The Scriptures are all powerful in breaking down strongholds, raising up those who are pressed down, and guiding us into experiencing the Lord’s victory over all things. In this segment we set forth a series of subjects with appropriate Scriptures that strengthen faith, and lead to overcoming in the Lord.
Subject areas will be changed regularly, and previous scriptural readings and commentaries may be accessed by clicking different weeks in the calendar below.
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“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4-5.
This is a comparison between He who is in you, who is Jesus Christ, and he who is in the world, who is Satan. In times of spiritual warfare and suffering, we can be reassured that Jesus Christ within us is far greater in power that Satan and his demon spirits.
“As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” John 6:57-58.
God sent Jesus to live His life on this earth in union with Him, drawing on the indwelling life of the Father to meet every need. Jesus instructed us to live our lives in the same manner, feeding on Him, or drawing on His indwelling life to meet our needs. He who feeds on Jesus will have the source of divine life that supplements his own ability and capacity.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom 8: 35-36 and 38-39.
There are times when we are faced with dire circumstances that make us feel estranged from God. Satan directs accusations into our minds, like, God has abandoned us; we are about to die; our sins have separated us from God and His love; God can’t help us, and so forth.
The first thing to realise is that these accusations do not originate from us. They are directed into our minds by Satan who is a liar, and that we can completely disregard them. The second thing is to believe the Scriptural truth spoken by the apostle Paul. NOTHING can separate us from the love of God and His desire to help us. Even when he was in the belly of the great fish at the bottom of the ocean, God heard Jonah’s prayed and came to his rescue.
There are times when God delays helping us, but these times of suffering are for our refinement, forging holiness in us, so that we may draw closer to Him.
“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
1 John 4:9-10.
God’s love towards us is absolutely unmerited by us, not depending on our love for Him, or our moral purity. He loves us because His nature is to love even sinners, desiring that they might believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved. Not only does He desire our salvation, but that we might receive Jesus Christ as our life, and learn to live through Him.
“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Rom 5:7-8.
There is nothing in ourselves that warrants God’s love for us. Even in our sinful state, God sent His own Son to suffer an agonizing death on the cross to bear the punishment for our sins. Peter explains His ultimate purpose, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God…” 1 Peter 3:18-19. His purpose was to reconcile us to Himself that we might be accepted as beloved children, holy and righteous in His sight. Such is the nature of God’s love.
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4:14-16.
The confession that Jesus is the Son of God who was sent to be the Saviour of the world, is the basic testimony that procures our salvation. This reading assures us that if we are saved, that God dwells in us by His Spirit, and we in Him. By believing in His abiding presence in us, we are assured of His love for us. God is love, and if we abide in Him, we naturally abide in His love. This then is the test. If God’s love is in us, and we abide in His love, the consequence should be that we have love for one another.
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.” Eph 2:3-5.
In all honesty, we have to acknowledge that we were like all worldly sinners, allowing our minds to be drawn into carnal thoughts and imaginings, into carnal judgments of the world and those in it, opening ourselves to all manner of resentments, judgments, pride and self-righteousness. We too harboured fleshly desires, satisfying the cravings of the flesh and the mind. There is no moral ground that we can stand on to claim worthiness. In our hearts we have to agree totally with this reading – it is because of God’s love, and the abundance of His grace that we have been led by Him to the Lord; salvation, and accepted as holy and blameless in His sight.
“Through the LORD's mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.” Lam 3:22-23.
God’s love, mercy, and compassion are like an inexhaustible spring of sweet water that never fails to refresh our spirits and, restore our souls.
“If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Tim 2:13
“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us…” Titus 3:3-7.“For we ourselves
God’s love towards us does not depend on our good works, or righteousness and kindness towards one another. When we have allowed our fleshly nature to overcome us, and have reacted badly towards others, Satan’s spirits heap shame on us, and accuse us that we have isolated ourselves from God’s love. This Scripture assures us that no matter what state we are in, God’s love is constant towards us, always reaching out to comfort us and restore our souls.
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