2002-12-10
Good Morning Dear Ones,
When we are in battle with Satan, there are offensive strategies and defensive ones. No matter which kind of action we are taking, it is imperative that we don’t lose sight of the big picture. That is that God wants to see as many people as possible come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. To this end, He has equipped each person who is saved with the power, direction, and authority he needs to be victorious over Satan in Christ’s name. The job of a believing soldier in God’s army is to endure in his faith, trust His Supreme Commander, and obey the commands God’s gives him. Our Lord takes care of the rest. We’ve already seen what tactics God’s wants us to use when Satan is attacking our minds. 1) Evaluate the thought [PHIL 4: 8] and 2) Reject the thought if it doesn’t conform to the standard given to us by God in the Scriptures [2 COR 10: 4-5]. Now, let’s look at some of the offensive moves we can make.
We get our first example in JAS 4: 7, “So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.” Thus, step 3) is: Voice determined resistance against the enemy. If we look back to MT 4: 1-11, isn’t this exactly what Christ modeled for us in battling with Satan when the latter was tempting Him in the wilderness? Notice what Satan does in MT 4: 11; it shouldn’t be missed. James is simply reminding us that this same tactic will work for us. It shouldn’t be lost on us that Christ used Scripture to counter Satan’s temptations. He cited DT 8: 3, “Man cannot live on bread alone, but needs every word that God speaks,” DT 6: 16, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” and DT 6: 13, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.” Without our salvation, we would not have understood what efficient, powerful weapons God has given us in His word. Our task is to be fully armed for this battle and trained to use this weapon by spending time daily studying His word. When God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Scriptures, He was seeing to it that we had discernment and could see the importance of learning God’s will-what is good and pleasing to Him and what isn’t.
The next step in an offensive against the adversary is: 4) Claim victory on the grounds of the cross. 1 JN 5: 3-5, “For our love for God means that we obey His commands. And His commands are not too hard for us, because every child of God is able to defeat the world. And we win the victory over the world by means of our faith.” This is the greatest blessing during our time on earth of our salvation. We are fitted to win out over Satan by enduring in our faithful obedience to God. Yes, Dear Ones, we have the power to defeat the world of those who steadily reject God. Earlier in this same passage, in 1 JN 5: 1-2, we are told how we can know that we are God’s children. “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Messiah is a child of God; and whoever loves a father loves his child also. This is how we know that we love God’s children: it is by loving God and obeying His commands.” These are simply different words that I used in earlier devotions when I wrote about “koininea,” that supernatural bond that exists between a believer, the Lord God, and all other believers. Our senior pastor taught a great Sunday school lesson recently in which he spoke about the joy that a Jew feels who finally comes to faith that he or she knows Who the Messiah is. Since I am a Messianic Jew, I can attest to the truth of that. Instead of spending my spiritual life searching for the Messiah’s identity, I can focus my attention on being faithful, trusting, and obedient to Jesus Christ. I can know that I am saved and fully equipped to battle Satan successfully. Because of Christ’s atonement and my willingness to repent and have faith in Him, I now am protected by that loving “koininea” bond, and I don’t have to fight my battles with the enemy alone. What great relief it is that I don’t have to depend on human wisdom to know what to do next. Instead, I can obey God’s wisdom as discussed in PR 3: 5-6 [KJV], “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct Thy paths.”
I won’t be able to finish the complete list of offensive tactics today, but will do so in tomorrow’s message. However, I have space for one more today. 5) Repeat Scripture out loud. We must remember what we know from 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” Christ knew that when he cited Scripture to answer the temptations that Satan was putting in front of Him in the wilderness, and we should know that too. Because of the truth of 1 COR 2: 14, a true rejecter of Christ won’t understand everything we say, but there is always the chance that a person straddling the fence might be brought to faith amidst the battle. While Satan himself will never be brought to faith, he has not yet established a permanent stronghold in every person we encounter in this battle. When we are obedient to God, He will give us the right words to say when faced with such an undecided person. He alone knows who He has called to faith and who he hasn’t. We must act on the fact that we can’t know that, persist in our obedience, and hope for the best.
PRAYER: O Lord, the battle is sometimes long and ugly. The enemy wants us to tire and to weaken our faith that we are protected. And yet, You reassure us in so many places that You really are there for us and have equipped us to endure. 1 COR 10: 13 tells us that You never ask us to confront a test that we can’t overcome. The tests we face are quite normal to the experience of a believer. Our task is not to lose sight of that and to endure in our faithful obedience. PS 103: 11-13 reminds us of Your compassion. “As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is His love for those who have reverence for Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our sins from us. As kind as a father is to his children, so kind is the Lord to those who honor Him.” You certainly understand the ephemeral nature of our mortal bodies, but You have created us with spirits capable of lasting forever. We find further illumination on the love You have for us in PS 103: 17-18, “But for those who honor the Lord, His love lasts forever, and His goodness endures for all generations of those who are true to His covenant and who faithfully obey his commands.” Dearest Abba, we are honored to be Your covenant partners. You bless us with provision, protection, guidance, Your wisdom, love, tenderness, and direction. By Your powerful hand on our lives, You guide us through that narrow gate to the hard path that leads to eternal life [MT 7: 13-14]. You made the greatest sacrifice ever know when You gave Your Son over to the pain and sorrow of the cross. Then the depth of Your compassion was revealed when You caused Him to be raised on the third day to live eternally with You as “the first among many brothers” [RO 8: 29] and proceeded to give us the gift of Your Spirit to dwell within us. We are forever dedicated to being Your soldiers in His name who can now claim victory because of His Atonement and Your love for us. In humility, we confess our sins and prayerfully offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanksgiving, and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
As promised above, I am led to go on discussing offensive tactics God has given us to take in our battle against Satan’s evil. We are called to be bold in our faith and to trust our loving Abba, Who would never lead us into taking steps that end with our destruction. In fact, we must remember the words of JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me and you will find Me because you will seek Me with all your heart.” We must remember that God would never want us to seek Him out if He was hateful; instead, He would abandon, abuse, or neglect us. Our Father would never do any of those evil things to His children, because He has no evil in Him. We are truly a loved and blessed people when we endure in faith. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn