James 4: 7
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
So we have the Armor of God to wear in our battle with the enemy (Ephesians 6:11-17) which we are to wear while we:
wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places; ...
That we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand (vs. 12-13).
We are to stand our ground and battle the devil.
But we are to flee temptation. I Corinthians 10:13 says to flee fornication, and 10:14 says to flee from idolatry. Paul tells Timothy to flee from the love of money (I Timothy 6:10), and to flee from youthful lusts (II Timothy 2:22).
And I Corinthians 10:13 tells us a way to escape temptation.
I need to recognize when I am to stand and fight (hand-to-hand wrestling, even), and when I am to turn tail and run away. Like Joseph did when Potiphar's wife propositioned him, leaving his coat in her grabbing hand! (Genesis 39:12-13).
And in James 4:17 he says that, the one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. A sin of omission.
So we "miss the mark" when we do what is wrong, and also when we don't do what is right!
O my Father, please give me discernment when I am facing mere temptation I am to run from, compared to the enemy himself, who I am to stand up to and fight.
Strengthen me for the fight, and teach me Your techniques for the hand-to-hand battle.
And when it is my own flesh, this World around me, or the pull of demonic temptation, let me be humble enough to just turn away.
And when I know how to do what is right, but I'm just too busy or too lazy or too selfish to do it, please draw my attention to what I am not doing.
I know that Your Spirit in me is strong and wise, and will lead me aright in the path on which You have placed my feet. Keep my hand firmly in Yours, as my Good Father, who will never let me go; even if I should try to pull away.
Never let me wander or veer off to the left or to the right, but continue boldly on straight ahead, toward the goal of Your high calling in Christ Jesus wherewith You have called me.
And Father, I pray as Jabez prayed in I Chronicles 4:10, that You would enlarge my borders of influence, that You would lead me and keep me from the pull of temptation, that I also would not be a pain, either to myself or others or to Your mighty, holy Name!
And all the glory and praise belongs to only You, as our Boss, our Owner, our God Almighty; who has all the power and all the authority and all the regal majesty of royalty over us all.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
James 3: 17
But the wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable,
gentle,
reasonable,
full of mercy
and good fruits,
unwavering,
without hypocrisy.
Pure is without alloy, unmixed, having no faults.
Peaceable is peace-making, calm, tranquil, not quarrelsome.
Gentle is soothing, mild, calming.
Reasonable is according to reason, rational, just.
Full of mercy is willingness to forgive, spare, relent.
Good fruits are the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Unwavering means firm, unshakable, no doubt, no second-guessing.
Without hypocrisy means no pretending, no feigning to appear as what one is not.
Worldly wisdom is none of these, but is rife with selfish ambition and self-promotion.
O my Father, please teach me to learn godly wisdom, to spurn drawing attention to myself; but let my words and life lift the Name of my sweet, dear Lord.
Let all my works and efforts show others who You are, Father, and what Your Son has accomplished for their benefit and well-being. Let Your wisdom from above fill their thoughts and conversations replacing the deceptive wisdom of this World.
Draw them to Yourself, Father; let my reach extend to those who are seeking You, that Your words would enter their minds and hearts to rescue them from the addictions and bad habits and poor choices that have enslaved them.
Send workers into Your mission fields, Father; even snatching them from the fire. Fill Your house and let every seat around Your great banquet table be occupied, with no gaps or vacancies.
And every eye will see, every knee will bend, and every tongue will confess in every language Your great kindness and mercy and wisdom and grace, and bring You all the credit and honor and majesty that belongs to only You.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Hebrews 11: 1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.
This is the definition of Faith. It is substance, ground, confidence. It is knowing that what we don't yet see is what is real, what is sure.
God told Habakkuk that, "The just shall live by his faith" (2:4), and this was quoted by the writer of Hebrews, "Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back [doubt], My soul shall have no pleasure in him" (10:38).
And James says that we must ask God "in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (1:6-8).
So faith is trusting so firmly in God's character and goodness that there is no doubt or wavering in believing that God will give us what we ask for. And we will expect the answer and look for it.
Jesus said to "ask," this means that we need to know what we want.
Then He said to "seek," this means to look for it, expecting to find it.
And He said to "knock," this means to do the work it takes to have it.
Always trusting in His goodness to give it to us. Faith is trust. I have faith in the chair I'm sitting in to hold my weight, so I sit down in it to type.
The same way, I need to trust God to love me that much to give me what I am asking for, as I seek mentoring to learn how, and do the work to make it happen.
O my Father, thank You for Your holy written Word, given to us to tell us about Your Son, and Your Spirit and Yourself. And to give us Your whole Plan of the Earthly Ages, from before the beginning to after the end!
