Day #53

Thank you God for meeting us in this time and for giving us mercy!  God please don’t let us get away with being puffed up over what we are learning.  God please mold our hearts to make them like yours.

Please read James 4:7-8a.

Do you remember the conflicts that were mentioned at the bottom of yesterday’s lesson?

3 conflicts that we have been learning:

1.    The world is against God

2.    The flesh is against the Holy Spirit

3.    The devil is against Jesus

NOTE: Please remember what we discussed yesterday.  Yes, Jesus did win the battle against Satan when He died on the cross, which allowed God’s creation to be reconciled to Him if they chose to believe and follow.  However, Satan’s desire is to deceive the lost from ever coming to Christ and to deceive Christians from ever becoming effective for spreading the GOSPEL (story of Jesus).

There are two things that James tells us that we can do to overcome.  What are they?

1.

2.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  James 4:7-8a.

So we must DRAW NEAR TO GOD and RESIST THE DEVIL, and what will happen?  That is right!  The devil will flee from us!  WOW!

Read 1 Corinthians 10:13 and write it in your journal. 

NOTE:  Please remember that God DOES NOT tempt.  Temptation only comes from the devil and his abilities are limited.  Satan must get permission from God to do anything to us.  You may be asking why God would say yes to Satan’s asking.  This goes all the way back to the beginning of our study in James.  God allows approaches from Satan to test us, to grow us, to make us stronger in our faith.  The trials that we are allowed to face are for our betterment, but Satan wants us to be destroyed by them.  Satan wants us to believe lies and trust in ourselves in times of testing.  He wants to lure us away from our trust in Jesus Christ and make us feel alone, isolated. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 says that THERE IS AN ESCAPE during a test, so that we can endure through it and get the most learning out of that time!!  Well what is it?  I need to know!!

During times of testing we need to…

1.    Submit to God

2.    Draw near to God

3.    Humble yourselves before God

1.  SUBMIT TO GOD- Submitting in the military sense means “get into your proper rank.”  When someone just entering boot camp acts like a general there is a problem and trouble will follow.  You must submit and surrender all areas of your life to God.  No matter how painful, this has to happen.  If there is something God has not been given access to in your life, there will always be battles, friend.  Ask Him what you have not given Him control over.  He will show you.  Will you dare to ask?

         

Click on Ephesians 4:27.  There is another way of putting this verse.  Don’t even crack the door to see what the devil has for you, because once you open the door a little he can get his foot in and keep you from closing it.  All he needs is a foothold to start fighting against God.  You must submit and hide behind the Father’s legs to be safe.  Satan is much smarter than us!  Trust this.

When we hide sin from God (as if we can actually do that, lol), we are declaring war against God.  Remember the story of David and Bathsheba?  David was God’s chosen king for Israel.  He had a special closeness with the God.  Their relationship was precious.  But, even David let the flesh rule his body at a particular time in his(see Day #51).  One day he went out on the porch, while his own army was at war (which was odd for a king not to be present with his soldiers while at war), and he spotted a beautiful woman bathing... Bathsheba.  He watched her longingly to the point that he had a servant go get her and bring her to him.  This woman was married to one of his soldiers that was off at war.  Knowing this he slept with her anyway.  She became pregnant.  At the news of this, David decides to send her husband to the front of battle where he would certainly be killed.  Therefore David murdered Bathsheba’s husband.  What a wild story!!  Yet there is more. 

David tried to hide his sin from God for almost a year, pretending that it did not happen, and tried to go about life as usual.  There was war going on between him and God, and David declared it!  Click on Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 to discover the high price David paid for being at war with God.  But, God disciplined Him with this high price and David eventually submitted to Him, which brought David peace and joy!

Submission is a choice, an act of the will.  My prayer for all of us today is that we will say, “Not my will but Yours be done, God.”

We will get into drawing near to God and humbling ourselves before God in the days to come.  See you tomorrow!

TARGET of the DAY

Are you declaring war against God by attempting to hide sin?  Maybe you know you are or maybe you don’t.  Ask God about this and draw near to Him in either case.  Submit today and take your proper rank.

Don't forget MEMORY VERSE!
 Don't forget to pray for the PRAYER REQUESTS!
Don't forget to give a PRAISE today!