The Battle belongs to the Lord

The battle belongs to the Lord

In John 12:10-11, the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus because Jesus had raised him from the dead and many Jews believed in him because of this miracle.

They had nothing against Lazarus as a man but the works of Jesus on Lazarus that led many to believe He is the Christ was the point of their discontentment.

The devil is not intimidated by us, but by the power of God and the works of God in us. His effort from time old has been to stop people from believing in God and following him, which is the ultimate disobedience. And anyone who emanates the light of God in his life in such a way that others are drawn to God is susceptible to the attack of the enemy.

You more often than not see non-believers and blasphemers and religious hypocrites have a smoother ride. There’s apparently ‘not much God’ in them to intimidate the enemy. They have no testimony that shakes the devil. But Satan is hot on the heels of anyone who has a testimony, anyone in whom God is evident, and anyone who draws people to Christ. Whether they realize it or not, the spiritual war waged against true followers of Christ, and especially those in whom the light of God is evident is very real and ongoing.

Spiritual discernment is needed to distinguish between what is a normal misdoing of life and what is spiritually instigated. Otherwise we will be in a war and not even be aware of it, which is really what the enemy wants so that we do not fight back.

When such attacks come, we ought to remember that the battle belongs to the Lord, for after all; it’s the Christ in you that draws more people to him that the devil hates. And his rage grows because He knows the love that God has for man. God often works through men to spread salvation, and so if the devil knows that He may not succeed in turning you away from God, he will try to disable you so that others might not come to God on account of you.

Righteousness through faith

Justification by Faith

            Some months back, a mentor gave me the book of psalms 33 to go through and apply in my life. The first verse of the book made me think he’d made a mistake- sing joyfully to the lord, you righteous, for it is fitting for the upright to praise Him. Before even reading to the end, I had already concluded that it did not refer to me. I mean, righteous? Upright? Am not a bad person, and I’ve been born again for quite sometime, but those words really sound a bit too strong, a bit not like how I’d describe myself, a bit not like how most Christians would describe themselves either.

            At that point, I started wondering what I’d do to be righteous, what would I change about my life, about my whole self. What did I need to do different to make me upright? Then I remembered what the scriptures say about Abraham, that he believed in God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. I realized that it is not what I do, but rather my faith in Christ makes me righteous.

            As Paul outlines at the end of Romans chapter 3 and chapter 4, I discovered that my imperfections do not actually take away the fact that am righteous, or that I am the righteousness of God. I also humbly discovered then in that case, I cannot think myself better than other Christians, even those that seem a little less holy, because they too have been justified by the same faith.

            And just as well, no Christian can boast that he is better than me, for the same belief in Christ that makes him upright is the same belief that makes me upright. For we have been justified by faith, and not by works, lest any man should boast.

            Next time you feel a little inadequate, or not good enough for God, remember that verse. So its not how many church services you attend, its not how long you pray, its not how many projects you volunteer for, or how much you give as offerings; though all these are good Christian practices that bear their own reward, the will not make you upright. The point of righteousness is faith in Christ; all other good works should be done as a result of that belief.

Does Faith Become Easier

Does Faith become easier?

Reading through the book of exodus through to Joshua, I often find myself wondering what in the world was wrong with the people of Israel. After all the Lord did for them, after how he’d shown himself with undeniable evidence to them; from the plagues of Egypt to the parting of the red sea, to manna in the desert, but they still constantly grumbled and doubted.

Apparently, what was wrong with them back then is exactly what is wrong with us today. Most of us have seen God’s faithfulness and mercy in our lives, maybe not with miraculous manifestations like the days of Exodus, but even in subtlety there is still a strong conviction of God. We have seen Him fulfill some promises; we have a bunch of answered prayer- maybe not all, but a number nonetheless. We have occasionally felt so sure of God’s presence, love, concern and deliverance.

 But wait till the next challenge comes our way, instead of putting our trust in God, we so soon get lost in a forest of confusion and doubt. We are not sure if we can trust the same God who gave us manna in the desert to give us clean water to drink. We can’t be sure whether the God who delivered us from an accident that would have resulted in death or disability will heal us from this recent diagnosis. The God who lifted us from depression or addiction, well, we are not sure that he’ll deliver us from this lawsuit.

Sometimes we think that it might be easier if God manifested himself to us more strongly and constantly. That if he did, we might have greater faith. But just read His story with the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt. They had the undeniable evidence of God in the ever present glory cloud/pillar of fire, the daily manna, even the fiery mountain when God descended on Mount Sinai. And yet Aaron himself who was close to Moses, helped the people make an idol in the form of a golden calf when Moses went away for forty days.

I’ve heard of people who’ve been miraculously saved from all sorts of circumstances, people who’ve had close encounters with God and yet forgot all about it in due time. How many times has God heard and answered our prayers at desperate times, and yet after a while, we doubt the intervention of God and attempt to apply reason to the outcome?

It seems that God is ever willing to come through for us, but our double-mindedness always stands in His way. In exodus 32:35, God struck the people He loved with a plague because of the golden calf Aaron had made. God hates sin, and our sinning, and especially in trusting other things/people that appear more ‘visibly real’, also known as idolatry, ends up in our suffering though most times we are never aware of it.