And a peek at the New Heaven and New Earth!
And Jesus' rule will never stop increasing! (See Isaiah 9:7.)
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
John 1: 1-2, 14
In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the Beginning with God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and Truth.
There is so much here! When God created, He spoke. What He said is His Word.
Theologians say that the Son "proceeds" from the Father, but this infers the passage of time.
When God created, He created Time, so there was no Time before creation.
The Father and the Son and the Spirit are God. Only one God, but three distinct persons. I don't understand this, but I am not a god, He alone is God.
The Son is the Word of God, who participated in the creation. He had no beginning, He was already there in the Beginning.
And it was this Word of God that took upon Himself the flesh of being human! He came to be with us where we are, so that He could make us fit to live with Him where He is.
He became a human being, while retaining His Godhood. I don't understand this either; but I know that He needed to be the Eternal Person to pay our eternal debt in Time, and He needed to be human to die a human death, taking our place in the death we all owe for sin.
And those who lived with Him were able to see His glory in His miracles and in His Transfiguration on the mountain and in His teachings with authority.
Then they saw His glory in His Resurrection, proving that the Father accepted His payment on our behalf; displaying His grace to us in granting us the goodness we don't deserve, and the Truth that He taught, and in fulfilling the Truth in the Law and the Prophets, given to show what Messiah would do and be like. And He did accomplish the letter of all the laws, and the details of what the prophets had predicted long before.
Jesus of Nazareth, our Christ, Messiah, and Lord God Almighty, came just as it was prophesied He would do, and finished all the work He came to do.
John is writing His eye-witness account so that we will recognize Jesus as God. And he was acutely aware of how much He Loves each one of us. John calls himself, "the one Jesus loved." So he shares with us the amazing, fantastic, unconditional Love he experienced with Jesus, so we can know that God gives each of us this same Love!
Jesus Loves each of us so much that He agreed even before He made us, to be our Savior and Redeemer, so we could live with Him where He lives.
This is our Almighty God, our Creator and Sustainer, who was seen lifted up on high on His glorious Throne, and His train filled the Temple in Heaven.
O my Father, thank You so much for sending Your own Son to be our Lord and our Redeemer! Thank You that You draw Your own children to want to know You, and to come to You through Your Son. It is You who has done it all.
Please let my reach find some of Your lost sheep, Father. Let my words touch their hearts and show them how much You Love them, what You have already done for them.
And send me into Your fields, Father. Help me, strengthen me, teach me Your ways, put Your words in my mouth, and keep my eyes on You as You lead and guide me along the path You have put my feet on.
And every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father; giving You all the honor, all the praise, all the majesty, forever and ever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Acts 4: 27-28
For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, this sounds like everybody. No one is exempt from this list. We are all guilty.
God decided ahead of time what would happen. Before anything was created, I can picture the Father and the Son and the Spirit hanging out together, discussing what they could do. And when they decided that this Mankind would have a free choice to choose God, they knew that Man could also choose to reject God. And the Son stepped up and took responsibility for him, to redeem him back.
So the Lord God gave the Law and sent His prophets so that the people would recognize Messiah when He came. And the Child was born and the Son was given, and His Name was called Jesus.
So Jesus grew up and lived just like we do, as our example. And He proved who He was by His miracles. And He taught the people with authority.
Then He completed His mission as the Lamb of God, our Sacrifice. He fulfilled the personal Sacrifice to save us one-by-one; and He fulfilled the corporate Sacrifice to purchase us, making Him our rightful Judge.
So we are all His property, His possession. He owns us by Creation and by Purchase. And we who have realized He took our death, belong to Him also by Redemption.
When we all got together, the Leaders and the Gentiles and Israel, to put Him to death, we were sacrificing our Lamb. We all agreed that He needed to die.
And His Blood splattered on the sides of His altar, the Cross, washes away our sins. And His Blood poured out at the foot of the Cross purchases us all, everybody, of every time, every Nation, every language; no one is left out.
Every person who ever lived is offered this opportunity to be saved from the sins that beset us all, and redeemed out of this slave-market of sin to be welcomed into the family of the King.
O my Father, we are all born to live; but Your Son was born to die, so we can Live. Your grace and Your mercy are great! Your Love is beyond anything I can imagine; to know me, my weaknesses and failings, and to Love me anyway!
Father, Your plans for me are so much better than I could think up for myself. You are good, and everything You do comes from Your great Love for us all.
I don't know why people can be so foolish to not seek You and Your wonderful gifts. How Your heart must break to have people You Love to rebel and fight against You. But You will not force Yourself on anyone, You respect the choices You enabled us to make, even when they harm ourselves.
