Repent – Pray – Do not fear – Be encouraged – Resist the Devil – Give thanks – Follow Jesus

8-30-21 Mo. 8:19pm: 

• Repent.¹
• Pray² against the spiritual forces of darkness, and…
• Do not fear them³
• Encouragement ⁴
• Resist the condemnation of the Devil ⁵
• Follow Jesus ⁶
• Thanksgiving expressed ⁷

¹ She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.1.21.NASB1995

¹ The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:16-17 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.4.16-17.NASB1995

¹ Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images. They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. Then he burned the bones of the priests on their altars and purged Judah and Jerusalem. In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, even as far as Naphtali, in their surrounding ruins, he also tore down the altars and beat the Asherim and the carved images into powder, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 34:1-7 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/2ch.34.1-7.NASB1995

² “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” 2 Chronicles 20:12 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/2ch.20.12.NASB1995

² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/eph.6.12.NASB1995

² The prayers of Jesus  SCRIPTURE INSIGHT (from Our Daily Bread Ministries 9-4-21′)

“Though most of us are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer [Mt. 6: 9-13], the Gospels contain several other prayers of Jesus. In John 17, we read Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer uttered on the night of His betrayal and arrest. After praying for Himself (vv. 1–5), Jesus prays for His disciples (vv. 6–19) and for all believers (vv. 20–26). He asks the Father to protect the church, sanctify it, and cause it to grow. Jesus also prays three short prayers on the cross (Luke 23:34; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:46).

Other prayers of Jesus include a prayer of thanks (John 6:11), a prayer before raising Lazarus (11:41–42), and a prayer after entering Jerusalem (12:27–28). Moreover, Jesus often withdrew from others to spend time in prayer with His Father (Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35; John 6:15). He exemplifies what it means to “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).”

Alyson Kieda
https://odb.org/US/2021/09/04/man-of-prayer

³ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’ Deuteronomy 1:29-31 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/deu.1.29-31.NASB1995

³ “Satan is in the same circumstance [revoked drivers license]. His license to rule the world has been revoked. He knows this, but has no motivation to stop his activities until he is confronted by an agent of the King, who forbids his ongoing mischief. There is no need for Christians to be intimidated by him. The shoe is now on the other foot. You may be sure that Satan, like the unlicensed driver, breaks a sweat when he looks in his rearview mirror and sees an agent of the Kingdom of God in pursuit. ~ Steve Gregg (Empire of the Risen Son vol. 1 pg. 108 Kindle version) The Narrow Path: https://www.thenarrowpath.com/

⁴ These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jhn.16.33.NASB1995

⁴ Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalms 27:14 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/psa.27.14.NASB1995

8-31-21 Tu. 7:17am: 

• from yesterday’s Spurgeon (Bible Gateway) email…

⁴ Evening

“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed.”Jeremiah 17:14

“I have seen his ways, and will heal him.”

Isaiah 57:18

“It is the sole prerogative of God to remove spiritual disease. Natural disease may be instrumentally healed by men, but even then the honour is to be given to God who giveth virtue unto medicine, and bestoweth power unto the human frame to cast off disease. As for spiritual sicknesses, these remain with the great Physician alone; he claims it as his prerogative, “I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal;” and one of the Lord’s choice titles is Jehovah-Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee. “I will heal thee of thy wounds,” is a promise which could not come from the lip of man, but only from the mouth of the eternal God. On this account the psalmist cried unto the Lord, “O Lord, heal me, for my bones are sore vexed,” and again, “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.” For this, also, the godly praise the name of the Lord, saying, “He healeth all our diseases.” He who made man can restore man; he who was at first the creator of our nature can new create it. What a transcendent comfort it is that in the person of Jesus “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily!” My soul, whatever thy disease may be, this great Physician can heal thee. If he be God, there can be no limit to his power. Come then with the blind eye of darkened understanding, come with the limping foot of wasted energy, come with the maimed hand of weak faith, the fever of an angry temper, or the ague of shivering despondency, come just as thou art, for he who is God can certainly restore thee of thy plague. None shall restrain the healing virtue which proceeds from Jesus our Lord. Legions of devils have been made to own the power of the beloved Physician, and never once has he been baffled. All his patients have been cured in the past and shall be in the future, and thou shalt be one among them, my friend, if thou wilt but rest thyself in him this night.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon 

⁴ Morning

“Wait on the Lord.”Psalm 27:14

“It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon 

8-31-21 Tu. 7:26am: 

• From this morning’s Spurgeon (Bible Gateway) email…

⁴ Morning

“On mine arm shall they trust.”Isaiah 51:5

“In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail, he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no getting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless, so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father’s arms, and is blessedly clasped therein! When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God, he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to, see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears; but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee. Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon 

⁴ Evening

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light.”1 John 1:7

“As he is in the light! Can we ever attain to this? Shall we ever be able to walk as clearly in the light as he is whom we call “Our Father,” of whom it is written, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all?” Certainly, this is the model which is set before us, for the Saviour himself said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect;” and although we may feel that we can never rival the perfection of God, yet we are to seek after it, and never to be satisfied until we attain to it. The youthful artist, as he grasps his early pencil, can hardly hope to equal Raphael or Michael Angelo, but still, if he did not have a noble beau ideal before his mind, he would only attain to something very mean and ordinary. But what is meant by the expression that the Christian is to walk in light as God is in the light? We conceive it to import likeness, but not degree. We are as truly in the light, we are as heartily in the light, we are as sincerely in the light, as honestly in the light, though we cannot be there in the same measure. I cannot dwell in the sun, it is too bright a place for my residence, but I can walk in the light of the sun; and so, though I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to his image. That famous old commentator, John Trapp, says, “We may be in the light as God is in the light for quality, but not for equality.” We are to have the same light, and are as truly to have it and walk in it as God does, though, as for equality with God in his holiness and purity, that must be left until we cross the Jordan and enter into the perfection of the Most High. Mark that the blessings of sacred fellowship and perfect cleansing are bound up with walking in the light.” ~ C. H. Spurgeon  https://link.biblegateway.com/view/5ef50af1c699ad103632f5d6etrdu.dhw/c75c74a6

⁵ “Every Christian has to learn how to deal with the condemnation of the Devil.” ~ Steve Gregg: The Narrow Path (from one of his radio broadcasts) https://www.thenarrowpath.com/

⁵ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. Revelation 12:10-11 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/rev.12.10-11.NASB1995

⁵ Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; Hebrews 10:19-23 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/heb.10.19-23.NASB1995

⁵ Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NASB1995 https://bible.com/bible/100/jas.4.7.NASB1995

⁶ Follow Jesus

Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. John 1:35-37 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jhn.1.35-37.NASB1995

⁶ The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” John 1:43 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/jhn.1.43.NASB1995

⁶ 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 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/mat.16.24.NASB1995

⁶ Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, Who leads you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17 NASB1995
https://bible.com/bible/100/isa.48.17.NASB1995

⁷ Thanksgiving Expressed

12 Then you will say on that day,

“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;

For although You were angry with me,

Your anger is turned away,

And You comfort me.

2 “Behold, God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid;

For the Lord God is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation.”

3 Therefore you will joyously draw water

From the springs of salvation.

4 And in that day you will say,

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.

Make known His deeds among the peoples;

[a]Make them remember that His name is exalted.”

5 Praise the Lord in song, for He has done [b]excellent things;

Let this be known throughout the earth.

6 Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+12&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210830_Our+Daily+Bread+Daily+Devotional+Dynamic&utm_content=%%%3dRedirectTo(passage_url)%3d%%