Memorise:
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Psalm 22:3
Read: Acts 16:25–34
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the
prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he
drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the
prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Message
The charge “Occupy till I come” was an express command given by the
Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples (Luke 19:13). Yesterday, we learnt
that to occupy means to take charge of already conquered territories. As
a child of God, it is your responsibility to exercise authority over
your enemy - the devil. Though he was made perfect in beauty and wisdom,
his beauty and wisdom have been tarnished and corrupted by sin (Ezekiel
28:17). The devil is now full of destructive wisdom, but his wisdom
cannot stand even the foolishness of God; how much more the wisdom of
God at work in believers (1 Corinthians 1:24). The devil, your accuser,
is cunning (Revelation12:10), but you can live a triumphant life over
him by the Blood of the Lamb, prayer, the word of your testimony (your
confessions and proclamations) and by singing praises to the Lord.
Revelation 12:11 says: “And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives
unto the death.”
Many Christians lose out in the battle of life
because they do not know who they are and the nature of the fight they
are involved in. You are not fighting against flesh and blood. You are
at war with an enemy who has thousands of years of experience with human
beings, right from the Garden of Eden, where he attacked Eve. Satan
knows his strategy well. He is a dangerous enemy who doesn’t get
distracted. It is therefore imperative that you fight against this enemy
with the word of God in prayer. Prayers are very powerful. A prayerful
Christian is a powerful Christian. The greatest demoraliser Satan uses
is fear. God has not given us the spirit of fear; therefore, we are not
to be afraid of the devil (2 Timothy 1:7)! The exact opposite of fear is
faith. It is a known fact that Satan loves music. He loves dangerous,
perverse and distorted music. The day God made Lucifer who later became
the devil, He built musical instruments into his body (Ezekiel 28:13).
He was the choir master of heaven. Now, Satan takes more souls to hell
through music than through any other means. Angels love music too. The
more you sing praises to God, the more you irritate Satan because you
remind him of his glorious past and his lost opportunity. Satan is
irritated because he knows that whenever you praise God you are making
God happy. God loves music too. The devil also knows that whenever you
are praising God, the Almighty will draw nigh to you (Psalm 22:3).
Christ was able to overcome the devil through compassion, love and
humility. These are indispensable weapons you need.
Action Point:
Irritate the devil today by singing beautiful songs of worship to the Lord.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : 2 SAMUEL 18:1-19:15 and PROVERBS 13:1-14
AUTHOR : Pst E. A ADEBOYE
Comments
Post a Comment