Oh, to walk with God and to be pleasing to Him—to love, worship, adore, and obey Him each and every day of our lives!
We read in Genesis 5:24 that “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him." Again in Hebrews 11:5, “By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” We also learn from Hebrews 11:6 that “...without faith it is impossible to please Him…" Therefore, the message is clear for Enoch’s generation and for our generation today that all mankind cannot please God without faith in the Living God through Jesus Christ His Son. Satan was active in that time and sought to destroy Enoch’s walk of faith in God. His evil is present today as well, and he seeks the fall of all true believers in Jesus Christ. Walk in the Spirit; walk in faith; walk in the light; walk in love and in truth; and walk with God through Jesus—and you will be victorious over all evil!
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There is a tremendous responsibility for a mother to raise up a child in the love and admonition of the Living God (Proverbs 22:6).
I thank God for the example we have in Jochebed, the mother of Moses. We read about her, her husband Amram, and Moses in Exodus 2:1-10. However, in Hebrews 11:23, we discover the reason for her actions -- she moved in faith! "By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict." Although we know little about Jochebed, we can learn much about her faith in God to surrender her child into His hands. She placed Moses in a well-prepared and sealed papyrus basket into the dangerous and crocodile-filled Nile River (symbolic of our present world). Acting on faith, this mother was moved to release her son unto God's care. She did not know he would be the very man God would use to deliver Israel after 400 years of bondage and enslavement. What a mother of faith, what a child of God! Temptation is an enticement to evil ... period! It is too easy to just cruise through life on auto-pilot and thusly end up being slammed over and over again with temptation and succumbing to it. We need a plan to break that cycle!
God has a plan. He allows various trials to come our way, and in these trials are many temptations. He uses these temptations to reveal our weaknesses to us, but He always makes a way of escape and shows us how to defeat the wily ways of evil. FIGHT the devil; FOLLOW Jesus; FLEE from sin; FEED the soul. With prayer, consistent Bible study and fellowship with strong Christians, we can go forth and with great power can say, "Get thee behind me Satan". (James 4:7-8; 1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 2 Timothy 2:22; Romans 13:14) The world has always had numerous self-proclaimed saviors, false priests with personal agendas, and kings who love the adoration and praise of men rather than God.
However, only Jesus, God’s beloved Son, has been sent to man as the ultimate sacrifice for the redemption of men from death, hell, and the grave. He alone is Savior because "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) Perfect and pure, Jesus entered into the Holy of Holies in heaven as God’s High Priest and sprinkled His shed blood on the mercy seat that all who call upon His name may be cleansed and forgiven for all manner of sin. He has sovereign authority and rule as King. In Revelation 17:14, we read, "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." Make it your ambition to watch and be ready for the soon return of Jesus, the resurrected Savior, Priest and King! Multitudes of people throughout history have acknowledged Jesus Christ to be the Son of the Living God! Sadly multitudes have not submitted or humbled themselves in confessing Him as Lord and Savior of their lives.
Paul writes to the Philippians in Chapter 2:8-11 and exclaims, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder (tremble [KJV]).” Why will all, including Satan and demons, bend their knees and confess with their mouth Jesus as Lord? Because God Himself has appointed and declared Jesus, His Son, to be the only Savior, the only High Priest and the only King to Rule and reign Forever? David was far from perfect, as all men are; however, he declared that he waited upon God all day long. (Psalm 25:5)
Who among us can truly say that God has your undivided attention at all times? We all know that it certainly is a struggle to stay focused and on a mission to glorify Jesus throughout any given day. David also declared that: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1) David chose to practice daily what he knew to be true in his heart. Though he was not always successful, he knew his God would never leave nor forsake him. Today, when we put God first and spend our day bound to Him, the storm (or storms) will not dampen our hope, for Jesus is in the ship with us. Finally, consider these words from Hosea 12:6: “Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.” Are you committed to Jesus all day, every day? At the end of this month, all over the globe, the Christian world will be celebrating many Easter traditions. A great deal of the remembrance will be on His horrific suffering and death, but the greatest remembrance is that He rose from the dead! And that is His message to us today ... don't concentrate just on the sufferings and sacrifices it requires to live this life in Christ; concentrate on rising from the deathbed of your sins and into a new life in him.
In Jesus' suffering and death AND in His resurrection to a new life, God painted the exact word picture He wanted to portray. We must die to the flesh, but we must ALSO rise from the dead. That is the exciting part of this journey! |
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