SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2019 1:59 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Intro into the Believer’s Armor”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:14-15
Message of the verses: “14 Stand
therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as
shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace”
(ESV).
I am rereading a book by Warren Wiersbe entitle “The
Strategy of Satan,” and in the first chapter Dr. Wiersbe gives a number of ways
that Satan opposes the believers. One of
the most successful ways that Satan works against a believer is that he tries
to keep us from God’s Word. Think for a
moment of how our Lord Jesus Christ defeated the devil right after He was
baptized, and that was by quoting the Word of God to Satan. Satan and his demons hate the Word of God and
that is why we as believers are to memorize the Word of God so when we are
tempted we can quote the Word just as Jesus did. Let us look at some more ways that Satan
opposes us as believers. Satan attempts
us to impugn God’s character and credibility similar in what he did with Adam
and Eve. Satan’s tactics don’t change
because they work. Satan tells believers
the same lies that he told to Eve, which is called “the lie.” Satan tried and succeeded to cause Eve to
distrust God, and he still does that today.
“Did God really say?” “God is
keeping something from you that you deserve to have.” Satan paints the Father of truth in his own perverse
image which is as Jesus called him “the father of lies.”
What
happens to a believer who doubts God’s goodness, love, power, grace, mercy, or
sufficiency? He then joins Satan in
impugning God’s truthfulness. John
MacArthur writes “When a believer becomes anxious, despondent, depressed, and
hopeless, he joins Satan in impugning God’s trustworthiness. He entices some believers even to commit
murder against themselves through suicide, because they will not recognize or
accept the forgiveness their heavenly Father continually and freely offers (1
John 1:9). When a young child dies or is
permanently crippled, or a husband or wife is taken away, a child turns away
from the Lord, or we lose our business or our health, Satan or his demons may
attempt to generate thoughts in the mind that place the blame on God. This arena of conflict also involves
attacking the truthfulness and sufficiency of Scripture.”
In
John MacArthur’s commentary he list nine ways that Satan opposes believers and
we have just covered only one of them. I
will go through one more in this SD and then we will see how many that we can
get trough in our following SD’s on this subject.
The
second way that Satan opposes believers is that he tries to undermine present
victory by generating trouble that makes life difficult, thereby tempting us to
forsake obedience to God’s standards and calling. I have read and actually went through the
situation that when a believer is on top of the world, that is the most
dangerous place for the believer to be.
When my son was born he had heart troubles and by the time he was a year
and a half old he had hand three operations, the last was when they took his
heart out of his chest and put a patch in it and another in one of his heart
valves. There had been much prayer gone
up for him before during and after the surgery’s mostly the last one. All turned out well even though for a while
it was thought that they would have to go back in and do more surgery due to
excessive bleeding. My point in all of
this is that there was a huge letdown for me in my walk with the Lord after
coming down from that spiritually high place.
One has to be careful, very careful, after having successes spiritually,
for that is the time when Satan will attack.
John MacArthur writes “Many believers whose faith is strengthened by
hard times find it is weakened when the battlefield is quiet. Christianity is often impotent when it is
acceptable.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Remember to be on guard at all times because
the devil is like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour.
My Steps of Faith for Today: One of the ways that Satan is working on me
is through pride, and that is the opposite of humility. I understand that all I have has been given
to me from my Lord, and therefore I have nothing to be proud about.
David Jeremiah comments on our verses
from yesterday, 2 Cor. 1:3-5 in a quote from his booklet “Love in Action.”
“There is incredible power in written
encouragement. We all have friends who
are going through difficult times. And
while you are motivated and thinking about it, write a note to that person. There is great joy in the ministry of written
encouragement…on both sides of the pen.
“The price of a first-class stamp has changed…but human relations have
not. People still require recognition
and appreciation. If we can provide
that, new motivation is born within the hearts of the discouraged and
unappreciated. With renewed courage,
they are empowered to try again and achieve.”
[Jerry D. Twenitier, The positive
Power of Praising People (Nashville:
Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1994), 24]
10/9/2019 2:36 PM
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