2003-01-31
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
God’s word is such an important subject that I don’t apologize for writing so many devotions on it. The Holy Spirit leads me to write more about Christ’s authority and that which He has given us to wage spiritual warfare. In yesterday’s message, we saw how the combination of prayer and using God’s word against the forces of evil is hugely effective. In MK 9: 17-29 this is illustrated when Christ’s disciples learned that there are certain kinds of spiritual warfare where both these weapons in God’s full armor [EPH 6: 10-20] are really needed. They were unable to exorcise the evil spirit that was causing a boy to have seizures, but once his father prayed for stronger faith and for healing for his son, then Christ came along and ordered the evil spirit to depart, and it did. Had the Father not given Christ the authority to do this, it wouldn’t have happened. We have been told in EPH 1: 18-20 that we also have the power to wage spiritual warfare in Christ’s name to victory too. We certainly don’t have all the authority that Christ has, but we have been amply equipped to do this under His direction as it comes up in the circumstances of our lives. Without the Lord’s direction, we can do nothing. JN 15: 5, “I am the Vine, and you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without Me.”
Christ had more to teach us about what real faithful obedience to God was and when we are given authority to depart from usual procedure to carry out God’s will. We all know certain people who refuse to “get out of the box,” so to speak. Christ is courageous enough in His obedience to show us that God’s will comes first, even if it means being roundly criticized and rebuked for it. In LK 13: 10-17, we find the story of Him healing a woman who had been crippled for 18 years. The woman had been so ailing for that time, that she was unable to straighten up and stand normally. When Christ saw her in a synagogue on the Sabbath, He called out to her, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” He placed His hands on her, and she was healed, able to stand straight for the first time in so long. Her first response was to praise God. Meanwhile, some of the temple officials had seen this, and they took the opportunity to angrily rebuke Christ for doing this “work” on the Sabbath. In (15), the Lord answered them, “You hypocrites! Any one of you would untie his ox or his ass from the stall and take it out to give it water on the Sabbath. Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released on the Sabbath?” We get a chance to see the effectiveness of Christ’s willingness to face their criticism and do God’s will in their response in (17). “His answer made his enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over all the wonderful things that He did.”
This story is significant to us on several levels. It tells us that God is aware of who is godly and who is not at all times. We don’t know why God allowed this woman to suffer for 18 years, but we do know that God is always-righteous. We learned yesterday that Christ never does anything without the Father’s direction [JN 5: 19], and the Father was compassionate in making it clear to Christ that no matter what the normal procedures of the synagogue were, He was to put an end to this woman’s ailment. Christ sets the example of obedience to God for us and shows us that He listens for the Father’s commands at all times. One underlying truth here is that the Father is more interested in how faithfully obedient we are, than He is in human-generated rituals and rules. The problem with the latter is that they can’t be consistent for all times and situations the way that God-created ones are. We can also see that when we do something in line with God’s will, what we do works! If we examine our own experience as Christians, we can see this. When we try to do something that is not in line with God’s will, it won’t work. We don’t have to be mean-spirited or rude for our actions to reveal hypocrisy on the part of others. I was listening to the car radio this morning, and the teacher spoke about how we observe some ungodly people living worldly lives as if they were in heaven. However, these people’s “heaven” isn’t going to last for long. Once their earthly lives are over, eternal conscious torment in the lake of fire and sulfur awaits them. If I had a choice, I would certainly rather obey God even if it takes me out of my comfort zone on earth (as Christ did), so that I can enjoy the Father’s fellowship, love, and peace for eternity.
There some pressing questions which arise out of this story for us to ponder. When we examine our lives, how willing are we to step “out of the box” in order to obey God? How well do we listen for God’s commands? How ready are we to obey His commands exactly as He desires? How willing are we to do it at the moment He wants? Do we recognize the truly godly people around us? What can we learn from the example of faithfulness they set? And finally, do we have the courage to face criticism, rebuke, and other uncomfortable or downright threatening behavior against us in order to carry out God’s will? How blessed we are that Christ is willing to do all of this and more, so that we can know what is right and what pleases God!
PRAYER: O Lord, You give us Your perspective on the troubles we must endure at Satan’s hand in LK 22: 31-32, the prophesy of Peter’s denial of Christ as He is about to be tried. “Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to Me, you must strengthen your brothers.” The omniscience You have given Your Son can be seen in this prophetic statement. Christ had to have known that Peter would temporarily deny Him, and then turn back to Him to be His “Rock upon which My church will stand” [MT 16: 18]. We know from studying the Scriptures that Peter did indeed go on to “strengthen his brothers.” We have no reason to believe that You don’t have the same kind of knowledge about us. Just as Peter was able to fulfill Your will for Him, You have equipped us to do the same for Your will for us. Through Your word, You give us the encouragement we need to know that we too can thwart Satan’s agenda. PHIL 4: 13, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” You give us clear evidence of the real line of authority in JN 19: 10-11, Christ’s words to Pilate. “You have authority over Me only because it was given to you by God. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of worse sin.” Dearest Abba, You are supreme and all-powerful. Your word is truth. Because You are always righteous, wise, compassionate, and lovingly patient, we find it a privilege to worship You and to do what we can to obey Your commandments. We place our trust in You and pledge to use the authority You have given us through Christ to do Your work and Your will. We thank You for giving us the example Your Son, Jesus Christ, set for us. Our plan is to obey You and follow that example. We humbly confess our sins and offer You our worship, adoration, glory, honor, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, thanks, and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
I’m led in tomorrow’s message to turn to the subject of the authority Christ has given us to overcome the evil one. When we are about to take a stand against Satan, we must remember what David said in PS 37: 5, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it, and He will.” What comfort our faith in the Lord gives us! It allows us to know the truth that He is always there for us, eagerly awaiting us to seek Him out and to give us wise teaching on the way we should go. Along with that comes the love-based encouragement He gives us through Isaiah in IS 40: 31, “But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise up on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak.” His loving kindness really does endure forever, and that makes each of us very loved and very blessed by our Father in heaven. Peter and I send each of you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn