Tag: Satan

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Acts 8 “Persecution Leads to Powerful Proclamation”

ImageOn Jan 8, 1956 five missionaries were slain upon a riverbed in a small jungle area of Ecuador. The world wept and many asked why. Jim Elliot was one of those five and his words “he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose” became the rallying cry for missions around the world. The truth of what Joseph said in Gen 50 “As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people,” fanned the flames of missionary hearts. So too in Acts 8 what Satan desired to accomplish God used to bring the gospel of salvation to men, women and children to those whom the Jews had rejected—the Samaritans.

The Jews prejudice was clear and profound. We recall the words of James and John, who had prejudicial hearts in Luke 9, asking Jesus if they should call down fire upon the Samaritan village that did not welcome them. And yet Jesus walked and taught and prepared the way for just such a time as this. The Samaritan woman at the well and the parable of the Good Samaritan were his lessons to the disciples to open their eyes to their perception and their heart of prejudice. Yet Jesus saw them as kingdom people. Do we see others in this frame of reference?

 As the waves of persecution swept over Jerusalem God touched the heart of Philip, one of the seven servants of God from Acts 6. He would become the instrument God would use to cross the barriers of prejudice to bring the message of salvation to the Samaritans. As the news traveled back to Jerusalem, Peter and John’s heart of prejudice would be challenged. Could it be that God will open the doors to these? Jesus had said: you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth” but the church had been slow in their progress to accomplish this. Did God allow this to move the church beyond the Temple, beyond Jerusalem? We may never be able to answer that question but we can see how God will use the evil intentions of Satan to bring about good thus once again teaching us this principle: Jer 29:11 “For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.”  

 God does not let us rest but opens our eyes to see His marvelous message of salvation is offered to all. The Jerusalem church sent Peter and John to see. They may have come with hearts of doubt, perhaps unbelief but the evidence was clear: salvation had come to these Samaritans. It was such a profound lesson for them that as they journeyed back to Jerusalem they proclaimed the good news to many Samaritan villages. The words of Gamaliel were  ringing forth…”but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them, or you may even be found fighting against God.”

Where do you find that you are asking “why would God choose them?” instead of “why would He not choose them?” Are you hindering the work of the Lord God Almighty because of your heart of prejudice?  Are you still in Jerusalem or have you moved to your Samaria so that His Word can ring forth the truth of His saving love and power?

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Know Thy Enemy

ImageLuke 22 “Satan vs The Servant” Or “Know Thy Enemy”

Dr. Luke has shown us from chapter 1 to now the contrast of the one who came to “seek and save the lost” with the one who seeks to destroy the king and the kingdom. We know from 2Cor that often he disguises himself as an angel of light and that he continues to walk about this earth seeking whom he may devour. In sharp contrast to him is The Servant who came lowly and meek lying in a manger to now where he will suffer at the cross for you and me. Observe if you will, how Satan works; not openly but behind the scenes seeking to disarm and destroy in the quiet, the unassuming, the orderly, the times of sacredness. This is where he seeks to do his work. This is his work for he is the author of the “deadly d’s” by which he seeks to disarm and destroy and in this chapter we find 6 of his ways:

Deception: The religious leaders were seeking a way to execute Jesus and thereby will break the sixth commandment “thou shalt not murder” because they think they are offering service to God.

Disillusionment: Satan infiltrates the disillusioned traitor, Judas, who has so mastered the cloak of traitor that no one suspects. But Jesus knows and reveals his ways and his work.

Defensiveness: The disciples “began to question one another as to which of them it could possibly be who would do this.”

Disputing: The disciples began to dispute “which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.”

Distraction: While all of this is going on it seems that Peter’s attention has drifted and The Servant calls him back:  “Simon, Simon, pay attention!” As Peter’s attention is arrested, he hears the ominous warning: “Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat.” And how does Peter handle this?

Self-defense: But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!” And it is in that moment that The Servant predicts what will happen: “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”

Satan has infiltrated and sought to disrupt the most sacred of times. The Servant will disarm him not by force but by a reminder that these precious disciples are his and his alone: “You are the ones who have remained with me in my trials.”

Beloved, beware that it is when we are in the sacred moments such as reading, meditating, praying, busy about the Master’s business, that Satan will seek to do his work. It is then that we need to call upon The Servant to disarm him. We must “hold firmly to the faith” and “rekindle God’s gift that we possess”-learning to be discerning by words of the sacred scripture [Ps 119:11; 2Tim 2:15, Heb 5:14]. Call upon the power of the Holy Spirit which resides within you. Jer 29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers.

 

 

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The Time is Now!!!

ImageClara Scott authored the hymn “Open my eyes that I May See”. The first stanza reads as : “Open my eyes, that I may see, glimpses of truth thou hast for me…” As we read Revelation 6 more than ever we need to see with spiritual eyes for the truth within is almost more than one can digest. In reading this chapter one verse keeps coming back to mind: John 3:16 “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” It is when we view God’s love in sharp contrast to the hate of Satan, which is sovereignly allowed upon men in this chapter, that we bow the knee and are overwhelmed with gratitude of God’s gift of His Son’s sacrifice on the cross and our salvation.

John 3:16 says that the gift God has for those who will bow the knee is eternal life. However, in this chapter we find that just as the Israel and the religious leaders during the time of Jesus rejected the evidence: the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news proclaimed to them, so too men in the last stages of the clock of time, men will not cry out to God for His peace, love and salvation but will continue to reject.  That is a frightening thought which should drive us to share the good news of salvation to everyone who is divinely brought across our path that they may not have to face the judgment of God. 

In Chapter 6, John shows us what God revealed. It will not be His grace but horror upon horror to show men the power of evil and hate in the form of war, famine, death, disease. They respond by calling out  to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” In reading this another verse came flooding back to this author: Rom  1:32 “Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die..” Isn’t it ironic that these men fully understand God’s judgment and his wrath but choose mountains and rocks to  the path of goodness, love and peace which only God can provide? We stop and ask “why?” Why do men reject God? Again we turn to the words of John: John 3:19 “people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.”

Beloved, if you have not done so I implore you now to open your eyes and allow the Holy Spirit to illumine you and bring God’s love and peace to your heart. It is not too late—but do not delay, we do not know when God will choose to allow the events of chapter 6 to unfold in all of their reality. Keep in mind God’s clock is running down; have you called upon Him?

 

 

 

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“The Lion-like Lamb and the Lamb-like Lion”

ImageJohn, in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,  continues to share with the reader his vision of heaven and its activities. In Rev 1 John saw : “Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood,” and now in chapter 5 John saw the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God as John the Baptist had declared. The Apostle John writes “You [the Lamb of God] are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation.”  In both chapters John reminds the reader that it was his precious blood that paid the ransom. Heb 9:22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Now notice what John tells us beyond those descriptions. The Lion-like Lamb/Lamb-like Lion is standing. He has finished his work and now is worthy to take the scroll of judgment and to open it. No one else is worthy and thus John is found weeping at this realization. Secondly, he has 7 horns symbolizing strength and power. He has conquered sin, death and Satan not just because he was a Lion but because he was a Lamb-like Lion who was willing to allow man to take his life that he might redeem them from the jaws of death and sin and the power of Satan.

To those who have bowed the knee and accepted this gift of the Lamb’s blood is given a promise which John repeats in ch 5 as he had written in ch 1:  “has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father/You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

Our Savior is both Lion and Lamb and he is waiting for us to stop and with the angels, living creatures, elders, whose number was then thousand times then thousand, thousands times thousands sing: “Worthy is the lamb who was killed to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and praise!” 

 Have you bowed the knee and are thus able to join the chorus today?

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Today’s Devotional: From One Wilderness to Another….

ImageOne thought grabbed my attention in preparing the summary reading for today. We remember that Jesus began his public ministry after being in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the evil one, Satan himself. After 11 chapters of John’s observations of what transpired after that moment in time we find that the evil one is once again “ on the prowl looking for someone to devour.” [1Pet 5:8]. This time it is Jesus himself. Satan wants to destroy the very Son of God and will use the blind unbelieving Pharisees as his instruments to carry out his will, but before the Savior is brought to the cross, Jesus is once again seeking the wilderness where he can be nourished by the ones nearest and dearest to him, the disciples and His Father. 

Where do you/I seek nourishment when we know a trial is ahead? With whom do we receive refreshment?

We seem to busy ourselves but not so our Lord. He is being refreshed there for his heart is heavy. Some saw the miracle of the raising of Lazarus and gave God glory but some returned to tell the Pharisees. Why did they go? Was it purely unbelief? We may never know the true heart reason but we do then read of the prophecy given by the high priest Caiaphas: “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” Later in chapter 12 we find that the religious leaders compounded their sinful intentions by planning to kill the risen Lazarus as well.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive” [Sir. W. Scott] This is the setting in Chapter 12 as we see the web being woven to entrap and murder the miracle worker, Son of David, Son of God as well as Lazarus. In the midst of this we hear the Savior say: ““The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Although Jesus had performed and offered many signs to authenticate Himself, they still refused to believe in him. Isaiah wrote about these unbelievers saying that God has blinded their eyes, hardened their heart so that they would not see, understand with their heart, and turn to God for healing. “Jesus said in John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” The unbelief of Israel is a guilty unbelief. Our unbelief is a guilty unbelief.” [Piper]

After this John notes: 12:42/43 “Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”

Beloved Reader, There are several unanswered questions before us: (1) Where do we find ourselves in the time of trial?  Do we retreat to the wilderness to be refreshed? (2) What about our decision to follow? Is it in a closet for fear of men or do you openly proclaim? (3)Where do we find our heart today? Are we like those who saw and believed or like the blind Pharisees and other unbelieving Jews?

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Unconditional Forgiveness

ImageHow do you handle overwhelming and profound sadness? How do you respond when another responds to you with not with words that edify but words that are like swords? Are we a confronter or do we love from a distance? Do we step aside or do we confront? Do we forgive or do we withhold that gift? We can learn much about how this affects but better yet how to handle these situations from Paul’s responses to the church in Corinth where he had personally experienced this firsthand However, in light of eternity he has chosen not for us to know the person nor the situation but only the ramifications and the cure.

There will be times when others offend and we are the recipients of that offense. As hard as it is, we have the choice of what to do in those situations. We can forgive and restore that relationship or we can withhold it. We can learn from Paul what steps to take and why. Paul essentially is telling the church at Corinth that although a person has offended him he has forgiven him. Thus they are to follow in his footsteps and also forgive.

Forgiveness seems to be one of the hardest steps we are called to take. Why is that? Is it pride? Is it because we want the offender to feel the pain we are feeling? We often reject taking this step and in fact we feed on the reasons why we don’t have to. Beloved this only leads to a root of bitterness. But Paul uses the word “charizomai” which means to freely forgive as Christ has forgiven you. To not take this step is not only is sinful but childish. Paul reminded us in 1Cor 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.” There is a principle we can employ here: Christian love includes both discipline but also forgiveness.

What is the consequence of withholding forgiveness? First and foremost Mat 6:15 But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins. Secondly, a lack of forgiveness leads to a root of bitterness. Thirdly, we open the door to the work of the enemy. Beware lest we allow the enemy who roams about seeking whom he can devour an open door to divide and conquer the Body of Christ. “Satan has many plans to deceive, and knows how to make a bad use of our mistakes.” [M. Henry]

We are left with some questions: What weak point is Satan seeking to exploit in our life? Where is he seeking to gain a foothold? Are we wise or ignorant of the schemes of the enemy? Are we employing forgiveness to those who have offended us whether they seek it or not? Forgiveness truly is the balm that heals a wound.

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Living Righteously in the Body of Christ.

ImageRomans 14 always brings to forefront tears for me as I see the Body of Christ being torn asunder with differing opinions. I have to step aside and ask is there a grain of truth in this ounce of criticism and if so in light of eternity is this something I need to alter in my life so that the enemy will not use as his tool to divide the fellowship of my church/fellowship of believers? Maybe that is the question we must all ask ourselves as there are many in the church and outside the church that cry: Hypocrite! Hypocrite! We could all share from our experiences family members, friends, co-workers, etc. that have said this to us and it causes us to cringe. Could it be that in some respects they are right? Let’s dig in and see what we are to learn and then more practically what we are to apply.

Paul addresses this full head on in chapter 14 but does not use the word hypocrite but rather bluntly says “do not condemn” and “do not judge.” Yesterday we talked about how to live righteously in an unrighteous world. Today Paul asks us the same question but in regards to how we live in the Body of Christ. Again we need to come back to our premise of yesterday: we are to love our neighbor and sometimes loving comes at a price, comes when we are face to face with those who differ with us. How do we do that lovingly? That is the question.

First off, Paul addressed two situations that the church in Rome was experiencing and which we find are the same two that are still with us today: food/drink and days on which we worship. Some say it is ok to eat certain foods, another says no. Some say it is ok to drink alcohol and another says no. Some say you must worship only on Saturday and others say not so, worship on Sunday or any other day is ok. Oh the tools that Satan uses to divide and he will use whatever he can to destroy the Body of Christ.  We must remember that our enemy, Satan, is wily, and he knows where we are weak and where we are strong. (2Co 2:11 Satan… (for we are not ignorant of his schemes); and in fact he often disguises himself as an angel of light (2Cor 11:4). He will seek to divide and cause disunity and what better place than within the Body of Christ? Let’s get practical here and see what the Word of God says.  

Paul uses very strong language in this situation: vs 4 “Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant?” Then he also reminds us that we are “not to condemn” nor are we to “judge.” And if we didn’t get those phrases he adds another: DO NOT to be a stumbling block for another. So if we are not to do that, then what key elements should be a part of our life?

Beloved, the key is found in vs 7: “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

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14:19 “So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building up one another.” Did you note that the word peace seems to be cropping up over and over from chapter 12 to 14? Did you also note that he inserts peace between righteousness and joy? If you do a search you will find that Paul used that word 13 times in this book.

Today may we seek peace above all else. May this be our mandate for today, Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. And if we disagree on the points of food/drink and days–remember that Satan is lurking, waiting and looking for ways to divide us. Ecc 4:12 Although an assailant may overpower one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken. Let’s keep the three strand:

          J – Jesus O- Others Y- Yourself = Jesus righteousness, peace, joy

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