March 16, 2010

It isn't always our own wrongdoing or negative words that bring opposition to us.  Sometimes its persecution from an enemy!  How do we know the difference?  We have to keep on inquiring of the Lord.  If things are troubling us we need to go talk to the Lord about it.  By allowing God to examine us, we avoid self-justification and blame-shifting, as well as condemnation and false guilt.

David wrote in Psalm 59 "Even now they lie in wait for my life; the mighty stir up strife against me.  For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord, for no fault of mine, they run and make ready." vs 3-4  All persecution arises from a real enemy who hates us: Satan.  It can either come through direct activity of evil spirits, through people who are influenced by them, or from a worldly system that is given over to Satan.  We should not blame everything that happens on the devil, for we can do a lot to ourselves through our choices, but we also should not ignore the fact that we have an aggressively evil foe.  What do we do about this foe?

Obviously, I'm not going to go into a major teaching in this devotional on how to deal with the devil .  But I will do what I've been doing all along, and that is, bring out what I see in the readings for the day.  Today, I saw a few things about this:

1) recognize and proclaim that Jesus came to deliver us; the Good News is that we have a Savior!  Luke 2: 10-11  (One of the things He came to save us from was Satan and his works: if this is something you don't understand yet, keep your eyes open for evidence of this as you continue reading this year.)
Follow David's example and
2) pray for deliverance and protection from your enemies (and like him, trust God and expect Him to do this). Psalm 59: 1-2
3) declare your faith and trust in God, and His goodness and faithfulness. vs 9-10
4) sing praises to God, remembering how He's protected you before.
5) trust in God's strength and not your own: "O my strength, I will watch for you; for you, O God, are my fortress." vs 9

The angel's message to the shepherds was "do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people." Luke 2: 10  Praising God through declaration and singing reminds us of this good news.  Fear doesn't survive in an atmosphere of praise.  And if we've lost our joy, our peace will be the next to go.  Get your joy and your peace back by praising the Lord.  It's a great way to activate your shield of faith, and your spiritual enemy hates it and will run the other way!