2003-02-17
Good Morning Treasured Readers,
We’ve have been looking at God-given combat strategies found in the Scriptures, which we can use in our battles with the forces of evil. Here are the ones already discussed: 1) We can say aloud REV 12: 10b-11, “…For the one who stood before our God and accused our brothers day and night has been thrown out of heaven. Our brothers won the victory over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the truth which they proclaimed; and they were willing to give up their lives and die.” Satan hates to hear this. 2) We should recognize the power God has given us to beat Satan. 1 JN 4: 4, “But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit Who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.” 3) We need to pray for the Spirit to fill us, learning the lesson from LK 11: 24-26, the story Christ tells of the return of the evil spirits. We can’t leave our spiritual vessels empty, but must keep them filled with the Holy Spirit, thus leaving no room for evil ones to enter it. And now, I am lead to look at more God-given combat strategies.
It hasn’t been too long since I wrote about LK 13: 10-17, the story of Christ healing a crippled woman on the Sabbath. You’ll remember that Christ was teaching in the synagogue whilst a woman possessed for 18 years by a demon which crippled her listened. He saw her and said, “Woman, you are free from your sickness!” He placed His hands on her, and at once she straightened and praised God. The synagogue official who observed what happened rebuked Christ for healing the woman on the Sabbath. It was then that Christ spoke sharply calling him a hypocrite who would take out his own donkey and feed it water on the Sabbath and leaving the official with the question, “Now here is this descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept in bonds for eighteen years; should she not be released (loosed) on the Sabbath?” His answer made Christ’s enemies ashamed of themselves, while the people rejoiced over the wonderful things that Christ did. That brings me to the fourth strategy in our list. 4) Remember that our Lord is the Deliverer. It is His authority and power that is in us, and we are to used them under His leadership.
When we think of real freedom, we must remember who put this lady in bonds and Who released (loosed) her. The real value of the stories we find in the Scriptures is how we can keep returning to them over and over, and each time our Lord has something new from them to teach us. In JN 8: 31b-32, we find the crux of this point. “…’If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” We might ask why Christ had so much confidence when He simply went ahead and healed the crippled woman, rather than to ask the synagogue official for his permission to do that. The answer lies in the connection between the Son and the Father. Christ never did anything the Father didn’t first command Him to do. Christ knew to look to God rather than man for His direction and then to act on it [PR 3: 5-6]. God had authorized Him to chase away evil spirits, which is how He knew He should do this. Remember JN 15: 10? “If you obey My commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love.” How about JN 14: 11? “Believe Me when I say, ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.’” That brings me to our connection with Christ. Christ has authorized and empowered us to do the same thing, to battle the forces of evil to victory in His name. Just as Christ listens carefully for the Father’s commands, praying often, we should do the same with His commands, also praying often. MT 18: 18-20 reminds us that we have been given this power and authority. “And so I tell all of you: what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit ion earth will be permitted in heaven. And I tell you more: whenever two of your on earth agree about anything you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them.” How can Christ be so confident about the way He empowers and authorizes us? The answer to that question is found in this citation; it is that for us to properly apply this God-given power and authority, it must be done under His direction. There is a clear line of authority beginning with the Father, then through the Son, and then to the obediently faithful people. It is useless without going through that line of authority. The old texts refer to it as passing on the “keys to authority” just as is mentioned in MT 16: 19.
Getting back to the issue of freedom, we have real freedom when we live in Christ. That freedom is to act with righteousness, confidence, fairness, and justice as our Lord would have us do. The power we have through prayer, apostolic action, to live a pious life, is greater than we ever imagined in the doing of good deeds. Today, we are challenged to examine our own lives to see what gifts of the Holy Spirit we have been given [1 COR 12: 4-31]. Once we have done that, then we need to see how the Lord directs us to use those gifts to join Him in His work, a work of good deeds which He has prepared us to do [EPH 2: 8-10]. Then, we must see how He directs us to work in concert with the other “parts of the Body of Christ” to do our part and go to it with the same confidence that Christ had when He healed the crippled woman in the synagogue.
PRAYER: O Lord, we look to You today and always for guidance and encouragement, remembering PS 5: 3, “Each morning I will look to You in heaven and lay my requests before You, praying earnestly.” You have made us the promise of PS 32: 8, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye.” Dearest Abba, we are so grateful for the wisdom and direction You give us. If we were to try to usurp Your power to carry out our human desires, nothing but evil could happen. However, You have been only too willing to grant authority and power to us through Christ to join You in Your great work of improving the human condition, bringing souls to listen, and guiding them to the place where the Holy Spirit can bring them to faith. Because of the great sacrifice of Your Son on the cross, such faith in Him leads to salvation. When we do this, David’s words in PS 29: 11 become true. “He will give His people strength. He will bless them with peace.” You entrust us to spread Your word with heartfelt faith and accuracy. 2 TIM 1: 13-14, “Hold firmly to the true words that I [Paul] taught you [his protégé, Timothy], as the example for you to follow, and remain in the faith and love that are ours in union with Christ Jesus. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in us, guard the treasure entrusted to you.” That treasure is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that message of salvation and peace. You have been gracious enough to allow us to know how it works in RO 1: 16-17, “I [Paul] have complete confidence in the Gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the Gospel reveals how God puts people right with Himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the Scripture [HB 2: 4; GA 3:1] says, ‘The person who is put right with God through faith shall live.’” We humbly offer You our thanks, pledge our trust and obedience, confess our sins, and offer You our eternal adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, glory, honor, and praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to write about ways to interrupt Satan’s activities with Scripture. This “sword of the Spirit” is so powerful and important to us, that the Spirit is directing me to write so much about it. Through no plan of my own, God’s word has become a driving force in my life. I thank God that this was His righteous plan and that He gives me the power and authority to use it in my own life. It helps at this point for you to see how He has called each of you to use it in yours. As time goes on, interrupting Satan at his game becomes more and more attractive to me. And yet, I must never do it without seeking and following the Lord’s direction. That surely means I have no license to become judgmental in the course of this action. The way the Lord tells any of us whether we are on the right track is by granting us the “peace that goes beyond human understanding” [PHIL 4: 7] and the strength Christ gives us to do all things [PHIL 4 :13]. Behind this wonderful system of teaching and encouraging people to act righteously against Satan is a love from the Father that is so profound as to be beyond human understanding. How very blessed all who endure in faith really are! Peter and I send each of your our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn