Thursday, February
06, 2014, 10:00 a.m. – As I sat down to have my quiet time with the Lord
this morning, he put the song “He Reached
Down” in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 143 (ESV).
No One Righteous
Hear
my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my pleas for mercy!
In your faithfulness answer me, in your
righteousness!
Enter
not into judgment with your servant,
for no one living is righteous before you.
In Romans 3 we read that no one is righteous - that is in
our flesh nature not one of us can attain a relationship with Almighty God and
have the hope of eternal life with God in heaven. We did nothing to deserve our
salvation and we can’t do anything to earn it. All of us have sinned, and thus
we all fall short of giving glory to God with our lives, and of receiving approval from him. The
only way we can be made righteous is by God’s grace, through our faith.
God the Father provided salvation for all humans when he
sent his Son Jesus Christ to earth to die for our sins so that we could be
forgiven, so that we could be set free from the bondage and decay of sin, and
so we could be free to walk in HIS righteousness. Thus salvation is a free gift
offered to us by God. He even gives us the faith to believe if we will accept
his free offer. The way in which we receive this free gift is by surrendering
our lives over to God and to his Lordship over our lives, by submitting to his
will, and by cooperating with his work of grace and heart transformation in our
lives – death to sin, alive to God (See Eph. 4:17-24; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6; Tit. 2:11-14;
Ac. 26:16-18; and 1 John 1-5).
The Enemy
For
the enemy has pursued my soul;
he has crushed my life to the ground;
he has made me sit in darkness like those
long dead.
Therefore
my spirit faints within me;
my heart within me is appalled.
Our enemy is Satan. And, he is in the business of pursuing
and capturing human souls, yet, praise God, Jesus Christ conquered him in death,
and in our Lord’s resurrection, so that we can be set free from his power and
control over our lives! Amen! When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, by God’s
grace, we are delivered from the power of Satan and sin over our lives.
Hallelujah! Satan no longer has dominion over those of us who believe in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. There is no longer a question of who
will win the battle for our souls, because Jesus Christ already won, and we are
secure in HIM! Amen!
Yet, that does not mean Satan now leaves us alone. He does
not! In fact, he is angry that he has lost us, and so he pursues us with great
vengeance (See Rev. 12). In 1 Peter 5:8-9 we read: “Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the
family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of
sufferings.” And, in Jas. 4:7-8 we read: “Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come
near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded.”
So, although we are no longer under Satan’s control, and we
are no longer enslaved to him and to sin, he will still pursue us, attack us,
tempt us, and he will try to fool us and try to trip us up so that we fall. The
Bible says, “Take heed if you think you stand, lest you fall.” We should not
get so cocky or self-assured now that we are under grace to where we are not
alert to his tricks and to his deceptions. He watches us, or he has his demons
watch us, like a lion which lies in wait for his prey, and so he knows our weak
points, and he will go after them to try to devour us. So, we must be
spiritually alert and be of serious mind with regard to God and to the reality
of our enemy. We can’t play with fire and expect to not get burned! We need to
be in the practice of daily putting on the armor of God (See Eph. 6:10-20) so
that we can fight off the devil’s attacks against us.
The Remedy
I
remember the days of old;
I meditate on all that you have done;
I ponder the work of your hands.
I
stretch out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched
land. Selah
Answer
me quickly, O Lord!
My spirit fails!
Hide
not your face from me,
lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
Let
me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make
me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Deliver
me from my enemies, O Lord!
I have fled to you for refuge.
Teach
me to do your will,
for you are my God!
Let
your good Spirit lead me
on
level ground!
For
your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In your righteousness bring my soul out of
trouble!
And
in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
and you will destroy all the adversaries of
my soul,
for I am your servant.
The remedy to Satan’s fury against us is that we must submit
ourselves to God, draw near to Him, stand firm in our faith, and resist the
devil. And, we need to rid our lives of anything that would pull us down and
would lead us into sin or is sin itself (See Heb. 12:1; Matt. 5:29-30; Eph.
4:31; Col. 3:8; Jas. 1:21; and 1 Pet. 2:1). This means that daily we surrender
our lives and our self-will to the will of God, that we choose to follow Jesus
Christ wherever he leads us, and that we spend time in his word and in prayer,
listening to him speak, and doing what he says. And, it means that we put into
practice in our daily lives the things that he teaches us, and that we remain
steadfast, faithful and committed to him no matter how much Satan tries to get
us to fall. And, it also means that we actively resist Satan by not entertaining
what is sinful in our minds and in our hearts, and by not being entertained by
it via all forms of media and other sinful outlets. And, we do all this in the
power, strength and wisdom of God via his Spirit living within us and out
through us.
He Reached Down /
An Original Work / February 3, 2014
Based off Psalm 18
How I love You, Lord,
My Rock and my
strength.
My God is my fortress;
I hide in Him.
He is my shield and
the horn of
My salvation, whom I
praise.
I have found my refuge
in Him.
He reached down from
heaven
And rescued me;
Drew me out of waters
So deep, I’d sink.
He delivered me from
Satan
And my slavery to sin;
Gave me hope of heaven
with Him.
My God turned my
darkness
Into His light;
Opened up my blinded
eyes;
Gave me sight.
As for God, his way is
perfect.
He gives strength to
stand secure.
I have found my
vict’ry in Him.
My Lord lives!
Praise be to my Savior
God,
Jesus Christ, who died
On a cruel cross.
He is my Rock and the
source
Of my salvation, whom
I trust.
I will give praise
always to Him.
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