Prayer Journal
Monday, September 25, 2000
"You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins." Psalm 89:40
Unlike the crusades, where kings decreed Christianity will divide and conquer pagan kingdoms by dominance, God's people march under the banner of life, not death. Yet God does not ignore an enemy as some might think. Scripture tells us that when it's all said and done, God will be standing when the kingdoms of this world have collapsed and enemies are scattered.
The mightiest army cannot stand against God's advance. Nor can any cunning enemy hide from God or sneak up on Him to take Him by surprise. He is the Commander and Chief and his word will stand.
Who is the enemy against whom he advances? Who dares to mock and curse Him, ridicule and accuse Him? Death? Can't be. Jesus whipped him. The Grave? Jesus used the grave for a springboard on His way to the the throne. Satan? Nope. Even though Satan works to defeat God's purpose, the creation can't rise to the level of the Creator. It's physically impossible. Then who is God's enemy?
God gave ten commandments to Moses which were intended to inspire holiness in His people. In His TopTen list, the top two deal with the issue of enemies:
2. Do not create
any gods.
1. Do not worship them or any other gods.
In the absence of any formidable opponent, could it be that we, God's people, "create" enemies by allowing sin to reign in our lives? You may be thinking, "There's no way I would worship a god of my own making."
"..for a man is a slave to WHATEVER has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the scared commandment that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: 'A dog returns to its vomit', and 'A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.'" 2 Peter 2:19b-22
"Even if I've slipped and allowed sin to take up residence in my life, God would never consider me an enemy and would certainly never resist me."
"You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world BECOMES an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us tends toward envy, but he gives us more grace? That is why Scripture says: 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'" James 4:4-6
If you are
pulling out your Bible to use Romans 8:37 as your defense, ("nothing
can separate us from the love of God"), think of God's love this way:
He loves us so much and having promised there will be no separation from Him,
sometimes He must pry us loose, any way He can, from those things which separate
us from Him. Different light, hey?
Just Thinkin'.. WebServant
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
