Crush Satan #2

One thing I can't stand is for a football team to quit playing before the game is over!! I'm not going to discuss whether or not football shows Christ love or not but what I am going to talk about is how I can relate a team that quits before the game is over to our spiritual life...

I found myself at a game where we are coming into the game as the favorites. Our record was 3 wins and 2 losses. Theirs was 0 wins and 5 losses. Needless to say we should have no problem winning this game. Are athletic ability has been displayed the week before with our ability to keep up with a top ranked team and almost defeat them despite the fact that we were out sized and did not have the depth that the other teams had. This game should be a easier than playing than number 3 team in the nation the week before and we were on a mission to get a win after having the bitter taste of defeat. At half time we found ourselves down 31-14(the score is estimated). At the middle of the 3rd we were down 44-14 (maybe). Anyway regardless of the score we were not catching any breaks. Our defense was getting worse and our offense seemed to forget where the end zone was or at least forgot how to get there. This is when the team started acting like we were already defeated. There was still half of the 3rd and the whole 4th quarter to play ball! Anyone who has been around sports knows that that's plenty of time to win a ball game but the team was acting like we were already on the bus going home. They were out on the field in body but were not trying ANYTHING. I couldn't understand it. The guys on the sideline started taking a knee like someone was hurt. I started yelling "LETS GO. GAMES NOT OVER. LETS GO. KEEP FIGHTING. DON'T GIVE UP!!!" It seemed to have no spark. It was like trying to start a fire with wood that was at the bottom of the lake.

I finally got a few guys on board with encouraging their teammates on the field. It’s amazing how you play when you know that someone is depending on you and is needing you to keep fighting. We started yelling simple things over and over again. I found myself repeating "Let’s Go" before every snap. I don't think my yelling did much but it seemed to turn the tide. We ended up losing the game but for a quarter we gave everything we had and almost pulled off an amazing comeback. We pulled within 3 because we didn't quit. Final score was 45-42. Imagine what would have happened if we had just stayed down in the 3rd. Imagine what would have happened if we would have played like we did in the 4th at the start of the game.

So now for the application of the story. There is never any reason to give up or slow down. We are in the fight and we have a choice to fight or lay down and die. So, to put it back in football terms, since you are already on the field... FIGHT!!!!!!!!! There is no reason not to play the game when you’re on the field! It is ludicrous to think that someone would train for a race and then get a little bit into the race and decide to quit running or decide that since they are not going to win they might as well quit. It is preposterous to believe that you are defeated before the clock has run out of time.

One day the clock of life will run out but it hasn't yet. It is a shame to Christ that there are so many "believers" that decide to slow down in the race so that they might not get "burned out." Christ is in your life to burn. He is not there to be a little candle light. This light has to be seen from the hilltop and that means it has to be blazing. Never give up!! Keep up the fight!! Let’s go!! Let’s run!! Stay focused!! We still have time to honor the Lord!! It doesn't matter if all seems lost. you give it your all and "leave it all on the field!" It doesn't matter if you find yourself down by 50. You keep fighting; you keep playing!!! The game is not over so don't act like it is!!!

1) Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.2) Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.3) More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. - Romans 5:1-5

We know that these trials are going to mold us into the person Christ wants us to be for His kingdom. SO don't hang your head because your getting beat up on. Christ has already won the victory and since we already know who the winner is going to be that should cause us to run harder so that we can get a better time or play harder so we can increase our lead over our opponent or catch back up for an awesome comeback. It should not in any case cause us to start slowing down!! Christ has called us to a fight. A fight where it seems we are outnumbered and weak. This fight will test who we are and our very character down to the core of our being. Therefore we must exercise our spiritual disciplines to get in shape for the battle which coincidentally is every day and night.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. There is no need to hold your head down in defeat because it appears all is lost. There is still time on the clock! Start fighting NOW! Get in the game! Never quit!! Never give in!! Keep up the fight!! LET’S GO!!!!!

Crush Satan

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. - Romans 16:20

What a great and wonderful promise this is that the God of peace, our Lord Jesus, the Creator, will crush Satan under your feet! He is not the God of wrath to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Notice it's His attribute of peace not grace, mercy, or sovereignty but peace that will crush Satan (not that these other attributes will not play a part in crushing Satan but in the context of this verse it is His peace). Satan hates it when Christ's followers are at peace; when they are content with Jesus and finding in Him their satisfaction for every longing. O dear believer won't you sit under the Lord Jesus wing and be sheltered by the peace that passes all understanding. It is through this peace that Christ draws us. Come to me, Jesus proclaims, all you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
28) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 29) Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. [Jer. 6:16.] 30) For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

Rest from what? Peace from what? How can He promise such things? How can He deliver such a promise in the middle of turmoil? These are questions I want you as the reader and me as the writer to ponder so that we will be taken to the gospel and find the answers for these questions and give glory to our Father who is in heaven!

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. - Romans 16:20
"This includes all designs and devices of Satan against souls, to defile, disturb, and destroy them; all his attempts to keep us from the peace of heaven here, and the possession of heaven hereafter. When Satan seems to prevail, and we are ready to give up all as lost, then will the God of peace interpose in our behalf. Hold out therefore, faith and patience, yet a little while. If the grace of Christ be with us, who can prevail against us?" - Matthew Henry Concise Commentary

One other point I would like to draw your attention to and that is that it is God who will soon crush Satan not us! It is God's work in destroying Satan! The Lord Jesus does not need our help nor should we have to worry about the devil roaming this earth for we have the Truth and He will soon CRUSH the destroyer Himself!!! We do not have to worry about whether or not the devil is devising traps for us for we know and believe that God will SOON CRUSH Satan and place him in his rightful place of everlasting torment. Satan's greatest desire is for us to lose our peace! He knows that if we lose our peace then we will no longer be satisfied with only the Lord Jesus and we will roam around seeking to gather enough gold to build our golden calf. Allow God to Crush Satan, in your life, by the peace that flows from the Word of God.

