The Devotional
Comment:
The counterfeit kingdom of Satan,
someone might be thinking, “What, I never heard of such a place!” Poor you in
that you are living in one of Satan’s villages, in his kingdom and do not even
know it. One unique thing about his kingdom is the chatter of promoting peace
and safety and yet there is no peace or safety that is not challenged at every
neighborhood intersection. Of course I do not mean the disturbance of peace and
safety because of “accidents” but what lurks about in our neighborhoods.
Immorality, idolatry, thieving, murder, drunkenness and extortion, 1
Corinthians 6:9-10. This is the kingdom of Satan and the home town you live in is
it. And the average adult citizen does not know anything else but to seek to do
good or well in the midst of devil’s kingdom. Did you know that you only need
to add the “d” to the word evil to get a word picture; that is the devil, is it
not?
Challenge:
James 1:12-20
All said above does not mean
that the saint of God in Christ cannot experience the Kingdom of God in his or
her life. Yet they must learn to live by faith and believe it or not the
epistle of James is teaching the saints who read and study this epistle how to
live by faith, rather than by works as we shall see. The LORD promises blessing
to all who endure temptation. What does that mean, it means that if we wait on
the LORD by faith, not only will He deliver us from temptation, but He will
also provide blessing (victory and peace) Matthew 6:9-13.
To say to someone “the devil
made me do it” is to slap God in the face in that He did not deliver you from
evil, again Matthew 6:9-13 the victory. Don’t let the devil prove to God that
you are someone who is weak in faith toward Him. If you are in Christ you will
only receive victory over evil by enduring temptation by abiding in the promise
of God that He will never leave you or forsake you, Hebrews 13:5-6.
We live in the devil’s
community of good and evil thus the he is able entice everyone in that
community to believe that all that they do is good while in effect it is evil,
Genesis 2:15-17. Temptation is always present in his community and when we are
drawn to do evil it is not because of Satan directly. While a child of God, we
still have desires that entice our flesh, when this desire is conceived fully
by the flesh it always give birth to sin and when sin is full blown in the
saint of God it brings about spiritual death.
Truly many of us need to
understand, we need to stop being misled by the enticement of liberalism and
the bondage of legalism. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
James 1:17a. This statement by James means that in order to receive the
blessing that God the Father has for you and me is the blessing of righteousness,
joy and peace living in the Kingdom of God in time, which is above the kingdom
of the devil in time.
We must be willing to live in
the Spirit, thus we will not carry out the deeds of the flesh. The gifts that
God has for you and me in time are not full of variation nor do these gifts
lurk about in the shadows or at the turning of every corner. The gifts of God,
if I might use a passage out of context is found in Romans 14:17 – for the
Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in
the Holy Spirit.
Therefore brothers and
sisters in the LORD, let each of us be swift to hear the Living Word of God and
slow to speak in the community’s comments of good and evil. Let us also be
mindful that in the devil’s world, the emotional outbursts of evil are a common
platform for his forces to pick you apart. So be slow to anger and be ready to
repay evil with good by turning the other cheek, Matthew 5:39. The wrath of any
person will not produce the righteousness of God and it is only by faith abiding
in peace and joy that we can and do produce the righteousness that pleases God.
Be Blessed today!
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