Tag: Satan

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The scripture for today, October 28, is Matthew 10:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.”

This scripture indicates that sometimes God’s allows us to “fall to the ground” ~ our bodies suffer, or we are killed. How can that be? After all, God is so loving. Surely a good God would not allow any harm to come to someone if he truly loves them.

But we all have our assignment from God in this war between Good and Evil. Just as Job in the Old Testament lost his entire family and entire wealth and then his health, he refused to blame God. He even said, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” (Job 2:10).

Satan causes bad to happen to us. Why? In order to get us to blame God for it. Our assignment is to refuse to deny God. That way, Satan loses one more battle, and God wins one more.

There is an old Christian song called “Victory in Jesus.” How can we have victory in Jesus if we do not have something to be victorious over? Romans 8:37 says we are more than conquerors. How can we be conquerors if we have nothing to conquer?

Let us say with James (1:2) that we consider it pure joy whenever we face trials. Hard to say? Of course, it is. But it could turn your life around.

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The scripture for today, March 9, is Ephesians 3:9f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“To make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Ever wonder why God created the world? Here it is. The “mystery” as expanded upon in this book, is Jesus paying the price for our sins and setting us free so that we have full forgiveness ~ and it is available to everyone in the whole world.

Who does God want to explain this to? Rulers and authorities in heavenly realms ~ angels, demons and Satan. You see, Satan does not want anyone to be forgiven. He spends a lot of time and energy encouraging people to sin through the wrong kinds of fun or power, for he doesn’t want to be the only one going to hell. But God is more powerful than Satan. Even when Satan is successful and we sin, God just negates it and forgives us. There is nothing that Satan can do that God cannot undo.

God is great!HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, Inspirational1 Comment

The scripture for today, February 18, is Hebrews 2:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

JesusArmWrestlingSatan“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Do you find yourself caught up in some kind of sin over and over? Is the temptation always there? Do you commit the sin and then curse yourself for your weakness in giving in to the temptation? Do you see no way out?

A lot of people never think of Jesus ever being tempted. He was too good. But he had a human body and was tempted in every way that we are (Hebrews 4:15).

Try to image Jesus with your particular haunting temptation and imagine how you think he would have resisted it. Jesus used to get angry at temptation, which of course is caused by Satan. In other words, he got angry at Satan. One time when tempted, he declared, “Get behind me, Satan!”

Temptation is not the same thing as sin. Temptation is when we want to commit a sin, but haven’t decided yet to do it. Jesus faced Satan (temptation) head on. Once when he went through over a month of harsh temptation alone in the wilderness, Satan gave him all the reasons he should do certain things and made them look so good and reasonable; then Jesus gave all the reasons he should not do those things.

Hebrews 4:15 says, “We do not have a high priest [Jesus] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are ~ yet was without sin.”

Jesus stood up to Satan. Jesus was a spiritual warrior.

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The scripture for today, January 21, is Job 1:21 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

JesusArmWrestlingSatan“ ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ “

Job had every reason to turn against God. In one day his entire wealth was stolen from him, nearly all his servants were killed by an invading army, and all his children died in a storm. Why hadn’t God protected him if he loved him so much?

We often forget that Satan exists also. Just remember, whatever Satan does, God can undo.

On a physical level, Satan is the accuser (Revelation 12:10), but God is the forgiver. Satan can cause us to get sick, but God can heal. Satan can cause us to die, but God can bring us back to life. Satan can make us miserable in this world, but God can take us to a better world.

Shall we leave God to fight Satan alone? We were made in his image. And how do we fight Satan? Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

On a spiritual level, sometimes we are not only separated from material things, but sometimes we are forced to be separated from other Christians. What can be the result? God’s kingdom arises in yet another place. James wrote to the Jewish Christians “scattered among the nations” (James 1:1). Peter wrote to “God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered.…” (I Peter 1:1).

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” There’s more….

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
Neither angels nor demons,
Neither the present nor the future,
Nor any powers,
Neither height nor depth,
Nor anything else in all creation
Will be able to separate us from the
Love of God
That is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:37-39)

How can we be “more than conquerors” unless we have something to conquer? How can we have “victory in Jesus” unless we have something to be victorious over?

Each of us has periodic assignments from God. What bad thing has happened in your life lately? That is your assignment.

Or, must Jesus bear the cross alone?

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The scripture for today, December 17 (12/17), is Revelation 12:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

JesusArmWrestlingSatan“Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring ~ those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

Verse 9 says the dragon is also the serpent which is also Satan.

There are some people who seem to be enraged all the time. We may never be able to change that person. But we can direct their anger. If they want to be enraged at someone, let them be angry at Satan. Let them go to war with Satan. Let them rage at everything he is doing. Let them lash out at everything he stands for.

So think about the people you know who are extremely angry at the church or at God. Tell them that Christians must be spiritual warriors and they could become a Christian soldier of the Lord.

Some people just cannot get rid of anger in their life. They may mellow in their old age, but that mellowness is a long way off. Show them how much Satan is enraged at them and how much God loves them. Show them how get on God’s side, enroll in the army of the Lord, and use their anger against Satan.

Does it work? Paul said in 1st Timothy 1:13, “I was a violent man.” Yet, he converted people all over southern Europe, as he “fought the good fight”

The scripture for today, June 9 (6/9), is Job 6:9-8 found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off!”

Job was suffering terribly.  The Bible says he had sores all over his body.  There were other symptoms listed elsewhere in Job that indicate he had a form of leprosy.  Now he just wanted to die.

When we get into a life problem that seems hopeless, do we just give up and say, “God, I can’t go on like this.  Just take my life right now.  It’s too hard.  I can’t do it any more.”?

God knows what you are going through.  God knows that Satan is attacking you.  When things are desperately low, your job is just to hang on.  It often takes God time to shift around a lot of other people’s lives in order to alleviate your pain.

Remember, God hurts just as much when you suffer as when he watched his own Son suffer on the cross.  His Son’s suffering accomplished something wonderful for others.  So too, some day your suffering will somehow in some way accomplish something good.  And ultimately, just by surviving, Satan loses and God wins.

This too will pass.  You may not think so, but it will.  You may think you will never smile again, never want to go around people again, never sing again.  But you will.  Just like Job did.

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On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, Daily, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 18 (5/18), is 1st Thessalonians 5:18 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

This is one of the most difficult verses in the Bible to follow.  How can we rejoice with the loss of a loved one, of health, of a job, of a home, of a position?  The Christians at Thessalonica, in Greece, had been suffering a lot of persecution for being Christians.

Satan will do all he can to cause bad to happen in your life in order to get you to blame God and forsake him.  But the real blame belongs on Satan.  It may sometimes seem like the harder you try to follow God, the worse things get in our life.  In that case, apparently Satan is afraid of your strength in the Lord and is trying to weaken you and get you back on his side.

And sometimes God stands back and tells Satan, “Do your best.  This person will grow stronger, not weaker.”  Along with the Christians in Thessalonica, you can “become a model….your faith in God can become known everywhere” (1st Thessalonians 1:7-8).

So rejoice that Satan is so afraid of you.  And at the same time, keep your eyes on Jesus who never gave in when Satan caused bad to happen to him.  Rejoice that you are counted worthy.