May the Lord Jesus grant us grace to grab a hold of this glorious truth and use it to strengthen us in the fight!

Reconciled

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. -
Romans 5:10-11

Being brought back to a right standing with God is very exciting news and while we were enemies at that! What amazing love Christ has showed all creation by humbling Himself and being obedient to His farther even unto death; even death on a cross. We were brought back into a right standing with God, through Christ Jesus, and if while we were enemies of God He acquitted us how much more shall we be saved (daily delivered from sin's dominion (AMP)) by His life. His death carries impact through all eternity but we must not forget His life! It is because of His life that we also can be raised by the glory of the Father to walk in newness of life.

O but much more than that we rejoice in God (in His love and perfection (AMP)) through our Lord Jesus Christ who for the joy set before Him endured the cross for rebelious man. He threw down the powers of darkness and brought light into the darkness of this world. He defeteated death by His life and silenced the ruler of this world who, through the cross, thought he had won the victory. God Knew!!! God knew the plan. God created the plan. He was not shocked when His Son became sin for us. He was pleased with His son and at the fullness of time God raised His Son from the grave and made His enemy His footstoll. Through this Son, through the Lord Jesus, we have recieved reconciliation. Without Christ Jesus there is NO right standing with God. There is nothing that we can do, in and of ourself, to capture the heart of God. It took the blood of God's very own Son to bring His creation back to a place that He would be able to fellowship with them. So we, the creation, rejoice in God's love through our Lord Jesus because we can now stand before God almighty, the creator and sustainer of life, without a trace of unrightousness. We can now come boldly to God almighty's throne where there is such awesomeness that sinfull man would not even be able to glance at the glory and power of God. Where with just the thought of looking would kill a nautural man instantly. It is to this throne that, those who are reconciled, are able to came and rest in the glory of God's pressence. His awesomeness will keep us satisfied for all eternity. "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)

Stand!

... he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. - Romans 14:4

In the context of this verse Paul is talking to the Romans about not passing judgement on weaker believers namely because "God has welcomed him" (vs. 3). This is a hard truth to grasp. What is the line between welcoming a weaker brother and standing against false teaching?...

There is a great danger in placing rules on a young believer because they will faint under the pressure. The Lord will cause them to stand and grow not because of the rules we have created but because He is the one who upholds the weak. He will make them grow into a lush tree that is a shelter for many believers that come after them. Why do we pass judgement on someone else's servant? Why are we so passionate about making everyone to be exactly like ourselves? Not allowing a them to ask questions and to think about the deep things of God is a travisty and it must be stoped. We should do all we can to encourage the weaker brother to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Instead of giving them a list of dos and donts we need to be giving them scripture to meditate on.

The problem with passing judgement on a weaker brother is that we are getting in the way of Christ and His work in that Brother. In getting in the way of Christ we are, in essence, saying that we have a better way, a better plan, for that person to grow into a mature life with Christ. If we do not have scripture to give that brother then we need to not say anything. In the first verse of chapter 14 we see that Paul says, "not to quarrel over opinions" because,I believe, it will only casue tension in the followers relationship. This is by no way talking about truths that are obvious in scripture but it is talking about, specifically, eating meat. Later in cahpter 14 we see it is also talking about one who observes one day better than the other and another that observes all days alike. In verse 13 we see the heart of what Paul is saying and can hereby see application for our life.; "Therefore let us not pass judgement on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block in the way of a brother." Here we can see that as followers of Christ Jesus we must decide to never to do something that we know our brother has a hard time fighting.

One example from this chapter can be found in verse two and three where Paul says, "One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegtables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgement on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him." How are we to look at someones commitment to the Lord and pass judgement on them and their actions. It is the Lord Jesus that makes a person stand and if that brother stands it is because the Lord upheld him. This is not something that we have to do dear friend for Christ is the author and finisher of our faith and we must never forget to allow Him to work in our lives as well as our Brothers. Let us cultivate humlity in our lives and not despise our brothers commitment to the Lord where he is convinced in his mind that his particular sacrifice is pleasing to the Lord.

The LORD is my portion

If the Lord is my portion then why do I so often look for other things to be my satisfaction? Only Christ can bring the fulfillment into my life that I'm longing to find. Never has anything captivated my heart like the Lord Jesus and so consumed my life that it left me feeling so totally satisfied. I felt like I could live for eternity with the one touch of His hand. But I have grown to understand that I cannot base my life on these feelings. They come and go like the wind but God's word endures forever. It would have been nice if someone would have told me that it is by grace that I stand not by my feelings. If I am relying on my feelings to see where my spiritual status is with the Lord then they will deceive me and leave me with condemnation and shame. It is only by grace that I am saved and nothing but the Blood of Jesus can cleanse the very darkest of spots of my heart. Grace sustains me and keeps me satisfied with the Lord Jesus. Grace takes my life and transforms my mind through the word of God. Grace is the very reason the LORD is my portion because without grace I would not even care about Jesus!!