We have been delivered, set free
from everything that keeps us prisoners to the world
Yet,
what do we choose?
Jesus set us free
God delivered us from the power of darkness
Yet,
we are like pigs in miry clay
We stay where it is familiar,
where we are comfortable,
even though it’s not where we ought to be
We accepted God’s gift of eternal salvation through His Son’s death,
burial and resurrection. We were set free from every bond that kept us
prisoners of Satan. We repented, turned away from Satan’s rule and turned to
God’s way.
Yet,
we do not turn away completely.
We repent, we believe God’s promises
Yet,
our faith is weak
We know we are saved,
we are children of the Living God
Yet,
we do not obey His commands
or study His Word
We cling to being Christian
Yet,
we do not follow Christ
God is always with us
When we accepted His Son as our Savior,
His Spirit came to live in our hearts,
a helper to live with us forever
God provides protection and security
His lifeline of hope
prevents the path of depression and self-pity
from swallowing us
Yet,
we look within ourselves for aid.
We think it is our resources
that will get us out of the mud
and onto solid ground.
“God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not
fear.” – Psalm 46:1-2a
The Bible tells us to walk in the way of Christ
so we will not fulfill the desires of the flesh
Yet,
we travel paths of impatience, unkindness, unfaithfulness, disgust,
frustration, hatred, defensiveness, and much more
That which we repented from, turned away from, but have we?
~~~~~
“Watch, stand
fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” – I Corinthians
16:13-14
Watch… be ready … be
prepared … be alert
“Watch therefore
for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” – Matthew 24:42
“Therefore you
(also) be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect
Him.” – Matthew 24: 44
Stand fast in the
faith … secure in the gospel of Jesus Christ of which you have received …
let your conduct, your actions be worthy of the gospel of Christ, whether seen
or unseen
Be strong … be strengthened through the Holy Spirit, so we
are able to bear up under whatever comes upon us … persevere… push on, not
giving up … endure … strengthened by the power of the Lord in us to be patient
and have patience
All done in Love … rejoices in
the truth… godly love believes all things, hopes all things...never gives up…endures…accepts
hardships or rejection, builds up and encourages another
Don’t let the obstacles that you encounter as you walk with the Lord
discourage you. Do not give up. The path will never be easy, but with the Holy
Spirit, our ever-present helper, we can overcome any obstacle. We must remember to walk with Him, in His
power, not ahead of Him. It is in His timing that what He wills will be
accomplished. Do not give in to stress, but slow down, keeping your focus
steady and sure on Him, and through Him the darkness we experience will turn to
joy.
“Weeping may
endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” – Psalm 30:5
We must be prepared to do battle with everything
and all that God has provided to us and for us.
“Therefore let us
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly (decently), as in the
day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in
strife and envy. But put on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” – Romans 13:12-14
“… Walk as
children of light. (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness,
righteousness and truth) proving what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful
works of darkness, but rather expose them.” -- Ephesians 5:8-11
To expose the unfruitful works of darkness, of which Satan and the
devil and his workers prevail, we need to put on the Armor of God – the Armor
of Light. That armor is not the weaponry of physical battle, but spiritual.
Jesus defeated Satan.
“He (God) has
delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins.” -- Colossians
1:13-14
“…Be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles (schemes) of the devil.” – Ephesians 6:10-11
“Therefore take
up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand (to overcome).” – v. 13
Satan is cunning. He undermines us by our very own words and actions to
another. Instead of love and compassion and concern and well-being, we act
destructively, we hear and respond to criticism, tones of dissatisfaction and
defensiveness, condemnation, complaints, fear. That which we do not want to do,
we do -- Satan helps us along to achieve all those “don’t wants.” Even with the
“do wants, but know we shouldn’t,” Satan works to deceive us, and we fall prey
to his every trick. Have we forgotten Jesus defeated Satan and with His power
in us, we too can defeat the Enemy? I fear we do not believe we have the power,
we do not believe God’s strength is in us. We give up and give in before we
take any step of faith. Satan has us
where he wants us and we do nothing. We do not watch, we do not stand fast, we
are not brave, we are not strong and we
are not loving. We claim allegiance to God the Father, God the Son and God the
Holy Spirit, but we fail to utilize all His provisions. It seems we still live
in the world.
God provides us with armor -- armor at our ready disposal, in His
Word, in our hearts when we become His Children. We are to put on the whole
armor, not just bits and pieces. How can we ever hope to defeat the Enemy if
we’re not ready or only half so?!
Jesus defeated Satan and we can too, when we are encased with the
battle gear God provides us --
His TRUTH
His RIGHTEOUSNESS
His PEACE
His FAITH
His SALVATION
His SWORD – His WORD
And PRAYER.
Without prayer, we are incomplete, unsure how to proceed.
(Ephesians 6:14-18)
With all that Jesus is in us, with us, through us, we cannot fail. But
the success we look for can only be found when we abide in Christ and He abides
in us, when we travel His path, when we look to Him for everything that crosses
our path, when our spiritual faith is
stronger than our physical desire, when we say NO to the world, and YES to God.
(c) Cathy Orrick Luders
January 7-9, 2015
