YOUR WORST ENEMY

satan-3-by-jack-chickThe judge slammed his gavel on the podium and immediately pronounced the verdict and the sentence.  Guilty was the verdict and the sentence was divine and engaged all of mankind who should ever live upon the earth. The defendant and alleged offender was one named Satan, alias Beelzebub, Lucifer, Devil and Prince of this world.  The sentence which was pronounced quickly was, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)  The judge, jury and executioner was, none other than the Great “I AM”, the creator of all and our LORD and savior.

Could this also be classified as prophecy?

This word, enmity means to create a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity or antagonism which is mutual to all parties. This enmity thing is not something that occurs naturally.  When Adam committed the transgression against the law that God had laid out he imposed upon all mankind an evil nature.  His actions placed us all in harmony with Satan when God’s intent was for us to be in opposition or difference.  Man, along with Satan became evil through an act of apostasy.   If God had not taken some severe action we would have been continuously united with Satan against God.

Satan worked over Eve with deception and then Eve became an accomplice to help move Adam into sin in a grand scheme to get full cooperation in warfare against God and His Kingdom.  When Satan heard the sentence of a declaration of enmity between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he understood that he had been had and that man would somehow he able to resist his powers.  Drat! Sassa-frassa-rassa he probably was muttering.  How could this happen?

This does not stop the evil one and only serves to slow him down.  Actually, the evil one thinks he will some-day win and steps up his efforts to try and win the next battle.  His fury is kindled like a camper throwing birch twigs on the hot coals of the smoldering fire.

God’s grace that he lovingly placed in the soul of man has given us enmity against Satan. Without the grace of God and His love and redemption mankind would be totally captive to Satan and we would all be servants to do his evil. The result is that in our souls there rages this conflict where before the fall of man once was a soul at complete peace.  For all that choose to access it we have the power of Jesus Christ that enables us to resist the efforts of the evil tyrant that lurks at every corner and is seeking us out. Through the love of Christ we can conquer the evil passions that draw us and we can abhor sin and flee from it.

When we look at how the world treated Jesus Christ we can see it as an example or picture of the type of antagonism or enmity existing between the Spirit of Christ and Satan. The Jews totally rejected Jesus.  His purity and His holiness drew out the hatred of all the ungodly around Him.  For a community of sensual and proud people the sinless life of self-denial that Jesus exhibited was too much for them to take.  Once again we saw this enmity. This time it was the Jews eliciting enmity with the Christ.  They would deny that Jesus was the messiah.  Satan found some companions with these evil men and they all joined together in apostasy to conspire against Jesus the Christ the Champion of Truth.

Please understand this very important point otherwise you will leave yourself open to destruction.  The very same enmity that was manifested toward Jesus Christ is and always will be manifested toward His followers.  Whoever is able to recognize sin for what it is and call upon the LORD for strength to resist the temptations will surely attract the attention of the evil one.  This battle between truth and evil will exist as long as sinners and sin remain part of the earth.  There will never be any harmony between Christ and anyone or anything that serves Satan.  The attack and persecution leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the Cross has not stopped. “Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12)

Satan continues to fight and is constantly working to build up his kingdom in the battle against the Kingdom of God. There is and will be a constant attempt to deceive any of Christ’s followers and Satan would love nothing more than to lure you in and pull you away from your allegiance to Jesus Christ. He is always working to misconstrue and pervert the Scriptures to accomplish his objective. Satan is having a hay-day right now with all the false teachers and the preachers that are watering down and adding to scripture and not preaching the truth. These weak ones are falling into his hands.  There is a constant effort to malign God’s people just as there always has been since it was all foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15.  This enmity will continue until the rapture and the end of the battle in Revelation when Satan is cast into the lake of fire.

Satan continues to throw all the weight he can at us.  He puts his entire power into combat and the battle continues to rage.  The battle rages on because we do not connect with Christ the way He wants us to.  We cannot see sin as repulsive and as abhorrent as Christ did.  We cannot see it because we are not putting forth the effort to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  We are so removed from Christ we are destitute of the Holy Spirit. Most of us do not connect with the malignity and the expansion of sin and we are blind to the power and character of the prince of the world.  Mankind does not elicit enmity against Satan and his works because mankind is ignorant regarding his power and his malice.  We don’t grasp the vastness of his warfare against the Church of Christ and against Christ Himself.  The masses of our land are deluded and unaware.  Most are caught up in all the enjoyment of life and ignorant to the destruction around them.  Most don’t realize there is a mighty general of an evil army that has a massive attack plan with calculated maneuvers to war against Christ and to stop Him from saving souls.

How many times do you hear reference to Satan from professed Christians?  Not often.  Certainly not often enough!  What about the clergy in the pulpits these days? There is an occasional mention of the battle here and there but the evidence of his activity and success is not addressed in near comparison to the gravity of the situation. Most people are neglecting the warnings about the subtlety of Satan and most seem to ignore his very existence.  Most preachers of today wouldn’t touch the subject for fear of making some people feel uncomfortable.  Well guess what?  You should all be real uncomfortable!  The enemy is after your soul people.  He is out to kill you and your family.  Wake up!

Continued… in the next post.  Click here to go to part 2.

