2002-12-13
Good Morning Treasured Readers,
I hope by now you are beginning to see how remarkable a list of tactics that the Lord has given us to use against Satan’s attacks on us. These are all very effective weapons, and the God Who loves each of us so much has given us the ability and the discernment through the Holy Spirit to know when to use which tactic. Here’s a recap of the ones already discussed. 1) Evaluate the thought [PHIL 4: 8]; 2) If evil, reject the thought [2 COR 10:4-5]; 3) Voice determined resistance [JAS 4: 7]; 4) Claim victory on the grounds of the cross [1JN 4: 3-4]; 5) Repeat Scriptures aloud [2 TIM 3: 16-17]; 6) Pray for strength and to overcome Satan [JN 15: 7]; 7) Rely on the Spirit for help [IS 40: 31]; 8) Recognize that Satan is always trying to block God’s purpose [GA 5: 17]; 9) Remember we are equipped and empowered by God to beat Satan [EPH 1: 18-20]; 10) We must don God’s full armor before going into battle [EPH 6: 10-20]; 11) Recognize that Satan is accelerating his activity as time goes on [1 PET 5: 8]. And, there’s more!
Today, we begin with 12) Persist in seeking God’s help. This one is important, because one of Satan’s tactics is to wear us down before God’s perfect time for something to happen occurs. Satan doesn’t know any more than we do what God’s perfect timing is, but he would like us to think he does by his own persistence in attack. Remember that Satan is the “father of all lies” [JN 8: 44], and he will do whatever he can to convince us that God doesn’t care about us, God has abandoned us, and that God’s motives really aren’t as good as He says they are. These are the arguments that Satan likes to use to convince us to give up. We mustn’t buy into them. Instead, we must remember these passages to buoy us up during the wait. MT 7: 7-8, “Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. for everyone who asks will receive, anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to him who knocks.” IS 49: 14-16, “But the people of Jerusalem said, ‘The Lord has abandoned us! He has forgotten us.’ So the Lord answers, ‘Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? I will never forget you. Jerusalem, I can never forget you! I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” Those are not the words of a Lord Who has devalued His children or abandoned them. As for his being good, God’s actions over mankind’s history speak for themselves. One story pops in to my mind that really demonstrates God’s inherent goodness. Remember in AC 16: 16-40 how Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi? They were praying and singing hymns with the other prisoners listening to them. Suddenly there is a violent earthquake, and the doors to the prison swing open. God had given Paul and Silas the wisdom to know what to do. The jailer was about to kill himself with guilt when Paul called to him to say they had not escaped. The astonished jailer was met with the message, “Do not harm yourself! We are all here…Believe in the Lord, Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your family.” This is exactly what happened, and God was with Paul and Silas every step of the way. They persisted in seeking God’s help, and He gave it to them at every turn of events. Dear Ones, He will do the same for us.
The next strategy is to: 13) Recognize that we have been set free from sin. By paying the price necessary, Christ’s death on the cross bought us out of the marketplace of slavery to sin. Before His Atonement, mankind had no choice but to sin. Now that it has happened, we can choose whether or not we sin. RO 6: 6, 11, “And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on His cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin…In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus.” With the understanding that this passage gives us, we can combine it with fact that God’s righteousness is imputed to our accounts when we come to faith in Christ, and thus, we can see that people who are truly living “in Christ” want to opt for righteousness over sin. This is further explained in RO 4: 5, “But the person who depends on his faith, not on his deeds, and who believes in the God Who declares the guilty to be innocent, it is his faith that God takes into account in order to put him right with Himself.” Abraham was the first man to be justified, deemed acceptable to God in GN 15: 6. This righteousness is what David referred to in PS 4: 4-5 and 32: 1-2, “Happy are those whose wrongs are forgiven, whose sins are pardoned!…Happy is the man whom the Lord does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from all deceit.” When we are sorely tempted to do something we know is wrong, we can turn to God for help in resisting the urge to sin and can get that help. What we must remember to do is rely on the one Source Who is eager and able to help us. PS 62: 5, “Only God gives inward peace, and I depend on Him.” PS 32: 8 [KJV], “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.” I keep referring to God as our loving Abba, because that is exactly Who He is.
PRAYER: O Lord, You build our confidence to face the pain, sorrow, and loss of our battles with Satan, because You know that it is what we must do to become perfected. You want as many of us as possible to be ready for that final call to a meeting with Your Son in the air [1 THESS 4: 13-17] in preparation for the wedding feast of the Lamb [REV 10: 5-10]. Your words of encouragement are not just empty promises, but they are practical strategies to use in our battles with the evil one. You whisper in our ears the words of IS 35: 3, “Courage! Take heart! God is here!” so that no noise that Satan makes can drown them out and no solider in Your army misses hearing them. We know that Your battle has a divinely righteous purpose. That purpose will finally be carried out in the end when Christ, the only One qualified to do so, will wrest dominion over earth from Satan’s evil hands [REV 5: 4-5]. His job at Your appointed time is made easier if we do our part now. Satan would like to make us weary and convince us that You have devalued us and/or abandoned us. That is a huge lie! Instead with the wisdom only You have, You stand with us in battle and take action at the time only You can know is perfect. All the while, You leave us with Your word to guide and encourage us and prayer as a method of remaining in good two-way contact with You. As we mature in our faith, You allow us to be conscious of Your continuous presence with us. You teach us to look for You at work in the lives of others around us, as well as in our own lives. And yes, Lord, we see You. We are reminded in 1 COR 10: 13 that no test that You allow Satan to use to challenge us is too great for us to overcome. Your righteousness propels You to stop Satan from destroying those who endure in their obedient faithfulness to You. That is what You did for Job, and that is what You do for all Your faithful soldiers engaging in spiritual warfare. You have told us to persist in our battles, and we dedicate ourselves to doing that. Today, we approach You in humility to confess our sins and to offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, trust, obedience, thanks, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to go on with discussing these tools of warfare that God has given us. It is impossible to miss the remarkable extent of God’s love for us in this. I never dreamed there were so many effective strategies we could use. God wants us to be encouraged that we can separate Satan’s lies from the truth, that we can endure to the end, that God’s purpose is worth the effort, that God is with us continually in the battlefield, and most of all that God values, even treasures, each and every one of us who obey His commands. If we look at the Scriptures that support this list of strategies, we can also see Who God is. We can see His wisdom, compassion, patience, care, guidance, and His love. The latter, called in Greek “agape” love, is unconditional and directed at everyone who is faithful to Him. It is even there for those who are potential believers, the ones He calls us to find and with whom He calls us to share His Gospel. Our limited human perspective keeps us from fully understanding the depth of the love our Deity has for us. However, through His Son, He has commanded us to model the love we can understand in JN 13: 34-35. Bask in the warmth of His loving grace, knowing that it is real and for every one of us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn