2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
The Holy Spirit leads me to continue discussing guilt this morning. This time we will examine the kind of guilt that Satan causes us to have. Satan loves to attack the mind, and one of his favorite ways to do this is to make us feel like we are worthless and should feel guilty and impotent. Fear is another favorite arrow he draws from his quiver. He loves for us to focus on living in fear of his attacks. Unremitting guilt is one of his strategies to bring us misery. Unlike our loving and compassionate Lord, the adversary never forgets and never forgives. He whispers accusations to encourage guilt in our ears from the time we are little children. I know an elderly lady who has felt worthless all her life, even though that is an enormous lie. Her self-doubt and lack of self-esteem led her into two disastrous marriages and a lifetime of unwise decisions in other relationships. I pray for this lady every day that somehow she will find happiness and arise out of the ashes of her life before it is too late. It all began with Satan who led her father to make her feel her feelings didn’t matter and her accomplishments were worthless. She became emotionally so dependant on her husbands, that she could no longer take care of her own needs. Both of her husbands were people who were only too happy to allow Satan to establish a stronghold in their lives and lead them to dominating her further enabling this sad situation. This, Dear Ones, is real misery that to this date has not been alleviated by her coming to faith. It gives us an example of how Satan does his dirty work.
EPH 3: 16-17a, “I ask God from the wealth of His glory to give you power through His Spirit to be strong in Your inner selves, and I pray that Christ will make His home in your hearts through faith.” This prayerful plea on Paul’s part shows how God wants us to recognize the poverty of our spirits without faith in Him and the wonderful blessings that our having faith in Christ opens to us. We all know that there are some people who are Messianic Jews and Christians who know intellectually about God’s blessings, but they allow Satan to make them feel guilty, so they don’t actually accept that these blessings are there for them. What they don’t really understand is how Satan’s guilt acts as a blockage to their faith. Nor do they understand the precious message of 2 COR 12: 8-9, “But His answer was: ‘My grace is sufficient to meet your needs, for My power is strongest when you are weak.’ I [Paul] am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ’s power over me.” Ultimately, all sin committed is against God. That makes the forgiveness that faith in Christ brings all the more sweet.
PS 51 is very special, partly for its demonstration of God’s power to convict and forgive shown to David after the latter committed adultery with Bathsheba, arranged the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, and experienced the loss of the baby to whom she gave birth as a result of their wrongful union. The other reason for my feelings about this powerful Psalm has to do with its applicability in our own lives today. Let’s enjoy these beautiful words now. PS 51: 1-5, “Be merciful to me, O God, because of Your constant love. Because of Your great mercy wipe away my sins! Wash away all my evil and make me clean for my sin! I recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins. I have sinner against You-and done what you consider evil. So You are right in judging me. I have been evil from the time I was born; from the day of my birth I have been sinful.” In these words we see the spirit of a sinner being cleansed by faith and confession of sin. It was Satan that encouraged the appetites that led to David’s sin; it is the love of the Lord that allowed David to know He could turn to Him and call upon His power to cleanse his soul and grant forgiveness. It is God Who makes it possible for any of us to turn from sin and from Satan’s sway in our lives. When we turn from sin, the guilt Satan tries to bring upon us no longer has power over us either. PS 51: 10-14 are words precious to our lives. “Create in me a clean heart, O God and put a new and loyal spirit in me. Do not banish me from Your presence; do not take Your Holy Spirit away from me. Give me gain the joy that come from Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You. Then I will teach sinners Your commands, and they will tun back to You. Spare my life, O God, and save me, and I will gladly proclaim Your righteousness.”
God has the same wonderful attributes today that He had in David’s time. That means that all of His blessings and forgiveness are just as available today as they were then. David had the wisdom, given to him by God, to know not only that he was a sinner, but that he needed to confess that sin before the One an Only God Who alone has the power to cleanse one’s soul and grant eternal forgiveness. We can choose to see to it that Satan’s efforts to either make us feel guilty or to urge us to lay guilt on others can be thwarted before this arrow is ever fully out of his quiver. All we have to do is to do is to remember to turn to our Abba in humble confession and come to faith from which His forgiveness comes.
PRAYER: O Lord, through Paul, You have taught us the importance of recognizing our status as sinners, confession, and coming to faith. RO 10: 9-13, “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. The Scripture [IS 28: 16] says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’ This includes everyone, because there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to Him. As the Scripture [JL 2: 32] says, ‘Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.’” You also have given us the firm foundation, a great Cornerstone for Your church [IS 28: 16 & EPH 2: 20]. Christ’s humility before You set a wonderful example for us. Your grace really is sufficient to cover our needs, and our humble confession of sin pleases you. Satan hears this and is disgusted by it. He hates that, because he knows that we are invoking Your power in the name of Christ-something that befouls his evil plan to corrupt us with guilt and sin. We acknowledge all the great deeds You do for us, deeds like offering Your Son on the cross to open the way to our salvation and to our power to combat Satan’s activity in our lives. We also praise and thank You for Your wonderful attributes, ones that You uses liberally for the good of those You love, those You call according to Your purpose [RO 8: 28]. When we place our faith and trust in You, we are not condemned, and the devil is thrown down in impotent frustration. We pledge You our loyal obedience and everlasting adoration. We worship You before Your altar and acknowledge Your sovereign leadership in our lives. All of this we do in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen
The Lord leads me to continue discussing guilt brought on by Satan’s activity in tomorrow’s message. In the meanwhile, we are blessed when we turn to our Savior and while letting Him know we understand the greatness of His grace, place our burdens on His willing shoulders. By remaining faithful to our study of His word daily and listening in our prayerful communication for His commands and direction, we are free to tap into His extraordinary power in our quest to vanquish the adversary’s attempts to keep evil in our lives. Our Abba loves us so much that He is eager to make this power against the enemy available to us. All we have to do is ask for it. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn