DEVOTIONAL

Prayers:

Scripture Reading for Prayer and Praise: Zephaniah 3:17 

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Worship Song Sung or Said: The Battle Belongs To The Lord (Written by Jamie Owens-Collins)

https://youtu.be/ir-XbtrgcRk?list=RDir-XbtrgcRk

In heavenly armour we'll enter the land

The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that's fashioned against us shall stand

The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord

When the power of darkness comes in like a flood

The battle belongs to the Lord
He's raised up a standard, the power of His blood

The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord
 

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear

The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend, your redemption is near

The battle belongs to the Lord.

We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord

We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory, honour

Power and strength to the Lord

God’s Word for Today: 

Devotional/Study: Part 1

I wonder what your favourite hobby is, mine is cricket. I usually bat in the top three. I know when I go out to bat it’s going to be a battle between the bowler and I.  His aim is to get me out and my aim is stay in and score runs. As a batsman I know I need to protect my wicket and have a sound technique, focused and alert to the bowler’s tactics because the bowler is looking for my weaknesses. 

Cricket reminds me that we are also in a battle, but this battle is not against human beings, but a spiritual battle against Satan and like a batsman we need to be focused and alert against his schemes and trickery.

This spiritual battle is relentless, because every day, when we first wake up in the morning, we enter into this battle and what lies ahead of us is a choice. The choice is to walk in the Spirit, trusting in Gods promises or walk in the flesh believing the lies of Satan and his demonic forces. We must not underestimate Satan because he is a very dangerous and treacherous enemy who wants to draw us away from God and be ineffective ambassadors of Christ. His desire and purpose is to destroy the people of God. 

Jesus said in John 10:10 “the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy."

let’s keep in mind this enemy is out to deceive and rob us of our joy and sense of wellbeing in mind, body and spirit. His aim, when we are vulnerable and when life is not easy is to plant seeds of doubt, fear, anxiety and condemnation in our minds.

What many Christians have forgotten is the mind is where the battle is. Brothers and sisters there is a war going on in our minds between good and evil. It’s in the mind we can think good thoughts but also bad thoughts that sometimes come out of nowhere. Many Christians have told me even during times of prayer their minds wander and are filled with bad thoughts. 

What happens in our minds can affect our behaviour. Our minds have been affected by our thoughts and ideas that have come from our families, friends, experiences, past failures and even lies from Satan. For example, if someone in the past has planted in your mind that you are no good, stupid, worthless and ugly and a failure and you have believed it, you will live as someone who believes they are no good and you will lack confidence and feel bad about yourself until you know Christ and know what he thinks of you.

Satan attacks the mind because he knows if he controls your mind with negative suggestions, he will control your thoughts and if he controls your thoughts, he will control how you live and behave. This is how he wages war against us. He might suggest that God has had enough of you by saying, you’ve sinned too many times and that God cannot keep on forgiving you. This might cause you to believe God has abandoned you and no longer loves you. But we know this to be a lie because we know Gods word teaches us in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

When we look back at Genesis 3 we see how he deceived Eve. The serpent whispered a thought in her mind. Instead of rejecting it, she listened and then as she reasoned it out, she began to doubt in her mind what God had said to her. Satan knew that once her mind accepted his lies, actions would soon follow and they did because listening to these lies led her and Adam to sin against God. 

When Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth who were been deceived by false teachers, he mentions how the cunningness of Satan deceived Eve. We read in 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." In this passage Paul was concerned that in the same way that Eve was deceived by the lies of the serpent the Corinthian believers will be enticed to believe the lies of the false teachers who were leading them astray.

Satan is also out to deceive us and as one of the things he wants to do is keep us from the truth of God is and his amazing love and grace and goodness for he knows when we live according to the truth of God’s Word, God would be glorified, which is something Satan hates. Ever since then, Satan has attempted to lie and deceive us and lead us astray by believing in his lies instead of believing Gods truth. And if we believe in his lies, they will imprison us and affect our understanding of who God is and loving purpose for our lives. 

It’s not only the lies of the enemy we have to contend with in our minds and hearts, we also have to contend with the thoughts of pride, bitterness lust, hatred, anger, fear, resentment or envy or worry. If we allow emotions to take root in our lives, we will find ourselves in a place of despair, darkness and depression and a sense of been distant from God. Satan's desire is to conquer and control our thought life with ungodly thoughts and thinking. He wants to flood our minds with images and messages that will draw us away from God. This is why it’s so important to guard our minds and be alert what comes into our minds. In my own experience, I know if my thought life is good and healthy. my actions will be godly, because what flows out of from godly thinking is godly behaviour. 

One of the ways the enemy attacks us is by telling us lies about who we are in Christ. One of the ways to combat the lies is to know the truth of who we are in Christ.

And the truth is in Christ we are forgiven and free from the power of sin and we have His mighty power working within us, changing and transforming our lives. And as Paul said in Romans 8:37 “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Knowing who we are in Christ will give us the victory over Satan’s lies and deception. A while ago a thought came to my mind that was not from the Lord, unfortunately I didn’t reject it and ended up sinning against the Lord and it all started in my mind. 

We know God has given us everything we need to resist and defeat the enemy’s schemes and attacks on our minds, but sometimes we give into the sinful nature. Paul the apostle, recognized the struggle we have against our sinful nature. 

In Romans 7 Paul describes his struggle against the sinful nature. He says in v21 “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.”

The inner struggle with sin that Paul describes in Romans 7 is that each one of us wrestles with. We all want live to godly lives, but sometimes we give into it. We must never underestimate sin's power; or attempt to fight sin in our own strength. 

But thanks be to God that His grace and forgiveness is always available for us and therefore Paul in chapter 8 encourages us by saying Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” 

We thank and praise God for His mercy and love, buts let’s not forget in this spiritual battle we need to alert Peter writing to the Christians who were experiencing all kinds of persecution and hardships said in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” We know Satan is stronger than us but what is encouraging for us is that reassurance John the apostle gives in 1 John 4:4 “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world."

Going back to my cricket illustration when I go into bat, I don’t assume I am just going to score runs, I think through how to play each bowler, when to defend the and when to attack the ball. In the spiritual battle we are in, we need to draw on God’s power and unlimited resources to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him, but at the same time we need to take action, put on the armour of God and be alert and ready against Satan’s attack. So, in this spiritual battle, how can we deal with the attacks in our minds that come from not only from the Satan but also from the world, the flesh? 

Personal Prayer: