2003-02-26
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As I was completing yesterday’s message, the Holy Spirit prompted me to write about the practical applications of the four steps to take when the devil strikes. These show that we can have confidence in our God-given authority to battle the forces of evil to victory in Christ’s name. Let me begin by recapping the steps. 1) Pray to reaffirm through praise that God gives us the wisdom we need. Remember JAS 1: 5-6. 2) Realize your position in Christ, that He raised us to rule with Him in the heavenly world. Remember EPH 2: 6, RO 8: 17 & 29. 3) Rely on the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ’s name. Remember PHIL 2: 9-11, COL 1: 13-20, REV 6: 9-11 & 12: 11. 4) Remove the ground of oppression, e.g. influence of people who try to cause us to compromise our morals, deceivers, those who exploit our vulnerability, and so on. Remember PS 9: 9-12.
The first thing that caught my attention with these steps is that they all begin with a verb: pray, realize, rely, and remove. They indicate actions we can take. Several months ago, I wrote about how the personality of a believer is brought to maturity in the faith. In the beginning the newly transformed believer [RO 12: 2], still has his mind open to the influence of the adversary. However, his mind is also beginning to open to the influence of the Holy Spirit. The battle between the flesh and the Spirit begins in earnest, that same battle described by Paul in RO 7: 14-24. We must remember that the flesh and the Spirit are always opposed to each other [GA 5: 17]. Slowly and surely the process of sanctification continues, and that “new creation in Christ” [2 COR 5: 17] gradually closes off access to his soul by the enemy and opens it wider to the Holy Spirit. Eventually, the Holy Spirit completely fills his spiritual vessel, now emptied of human agendas, and leads the person to spiritual maturity. The outward evidences of this are seen in the fruits of the Spirit, which are produced. GA 5: 22-23, “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good ness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.”
I can witness first-hand to the fact that praying humbly to ask God for his wisdom and praising Him just before you do a task for Him works. God is eager to grant us His wisdom, and I believe He loves it when we seek Him out. It is a tacit admission that we recognize His wisdom to be greater than ours [IS 55: 8-9]. And, it’s certainly okay to make that admission directly and openly too. My experience is that things work better. It also gives us the confidence that we have asked Him for, that He faces the adversary with us. He loves us, and I believe He will do that. PS 37:5, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it and He will.”
It’s hard for us to realize that we have been raised to rule with Christ to rule with Him in His Kingdom. However, as long as we stand firm in our faith, trust, and willingness to obey God’s commands, that is the truth. RO 6: 3, 5, “For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with His death…For since we have become one with Him in dying as He did, in the same way we shall be one with Him by being raised to life as He was.” The clincher here is seen in COL 3: 3-4, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory.”
With all the evidence that exists in the Scriptures from the parting of the Red Sea in EX 14 to the resurrection of Christ told in the Gospels and beyond to the establishment of His eternal Kingdom, how can we not believe in the superiority of the Father and the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ’s name? Keeping this in mind at the time we face the enemy helps us to stay on course and win the battle. It gives us the confidence we need to realize that the moment Christ gave His physical life up at Calvary, the devil was defeated. Oh, how Satan hates that! All his evil and anger won’t change the fact that his time is limited by the Father [REV 12: 12].
Removing the ground of oppression takes two important elements: a working knowledge God’s will and the willingness to come against the sources of the oppression. Admittedly, that takes trust in God, a willingness to humble ourselves before Him, and the courage to do things like breaking old bad habits, walking away from temptation to engage in unethical practices, refusal to engage in sexual immorality, and rejection of a host of other evils the devil presents to us [EPH 4: 25-27 & 5: 5, 11, & 18; GA 6: 7-8]. The Lord tells us to pray, realize, rely, and remove. He wants us to make His agenda ours and to do it in a way that reveals His glory, honor, righteousness, compassion, and marvelous grace.
PRAYER: O Lord, let me begin this prayer with praise for Who You are and everything You do for us. Your wisdom is the highest that exists, so high that no human can comprehend all You know. PS 139: 1, “You know everything I do; from far away You understand all my thoughts.” PS 147: 5, “Great and mighty is our Lord; His wisdom cannot be measured.” We pledge faith in the truth of Your word and in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You gave Him over to be incarnated, serve a ministry on earth, to suffer and die on the cross for us, and finally to be resurrected. Your unparalleled compassion in doing that has made a way out for us from slavery to sin and certain spiritual death. We, who love You, are dedicated to following the wisdom You give us. We seek You out for it and for Your holy presence in our lives. In humility before you, we plead with You to open our spirits to the Holy Spirit and enable us to resist the devil [JAS 4: 7, 10]. We count ourselves blessed to have the hope of the resurrection and Your promise that we will rule the eternal Kingdom as joint-heirs with Him. When faced with Satan’s fiery arrows, we make every effort not to forget this promise or believe in it. We recognize that without You, we are weak and helpless [JN 15: 5]. With You, we are empowered and authorized to do battle with the enemy to victory in Christ’s name. Today, we pray for those who are yet unsaved, that they will one day soon know the power of Christ’s name, the peace and salvation of His Gospel, and the joy of intimate fellowship with You. In doing this, we recognize that You are supreme over all. Christ will rule the Kingdom with righteousness and justice-traits that You share with Him. The victory we will have over the adversary can claimed on the power of His atoning blood. You have shown us we will still have eternal life with You, even if we are martyred. In conclusion, Dearest Abba, we ask You to give us wisdom, courage, and willingness to recognize and expunge the ground of oppression in our lives. We do this knowing that You will punish the wrongdoers. In humility, we confess our sins and offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, thanks, and praise. You are an awesome God! In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to begin a new segment on a subject I cherish, prayer. I have made an embarrassingly recent discovery. If one spends enough time praising God, he is lifted from the depths of whatever oppression is assailing him and is left to soar spiritually. It’s something I should have known about long before this. Most of you know that Satan’s most recent arrows sent to me have been financial stress and physical illness. God’s wisdom led me to the right doctors, and His past history of protecting those He loves [JER 29: 11-13; RO 8: 28] cause Peter and I to believe that somehow our financial problems will be resolved. I spend time praising God because I know that we can have profound faith that He keeps His promises. Because of the work that I do on our congregation’s prayer chain, I am privileged to see God at work in the lives of others. It makes me love Him even more. His love is all over everything He does. I’m not ashamed to repeat: we are truly a blessed people! Peter and I send each of you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn