2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
As I was discussing 1 PET 5: 6-11 yesterday, it became apparent to me that this citation was worth repeating and that more needed to be said about it. I do this as I am led to continue examining Satan's character profile, which God has given us as "combat intelligence" through the Scriptures. We are taking a deep look into the question: Should we fear Satan? 1 PET 5: 6-11, "Humble yourselves, then, under God's mighty hand, so that He will lift you up in His own good time. Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you. Be alert, be on watch! Your enemy, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him, because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings. But after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Who calls you to share His eternal glory in union with Christ, will Himself perfect you and give you firmness, strength, and a sure foundation. To Him be the power forever! Amen."
As I mentioned yesterday, we are first asked to humble ourselves. Humility is a big and very necessary issue with God. He knows that we need to be humble to be in attitude where we will listen to Him. When we block communication by being arrogant, prideful, and head-strong, God in His infinite wisdom and compassion brings us to brokenness. That is why He inspired Paul to write in 2 COR 12: 9, "But His answer was: 'My grace is sufficient for My power is strongest when you are weak.' I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me." This comment was made in response to Paul's prayerful plea to God to take away a painful physical ailment he was suffering. It was critical to God's purpose for Paul to be able to listen intently for His commands. The same is true for us. We need to make sure that we can hear and respond to God in obedience for His work to be accomplished through us.
We must take Satan seriously. Some people refuse to admit that it is Satan and his evil angels that are behind all the wrongdoing done in the world. EPH 6: 12 puts it on the line for us, leaving no equivocation about who is behind the problems. We need to understand that when we put on God's full armor (as described in EPH 6: 10-20-belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, Gospel shoes, faith shield, helmet of salvation, word of God sword, and attitude of prayer), we can come against Satan boldly in Christ's name and do his cause some real harm. Satan hates it when we offer praise to God. We need to be firm in our faith, because God has told us that Satan's anger is fueled by the knowledge that he only has a limited time to do his dirty work [REV 12: 12]. Satan knows he is a loser, and we must know that too. The whole point of EPH 6: 12 is to keep us alert to what we are seeing and experiencing, not for us to become apathetic spiritually. When a soldier in combat learns as much as he can about the enemy and remains alert, ready to take action on orders by a wise, experienced commander, he has a better chance at staying alive and being on the "victory team." The same is true for us as believers in Christ.
Leaving all our worries on God's shoulders is an acknowledgment that He cares for us. Christ's own words in MT 11: 28-30 give us this same message. "Come to Me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke and put it on you, and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the burden is light." The utter consistency of God's messages to us throughout the OT and the NT should never be missed. Nor should we miss that fact that God keeps His promises. We are commanded to resist the devil. RO 8: 3-6 speaks of living in the Spirit and what it takes. "What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending His own Son, Who came with a nature like man's sinful nature, to do away with sin. God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature. Those who live as their human nature tells them to, have their minds controlled by what human nature wants. Those who live as the Spirit tell them to, have their minds controlled by what the Spirit wants." From the story of the original sin in GN 3: 1-6, we know that Satan, that nasty serpent, is at the bottom of sin in mankind. From what RO 8: 3-6 tells us, we know that by God's grace in sending Christ as the perfect sin-sacrifice on the cross, we now have the choice not to be controlled by what the devil wants. We have the power to resist Satan, and resist him well! God's will is clear, and He has empowered each of us to carry it out. Go forth into battle with the confidence that as long as we are obedient to God, we are on Christ's winning team.
PRAYER: O Lord, we are your foot soldiers, and the battle against Satan that You have called us to wage is part of a larger battle that will eventually, with Christ's leadership, lead all who believe to eternal life. What could be more important than that? The Scriptures in today's message remind us that You have equipped us both with Your armor and Your power. We must never forget that and allow ourselves to cower before the enemy. We must make no mistake about who the enemy is, which is why You have given us so much "combat intelligence" about him. We acknowledge that Your team is the winning team, and that the devil knows this. We also understand that You are omnipresent and therefore, fight with us in that painful battle. You are Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts. PS 46: 7, "The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge." You give us PS 46: 10 to further our understanding of Who You are. "'Be still,' He says, 'and know that I am God, supreme among the nations, supreme over the world.'" That should tell us that You are supreme over Satan and his followers too. Dearest Abba, we love You and want to be on Your winning team. We pledge to stand up to Satan's attacks and to fight to victory in Your Son's name. We go into this battle with the confidence You give us. Your justice is complete and eternal. REV 6: 9-11, "Then the Lamb broke open the fifth seal. I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed because they had proclaimed God's word and had been faithful in their witnessing. They shouted in a loud voice, 'Almighty Lord, holy and true! How long will it be until You judge the people on the earth and punish them for killing us?' Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until the complete number of their fellow servants and brothers were killed as they had been." Today in humility, we come before You to confess our sins and to offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, obedience, trust, honor, glory, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ's name, amen.
Tomorrow, I'm led to continue on the character profile of Satan by taking a look into the names used for him. Then, we will go on to his strategy. Someone who didn't understand the wisdom of President Bush's decision that we should go to war against terrorism in the face of the attack on America, would criticize him. However, this God-lead leader was able to see through the discernment His faith has given him that he really has no other choice if we are to take up the Lord's invitation to join Him in His work. Our Lord is not cruel or blood-thirsty for asking us to fight Satan. Instead, He is wise and loving, because He knows that this is the only way to get rid of evil in the world and to save as many people as possible from spiritual death, the lake of fire and sulfur. Our president was courageous enough to make a tough decision to go to war and to stick with it. He knows and feels for the loses it brings. But, he has not lost sight of God's big picture, and neither should we. In the same way, our Lord makes a courageous, just, wise, and compassionate decision borne out of His love for us, to send us into battle against the devil and his followers. His love surrounds each of us who believe and is extended to those who will one day come to faith too. We must never forget that God's main and loving goal for us is to spend eternity in joy and fellowship with Him. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn