SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/2/2019 8:43 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Enemy: Satan”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:11b
Message of the
verse: “Against the schemes of the
devil”
When one looks through the Bible, both Old and New
Testaments they will find many names for the devil. I don’t intend to go over all of them, but I
do want to talk for a moment about both Satan and the devil, as 52 times we see
the word Satan in the Word of God and this word means adversary, and 53 times
the devil is mentioned which means slanderer.
John MacArthur writes “This fallen archangel and his fallen angels who
became demons have been tempting and corrupting mankind since the Fall. They are an evil, formidable, cunning,
powerful and invisible foe against whom no human being in his own power and
resources is a match.”
Think for a moment about what Satan has accomplished
against the nation of Israel, for Israel is the nation that he hates the most
as Israel is the nation who brought the Messiah into the world, and once Jesus
was Crucified Satan’s demise was certain.
Satan caused the nation of Israel to worship other gods so much that God
had both the Northern and Southern tribes of Israel come under attack and their
land taken from them. Satan caused the
nation of Israel that is the people of Israel to crucify their own
Messiah. In the end times as seen in the
books of Daniel and also Revelation we will see a final attempt for Satan to
destroy Israel, but this will never happen as we see what God will do to Satan
and what He will do for the nation of Israel, and their Messiah, Jesus Christ
will sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem for 1000 years.
John MacArthur writes, and remember this book was written
in the early 1980’s, the following: “In
our own day the world is rushing to accept such demonic deceptions as the
woman’s liberation movement, which denies God’s order for the family; the
morality, which is no morality, and homosexuality, which is that perversion of
sexuality. The proliferation of pagan
and apostate Christian cults and religious/philosophicalisms experienced by no
other age in history reflects the work of ‘seducing spirits’ and ‘the doctrines
of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1). Even in the name
of Christianity, Jesus’ deity, miracles, resurrection, atoning sacrifice,
second coming, and judgment are denied.
The church is being seduced away from Scripture by liberal theology,
psychology, mysticism, and even the occult.”
The things that are mentioned in the above quote are but
manifestations of the schemes of the devil against mankind. I read a book by Warren Wiersbe a few years
back that I found yesterday which is called “The Strategy of Satan” and in this
book Wiersbe talks about how to detect and defeat Satan. I don’t think that this is a coincidence that
I found this yesterday. It is my desire
to re-read this book to find help from it in the battles that are going on in
my life and in the lives of others that I know.
The Word of God is essential in bringing unbelievers to a saving faith
in Jesus Christ and so one of the schemes of the devil are to take that away so
that man not believe and be saved as seen in Luke 8:12. MacArthur adds “On another occasion the Lord
warned that ‘false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great
sings and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect’ (Matt.
24:24).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: In order to not
be defeated by Satan in different areas of my life I need to know his strategy,
and his schemes, which are found in the Word of God and then through the Word
of God understand what I need to do in order to not be defeated in those areas
of weakness in my life. I must remember
that when I was born-again back in 1974 that I am now a new person and the old
person is dead. The flesh still is used
to tempt me, but God’s Holy Spirit now lives in me, and God’s Word is used to
teach me and in the case of the Spiritual Armor that is used to protect me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Humility is a part of living a life that is
pleasing to the Lord, and I continue to strive to that each day.
Our quotation from “Love in
Action” today is from Today’s Living Bible:
Anxious hearts are very heavy but a
word of
Encouragement does wonders!
Proverbs 12:25 TLB
10/2/2019 9:20 AM
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