Turning Troubles

 

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”

— 1 Peter 5:8-9

 

“Stay alert” means be free from the illusions (influences) of sins. Be always cautious, watchful, and on guard, always alert for Satan’s trickery, deceit, trouble. Be calm about it and know he is out there wanting to tempt God’s children away from Him. Satan walks around you like a lion encircles sheep, looking for the weaknesses of one or more of them. He is waiting to devour you and your testimony about God to discredit you and your faith so others will not believe in Jesus. Satan wants to disconnect your close relationship with God so you live in misery and despair. 

 

The first two commands—stay alert and watch out—could be passive activities, just watch and take care. Or they could include action, like a soldier walking on top of a city’s walls continuing to see if an enemy approaches. In verse eight, Peter meant the latter. Actively stay alert and watch out for Satan. How does a Christian actively stay alert to Satan’s attempts to intrude into his/her life? Keep growing in your relationship with God. Keep listening to and obeying Him. 

 

Peter wrote commanding believers in Christ to stand firm against Satan. What did he mean? Standing firm means resisting and opposing, refuse to be moved from your faith in God—Father, Son, and Spirit. Publicly and conspicuously declare your convictions about Jesus. Don’t let go of those convictions and the faith and salvation God gives you. Be faithful to God remembering He is faithful to you. Remember who He is, what He’s done, and how He’s intervened in your life. How does one remember this in the heat of the battle? By being so closely connected to God that you know Him and cling to Him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This close relationship comes by prayer, reading the Bible and studying, and meditating on it. A close relationship with God also comes by worshipping God and fellowshipping with other believers and by listening to preachers and teachers who rightly proclaim the word of God.

 

Standing firm is active opposition and requires daily preparation in anticipation of Satan’s attacks. Satan will attack, undoubtedly. So prepare yourself by growing stronger in, by, and through the LORD. Remember, you are not the only one Satan will or has attacked. All believers worldwide face his relentless attacks. Jesus did not fall to the temptations Satan put before Him. We each can stand firm as Christians knowing we are not battling on our own. God gives us His wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and strength to endure. His hand never leaves His child; no one can snatch us away from Him. Look to your believing brothers and sisters and recognize they, too, battle Satan. He is not choosing only you to attack. 

 

Use the opportunity of attack to grow closer to God. Use it to grow your faith. Use it to testify to onlookers about God’s love for you and them and the salvation God gives through the death of His Son, Jesus. Spin the attack to be a positive experience and let your life proclaim about Jesus.

 

Stay alert! Be always watchful! Stand firm! Actively prepare and fight, then your relationship with God will grow stronger and other people will hear about His love and the salvation He offers.

Alert and Committed

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

(1 Cor 16:13 [NASB])

We have arrived at the end of the first week of January 2016. Have you remained committed to your objectives and goals so far?

We each are weak and fail in some of our goals in life whether it be to eat better, exercise more, be aware and help the needy, read our Bibles and pray, or be a better family member. Each of us proved ourselves unfaithful to our own goals and objectives at some point already this year. We are human – fallible and sinful.

Paul closed his first letter to the Corinthians reminding and encouraging them to be alert and stand firm in the faith. He told them to be cautious to keep the faith and be active in their faith - put into action their love for God by obeying Him.

Paul also encouraged and reminded them to act like men and be strong. They were to be brave like men and take a stand for God. Since the Corinthian believers came from the midst of a Gentile (non-Jewish) background and were surrounded by a pantheon of gods worshipped by their neighbors and the Roman Empire, it would be easy to slip back into their old ways. Paul challenged and encouraged them to be like brave and strong men and take a stand for Christ in their lives. Even when everyone around them worshipped other gods and ridiculed them, stand brave and strong in their faith in Jesus Christ, Paul instructed.

Considering what Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians, how active is your faith? Do you stand firm when others around you do not live a Christian life or when they mock yours? Are you strong in your faith in the face of ridicule, slander, and persecution?

Paul was no stranger to persecution. He was a prime example for the Corinthian Christians on what it looks like to be active, firm, brave, and strong in the faith.

Will you listen to and receive encouragement from Paul to be active in your faith?

Will you stand firm in your faith in Jesus Christ today, tomorrow, this week?

Will you be brave in the face of adversity and be strong in your faith in God?

Stay committed to God.

He is committed to you.

Do Not Be Deceived: A James 1:16 Devotional

Let's consider today what James spoke about in James 1:16. He said, "Do not be deceived my beloved brethren."

Of what did he refer? Was it other teachings? Was it righteous indignation? Was it gifts? Was it testings versus temptation? Was it their salvation?

James spoke on each of these things in chapter 1. Verse 16 comes in the middle of the chapter and seems to be the axis upon which the teachings of this chapter surround.

Let's look at one of them

Do not be deceived by other people who say they are believers but then tell you things contrary to what you were taught and believe. When you became a believer in the gospel of salvation, Jesus Christ implanted in you His Holy Spirit. This word of truth will guide you to know truth from lies. As James said in verse 17, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

What you learned and had implanted in you by Jesus Christ is not something that changes with the situation. Truth is truth. Just as light is pure, so God is pure. He brings the light of truth and knowledge so we can discern His truth from lies and not fall prey to the teachings of other people. God does not change. What He says at one time is the same at other times. He is faithful to Himself and to us, unlike shadows which shift and move with the changing times and lights.

Do not be deceived, James said. Then he tells us how to stand firm, to endure and grow towards perfection. He said to ask God for wisdom in verse five to be able to endure your present trials. James spoke of this wisdom in verse seventeen when he said, "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above." God gifts us with wisdom to withstand against trials and to come out from them stronger and closer to Christlikeness. In James 3:17, James defined wisdom as pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering and without hypocrisy.

We need wisdom to not be deceived. We need to rely upon God and His implanted Holy Spirit to endure and stand strong in our faith. To be able to stand firm, we must ask for and then put into action God's wisdom and we must ask without doubting.

Trials will come for all Christians, make no mistake about that. How we go through them determines if we grow more Christlike, toward perfection, or if we fall in the battle.

Do not be deceived. God is faithful to His children. 

Do not be deceived. God will give you strength and wisdom if you ask for them. Believe and act on what He gives you. 

Do not be deceived. God is the Father of light and has made you His child. He will not forsake you or leave you.