 

Have a Godly day,

‘The Tubthumper’

Day 36, 4 more days praying for election.

gods-loveNovember 2, 2012

Teach us the way that we should go and help us to walk in Your truth each day.

A Prayer by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first act of a President after receiving the Oath of Office:

Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates in the executive branch of government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and follow their fellow citizens everywhere.

Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land.  Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race, or calling.  May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy Glory, Amen.  January 20, 1953

Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. (Psalm 86:11-12)

Father, we praise You Lord.  We worship You, Oh God.  You are our God and You are the Almighty God. You are the great creator of all things and the master of all things. You are the vine, Lord, we are the branches and we praise Your Holy Name.

We confess our sins, Oh God.  We confess our personal sins and we confess the sins of our nation and our people.  Father please forgive us for we have not born the fruit of the vine. We have not done enough Lord and we have left You out of our lives, our government and our leadership.

We thank You, Oh God for the blessings You have given.  We thank You for Your Almighty grace.  We thank You for the United States of America.

Lord, please help those suffering as a result of the hurricane along our east coast.  Protect them from further harm and grant them Your grace dear Lord.  Protect the many volunteers that have responded to help the victims and work to recover the area.  Help them to cope with the devastation, Oh Lord.

We pray for our nation and ask that You heal our land.  Please protect our nation, the United States of America during our election in 4 days, Father.  Protect us from voter fraud and theft of votes.  Protect the many countless volunteers that are working to secure all the votes and protect the voters.  We ask for Your Holy Spirit to intervene and allow each voter to know and to make the right choice.  Lead our nation back toward You Oh God.

We hunger for Your Word. Teach us the way that we should go and help us to walk in Your truth each day.  As President Eisenhower prayed, teach us and our leaders Oh God, and grant them and us the power to discern clearly right from wrong and govern our actions accordingly.

May Your praise always be on our lips and may You fill our hearts with the joy of Your love and blessing.  You are a gracious and loving God whose mercy is new every morning.  We thank You and we love You, Lord, and we ask these prayers through Jesus Christ, Amen.

8 Days left to pray for the election.

georgewashingtonprayingYou have given us a guide for life and asked us to meditate day and night.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (Joshua 1:8-9)

Dear precious Lord, we worship You as Creator of all things that have been made. Father, we acknowledge You as True King and Ruler, the one who has given us dominion over this land. We praise You and love You Lord.

We call upon You, Father on behalf of our nation, the United States of America.  We need You dear Lord. We ask You to have mercy and grace upon our people.  We humbly seek that You do not turn Your face away although so many have turned from their roots of our forefather’s founding our nation upon Your principles.

Forgive our transgressions, Oh God. Forgive us for seeking to serve the created rather than the Creator. Send a river of conviction throughout our Country and convince each and every heart to seek to be washed in Your forgiving love and return to You in pure and holy worship.

We plead, Oh God, for the protection of our Land from complete ruin because of unrighteous living.  From the rampant adultery of the married, the pre-marital actions of singles, the ridding of lives before they are born, the greed and puffed-up pride of our hearts, the making Your houses of worship into dens of thieves by converting them to social clubs instead of deep dedication of communion with You.

Father, You have given us a guide for life and have asked us to meditate in Your Word day and night. Place that desire within our hearts, Lord and give us a hunger for Your Word so that we may know You.  Lead our nation and our people back to Your Word so that we may honor You through all that we say and do.

We pray now for our Nation’s president, our vice-president, our governor, and all our national, state, and local government officials.  We pray for each of them that, whether or not they serve You in spirit and righteousness, Your Spirit will guide them into all truth. We pray for our election in eight days, Lord.  We pray for Your Spirit to intercede and protect our land.  Help us, Oh God. Heal our land!

Thank You, Oh Holy God, for tending to our voices in one accord today as we intercede on behalf of our Nation.  Thank You for restoring us to being “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”  Thank You that we will once again be able to call upon You and say, “God Bless America” because we are assured You will do so because America is truly Blessing Your Holy Name.  It is in the name of Jesus Christ we entrust our nation, the United States of America, into Your care.  AMEN.

Day 16 of prayer for our nation, 24 to go.

heal-our-land-v5-600x300Appoint the leader to bring us back to our roots as a Christian nation.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man… And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-16, 19)

Let us pray. Blessed are You, O Lord our God, Wellspring of all that is. You are the sea on which we float, You are the wind that fills our sails, You are the storm that buffets us, You are the calm that brings us peace. You are the Almighty King.  We adore you, Lord.

Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Our nation has turned from you Lord.  We have pushed you out of public life in the USA.  Forgive us O’God.

Lord, we bow before You in humble thanks.  We thank you, as a nation, for your gifts of power and strength.  We thank you, Lord for all of our blessings.  For our freedoms, for our families, for our incomes and for our life.  We acknowledge your presence and all you have done for us in the past.  Father we know that all power, grace and wealth comes from you.  We claim the riches of Your glory and the fullness of Your grace that come through the indwelling of Your Spirit within us. Lord, we praise and thank you today.

We pray for the election in 24 days, we pray for your guidance and protection and we pray You will appoint the leader to bring us back to our roots as a Christian nation.  Father, set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image.  We pray today for our nation to remain firm and steadfast in the knowledge of Your truth and the promise of the victory that is ours through Christ, who loves us. Heal our land, Lord.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen