He's Like a Roaring Lion

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV)

When we go through trials which test our faith, if we respond to them in the right way, they tend to humble us, for they teach us that our dependency has to be in the Lord and not in ourselves. For there is so much that happens in this life over which we really have no control. Now we do have control over the decisions we make for ourselves regarding our own thinking, attitudes, words, and behaviors. But so much else is really out of our realm of absolute and total control. 

Now, when we go through these trials, which test our faith, we must bring to remembrance that our God is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made and that nothing outside of our own control can touch us unless God allows it and he allows it for a purpose, and he will bring good out of it in our lives. So, there is never a cause for us to be anxious and to fret and to worry about anything. And if Satan tries to put doubts and fears in our minds, we need to resist him, and stand firm in our faith.

Also, if we are people of God who take God and his word seriously, and if we are walking in holiness and righteousness, and in obedience to our Lord, Satan is going to be after us. And if we are those who are sharing the truth of the gospel regularly and consistently, and who are refuting the lies of the enemy, the devil is definitely going to be on our warpath because he wants people to believe the lies and to reject the truth. So, he is going to see us as strong opposition. So we must be alert to his attacks against us.

But then we are to find encouragement in knowing that Christians throughout the world are being attacked, hated, and persecuted in much the same ways as we are, and probably much worse in countries where Christianity is not as normal as it is in the USA. But the acknowledgment of Christianity in the USA as normal is largely not acceptance of the true gospel, but it is acceptance of a cheapened form of the true gospel which does not require death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness.

[Matt 5:10-16; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Acts 1:8; Acts 14:22; Acts 26:18; Rom 5:3-5; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; 2 Co 1:3-11; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Phil 3:7-11; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; Heb 3:13; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Pet 4:12-17] 

He’s Like a Roaring Lion

Video Talk

December 28, 2022

https://youtu.be/Vx__zPqi3KM

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Have Thine Own Way, Lord 

Words by Adelaide A. Pollard, 1907 

Music by George C. Stebbins, 1907

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Thou art the potter, I am the clay. 

Mold me and make me after Thy will, 

While I am waiting, yielded and still. 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Wounded and weary, help me I pray! 

Power, all power, surely is Thine! 

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine! 

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! 

Hold o'er my being absolute sway. 

Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see 

Christ only, always, living in me! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z11avpKNLsA 

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