Tag: Satan

Having Faith in the Victory That is Ours

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Jesus spoke directly to the apostles before He left the earth. He wanted the apostles to know that even though He would be leaving them in the flesh that He would still be with them in spirit. He wanted them to understand that He would be with them always as He is with the Father always. He wanted them go forward in peace, without fear, having faith that the victory was theirs through Him. He wanted them to be empowered by knowing that He had already overcome all the tribulation that the world and Satan himself had to offer. Through His indwelling with them, they would have the power that they needed to endure all things.

And so it is with us. When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, His Spirit indwells with us. We become one with Him as He is one with the Father. We receive all that the apostles were told that they would receive.

Unfortunately, one facet of the things to come for us is the fact that we will face tribulation. We will encounter the fierce opposition of the evil one and of those who represent him. And we will certainly face the persistent opposition of our own flesh. But Jesus wants us to be of good courage and hope for He promises to provide all that we need to overcome anything that is thrown at us. When we surrender to Jesus, we have all that we need to overcome the temptations of Satan, the infirmities of our own flesh and the carnal offerings of the world.

Let us allow our faith to override our fears as we are swamped by trying circumstances. Let us face every trial in life with the peace, the comfort and the confident hope that Jesus has promised us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You in thanksgiving for the power that You have granted us through Your Son, Jesus. We pray that You teach us how to develop and enjoy our relationship with Jesus. May we find our strength in Jesus, just as Jesus found His strength in You when He was in the flesh. May our victories over our tribulations bring honor and glory to You, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit. We pray that our victories become living testimonies that will draw others to Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the Upholder of All Things, Jesus Christ.

The Joy of Walking Along Side Jesus

Matthew 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification. We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:

  • Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
  • The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
  • The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
  • Satan will attack us all along the way. As we grow in Christ, the intensity of the attacks will increase.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins. We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity. Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds? He is the essence of everything good. He is the absence of anything evil. He is perfect in every measure. This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master. As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity. We pray that Your countenance will shine up us. We pray that Your grace will be with us always. We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil. We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations. We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Impact of Words Cast from Our Mouth

Proverbs 15:4
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

God spoke the world into existence. Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick with His spoken words. There is great power in our words as well. Words cast out from our mouths have the power to build up and the power to crush. We must be conscious of the power of every word that we speak.

Destructive comments like, “You will never amount to anything,” can have long term, negative impact on the life of a child. Life giving comments like, “God has a special plan for your life,” can have long term, positive impact on the life of a child. We must be careful in choosing the words that we speak to our loved ones and to all the people that we encounter in life. We truly have the power to plant life or death into those around us.

Satan will stay in our ears all day long, feeding us with destructive words to be spoken against those that we care for. We must keep our armor up against the urgings to hurt others with our words. We must continually ask the Holy Spirit to help us to be mindful of our words so that we comfort and build up those around us instead of crushing their spirits.

Let us speak healing words to the wounded. Let us speak atoning words to those without Christ. Let us speak peace, encouragement and building up in the lives of all those that surround us. Let us silence any destructive words that the enemy tries to solicit from us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of speaking. We rejoice in praising You with our words and our songs. We take comfort in coming to You with our words of solicitation. We pray, Father, that You will fill our hearts with words that speak life into those around us. We pray that You will shield us from the urgings of the enemy to speak words of conflict and destruction. Build us up, Lord, so that we may build up others in Your Precious Name. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Word, Jesus Christ.

Seeking Divine Providence As We Rebuild Our Lives

Nehemiah 2:20
I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”

Nehemiah was inspired by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem which were in ruin. Because God was with Him, Nehemiah was given complete authority and financial support to rebuild the walls by King Artaxerxes of Persia. When Nehemiah reached Jerusalem to begin the work, He encountered much resistance from the likes of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem. Nehemiah quickly put them in their place and moved forward rebuilding the walls.

We have to be like Nehemiah when we rebuild the walls of our lives which are in ruin due to the sin in our lives. We can be assured that Satan will come to discourage us. We need to let Satan know that he has no claim nor historic right to interfere with the rebuilding of our lives as temples of Jesus Christ.

Further we need to stand firm not only for ourselves, but also for those around us. Knowing that we are in the favor of God who promises to complete the good work in us, we must seek to intercede not only for ourselves but also for our loved ones. The God of heaven will prosper all of us, protect all of us and insure that we all succeed in what He has called us to do.

Let us move forward depending of the God of our promises. Let us have no concern over what the enemy can bring against us. Let us press on confidently, knowing that no man can defeat us as we rebuild our lives and our families. The victory is ours through Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to complete Your good work in us. We bless the name of Jesus whose death on the Cross gives us victory over all evil. We rejoice in knowing that You will give us success in all that we do in Your name. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to stand firm against the enemy who comes to destroy us and our families. May our hearts be prepared to live in dependence upon You as we rebuild our lives as temples of the Living God. We ask all these things in the name of the One that dwells within us, Jesus Christ.

Seizing the Anointing on Our Lives to Overcome Fear, Insecurity, Inferiority and Unbelief

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

Is the devil 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.

The Privilege and Responsibility of Sharing the Salvation Story

Acts 26:18
To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

Paul was sent before King Agrippa by the Jews in an effort to have him killed or at least imprisoned. Paul explained to King Agrippa how he had been led by an encounter with Jesus to abandon his efforts to oppose the message of Jesus of Nazareth and to then turn to a life of proclaiming the message of Jesus to the world.

In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul is describing to King Agrippa the directive and the message that Jesus gave him to bring to the people. The message summarizes for us the fullness of our blessing in Christ, but it also provides us with the responsibility that we share with Paul. For we are all called to spread the Good News that we have received.

It is not uncommon to hear and see people in all walks of life openly professing their disdain for Jesus Christ. People around us need to know and we need to be constantly aware that without our precious Savior, we are doomed to eternal damnation. The sin nature absolutely blocks any possibility that we would choose the light of Jesus Christ over the darkness of Satan. Fortunately for all mankind, Our Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us to overcome our frailty. Through His mercy, He provides a pathway to victory over the darkness in our lives. Through His perfect love and forgiveness, He has given us His Son to be Our Savior. Through His salvation plan, He calls each of us to participate in sharing His salvation story.

Let us choose the Light of the World. Let us choose to be lights to the world. Let us boldly spread the message of the salvation story. Let us insure that everyone around us knows that Jesus washes us clean with His blood so that we can bath in His light and abide with Him for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins and allow us to live in Your magnificent light for all eternity. Your Word tells us that there will be no need for the sun or the moon in eternity for Your light will be sufficient. We pray, Lord, that you will show us how to live in Your perfect light and share it with the world around us. Help us to become living testimony of the loving kindness, mercy and grace that you have provided to us through the sacrifice of Your Son. Father, may our Christian experience be marked by the light that we provide to those around us that are in the darkness. We ask these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

Our Weapons of Resistance Against the Enemy

James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Satan is to be looked upon as an enemy, one who must be watched and guarded against. Faith, humble prayers and heavenly wisdom are are our weapons of resistance.

Man without Jesus Christ is not capable of standing against the powers that seek to devour and destroy him. In the darkness of the flesh, we are unable to see that we are being lead into lives that will never be totally satisfying. We cannot see that our lives are much less than they could be, much less than they should be.

But when the light of Jesus Christ comes into our lives, we see how life can be, how life should be, how our lives are renewed in the spirit of Our Savior. We come to recognize that the renewal of our minds and our spirits is only available to us through our submission to Our Savior. We come to discover that the dominating power of the world, our flesh and Satan himself are defeated through the victory that Jesus Christ won for us on the Cross.

Let us rightfully proclaim our victory over the enemy. Let us boldly stand against the one who is trying to devour and destroy us. Let us fearlessly claim what Jesus provided for us on the Cross.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to come to You to gain the armor that we need to defend ourselves from the enemy who comes to defeat us. We thank You for the weapon of prayer, the sword of Your Holy Word and the shield of faith. We rejoice in knowing that the victory is ours because Your Son, Jesus, claimed it for us forever when He died on the Cross for our sins. We humbly come before You, Lord, to proclaim that we are laying aside our own strength so that we may dwell in the protection of Your shadow. We ask all these things in the name of our Living Shield, Jesus Christ.

His Steadfast Grasp on Our Lives

Psalm 139:7
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

There is no place that we can go to get away from God. He chases us no matter where we go because He loves us so much. He pursues us with an undeniable and unlimited fervor because He has so much invested in us. He created us. He gave up His Son on our behalf, so that He could derive value from us not only here on earth but in heaven for all eternity.

When we are at our lowest point and it seems that Satan is winning, God just smiles confidently. He is there with us. He gives us the strength for another breath and another step. He sets an unquenchable fire in us for Him. He knows that the victory is His and ours through Jesus Christ.

