Tag: evil

Choosing to Submit to the Power of God in Our Lives

Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

In Paul’s final letter to the Ephesians, he was making emphatic closing statements. Paul sought to alert the Ephesians that they had a mighty foe that wished to come against them. He made it clear that the battles that they would face would not be battles against flesh and blood, but battles against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Paul then emphasized to the Ephesians that they had all that they needed to stand firm against the enemy. All they had to do was put on the whole armor of God.

In other words, Paul was making them aware of their choices. They could choose to fight against the evil and iniquity in their lives through their own strength or they could choose to take up the strength promised to them by their Savior Jesus Christ. Such is the choice that we have been given.

One of the basic principles of human existence is that God has given us free choice. Even though He has a specific plan for our lives, He allows us to make our own choices along the way. Knowing our frailty, God has given us the Holy Spirit to stand with us as we wrestle with all that the enemy brings against us. God even promised that He will perfect His power in our weakness. 2 Cor 12:9

So why is it that we still wrestle with personal decisions? These personal decisions that tend to overwhelm us can be made a lot easier to handle if we are willing to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in Truth and we are willing to forego the choice of navigating through the trial on our own.

Let us choose to be strong in the Lord. Let us be resolute in our desire to turn everything in our lives over to Him. Let us rejoice in the victory that is promised to us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the weapons that we need to carry us through spiritual warfare and the trials of every day life. We humbly submit to Your power in our lives. We ask that the Holy Spirit stand with us against the wiles of Satan so that we may oppose his schemes and resist his temptations. We pray for the wisdom to understand that we cannot stand against our enemies alone. May we become victors through Christ Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of the ever victorious King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Finding Peace, Power and Strength During Times of Trouble

Isaiah 40:29
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

With so much going on around us that we are troubled by, but have no control over, it is easy to become frustrated at our station in life. With so much evil in the world today, it is very easy to become despondent and depressed. But how is this so?

How is it that we do not now trust in that which has been recorded throughout history and is prepared for our understanding in God’s Holy Word? How have we missed being enlightened to the ways in which Almighty God has been forever with us when we have the experiences of good men through their own observation and the God-inspired writings of His apostles and His prophets to instruct us? How have we not learned that the Maker and Former of all things, who upholds, governs and judges all that is under His kingdom, never tires of providing for and protecting the creatures that He created for His own glory? Why do we continue with our foolish frets and fears and not find peace in the storm when the One who vanquishes all that comes against us is always with us?

We should not be surprised at our weakness or lack of understanding. God was perfectly aware that we were not capable on our own to cope with the torments of our own flesh and the attacks of the enemy. Through His immeasurable grace He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us. For those that He knew were weak, He provided all the strength required for victory.

Let us gather up our strength in the Lord when we are challenged by the enemy. Let us seek His might when we are being overwhelmed by the world and tormented by our own flesh. Let us rest on His promises as we claim our victories over our troubles.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to overcome this world. We bless the name of Jesus who died on the cross so that we might have victory over all evil. We rejoice in knowing that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to provide peace, comfort and strength through all trials. Father, we pray that our hearts and minds are put to rest with the certainty of Your presence and Your promises. May those around us be comforted by the peace that they see in our lives during times of trouble. We ask all these things in the name of our ever-present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Life Choices are Easy when We Live in the Fullness of the Light of Christ

2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

The truth leaves no room for tolerance. There is no room for variance. Something is true or it is not.

Satan’s fingerprints are all over the complexity of issues that we deal with daily in this world. His tactics are simple. Satan builds in layers of grey around the truth. His minions, especially the media, work hard to confuse us. They attempt to build layers of grey around good and evil. They try to make us see elements of evil as good and elements of good as evil.

When our focus is on Jesus Christ, our lives become much simpler. He that dwells within us is the essence of everything good and the absence of evil. He is Truth. Living in Truth is very cut and dry. Simplicity in life is found by living in the light of Christ. From this standpoint, we can see, believe in and adhere to the crystal clear choices offered by the teachings of Jesus.

Let us seek the Truth in all matters. Let us avoid being swayed into believing that the truth lies anywhere in the shades of grey that the world offers. Let us seek the Light of the World to reveal any darkness in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus. We praise the name of Jesus for modeling the good and perfect life that we should strive for. We rejoice in knowing that our choices in life are easy when we abide in Our Savior. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will provide the wisdom that we need to discern the proper choices that we need to make in life for ourselves and our families. May we learn to live in the light and shut the door on the darkness that the world offers. We ask all these things in the name of the True Light, Jesus Christ.

Putting Our Trust in the Son of God

John 2:24
But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.

Jesus knew that He could not put His trust in any man. He knew their nature, their dispositions, their affections and their evil schemes. Jesus knew what we need to know. Simply put, man cannot be trusted, especially ourselves. The evil within the heart of each man is a snare that cannot be overcome without the grace of Our Savior.

We must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone. If we put our trust in Him, we will find it appropriate to love Him above all things. If we put our trust in Him, we will be drawn to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we put our trust in Him, we will be guided and equipped to tell others about Him and to give Him all the glory. If we put our trust in Jesus, we will live according to the plans that He has set aside for us.

If we doubt the Lord in any area and put our trust in man instead, we will fall short of God’s plans for our lives. For the fullness of life, we must trust the grace of God in all things.

Let us put our trust completely in the Son of God. Let us make Our Savior the foundation of our lives. Let us make Jesus the center point of all that we do.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to be the foundation of our trust in You and Your promises to us. May we live each day in complete faith that Your Word is the foundation upon which our lives are built and sustained. May we face each day knowing that Your Son is the source of everything we need. May we lean not on anything from man, but seek everything from Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of our all-sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

Our Victory and Anointing of Christ

Psalm 41:7
All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.

Has the devil been whispering in your ear this Easter season? He may sound something like this:
You are not good enough to minister to others. Let someone else do it.
Why are you trying this? You will fail.
Why would God have a place for a sinner like you? You will be embarrassed if you do that.

Be on guard. One of the Satan’s favorite tricks is to have his whispers come to us through the voices of those who we know, those who we love and those who we trust.

We must take on the full armor of God when the enemy begins whispering defeat into our lives. Our victory and our anointing in Christ has already been set. We need to seize the anointing on our lives that will break off the yokes of insecurity, inferiority, fear, and unbelief.

When Satan accused Joshua, listen to how Jesus responded, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” Zechariah 3:2 We need to respond in the same manner every time Satan accuses us. We must learn to recognize his attacks and respond immediately under the authority of Our King, Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we will become comfortable with the lies spoken against us. The victory is ours in the name of the Lord, Jesus. We must learn to claim it.

Let us close our ears to the enemy’s lies. Let us claim our victory in Christ. Let us proclaim the glory of Our King this Easter season.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the armor that You provide us. We thank You that the enemy cannot lead us astray when we take on the armor of protection that is ours through our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ. Thank You, Jesus, for providing our victory over all evil. Teach us how to live our lives in victory. Prepare the hearts of those around us to be drawn to the life in victory that we display. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is our stronghold in our times of trouble, Jesus Christ.