Resist the Devil
James 4:7: "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
- First, we must submit to God that involves placing our faith in Him
- Second, we resist ANY temptation that the devil throws our way
- Our soul is the battlefield - with principalities in dark places
- The more we say NO to that negative or evil voice
- The NO, becomes a part of our personality
- THEN- The Evil will have no choice - but to flee.
- Because Jesus Christ's NAME is stronger than all evil!
The WORD - Our Hearts - 2 Thessalonians 3:5: "Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ."
- Paul was indicating that - the heart, the seat of a person's will,
- Is the place where spiritual renewal begins.
- There - God plants His love and patience
- Paul uses the word "direct" to indicate that God will clear away
the obstacles- that may stand in our way of progress
- If you haven't already - GIVE your heart to the LORD!
The WORD - Trust the LORD - Proverbs3:5,6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
- The words 'trust in the LORD' echo the command of Deut:6:5 to love God with all our being.
- Trusting in God is - a conscious dependence on God
- The idea is reinforced by the command to 'acknowledge Him.'
- Which means to observe Him and get to know Him
- In doing so - we find That God protects our paths.
The WORD - Live By Faith - Habakkuk 2:4: "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."
- The proud - refers to people who have no regard for God, His commandments or His people.
- A proud person relies on himself, power, position and accomplishment
- True righteousness before God - is linked to genuine faith in God and we rely on Him alone!
The WORD - God's Person - Habakkuk 2:14: "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
- God's future kingdom on earth will feature a reign of righteousness
- All humanity on the renewed earth will know the Lord and live in accordance with His will
- The glory of the LORD speaks of the full manifestation of His person, significance, presence and wonder
- The true knowledge of God in the time of His kingdom on earth will be like the waters
- All embracing, inescapable and fully enveloping
The WORD - Faith In God - Habakkuk 3:19: "The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. with my stringed instruments."
- The LORD God - Here the divine name Yahweh is tied to the term Adonai, which means "Lord"
- My strength - God will strengthen those who trust in Him
- He will give those who live by faith the same confidence that a sure footed deer has in climbing mountains
- Like a victorious army, the righteous with God's strength will occupy the high hills
The WORD - Perfect Ways - Psalm 18:32:"It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect."
- Only God can give us the strength to survive in this fallen world
- He arms us with the power of The Holy Spirit - to fight evil in our lives
- Through His love - He makes our lives closer to perfection, how He created Adam in the beginning
- And how, when His kingdom comes, we will ALL be perfect
The WORD - Fire - Zephaniah 1:18: "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land."
- We hear of the "elite class" of people who build cities underground to escape the end times judgment
- Spending a trillion dollars making cities that have power, lights, food
- God's judgement will be so sudden and so overwhelming that the world would be in a state of shock, stumbling around in the dark
- 2 Peter 3:10: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."
- This IS the second coming of Christ
- PLEASE accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior before it's too late!!
The WORD - Born Again - Jesus was talking a Pharisee Nicodemus - who believed Jesus was from God - John 3:3: "Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, ne cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”
- Born again - the Greek word origin means "from above" or "anew"
- New birth is regeneration the act by which God imparts spiritual life to one who trusts Christ
- Without this spiritual birth a person cannot perceive spiritual things
- Nor can he or she enter the kingdom of heaven
The WORD - Only Begotten Son - Jesus is still speaking to Nicodemus in - John 3:15, 16: "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
- When a person trusts Christ, he or she is "born again"
- And receives eternal and spiritual life - God's kind of life
- God's love is not restricted to any one nation or to any spiritual elite group
- World here includes all of creation
The WORD - Saved - We continue our study in John with Jesus still speaking this is very important
John 3"17, 18: "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
- At His first coming Jesus came so that the world "through Him" might be saved
- When Jesus comes again, He will come in JUDGMENT
- Upon those who refused His offer of salvation
- To believe - is to receive life and avoid judgment
- A person who does not believe not only misses life, but is condemned already
The WORD - Excuses - we continue this very insightful study in the book of John - Jesus still speaking - John 3: 20: "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."
- People offer many excuses for not accepting Jesus Christ
- Some cite the presence of hypocrites in church
- Others claim the inability to believe some of the truths about Christ or the gospel
- These are merely attempts to conceal a heart in rebellion against God
- The ultimate reason people do not come to Christ is that they do not want to!
The WORD - The Light - we finish this weeks study with Jesus summing it up in
John 3: 21: "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
- The one who "does the truth" is obviously a believer
- Because his or her deeds are done in God
- Therefore, "coming to the light" is more than exercising faith
- A person who comes to the light not only believes, but also OPENLY identifies with the light
- So that his or her works can be seen as things done in union with God
- Come to the light and join the redeemed and obtain eternal life!