And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now
is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and
the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down, who accuseth them before our God day and night. And
they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. Revelation 12:9-11
11/27/2017
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"Then the guiding angel showed me Joshua the high priest [representing disobedient, sinful Israel] standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him."
In Joshua the high priest we see a picture of each and every child of God, who has been made nigh by the blood of Christ, and has been taught to minister in holy things, and enter into that which is within the veil. Jesus has made us priests and kings unto God, and even here upon earth we exercise the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service. But this high priest is said to be "standing before the angel of the Lord," that is, standing to minister. This should be the perpetual position of every true believer.
You can rest assured that the ACCUSER {Satan} is going to be there every step of the way doing whatever he can to trip you up. It is his soul desire to see each one of God's Children FAIL. Thank God we have a friend NAMED JESUS who is also our Savior, our Healer, our teacher/mentor and our STRENGTH to resist the Devil.
So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. James 4:7
Every place you go is now God's temple, and as His people we can as truly serve Him in our daily employments as in His house. We are to be always "ministering," offering the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and praise, and presenting ourselves a "living sacrifice."
Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. Romans 12:1
In order to become a priest, or Christian following Jesus that can be effective as a soul winner for Christ, you must ground yourself in the Word of God. Remembering that it is through the knowledge of the Word of God we build our Faith through Jesus Christ to reach others for Him. We read in 2 Timothy 2:15 (AMP):
So we see the more we know about the Word of God the better disciples of Jesus we can be in this world. Remember, since Jesus abounds in you, everywhere you go there is going to be a temple of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 that we are the temple of God through the Holy Spirit. And again in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 we are reminded who bought us and created in us the temple of God.Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]? You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
In 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Paul is encouraging Timothy as well as others like you and me to keep the Scriptures near and dear to our hearts because it gives us strength , it gives us power and goodness, it gives us instruction, convicts of our sins so we can repent and turn from them and gives us correction for our errors and restoration back to obedience.
But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
After read this mornings devotional from Where True Love Is by Suzaane DeWitt Hall, I went back through it a second and third time just so I could fully comprehend something that I have struggled with all my life and even as a Pastor I have struggled with because of the teachings I was brought up under. It was like a LIGHT BULB went off in my head and I said YES LORD this is exactly what I have always believed in my heart but I have never been taught this in church or school. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit will OPEN YOUR EYES to the TRUTHS of GOD'S WORD if you let the HOLY SPIRIT guide you. I know you are saying hurry up and tell us Pastor what was it that was revealed to you. I want to share a paragraph out of this mornings devotional with you and let you experience it for yourself as well. If you get as excited as I do when the Lord reveals more about Himself through His Word to you, then you are going to LOVE this.
Day 2 pg.14 from Where True Love IsPaul is held up by many conservative Evangelicals as the "supreme" authority on who we are to be as Christians. When listening to their positions about LGBTQI+ issues, you might even conclude they hold his statements as more important that those of Jesus Himself. In their claims about scripture, a subset of this group talks about the Word of God and the word of God as if they are one and the same. But in taking this position, they defy Paul's instructions to his beloved Timothy. For NOWHERE does Paul say the Bible and Jesus are essentially the same, and certainly not in todays's passage though it is often used in defense of that position.What Paul says is what we can all agree on: the Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise, though ONLY through FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST as Paul points out. And the scriptures are profitable, instructive, and useful for equipping us for good work. With these things all Christians can agree.
Do you see it? Do you understand it? And can you share it? I hope you answered YES to all three of those questions. Maybe you cannot see it yet. Re-read 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Then re-read the two paragraphs above. If you get excited let me know. If you still don't get it let me know.
By the way let me just say right here if you have not gotten your copy of this wonderful book of devotions by Suzanne DeWitt Hall, you need too. I promise you it is worth every dollar. Thank you Suzanne DeWitt Hall for making this book available. You definitely have a heart for God.
How great is it to know that through the POWER of JESUS CHRIST we can ALL BE SAVED and there is NOTHING the ACCUSER can bring against US that JESUS has not already covered for us.
Have a Blessed Monday,
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