SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/8/2014 10:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Pastor’s
Desire that their People Trust in the Lord
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2
Thessalonians 3:3
Message of the
verses: “3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen
and protect you from the evil one.”
When we were studying the first letter Paul wrote to the
Thessalonian believers we learned that Paul was wondering how they were doing
spiritually because when he was forced out of that town the believers were
under persecution and when he began this letter he knew that there were some
who believed that they were in the day of the Lord and so he corrected this
problem for them. He may have still been
wondering how they were doing spiritually, but in order to help them grow up in
the Lord Paul wrote this third verse which is his second request of how they
were to pray for them.
One of the reasons why I believe that the Lord sends us
through trials and through tests is that we can better learn to trust Him so we
can aid others who are going through similar tests or trials and so that we can
look back on how the Lord brought us through the trials or tests when we go
through others in the future. Near the
end of Paul’s life he sent a letter to his beloved son in the Lord, Timothy and
we read the following near the very end of this letter: “16 At my first defense no one supported me,
but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me and
strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully
accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of
the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will
bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever.
Amen.” There are only three more verses
in this letter, and in the verses we looked at Paul gave testimony of how
faithful the Lord had been throughout his time in the ministry. Paul not only wanted the Thessalonians to
pray that the Lord continue to be faithful to him, but wanted to let them know
that God is faithful.
The faithfulness of the Lord is seen scattered throughout
all the Scriptures from the Old Testament to the New Testament. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as
is common to man; and God
is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are
able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you
will be able to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13).”
John MacArthur lists the following verse that have to do with the
faithfulness of God: Deut. 7:9; Pss.
36:5; 40:10; 89:1-2, 8, 24, 33; 92:2, 119:75, 90; Isa. 49:7; Lam. 3:23; 1 Cor.
1:9; 1 Thess. 5:24; Heb. 10:23; 1 Peter 4:19; 1 John 1:9.
“When we look at the words “strengthen and protect” which
are synonymous with “establish and guard” we can see how Paul went on to tell
the Thessalonians how God would express His faithfulness to them.” (John MacArthur) MacArthur goes on to write “God will firmly
establish believers on the inside and guard them on the outside ‘from the evil
one’ (most likely a reference to Satan.”
I do not believe that we will realize how much that the Lord had
protected us from the wiles of the devil until we get to heaven and then
perhaps we will be shown how the Lord protected us from Satan. In protecting us from the inside and the
outside, which is what the Lord does as we are both tempted from the outside
and the inside Jude summarized it when he wrote “Now to Him who is able to keep
you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory
blameless with great joy.”
It seems that every day we are tempted with evil and to
combat this one of the things we can do is to put our spiritual armor on: “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the
strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of
this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly
places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able
to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and
HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE
PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16
in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be
able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE
HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in
view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.
(Ephesians 6:10-18).”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: In my prayer
list I have a part of it set aside to pray for our Pastor’s and also pray for
myself at the same time, something Paul may have been doing in this verse. Here is the part of my prayer list that I am
talking about: “I pray that God will keep me from the sins and temptations of
selfishness, lust, anger, and pride.
Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer that God will deliver us from
temptation, and Psalm 119:33 says “Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do
not let any iniquity have dominion over me.”
Jesus told His disciples while He was praying, and they were sleeping
when they should not have been “"Keep watching and praying that you may
not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is
weak."” 1 Corinthians 10:13 says
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it. I pray that all of my dreams will be
honorable to the Lord, that He would control all of my dreams.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Put on the spiritual armor so that I can
stand firm against the wiles of the devil.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:8-11.
8 But now you also, put
them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your
mouth. Do not lie to one another, since
you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on
the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of
the One who created him—11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between
Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and
freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Sheep, coin, and son”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘The word that God
has put in my mouth, that I shall speak’?”
Answer in our next SD. 11/8/2014 10:51 AM
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