If we love the Lord, we should long for holiness, we should long to be free from sin, and then we will realize that we are not even to such a level. We all need to completely walk in grace for we don’t have anything to offer on our own.
In the book of Genesis, Jacob dies, leaving his children in Egypt under the care of their brother, Joseph, who is now a high government official in the land. His brothers were fearful. Nobody has forgotten how treacherously they dealt with Joseph, which resulted in the latter, being sold to slavery and ending up in Egypt. Among his fearful brothers, Joseph had this to say:
“… Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Genesis 50:19-20
As the devil attempts to do evil, God takes that monstrous act and somehow produces something good out of it. God intended all that happened to Joseph for good to preserve the family of Jacob from which Jesus the Messiah will come.
Another case is when everything seems to be going the devil’s way in the time of Jesus, but then he finds out that the tomb is empty and he knows that he has lost. When I give my life to Christ, I am forgiven in an instant. I am entirely justified, and death, sin, and the devil have lost their grip on me. Mortification of the process of sin losing power in your life happens. We become more like Christ and less like the devil. Our role then is to begin to long for holiness not because we need to earn our way to God but because the more holy were, the better tool we’re going to be for Christ. Even the fact that we fight on and never quit in aiming for holiness is grace in itself. We don’t just need God to forgive us of our sins; we need God to make us want to be like Him.
God is more interested in our repentance than just being apologetic or remorseful. Repentance means to change the direction we are facing in a 180-degree turn. All this takes long-suffering effort. It’s hard work, and it can only succeed because of the grace of God.
In the prayer Jesus taught, He says: “… lead me not into temptation.” If we are honest with ourselves, we don’t have a chance of standing up to temptation. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy not even to fight it but to flee. The moment we feel that we are better than the next guy, we are in trouble. Our sin, jealousy, ego, laziness, and wickedness which we did a while ago is not honoring to God, so how can we be better?
In Mark chapter 9, the apostles were faced with a big problem. The apostles couldn’t heal a demon-possessed boy. Jesus Himself healed the boy, and when the disciples asked why they can’t do it, Jesus answered that with this one, it could only be done by prayer.
Prayer and fasting show us how much we need God. Fasting doesn’t twist God’s arm to do something like a hunger strike. It does not move God, but it moves us to, God. Prayer and fasting is not a magic trick to leap demons. It’s something that gets our heart in submission to the Authority that moves the demons. We seek God in total abandonment and with humility. Our role is not to be right; our purpose is to be humble and pursue him. This is the kind of faith which beats demons.
Rock Church serves the communities of Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead. We meet at West Acres Cinema, Sundays at 10 am. At the Rock, you can belong before you believe.
