred for love…May the Lord always remember their sins, but may they themselves be forgotten!…Help me, O Lord, my God; because of Your constant love, save me! Make my enemies know that you are the One Who saves me…I will give loud thanks to the Lord; I will praise Him in the assembly of the people, because He defends the poor man and saves him from those who condemn him to death.” This remarkable prayerful plea begins and ends with praise for You, Dearest Abba. This is praise that You richly deserve. It sets an example for us of one faithful man who knew and understood his need to turn to You first. PS 46: 1, “You are our Refuge and our Defense, always ready to help in times of trouble.” We turn to You today to look for Your truth and apply it to our lives. We know that You want us to be righteous, and not self-righteous or judgmental. Our poverty of spirit is only filled by You. We ask You to hear our humble confession and to fill our empty spiritual vessels with the Holy Spirit. We dedicate ourselves to turning to You first in study and in prayer, so that You can reveal Yourself to us and grant us the privilege of knowing the truth. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
As promised above, there really is more to say about avoiding Satan’s seduction and lies. God is very expressive on this all-important subject. That will be the subject of tomorrow’s message. By His very presence in our lives, we can know God loves each of us and that we can accept His blessings and His guidance. Each of us has many challenges in his life, ones that often seem like mountains to climb. Knowing God’s truth about our circumstances offers us easier access to problem solving. Lies and smoke screens can never do that. By the power of our loving God, we have the ability to stop Satan in his tracks. When we use that power, our Lord is greatly pleased. We mature spiritually, and He is able to forward our preparation to live eternally with Him in heaven. That’s real love, Dear Ones, and it’s ours from a God eager to give it. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn