Monday, December 08, 2008, 7:48 a.m. –
To God Be the Glory / Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He has done.
Great things He has taught us, great things He has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
I continue to praise the name of the Lord despite the fact that Satan has been attacking my mind these 3 days plus. The Lord is teaching me much about praising the Lord in the storm. As I was singing to the Lord last night in my room, I was reminded of the story about Paul and Silas in prison (Acts 16:22-31) where they were praying and singing hymns to God. The Lord delivered them, and I believe he will deliver me from this temporary “prison”, as well. He has promised and I believe His promises! I am putting my faith and trust in Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth.
I am very determined to handle this in a Biblical manner, so this morning I went about researching how we are to respond to these attacks of Satan on our bodies and/or on our minds. And, I learned something new. I had always been taught to rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus, but I see nowhere in scripture that teaches us to rebuke him. We are to rebuke one another if we see a brother or a sister caught in sin, and there is Biblical teaching on how to do that. The archangel Michael in Jude 1:9 did not bring a slanderous accusation against the devil but he said, “The Lord rebuke you.” And, in Ps. 57:3, the Psalmist noted that the Lord rebukes those who hotly pursue him (the writer of the Psalm).
What the Bible does teach us is that we are to resist the devil:
James 4:7: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
I Peter 5:9: Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
Resist: oppose; refuse to accept; refuse to go along with; defy; stand firm; fight back; withstand; endure; keep from; avoid; refrain from (Encarta Thesaurus).
In order to resist Satan, we have to also put something on in place of his attacks that counter or oppose what he is saying. Jesus did this when he was tempted of Satan. When Satan attacked him, he just answered back with the word of God. On the third temptation, Jesus told Satan “Away from me, Satan,” and then he quoted the word of God again: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” He has set a wonderful example for us in how to defeat these attacks of Satan on our minds and bodies. [See: Matthew 4:1-11]
This passage of scripture is foundational to resisting Satan and to taking our stand against the devil’s schemes:
Ephesians 6:10-20: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
- Truth – always tell the truth; resist Satan’s lies with the truth
- Righteousness – make sure you are in a right relationship with the Lord, that you have repented of all known sin and have made things right with God and with others
- Feet fitted/readiness/gospel – don’t let Satan get you down; don’t let him discourage you; keep on witnessing for Jesus; keep on speaking
- Faith – keep believing in the promises of God; keep claiming his promises
- Salvation – make certain that you are in a relationship with the Lord, and then keep believing in the promise and hope of eternal life
- Sword/Word of God – This is our main offensive weapon against Satan and his attacks and his lies – we need to be in the word, we need to feed on the word of God daily so that it is in our hearts and in our minds and we need to resist Satan using the word of God (see Jesus’ example)
- Pray – we need to be on our knees before Almighty God daily in prayer for ourselves, our marriages, our homes, our families, our neighbors, our country, and our world as well as those in authority over us
- Be alert – be listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit – pay attention to what is going on in the world around us and don’t give the devil a foothold in your life – seek the Lord while he may be found
- Journal – Satan likes to lie to us about God’s promises to us, so as you are feeding on his word, journal what he tells you so that when Satan lies at you, you can go back to what the Lord has shown you previously – it will encourage your heart
The Solid Rock / Edward Mote / William Bradbury
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne
My Deliverer - Rich Mullins (The Jesus Record)
My Deliverer is coming - my Deliverer is standing by
My Deliverer is coming - my Deliverer is standing by
Great Is Thy Faithfulness / Thomas Chisholm / William Runyan
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!