GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 20
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 20 ~ ~ James 4:4 ~ ~ “…. do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Proverbs 17:15—He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
Demonic forces are clearly at work in our world today. Governments and some of the populace seem to be going “crazy”. Leaders seem to have no accountability, no honor or honesty, and many people have lost their innate knowledge of right and wrong, especially those educated under the public education in the last two generations.
The Word said that in the last days right will be called wrong, and wrong will be called right. We are clearly seeing that now.
But God’s people have to be on His side. He will win this war, and which side we are on will determine our hearts, and therefore, our destiny.
Paul told us in 2Timothy 3:1-3 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, …”
It’s not difficult to see this in our world today.
How long do the end times last? We don’t know. Jesus said that when we see these things, “the end is not yet”. (Mt. 24:6)
I believe we are in the end times, but not the end portion of it. Either way, it is a test for Believers. Everything in our lives is a test. We need to react to everything with our hands in the Hand of Our Lord, and our eyes looking into His.
We are to trust in God, knowing that He has it all under control, and is allowing what, in His Great Wisdom, He deems necessary, remembering always that trust and faith are not passive traits. They are active.
Among other places in the Word, Hebrews 11:1 shows us that Faith is a living, active virtue that involves an act of obedience to prove the faith. “ Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen. For by it the people of old gained approval.”
Many are just sitting in their pews, waiting for Jesus to return, for the rapture to happen. But waiting and trusting are action verbs.
What we do during that time will have great bearing on what we will hear from Him when we see Him. That time is NOW!!!
We are to be salt and light. They are active. We are to put on the full armour of God. This is not a physical fight, but some physical obedience is necessary.
Since this is a spiritual war, we must fight on the three fronts of spiritual warfare:
- Within ourselves. Before we can stand for Our Lord, we must be fully submitted to Him, and fully repentant to Him. We must be on our faces before Him, confessing, repenting, and submitting, so that we stand before Him in the purity of Our Saviour’s righteousness, drawing closer to Him, and allowing Him to teach us, increasing the virtues that can only come from Him. This is how we put on the armour spoken of in Ephesians chapter 6.
2. Spiritual warfare. We must know within ourselves that we have the power of God, (after true repentance above). We must never confront the demonic powers without being in right standing with the Lord first. It is His power, not ours, that we stand in. When the demonic forces see us, they see Jesus, if we are standing purely for Him.
But, remember, the devil knows what our standing with Jesus is, so we need to be sure of that first. Our protection is the spiritual armour of Ephesians 6, and our weapon is the Word of God. If the whole Church would do these things, we could do the will of God in these situations, and many more will be able to come to Him. The battle rages in the heavenlies between angels and demons. The stance of God’s people has a great bearing on how that battle goes. OH!! If the people only knew how important that is!!!!!
- Physical obedience.. After we have put on the armour as, above, and positioned ourselves against the demonic powers, we can stand in the power of Almighty God in the physical world. Sometimes it is in silence, when the Holy Spirit is working in the other person, or in us, and sometimes it’s in speaking the Right Word at the right time, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need to speak out in public ways, however He leads us, and we are not to be afraid of the persecution which inevitably will come, for He will be with us no matter what happens, and He will give us the Words and courage at the time. We can be sure of that!!!
We need to educate people on what is going on, and how it pertains to God’s people and salvation of new believers. We need to evangelize the unsaved. The devil’s best defense is ignorance. Silent Christians play right into his hands.
Hosea 4:6 tells it well:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: ….”
Who we call a friend, or acquaintance, if they are not saved, is our mission field. Time is short, and if we don’t tell them, their spiritual blood will be on our hands. God tells us this in Ezekiel 33:6:
Ezekiel 33:6 ~ ~ “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.”
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Watching the evil and the good.
Let’s make a difference in the midst of the evil.
Live in the Light of Our Lord 