O Father, send me to Your lost sheep who are seeking You. Let my reach extend into every area where the fields are white for harvest. Use me, Father, to find them and draw them into the safety of the One Fold with One Shepherd. Use my life and my words to show them Your Love and what You have already accomplished on their behalf through Your Son.
And every eye will see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess in every language, Your glory and honor and wisdom and praise and authority and riches and wealth and joy!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
John 15: 4-5
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
To "abide" is to dwell there, to reside there. That's where you live. Jesus says we must live in Him. We must be aware of His presence with us, and trust Him to always stay with us and never leave.
When we want to use an electric appliance, we need to make sure it's plugged in. When I had my coffee this morning, I plugged the coffee maker in, and it worked, it made my coffee.
We also need to be "plugged in" in order to "work."
I need to be connected to the source of Life and power in order to do anything of any value. I need to live every day in the presence and power of Christ, in His Holy Spirit. Life is spirit, and eternal Life is God's Spirit living in me.
So we who have trusted Jesus' death to be our personal Sacrifice, and believe that He was buried and rose again, then His Blood has washed away all of our sins and His Spirit abides in us, to never leave. It's like we've been born spiritually, comparable to how we were born physically.
That's why Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be "born again" to be able to see and enter God's kingdom (John 3:3, 5-8).
A branch that is not connected can look like part of the vine, but if it's not attached to the vine, it will wither. It needs the constant flow to maintain its vibrancy and to bear fruit. Otherwise it's not good for anything.
O my Father, thank You so much for grafting me into the Vine. Thank You that Your Spirit of Life has given me Life, and that I am living in the Life of Your Kingdom now, looking forward to when that Kingdom is established on the Earth. My King rules in my life now, and He will rule over the whole World when He returns.
O Father, Your plan for my life is such a good path for me to follow! I find Your blessings of wonderful nuggets of Truth and Life and goodness every day. Keep my hand in Yours, Father; don't let me pull away or run ahead or lag behind. Let me not turn to the right or to the left or wander off.
You are so good to me, Father, in every way. Strengthen me to lean only on You in all my interactions with others. Help me to think before I speak, keeping me from spouting off from my flesh. So that Your Name will be honored in all my dealings, and You will receive the credit for what You enable me to do.
Father, help all Your children to know You better every day, and trust You more freely every day, and love You more deeply day by day. Weave all of the strands of our lives into Your great Tapestry of Time, working all the colors and shimmerings and shades into the beautiful patterns You have designed to display throughout all eternity.
And You will receive all the honor, all the glory, all the blessings, all the wealth, all the power, all the might, all the authority; because You created all things, because of Your will they exist. We are all what You have imagined, and if You weren't thinking of us, we would not be!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
John 13: 34-35
A new commandment I give to you , that you love one another, even as I have Loved you, that you also Love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have Love for one another.
The commandment was to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But we already treat other people according to how we see ourselves. When we have low self-esteem, then we will not treat others very well, either; and when we realize our worth that God has valued us at, then we also treat others as valuable.
God's Love is not like our human, natural love. What is new about this commandment is that we are to love one another, not as we love ourselves, but as God Loves us. Not to consider one another only according to our natural affection for them, but to treat them as the valuable person they are in God's sight.
God has Loved us with His agape Love which is unconditional. It doesn't matter what we have done in our past, God Loves us the same. Even when we were still sinners, enemies of God, He sent His Son to be our personal Sacrifice. He gave His very best, His most precious, for each one of us. That's how He loves us.
And that's the new commandment, that we are to give this unconditional Love to one another. This is not a feeling of affection, it's a decision of our will to treat one another with the value God places on each of us; the respect and honor due a special creation of the Almighty. Even when some brother or sister in the Lord has not treated us favorably, we are still to be gracious and forgiving toward them, as Christ has been toward us.
We cannot do this. We tend to see those who love us differently from those who hate us, so we have much affection for some and none for others. That's why we are not to depend on our feelings. We are to depend on His Spirit dwelling in us to be able to decide to deal with our sisters and brothers in Christ according to the value God has placed on them, and follow through to do it. Even if they still react negatively. God's Love can draw them.
O my Father, please help us to realize the great Love wherewith You have Loved us, even when we were still in rebellion against You. You Loved us with a Love far beyond our understanding, to draw us to Yourself and cause us to be born spiritually into Your own family.
Father, You have given us Your own Holy Spirit to live in our spirit, making us alive right now, and on into eternity. Only with Your Love can we love others the way You have determined, and this supernatural Love that we are to demonstrate will show the World that Jesus really did come and die for us, and is alive forevermore.
And all the glory and honor and praise and blessing and power and might and wisdom is Yours forever.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
