I LOVE how all of the devotional tools I use seem to be speaking along the same lines today! To start with, Jerry Savelle's Daily Devotional says this about a time when he faced a trying situation:
Well, the reason I was in that trial was that I had opened the door to it myself. I had been so busy that I had gotten out of fellowship with God's Word, and it made me a prime target for Satan's attack.Now, I knew what the Word said to do. And I knew what the Word said would happen if I would be a doer of the Word. But at that moment, I wanted to just play around in self pity and do nothing. That caused the disease of apathy. I felt indifferent about it. I could have cared less at that moment if I won or lost.
My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers for today mentions this:
Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. ... Then there is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.
Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "Pursuit Of His Presence" says this:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.– 1 Peter 5:8-9
Satan is like a salesman. He makes a presentation and tries to sell you a bill of goods. He tells you God doesn’t really love you. He tells you the Word won’t work this time. He tells you that you don’t have the strength to go on. He’ll even try to sell you on the idea that it would be easier for you just to curl up and die than to see this trial through in faith.
All he does is talk...talk...talk! And lie...lie...lie, and we don’t have to listen.
Now that talk can get very annoying, but remember, that’s all he can do! He doesn’t have any real power or authority over you.
According to 1 Peter, he walks around as a roaring lion, “seeking whom he may devour.” It doesn’t say he is a lion. He just acts like one. Therefore, he can’t devour you, unless you let him.
First Peter 5:9 says we are to resist the devil steadfastly! That means you have to use patience to resist him. He is, after all, a persistent fellow. He may pester you a thousand times a day, but if you’ll resist him every time, he will flee from you every time (James 4:7).
He and all the low-level demons he sends to aggravate you have already “come to nought” (1 Corinthians 2:6). Jesus has stripped them of all their power and authority and left them with nothing (see Colossians 2:15).
So the next time Satan starts his sales pitch, talk back.
“I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I am born of God. I am filled with the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father. I am endowed with the Name of Jesus, which is ‘far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come’” (Ephesians 1:21)! “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). “Leave my presence in Jesus’ Name” (James 4:7)!
If you’re short of time, just say, “Get out of here, Devil, in the Name of Jesus!” He has to bow his knee at the Name of Jesus uttered in faith!
Our Spoken Word Church website devotional said this, in part:
Accurate information breeds confidence. Know what you believe. Disconnect from memories of past failures. Stop advertising your mistakes.Remind yourself of good decisions and victories of the past. Before David fought Goliath, he mentally rehearsed past victories over the bear and the lion.See yourself winning. Think and talk like the conqueror God intended you to be. Keep success pictures in your mind at all times. Remember, what you are goes before you.
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."(Romans 8:37)
AMEN! Now aren't you built up, edified, recharged and ready to take on anyone and anything? THAT is what daily study and meditation in the Word of God will do for you! Study the Bible directly AND through the many and varied tools available to us now! We are really without excuse! We are, of ALL people, most blessed! Here is Hillsong with "Our God Is Able". And remember, He is even more willing than He is able, and He is 100% able! Amen!
God is Able
He will never fail
He is almighty God
Greater than all we seek
Greater than all we ask
He has done great things
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is Able.
God is with us
God is on our side
He will make a way
Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
He will never fail
He is almighty God
Greater than all we seek
Greater than all we ask
He has done great things
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
In His name we overcome
For the Lord
Our God is Able.
God is with us
God is on our side
He will make a way
Far above all we know
Far above all we hope
He has done great things
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never fail us
Lifted up
He defeated the grave
Raised to life
Our God is Able
Shalom in Him!