Yet He weeps at the same time because He sees us falling short of our potential of who we are in Christ. He weeps because He sees us allowing our flesh to pull us and tug us in the wrong direction. All along though, He can smile because He knows His steadfast grasp on our lives will soon enough lead to our surrender to Him. He is ready to build something enormous in us, something within the depths of our souls that will cause us to rise up and say, “I am not going there anymore for I am a new man in Christ.”

Thus through His constant presence and never ending love for us, we will reach a place where we seek Him and Him alone. The world will become but a distant memory as we settle into our place of eternal comfort in the hands of Our Heavenly Father who has always been there for us.

Let us be inspired by the Holy Spirit to walk in the fullness of our new lives in Christ. Let us seek the comforting presence of Our Savior at all times in everything we do. Let us show the world how He changed us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your relentless pursuit of our affection. We thank You for loving us first so that we could love You. We bless the name of Your Son, Jesus, who made it possible for us to live in the comfort of Your presence for all eternity. We pray, Father, that You set the fire in our souls that sends us running to You in full and immediate surrender. May every breath we take be used to turn our faces toward You and away from the world. May the world around us know us by Your presence in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Omni-Present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Baptized in a Holy Fire

Isaiah 60:2
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

This passage in Isaiah is regarded as prophetic in nature, speaking to the end of times. It predicts the rise of Christianity out of the darkest of times. The first part of this passage certainly defines our times and our society across the globe. Oh, how sweet it will be when the Lord raises up the greatest revival known to mankind as He fulfills the latter portion of this prophecy.

Can things getting any darker? The ignorance, immorality, idolatry, superstition, false doctrine and false worship that we see everyday are surely forms of a very thick darkness. It seems as if light is unable to penetrate the darkness that continues to escalate and build around us. The world has been shaken and people are broken. We have all become victims of Satan’s plans of destruction.

But rejoice, even though the evil one is ramping up his lies and deceiving ways, Our Lord has different plans. He has promised to bring His glory to be seen by the world. We will be covered by a consuming fire. He will baptize us in a Holy Fire and everything will be different. Even though we will be experiencing darkness around us and tribulation in our lives, we will also witness Almighty God’s presence in our lives in the midst of it all. It is His glorious plan for us to overcome everything that comes against us. It is His glorious plan that His consuming fire will be a purifying fire. It will be a fire that cannot be quenched. It will be a fire without end. It will overcome darkness in ways that we have not seen in our life times.

Let us be aware of the working of the Holy Spirit in us and around us. Let us prepare ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ for the greatest revival in history.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the abundant life that You have prepared for us as we surrender to the divine fire of Your Holy Spirit. We lift Your name up above all names as we come before You to seek the consuming fire that You have promised us. We pray that Your purifying fire will burn the darkness out of our lives. May our transformed lives bring light to the darkness wherever we go. May our living testimonies draw many into Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Flame, Jesus Christ.

Defeating the Enemy by Faith in the Word and the Aid of the Holy Spirit

Luke 9:57
As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

As pointed out in this passage and other passages, some of the early followers of Jesus were boasting, “I will follow You wherever You go.” But Jesus was quick to point out to them that following Him was more costly that many were willing to pay. It is the same for us.

Once we commit to fully surrender to Our Savior and follow Him, we can be certain that there will be attacks and trials that will surely challenge our resolve. Every consideration that we give to continuing as true disciples of Jesus will lead us down a decision path that is predominantly supported by human logic. Without faith in the Word of God and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit, we will follow the callings of our flesh which are never ready to be laid down at the feet of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When we examine the costs, we are likely to end up stalling or passing all together on our calling as disciples. Praise God that He knows us so well, loves us still, has mercy on us and provides His Son for our salvation, His Word for our direction and His Holy Spirit for our strengthening.

Let us claim all that He has set aside for us because He sees us, not in the flesh, but in the image of His Son. Let us follow Our Savior King wherever He leads us. Let us stand firm in our commitment.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for accepting us as heirs to Your kingdom. We rejoice in knowing that You see us only in the image of Your Son who has washed away all of our iniquity with His precious blood. We pray, Lord, that You open our minds and hearts to the fullness of Your Holy Word. We ask that You show us how to surrender completely to the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We beseech You, Father, to give us the grace to fall at the feet of the Cross so that we may walk in the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ.