Jesus, Light of the World (12-21-12)

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Advent Devotional, "Jesus, Light of the World," for preparing to light the fourth Advent Candle, the Wise Men candle.)

Luke 23:44-46
"Jesus' archenemy did not quit trying to destroy His light.  Satan waged war on our Savior throughout His entire life.  Time and time again while Christ walked this earth, he would come to Him with one purpose in mind.  The enemy would never stop until he had destroyed the Light, once and for all.

From Satan's part in an evil alliance between another King Herod and  Pilate; to the lies he whispered to the Pharisees;  to the temptation for money and power that he dangled in front of Judas; to the mocking and vicious whippings that the Roman guards administered; to the spineless accusations and acts of the priests; to the crazed mob who yelled out, 'Crucify Him'; to the awful end, Christ's crucifixion on the cross, Satan surely had set his focus firmly on the end of Jesus.  And in Christ's last days on earth as a human, Satan stepped up the torment to a horrifying level.

The Magi had come to a King Herod from a different era, asking him where the King of the Jews could be found.  The questioned had enraged the Herod who governed Judah at the time of Jesus' birth.  And again we see Jesus referred to as the King of the Jews in our verses today, but this time they are spoken as an insult to Jesus but the very Roman guards who nailed Him to the cross.  They mocked His  authority and power by saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!'  Could it have been the whisper of Satan that then caused them to insult Jesus even further by placing an inscription above His head on the cross that read, 'This is the King of the Jews'?

Surely Satan moved in and about the crowd that day, watching and listening.  A wry smile curled on his lips as he wrung his evil hands together.  'Surely the time is near,' he thought.  'Soon, yes very soon, this Jesus will no longer be a threat to me.'  The darkness of the fallen angel was not contained within him, for at that very moment, at the sixth hour (12 noon), a deep darkness 'fell over the whole land' and remained until three hours later.  It was so dark that the sun could not be seen.  Darkness seemed to be overpowering the Light.

'Yes!  YES!  The Light of the world is ebbing.  It won't be long now until I am in charge!' Satan muttered to himself.  The the words he had longed to hear for so long were filling the vast emptiness of the darkness that surrounded them.  'Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.'  And Jesus died.  The evil grin on the face of Satan turned into a low chuckle and then into riotous laughter.  'I've won!' he shouted with delight.  This indeed was the darkest day in all history.  The Light had been extinguished, or so everyone thought.

Dark days will surely come to us all, days when it seems like we are miles and miles from the Light of Jesus.  But we know the rest of the story, don't we?  In the end, Jesus wins!  No matter how the 'darkness' tries to creep into our lives and blow out the Light of Jesus in us, Satan will never be successful if we but keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Light the world, Jesus our Savior.  He is the Light of all of your days.  Spend time with Hm, and He will bring even more light into your life."

Jesus, Light of the World (12-8-12)

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Advent Devotional, "Jesus, Light of the World," for preparing to light the second Advent Candle, the Bethlehem candle.)

Acts 26:1-18
"The apostle Paul finds himself standing before King Agrippa fighting for his very life.  His own people, the Jews, have turned on him because of his faith in Jesus, the Messiah, whom they don't believe has come yet.  They want Paul dead!  but his battle is truly not with his flesh and blood brothers.  His battle is with the enemy of Jesus, Satan.  The enemy has heard that Paul is being sent out to the Gentile race.  For the first time, the enemy is battling God's plan for all mankind, not just His plan for His chosen people.

Paul is his own defense lawyer and pleads his case to the king.  He tells the king his entire testimony, from being a devout Jew, to persecuting the followers of Jesus, to his personal, life-changing encounter with a 'light from heaven.'  And he told him that opt of that very light cam a voice, the voice of Jesus, the true light.

Paul relates to King Agrippa his call to ministry, to minister to the Gentiles.  What was it the Jesus had said to him on the fateful day?  The Light said,

'Arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the tings in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'

Jesus, the Light of the world, calls us to open our eyes and turn to Him in all things.  By turning to the Light, we are turning away from the darkness.  No longer can Satan, the enemy of our walk with the Light, have rule and dominion over us when our eyes are focused and fixed on Jesus, and we are obeying His commands.

We initially set our focus on Jesus when we came to Him in faith, believing the He is the Son of God and our Savior from sin and death.  But we are not to leave our focused gaze behind once we have come to Jesus.  Our focus should remain the same.  With our eyes opened wide and fixed on Him, we can remain in His light.  That light will then begin to reveal to us moment to moment those places in our lives where we are walking in our own flesh and desires, our own understanding and in our own strength.  Once they are revealed in the light of Christ, our daily sin issues can be immediately confessed and surrendered to Christ, our Savior.

Thank God today for your Christian heritage that can be traced back to Paul, God's devoted servant to our race.  Thank God that His plan of salvation included us!  Thank Him for appearing to Paul 'as a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around.'  Confess your sins to Jesus, turning from the 'darkness of Bethlehem,' and standing instead in the light of His glorious Presence!"

How Well Are You Enduring Your Race?

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

We have been taking a closer look at the two "Let us" phrases found in Hebrews 12: 1-4.  Let me refresh your minds in regard to those two phrases.

     1.  Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us.
     2.  Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I am making the second one the topic of today's blog.  I will continue to use a Greek dictionary to help us gain greater understanding into the phraseology of this verse.  Today, let's see what the Greek has to say about these 3 very important words:  run, endurance and race.

• Run -- to run or walk hastily having a course to run; specific to this verse, 'with strenuous effort.

Can you sense the urgency and intensity of this kind of running?  This kind of run will not be easy or leisurely.  The course referred to has already been set for us by God, and we will need endurance to finish His race.  [This definition begs an answer to this question:  Why do we, as believers, call our journey with God a 'walk'?  For me, to call it a walk infers that it is an easy-peasy trip!  And it isn't at all!  I think I may start labeling my 'walk' a 'run'.  That just might open a few doors to witnessing!]

• Endurance -- a patient continuing (waiting when necessary), bearing up under the strain with a tranquil mind, not surrendering to them (the sin and encumbrances).

Wow!  I had no idea that my endurance required a tranquil mind, set only on the hope of making it through!  I am not sure I have ever correctly endured!  But let me not just focus on the word 'tranquil'.  We must look at the other words in the definition in order to clearly understand what endurance is.  To endure will require something in me that says that I will keep going, no matter what.  I must stay the course with a constancy that patiently continues even when it is difficult, not just when it is easy.  This race is about learning to be obedient in all things.  When the Word speaks of not surrendering to those things that can entangle me, I must decide now to bear up when temptations, trials, and tests come, so that I can win the race by gaining victories over them.  And with that thought in mind, let move on to our third definition.

• The Race -- strife, contention, a struggle, a contest for victory or mastery, a contest against the enemies of man's salvation, much like the Greek games [Olympics].

Because satan wishes to thwart our efforts to gain victory or mastery over our sin ans stumbling blocks, our fight with him will require great effort.  Our enemy wants to keep us in our sin, maybe more than we want to be free of it.  Therefore, he will contend with us with every weapon in his arsenal.  We must learn to use our entire spiritual armor, and specifically the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, with even more effort and zeal than satan uses against us.

Do you see now shy it is so very important to understand God's Word in its original language [Greek and Hebrew]?  The Greek must be used to define the words of the New Testament; our English dictionaries just cannot fully get the job done!

The Solution To Our Stumbling Blocks

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

Yesterday I promised you a story from the Bible that would be an example of a stumbling block, to help us see the difference between a sin and an encumbrance.  The story is found in Matthew 16.  Let it inspire you to overcome both!

". . . Jesus had just told the disciples of the real events that were about to happen in Jerusalem.  Jesus' prediction of His death gave them more detail than had been disclosed during their previous discussions.  Peter couldn't handle the truth he had just heard.  Jesus told them that He was about to die, and Peter's rebuke was strong.  But it was filled with adoration for his Master.  In his blurting sort of way, Peter boldly told Jesus that His death would never happen!  Jesus immediately turned to address Peter, saying, 'Get behind Me, Satan!'  (Matthew 16:23).  Jesus understood that the thoughts of Peter had been infiltrated by the enemy.  So Jesus said, 'You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.'  (Matthew 16:23).

You see, your own thoughts or actions that are self-absorbed, self-centered, and self-focused can just as easily be a stumbling block to you or to someone else.  They are flesh-fed thoughts, and satan delights in such thoughts, for they do not consider the thoughts or plans of God.  If you struggle with these kinds of encumbrances, your battle plan to overcome them is found in the verses that follow the account of Peter's wrong thought processes.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.'  (Matthew 16:24)

This is the answer not only to self-centered thinking or activities but also for every sin you will battle.  We must learn to simply tell our flesh 'no!'  By denying ourselves what our flesh wants, we 'take up our cross,' for that is what Jesus did when He clearly understood what His Father's will was.  If we tell ourselves 'no,' and then obey what God says, in any situation, then we are following Him in that moment.  Those things that encumber us are our stumbling blocks, and they often appear to be innocent thoughts or activities that seem right, on the surface.  But we still will trip over them.

What thought or activity is currently encumbering your walk?

Unarmed And Surrounded By The Enemy

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We all have gods and sins in our lives that we are commanded to overcome.  It is a spiritual battle to do so.  Is your armor uncomfortable because you do not know how to put to proper use?  Do you carry your "sword of truth" but have no idea how to wield it against your enemy, Satan?  Read on friends!

"POINT #2:  We must be fully armed when we cross into that place in our journey called the Promised Land, into the Holy of Holies where our gods will be dispossessed.  We must be prepared for this battle, and we must know what God's battle plan is.

Had Israel crossed the Jordan without any weapons, they would have most assuredly been annihilated.  The people who had been living in Canaan would certainly have banded together against an unarmed foe, and the defeat would have been a crushing blow to God's chosen people.  Without a battle plan, there would have been no organization, and therefore, no victory for God's people.   The same is going to be true for us if we attempt to just 'go in' and destroy every god, idol, attitude, or sin in our hearts that is contrary to God and His purposes.  Without weapons and a battle plan, we will surely fall to an enemy who does not want his territory encroached upon!

God has given us the perfect plan of attack when it comes to our spiritual battles, and the armor and weapons that He has chosen for us are perfect as well.  As our Commander-In-Chief, He has set us up to be victorious, if we will but utilize what He has already given us.  The problem is that we seldom choose to enter into this kind of battle, and when we do, our armor seems cumbersome to us because we have not been trained for this kind of war.  We are usually unarmed and unprepared because we have not even attended spiritual 'boot camp,' so we are ill-equipped for the battle with the forces of darkness."

(Quoted from Chapter 8, "Fully Following God's Commands" found in Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory)