2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Yesterday, I was led to write about how God answered Job and his friends in the face of Job's suffering and his friends' lack of understanding of it. We saw in JOB 42, that a compassionate God answered Job's intercessory prayer for his friends and forgave them. Job's wealth and prosperity was returned to him by a loving God who rewarded Job's faithfulness throughout all the suffering, pain, and loss that Satan had delivered to him. The obvious question left un-discussed, but still clear, is what about Satan? Satan loses! Just as he was forced to leave at the end of his failure to tempt Christ in the wilderness in MT 4: 11, so the same thing happened to him at the end of the book of Job.
There are more citations which illuminate the issue of should we fear Satan that the Lord leads me to share with you now. It is appropriate for me at this juncture to cite 1 COR 10: 13 once again to remind us of the comfort we can take in the actions of a just, compassionate and loving Abba. "Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability to remain firm. At the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it and so provide you with a way out." Job's example shows us the truth of 2 TIM 1: 7, "For the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, His Spirit filled us with power, love, and self-control." That truth is still in force today and will be for eternity. Our response should be to use that power, love, and self-control that He has given us when we find ourselves amidst pain, suffering, and loss.
I had a reader write to me asking what I thought about why God allowed us to have an adversary in the first place. Since I can't climb into God's mind, I can only rest on what I know from the Scriptures. An omniscient God knew that His creation had to have free agency, so they could make a choice of whether to accept or reject Him. He knew before the earth was created that this would involve trouble since some of His created beings would make the foolish choice to reject Him. Thus, He made the decision to provide a way out by offering His only begotten Son as the perfect sin-sacrifice on the cross, so that those people and angels who would have faith in Him could be saved from spiritual death [COL 1: 15-20; 1 PET 1: 20-21; JN 3: 16; RO 3: 23-25]. Another citation that sheds light on this is 1 JN 3: 8, "Whoever continues to sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the devil had done." As I was reading this verse, I was concerned about the phrase in it, "from the very beginning." After researching this, it is my opinion that what is meant is from the time Lucifer exercised his free agency to, as EZK 28: 16-17 say, "to buy and sell leading to violence and sin" and "become so proud of being handsome that it led him to act like a fool."
The course I am taking, "MasterLife" by Pastor Avery T. Willis, has four workbooks that we are completing between Sept. and May of this term. We are now on the fourth one, but the subject of the second one, "The Disciple's Personality," is important to our understanding of my next verses, EPH 2: 1-2. "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." That spirit is clearly Satan. A person who is spiritually dead is entirely led by the desires of the natural self (the flesh). He is not open to the prompting of God's Spirit, because he has not received that Spirit through repentance and faith in Christ. It is only when he repents and comes to faith in Christ, that, through endurance in that faith, His flesh is "crucified" and God's Spirit is allowed to take increasing leadership over his life. When the latter happens, Satan hates it, because it means he is once again losing the battle. His control over the righteous man is diminished in proportion to the strength of a righteous man's faith. Does that mean that a righteous man can never be tempted? No, but it means that a man (or woman) of faith knows that he or she can invoke the weapons of God's full armor [EPH 6: 10-20] and battle Satan in Christ's name to success. God calls us each to examine our own lives to see where we stand in the strength of our faith, to take the steps needed improve its strength, and to have the faith in Him that we can go forth into spiritual warfare with boldness and lack of fear.
PRAYER: O Lord, the Psalmist in PS 116: 1-7 expresses the sentiments of anyone who recognizes that he has been saved from sure death at Satan's hand. "I love the Lord, because He hears me; He listens to my prayers. He listens to me every time I call to Him. The danger of death was all around me; the horrors of the grave closed in on me; I was filled with fear and anxiety. Then I called to the Lord, 'I beg You Lord, save me!' The Lord is merciful and good; our God is compassionate. The Lord protects the helpless; when I was in danger, He saved me. Be confident, my heart, because the Lord has been good to me." This man speaks of enduring in his faith when feeling completely crushed, afraid, and that no man can be trusted in (10-11). His understanding deepens ours when he said in (15), "How painful it is to the Lord when one of His people dies!" He is speaking of spiritual death here, and I know he tells the truth. You do love us so much that when one of us dies, You feel pain. Today, we stand before Your altar, Dearest Abba, to offer You the praise You richly deserve and to confess our sin in humility. While some people "reject the stone which the builders rejected as worthless, the One that turned out to be the most important of all" [PS 118: 22], others come to faith in Christ after repenting and are saved. Oh how we wish that everyone who is now led by only his natural self could know the joy and salvation that only You can bring! Satan is a loser, and we must never forget it. We offer You our utmost thanks for giving us the power and the spiritual weapons to join Your Son in defeating the devil. Today, we pledge You our eternal adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ's name, amen.
I have been given more "combat intelligence" from the Scriptures to share with you in tomorrow's message. What comfort He gives us when through Paul, the Lord says, "There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus." What strength we have when we are reminded of PHIL 4: 13, "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me." In PHIL 4: 7 we are told that we will have "the peace that goes beyond human understanding" when we are "safe in union with Christ Jesus." The examples of God's love and blessings showered upon us are all over His word and His history. Praise and thanks be to His name! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn