2002-11-08
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Our salvation is so basic to the lives of every believer that it deserves the time I am being led to take with it. Each time the Lord leads me to a subject in this series of messages, He shows me so much more than I ever thought we could know about it. What a great manifestation of His love this is for all of us, writer and readers alike. This morning, we must continue with the citations that reveal God’s intervention when we are being assailed by the adversary. So that we don’t get the idea this is simply an academic exercise, God wants us to see, through His interaction with the people in the Bible, a way to see how He also interacts with us in our own individual lives. When We learn to look for this, it greatly enhances our appreciation of the blessings that come from our salvation and our continuing endurance in faith.
Peter and I have sponsored a number of people through the wonderful 4-day spiritual retreat program called Cursillo or Via de Cristo. Many times people who are already happy in their faith go through and come out of it reporting that their faith has gone to a deeper, more meaningful level than they ever imagined it would be. Sometimes, people who have been through horrendous life challenges go through and find that they are really loved and can open their hearts to more profound faith and service to God than ever before. Cursillo even has a prison program, so that people whose lives have gone wrong with society can find the love of God for the first time in their lives. I mention this, because I firmly believe that such programs wouldn’t be available if God weren’t mounting a huge offensive against the powers of evil in which He wants us to participate. We have also served on teams that help others to go through the retreat for the first time and have seen how people who already serve God can be shown how to do so more effectively. The devil hates all of this, which is a good reason why we will remain active in the Cursillo community. When we look at the important evening prayer which is PS 141, we can see God’s power to thwart Satan’s evil revealed. Part of that is the power He imparts to us when we pray, and the other part is His own power against the evil one.
PS 141: 3-4, 8-10, “Lord, place a guard at my mouth, a sentry at the door of my lips. Keep me from wanting to do wrong and from joining evil men in their wickedness. May I never take part in their feasts…But I keep trusting in You, Lord, my God. I seek Your protection: do not let me die! Protect me from the traps they have set for me, from the snares of those evildoers. May the wicked fall into their own traps while I go by unharmed.” These words imply Satan’s attempts to attack from within and from without a person. From within, Satan tries to lure a person into voicing accusations that will evoke a sinful response or causing a misunderstanding that will lead the subject of it to sin. Remember EPH 4: 26-27? “If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day. Do not give the devil a chance.” The PS 141 passages also reveal acknowledgement of God’s ability to stop this kind of evil from happening, the knowledge that we can’t do that without His help. James understood this when he wrote in JAS 3: 8-11 when he wrote about the tongue. From without, the attack of Satan and his evil followers might be a physical one or a political one, for example. We need only look at the mean-spirited political ads that are TV to see what is going on here. David was sorely tempted to sin when Saul refused to accept that God had taken away the latter’s authority to be King of Israel [1 SAM 15: 22-23] and the former king mounted one attempt after another to kill David. David had plenty of chances to kill Saul, like the time Saul came to relieve himself in a cave where David had been hiding in 1 SAM 24: 3-8. We must understand that it was God Who gave David the righteousness to honor his covenant relationship and display the conscience that he had been given. That was one way that God protected David from Satan’s trap set for him. Saul would meet an ignominious demise at Mt. Gilboa in 1 SAM 31: 1-4.
We have to ask the questions: What traps has Satan set for us in our lives? How does the Lord protect us from those traps? The first question begs us each to examine our own lives to see where we might be vulnerable to the evil one. Is it through our mouths wanting to run amok, our propensity to hold grudges, our unwillingness to help others who need us, our materialism, our refusal to set time aside for daily prayer and study of His word, or whatever? The second question asks us to look at how the Lord is at work in our lives. Our very salvation depended on us being willing to turn from sin and come to faith in Christ in the first place. That made it possible for us to receive the Holy Spirit Who lets us have a conscience, know what is right with God and what isn’t, and Who helps us to understand the teaching God has for us. By not learning what God wants to teach us from the circumstances of our lives, we can make the horrific mistake of wasting the blood that Christ shed for us on the cross. That makes it all the more important that we take time to listen for God and watch what He is doing in our lives every day. Once we understand the lessons He has for us, we need to act on them, even if they mean making big, hard changes in our lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, You want us to understand that even though we get impatient with the length of time it seems to us You take to answer our prayers, You are the One Who knows exactly what the right time is. There are times when Your delays enable us to learn life-giving lessons that strengthen our faith, and we must understand that. When Christ delayed 4 days before coming to be with Mary and Martha after the “death” of their brother, Lazarus, He had a vital lesson for us to learn, revealed in JN 11: 25-26. “Jesus said to her [Martha], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believers in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’” Martha’s reply drives the lesson home in JN 11: 27, “Yes, Lord! I do believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God. Who was to come into the world.” Satan was responsible for Martha’s original weakness of faith, and he loves to try to get us to doubt our faith today. We must acknowledge our inability to combat him alone. You and Your Son are so necessary to our lives, and that’s what You have been trying to tell mankind since the beginning of our history. Dearest Abba, You have given us the power to overcome all of Satan’s attacks, whether from within or without, from the moment we came to faith. Our part is to open our spirit’s to Your Spirit and to close them from Satan’s attempts to establish a stronghold over them. Your part is to use the Holy Spirit to impart to us strength of faith through encouragement, self-discipline in study and prayer, to help us understand the lessons from the circumstances of our lives, and to urge us to interact with other believers who help us to deepen our faith. We need never worry that You will do Your part in this endeavor, for You are constantly loving and compassionate. We come before You to dedicate ourselves to learning Your ways and Your will from Your interaction in our lives and to humbly confess our sins. Today and always, we offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, thanks, and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
The fierce spiritual battle with Satan continues, but we need not lose courage or confidence as long as we endure faithfully trusting our Commander. The Holy Spirit leads me to continue sharing citations in tomorrow’s message, which reveals how God intervenes to help us as we fight our battles with evil. We are His believing soldiers, fully equipped for victory in Christ’s name. General Norman Swartzkopf was interviewed on TV during the Persian Gulf war from an underground bunker. Many human leaders are more concerned with achieving the results they want than with individuals subordinate to them or about God. General Swartzkopf is a major exception to that. He was concerned about all three. His quarters in that bunker were spare indeed, but a well-worn Bible sat on the table beside his bed. He understood that when he prayed to God for guidance, his goal would be in line with God’s will, and God would take care of him and the soldiers fighting under him. David had the same understanding, and the hindsight of history shows us this. God cares about each and every one of us. MT 10: 28-31, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, Who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls the ground without our Father’s consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you hare worth much more than many sparrows.” Now, that’s love! Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn