SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/1/2012 9:59:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Be
Watchful
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1Peter
5:8-9
Message
of the verses: We will continue looking at 1Peter in Today’s
Spiritual Diary, looking at verses eight and nine of chapter five which is very
near the end of 1Peter. Dr. Wiersbe
entitles this section “Be Watchful” as he is famous for using the word “Be,” as
he uses this word in all of his Bible Commentaries. “Be Hopeful” is the title of his work on
1Peter and will be the subject tomorrows Spiritual Diary as I attempt to finish
this book.
Be
Watchful: In yesterday’s SD we
looked at the word cares which is in verse seven of chapter five. We said that the word “cares” is from the AV,
but in the NASB it is translated “anxieties.”
Why do we have anxieties? Well
for one reason we have an enemy who has many different names, but Satan and
Devil are the most prominent of his names.
The word Satan means “adversary” and the word “Devil” means “the
accuser.” We know from the first book of
the Bible that Satan is a deceiver, for he deceived Eve in the garden. “But I am afraid that, as the serpent
deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the
simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
(2Cor. 11:3) We will learn in the
verses that we study today that Satan can be a roaring lion. It is in 1Peter 4:1 & 14 that Peter spoke
to those whom he was writing to about attacks coming on them in slanderous
ways, so we see the accuser side of Satan.
In the near future the recipients of this letter would see the fiery
trials of the evil one. Dr. Wiersbe writes
“Peter gave them several practical instructions to help them get victory over
their adversary.”
Before going into these instructions
given by Peter I want to say that there are times when we as believers have a
hard time determining which enemy is being used to tempt or attack us. We have three enemies, the world, the flesh,
and the Devil, and although we know that they have been defeated at the cross
they still have power. Kind of like a
chicken whose head has been cut off but doesn’t realize he is dead and still
walks around. Sorry that is the best I
can do to try and make understanding of a difficult point. It was many years ago that I read a series of
books on the activities of Satan and as I struggled with a certain temptation
and sometimes sin in my life I called the author on the phone to discuss coming
to see him. He told me that the enemy
that attacking me was the flesh, and not the devil. Satan can use our flesh as a “beach head” to
bring attacks against us. Dr. Wiersbe
has written a book about Satan that may be helpful. “The Strategy of Satan” “How to Detect and
Defeat Him:” This is the title and sub-title of his book which is a rather
short paperback book of less than 160 pages.
Charles Stanley has also written a book about Satan “When the Enemy
Strikes.” Both are helpful books. My point in writing this paragraph is to make
sure that we as believers know our enemies and to realize that they are
defeated foes. My advice is to follow
what Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10-18, putting on your spiritual armour.
Respect
him—he is dangerous: “8 Be
sober-minded; be watchful.
Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of
suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
“8 Be self-controlled and
vigilant always, for your enemy the devil is always about, prowling like a lion
roaring for its prey. 9 Resist him, standing firm in your faith, remembering
that the strain is the same for all your fellow-Christians in other parts of
the world.” (Philips)
For almost 35 years I worked at a
very large foundry, one of the largest ones in the world. If you have never been around molten metal
you won’t know how dangerous it is. We
melted an average of 3000 tons of cast iron every day. Molten iron and water when mixed can cause a
huge explosion and I have seen and heard these explosions from time to
time. One of my jobs there was to begin
the process of melting the iron in what is called a cupola. It was very dangerous and I never began the
process without prayer. The point in all
of this is that I have to respect the iron, for it could harm you or kill you
in a moment when you let your guard down.
Satan is like that and although I believe that according to Psalm 139 God
numbers our days we are still told to be on guard against the wiles of the evil
one and so respect is something we have to have.
Satan is a destroyer (“Re 9:11 They
have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon,
and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.”)
Abaddon and Apollyon mean “destruction.”
“9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is
called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to
the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud
voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the
kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser
of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day
and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and
because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even
when faced with death.” (Rev.
12:9-11) Satan is a deceiver and an
accuser according to these verses. 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to
accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed,
the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you! Is this not a brand plucked from
the fire?’” Zech. 3:1-3)
1Peter 5:8 tells us to be “sober,”
we are to be in our right minds. Dr.
