Monday 5 December 2016

God is Able


Scripture: Jeremiah 32 v 17:  "Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."

Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered at the power and size of our God who has no beginning or end, and who created our Earth and every thing in the Cosmos? He stretched out His arm and by His Word all things were created.  I recently watched a video that revealed that stars, comets and other heavenly bodies make sounds that when heard together make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Nothing is too difficult for Him. There is no death, pain or sickness in God. In order to comprehend the hardships of man in a sin-sick world He had to send His Son, Jesus Christ, in the likeness of sinful flesh to find out.  Jesus was also tempted in every way any human could be so that when He intercedes for us before the Father, He can accurately describe what it is like, and obtain mercy for us.

This is equivalent to a human becoming an ant to find out if they feel pain when someone stands on them or sprays insecticide on them. Do they feel sad or cry. Only by being in their body and circumstances would a human truly know. This is how Jesus can say that He was tempted in every way we could be. He did this as Son of Man rather than Son of God.

Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and is constantly interceding for us with Him. As we pray for one another, for nations, for our eternal home; God receives our prayers through the Holy Spirit and Jesus advises Him on what that problem is like.  The solution to our situation is sent back to us via the Holy Spirit as an answer to prayer.

God does not withhold the answers but our faith and understanding and obedience either open the way to receiving, or block it. When answers take a long time coming we start to get very serious with God and He reveals the barriers in our lives and situations that need to change.  When the prophet Daniel was fasting and praying for three weeks (Daniel 10) and after 24 days The Son of God came to him (compare who he saw and how he felt with John's encounter with the glorified Lamb in Revelations 1.) 

He told Daniel, a powerful spirit, the ruler over Persia or Iran, withstood me coming to you for 21 days and I had to call on Michael the Archangel to join me in battle to defeat him so I could come to you and give you understanding of the future.  If Jesus has to withstand and overcome spirits to answer our prayers then how much more do we need to discern and rebuke them from tormenting us and blocking us from God?

Nothing is too difficult for Him but the difficulties in us could cause us to either submit or rebel. Through our Father's love and patience we grow through the problems into the person He wants us to become.  Jesus gave us authority over all the power of the enemy and we need to exercise that authority daily.  It is not automatic, The Lord needs us to overcome so we will not be deceived in these last days when the satanic onslaught will be at maximum strength.

The full power of the Antichrist is rising and taking over the world.  Satan's days are numbered and he knows he only has a short time left.  He is throwing everything at us to try to snatch us back into his clutches for the sole purpose of tormenting our loving Father with his trophies.  It is time to take the fight back to him and refuse to bend to his evil will, resist his temptations and reject his lies.  James said, Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee.

We must first put our problem to God and do what He says, immediately and without question.  God is able to strengthen you to resist, say no, turn away from that tempting bottle, drug, sex, theft, lie, proposition.  Then the devil will flee because Jesus defeated him on the Cross and when He descended into Hell He whipped him and every demon.  They could not touch Him.  Philippians says Jesus make a show of them openly.  He displayed their epic fail and rubbed their noses in it.

I have heard some prominent preachers say that Jesus was born again after being humiliated and beaten up in Hell by gloating demons and the Devil himself.  He was full of sin and they pounded upon Him.  This is not what the Bible says.  It is a deception that needs correction.  

Jesus triumphed over Satan and his demons for our sake so that when we were born again we could do likewise.  His death was our victory.  He is able to save us, deliver us and keep us until the day we wake up in Heaven.  Don't let the devil steal from you!  Walk in love, peace, joy and humility and fight the good fight till Jesus comes.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are unfathomable in Your depths and wisdom but Your love is everything to us. We pray for our hearts and minds to submit graciously to your will so that our needs will be met. We are blessed that You are able to keep the enemy at bay when we do our part. In Jesus' name. Amen.