Power and Might

On April 15, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Daniel 11: 32

And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know God will display strength and take action.

God is not raising up a generation of weaklings. He has called us in strength and in the glory of his dear son. There will come those who will lead the weak spirited away. He will trick them by the eloquence of his speech but those who know the Word of God will recognize the lies. 

Jesus was tried by the tempter (See Matthew 4: 1 – 11). He tried to trick Jesus too but Jesus knew the Word. He could not be led astray. He defeated the devil’s scheme’s then and ever since. We learn from Daniel that because we are called according to Jesus’ victory, we too can display strength and we can take action.

Do not be fooled by those who come to you in smoothness of speech. Check their fruit. Are they demonstrating Galatians 5: 22 fruit? If not, step away. You are not required to be friends with everyone; you are only required to love them. Secondly, prepare yourself now for the trickster. We already know he is waiting like a prowling lion, just looking for someone he can devour (1 Peter 5: 8). Feed on the Word daily so that you will recognize truth from the lie and can protect yourself and your family. Adam and Eve didn’t abide in the Word and they were deceived. Look where that brought us all.

Be strong in the might of the Lord and in the power of His Word.

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The Prowling Lion

On October 7, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Peter 5: 8

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

You have an adversary and he is named here. Do not be uninformed. There is an enemy out there and he comes only to steal, kill and destroy (John 10: 10). He will devour as many as will let him. Someone told me once that she did not believe there was any such thing as “evil” in the world. Well, she is susceptible to all of the snares of the wily one because she does not even acknowledge that there is an adversary. He can run around her life unchallenged. He can sneak around and plot all he wants because there is no lookout. I would rather trust the Apostle Peter’s knowledge and have my defenses built against foes. Be on your guard, be alert. Know that there is an enemy; prepare yourself by spending time in the word and with your heavenly father so that your defenses will be too much for the enemy. He will pass you by for easier targets because you are built up in your most holy faith (Jude 1: 20).

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Who is it?

On August 28, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Job 9: 24

If it is not he, then who is it?

You know the story of Job and of how great his suffering was. Job was a godly man so when calamity struck his house he was bewildered. The book of Job records conversations he had with his “friends”. In today’s passage Job is answering Bildad. He makes the assertion that so many Christians make which is essentially that God is the source of our trouble and misfortune.  

I was guilty of this myself. In my early years I, like everyone, suffered some hardships. My religious training had not taught me that there was a source of evil in the world. I remember saying to someone who was a Christian, “It must be God who is causing these bad things to happen to me.” It was a horrible thing to say to a believer but do you know what? He didn’t correct me. He didn’t explain to me how wrong I was and about the goodness and love of our God. Surely he believed in John 3: 16, who doesn’t? How, then, do we reconcile this God of love who gave everything to save us with the ideology of a God who inflicts pain and suffering? We cannot because the two are irreconcilable.

The devil has done quite a number on the church. He has reduced his image to that of a cute Halloween costume. He has shifted our understanding of him to fantasy and make believe. However, we have the means to learn and know the truth. James 1: 5 is the pronouncement of a major theme of the Bible, that being that the Lord, our God, gives us wisdom. The wisdom of God reveals all truth, so, the devil cannot hide in his lies when wisdom has come upon the scene. He is always exposed for the liar that he is.

When bad things happen, we need to understand that the devil is our enemy (1 Peter 5: 8). However, we can take comfort in knowing that our Lord has already defeated the enemy which means that we are no longer subject to the devil. We can overcome all of his machinations through the victory of Jesus. The first step, however, is in not being deceived that there is no devil or that our benevolent Father is the source of the bad things that happen in life. Believe me, when I thought that God was the source of trouble in my life I could not receive relief. It is only in our Father that we can triumph. 1 Corinthians 13: 8 says that love never fails. Well, here is an example of that non-failing force. Love always wins so we take the love of God, which is God’s very substance, and we apply it to the problem and love wins every time.

Your Father loves you more than you can imagine and He would never inflict harm on you. He only wants good for you and since He is love and goodness that is all that He has to give you. Give the devil his proper due and put him back under your feet where he belongs.

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Staying Dry

On May 26, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Ephesians 1: 13

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation – having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

We are sealed in Christ. Our lives are sealed in Him. That is enough good news for us to close the book and go home. Perhaps some of you are outdoors adventurers and can relate to this. I like to kayak but one thing about kayaking is the water. Now, I love the water but my electronics don’t and even the dry clothes I carry with me are useless to me if they do not remain dry so I have dry bags for everything. I have a dry bag fanny pack and a dry bag for my phone and a dry bag for towels, clothes, etc. The technology of sealing these bags is remarkable. Some bags have zip lips, others fold down and clamp, others have zip locks that are impenetrable. So when I think of being sealed in Christ I have an idea that nothing unwanted, not even dust, can get to me. I am hidden away in Christ. We are in Christ but it is the Holy Spirit which seals us in Christ. So, imagine that Jesus is the dry bag. The Holy Spirit is the new technology of zip lips. The Holy Spirit is the seal that secures us from the damaging effects of the world. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one working together for our protection and security much like the dry bag and the closure on the dry bag. You cannot separate one from the other and truthfully say, “Well the bag is what protects my phone,” because the bag would not function fully without the seal and vice versa.

This is part of the miracle of Jesus’ victory over Satan. We know that Satan is like a lion on the prowl just looking for someone he can devour (1 Peter 5: 8). We know also that Satan’s intent is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10: 10). Knowing Satan’s nature God devised a plan to send the Holy Spirit into the world. Jesus even told us that it was to our advantage that he leave the earth so that he could send the helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16: 7). So, God sent the Christ to die for us so that the eternal life we live might be with Him in paradise. Then the Christ sent the Holy Spirit of promise so that we might live this life on earth in security and victory. God’s plan was a master plan that left nothing out. He did not disregard the time that we spend here on earth. He made a plan to seal our eternal life in His son, the Messiah and his plan further sealed out all of the devastating effects of life in the earth.  

I include amongst those ravaging effects the decay that the things of the world undergo. You know that just living on this planet creates a wear and tear on our bodies. Even gravity, for all of the good it does us, has its down side too. It is just like the water when you kayak. It is really, really beneficial to have water if you want to kayak but at the same time you have to protect yourself and your possessions from it too. So God gave us dry bags, and life preservers. In the same way, God sealed us from the negative impact of living in the earth so that our bodies do not have to suffer the negative effects of living in the world without protection.

The revelation of Paul was so huge that one little statement, such as today’s verse, contains a marvel of the miracle and mystery of Christ. This is why we must meditate on the scriptures. There is so much contained in even just a few words.

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