Wiersbe writes “A part of soberness includes not blaming everything on the
devil. Some people see a demon behind every
bush and blame Satan for their headaches, flat tires, and high rent. While it is true that Satan can inflict
physical pain and sickness (Luke 13:16; and the Book of Job), we have no
biblical authority for casting out ‘demons of headache’ or ‘demons of
backache.’ One lady phoned me long
distance to inform me that Satan had caused her to shrink seven and a half
inches. While I have great respect for
the wiles and powers of the devil, I still feel we must get our information
about him from the Bible and not from our own interpretation of
experiences.” This is what I wanted to
say, but I am glad that Dr. Wiersbe said it, for he said it better.
Recognize
him—he is a great pretender (John 8:44; 2Cor. 11:13-15): “44 “You are of your father the devil, and
you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and
the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
“13 For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No
wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it
is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of
righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.” (2Cor. 11:13-15)
John 8:44 is one verse that I just
love to read, and the reason that I love to read it is because Jesus shows
power and strength to these Pharisees, and has no problem telling them the
truth. I suppose it is fair to say that
Jesus was a bit angry with them because of their leading many astray with their
false teaching. John 8:44 takes place in
time right after the last SD that was done from Mark 6, for Jesus had just feed
the 5000 and then after that these Pharisees came to Him arguing about Moses
giving manna to those Jews in the wilderness.
Satan is a counterfeiter; he tries
to do what God does but always fails. In
the tribulation period, which is the last seven years of history before the
physical return of Jesus Christ we see an unholy trinity, Satan, Antichrist,
and the false prophet. This is done to
counterfeit the real Trinity. We see in
the passage from 2Cor. that Satan has men in churches who are not believers. We see in the parable of the wheat and the
Tares (Darnel) (A plant that looks like wheat until it does not produce any
fruit), that Satan seeks to plant a counterfeit. Matthew 13:24-30 & 36-43 is where the
parable is found.
When a person works in a bank they
learn everything there is to know about what the bills look like so that they
can spot a counterfeit bill. As
believers in Jesus Christ we are to learn about the truth of God’s Word so we
can spot something that is not true, something that is counterfeit. I have named my blog “2Timothy 2:15,” “Study to show yourself approved to God, a
workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I suppose that it could have been named
2Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness.” They go together very
well.
Resist
him: I have already mentioned
Ephesians 6:10-18 as a way to resist the Devil by putting on our Spiritual
Armour. When studying this I have
learned that this is written in a tense of the Greek verb that means we only
have to do this one time. Since we all
are forgetful I believe that it is good to do this often to remind ourselves
about what these pieces of armour are.
The word stand is used at
different times in the Ephesian passage and Dr. Wiersbe says that unless we stand we cannot
withstand. Of all the things that
protect us when using the Spiritual Armor there are only two offensive weapons,
the Word of God and prayer: “The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” This is a short sword, not the long one and
what we do with this is like what Jesus did when He resisted the Devil in
Matthew chapter four, for Jesus resisted the Devil using the Word of God as He
quoted God’s Word at each attack from the book of Deuteronomy. Since He is our example we can do the same if
we know the Word of God and hide it in our hearts.
Dr. Wiersbe writes: “A word of caution here: never discuss things with Satan or his
associates. Eve made this mistake, and
we all know the sad consequences. Also,
never try to fight Satan in your own way.”
“Never get the idea that you are the only one going through these
battles, because ‘your brethren that are in the world’ are facing the same
trials. We must pray for one another and
encourage each other in the Lord. And we
must remember that our personal victories will help others, just as their
victories will help us.”
If Peter would have followed the
things that he writes about here he would not have fallen to the ploys of Satan
the night that Jesus was crucified.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary
with these helpful words, “Before we can stand before Satan, we must bow before
God. Peter resisted the Lord and ended
up submitting to Satan.” (He is speaking
of the night of Jesus was crucified).
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Continue
to study and put into practice the things that I have learned from the
Scriptures so that I can be effective through the power of the Holy Spirit and
the Word of God against the wiles of the evil one.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
I want to remember to “abide or remain” in the Vine so that I can be
used of the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit.
6/1/2012
11:53:09 AM
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