God is with us

2:54 p.m. Today's project is to pause in my daily home duties, joys, business, fellowship, family interactions and hobbies to ponder whom we serve, His mighty power, and because of that power, what we believers are to be about.

Last night's (December 3rd) devotional by C.H. Spurgeon  in Morning & Evening, was headlined by Psalm 24:8, specifically this phrase:

The Lord mighty in battle. 



 

"What battle?" some of us might ask, as we let our focus drift onto all of the human activities we have allotted to us, including our service at church and prayerful support of those who go out on the mission field or serve the poor of our own cities. At this point, American Christians can generally witness, mention the Lord Jesus, and offer prayer quite openly and freely as the Lord gives opportunity.  Yet, our enemy the devil is not coasting along--he's laying traps of all kinds for us, the greatest of which, I believe, is the way he stays under the radar screen, as if he's no longer an enemy whose schemes are to be withstood, confronted, denounced and prayed against in the name of Jesus!

 

But the Lord is mighty in battle! Think of the sin and rebellion He already has conquered in us! "I wasn't that bad," we like to think about our pre-conversion life. "After all, I never murdered anyone or robbed a bank!" But to God, the "I'll do it MY way!" attitude is sin and rebellion, because when we thought and lived that way, we committed the ultimate sin, not believing in or acknowledging God's existence, or at the very least, figuring He was unnecessary for our lives. In my case, I'd attended church, believed in God and Jesus, but since I was "going places," a little church mixed in with a self-directed life should be good enough, right? As long as I kept up my grades at UCLA and attended an occasional church service in Westwood on Sunday, it was no problem attending drunken parties with my sorority sisters at the frat houses on Saturday night! I had my bases covered, and, with my GPA and excellent study skills, I was indeed "going places." As for those Jesus movement "born agains" who walked up to us popular girls on campus back in the 70's--what on earth were they talking about? No time for that, I knew where I was headed, to fame and fortune! I was going places all right--straight to hell. Psalm 41:1 says it pretty succinctly:

 

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." 

 

Hallelujah, Jesus came into my heart after a decade of sin, sorrow and tragedy! I finally confessed my need for a Savior, and made Him Lord of my life in January 1980. Your testimony may be similar or wildly different, but at some point, if you are a believer, you had to humble yourself, repent of your sin, and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart. Spurgeon writes,

 

The saved may well adore their Lord for His conquests in them, since the arrows of their natural hatred  are snapped, and the weapons of their rebellion broken. What victories has grace won in our evil hearts! How glorious is Jesus when the will is subdued, and sin dethroned!...He has won our love, and He shall wear it. Even thus securely may we look for victories by us. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. We shall cast down the powers of darkness which are in the world, by our faith, and zeal, and holiness; we shall win sinners to Jesus, we shall overturn false systems, we shall convert nations, for God is with us, and none shall stand before us. This evening let the Christian warrior chant the war song, and prepare for tomorrow's fight. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. [I John 4:4]

 

Go forward tomorrow in confidence, brothers and sisters, for Romans 8:31 says,

 

If God be for us, who can be against us?