Satan: The Accuser of Christians.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

Sometimes I forget I am involved in a galactic battle or a battle for the universe; a battle between good and evil, God and Satan. One way Satan battles God is in accusing God's followers of being too sinful to be saved.

"Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him." 

But The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" 
Then God took Joshua's dirty clothes off (which represents our sin) and put new, clean clothes on him (representing Jesus' sinless life). Zechariah 3:1.2

"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment..." Isaiah 64:6

After Moses died, Satan appeared at the grave and argued with the archangel Michael (whom most commentators say is Christ). Satan probably argued Moses had sinned before he died and therefore should not go to heaven.

"But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” Jude 1:9

 ...for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation 12:10


Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31,32

It seems Satan had demanded God give Simon Peter to him. Peter made many mistakes; he relied on his own ideas and thought he was right. But Jesus knew Peter could learn and change and refused to hand him over to Satan. Jesus does this for all of us. He himself actually prays to the Father for us to have faith and not give up in our struggles.

I'll write more on this subject in the next blog.

The Lies Satan Puts in Our Minds.

The lies of Satan.

I have found that when things go wrong in my life I am tempted to be either angry at myself or at God.

Angry at God: Why did this have to happen? I thought you loved people. How can you let this pain go on and on. What kind of God are you?

Angry at me: I am just useless. I'm always doing the wrong thing. I don't belong. I have made so many mistakes that I feel awful about myself. Why did I do that when I want to follow Jesus? Why am I so weak? Where is my faith? I thought I was trusting in God?

I remember Joyce Meyer saying, "Ask yourself where your thoughts are coming from."

So, I ask myself. The answer is definitely not God. It could be me alone, but I don't think so. I now think a lot of depressing and sinful thoughts come from Satan.

"And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." Matthew 4:3 When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, he spoke to him. Jesus came to earth to live as we must live. Satan speaks to us also.

When Eve was tempted and fell, it was through Satan speaking lies to her. Satan was the one who put the thought of betraying Jesus into Judas' heart.   "During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him..." Johns 13:2  He does the same to us.

Peter said, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

How can we be alert if we don't understand how the devil works? 
I'll write more on this subject in the next blog.

Die Looking Up.

by Dwight L. Moody

A TIMELY CONVERSION. 

A minister in Edinburgh tells a story of the conversion of a young man who was working in one of the mining districts. When the meeting at one of the churches was over on a particular evening, he saw him standing by a pillar in the church, the rest having gone out, all but two or three, and they asked this man if he was not going home. He said, “I have made up my mind that I will not leave this church till I become a Christian”; so they stopped and talked and prayed with him. It was the best thing he could do.

I would like every man here to do the same thing. Make up your minds that you won’t leave till you have settled about your soul for eternity. Well, the next day, while this young man was working in the mine, the coal fell in upon him, and before he died, he had just strength enough left to say to his companions, “It’s a good thing that I settled it last night—a very good thing.”

Young man, I will leave you to answer the question, Was it not a good thing he settled it that night? A young man, who was in the army during the Civil war, told me that when he heard that his brother, from whom he had never been separated, had joined a certain regiment, he went right away and put his name down under his brother’s. They messed together, marched together, and fought shoulder to shoulder.

At last his brother was struck with a Minnie ball, and he fell mortally wounded by his side. He saw too plainly that he must die, and as the battle was raging, and he could do nothing to save him, he put his brother’s knapsack under his head, and made him as comfortable as he could, and bending over him, kissed him, bade him good-bye, and left him to die.

 As he was going away, his brother said, “Charlie, come back, and let me kiss you upon your lips.” “As I bent over him,” said the young soldier who told me the story, “he kissed me on my lips, and said, ‘Take that home to mother, and tell her that I died praying for her’; and as I turned away from him, I could hear him say, ‘This is glory,’ and as he lay weltering in his blood, and I wondered what he meant, I asked him what was glory. He said, ‘Charlie, it’s glorious to die looking up—I see Christ in heaven.’"

DYING LOOKING UP.
If you want to die looking up and seeing Christ, seek the kingdom of God. You may never hear the call again. Do not leave this place without making up your mind to settle the solemn question of eternity at once

Do Not Put Faith in People.

by Dwight L. Moody

FAITH IS AN OUTWARD LOOK. 

We are to have faith in God, and not in man. A great many people place their faith in men, and they pin their faith to other people’s doctrines and creeds. If their church teaches it, they believe it. All the churches in the world can’t save a soul. It is not to have faith in this church or that church, this doctrine or that doctrine, this man or that man, but it is to have faith in the man Christ Jesus at the right hand of God. That is the only faith that will ever save a soul.

PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN MAN. 

Let me call your attention to a few verses where God has warned us not to put faith in man: Jeremiah xvii. 5: “Thus says the Lord; Cursed be the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.” You will find some men have not faith in God; they are like a tree that is withered and blasted. And there is a man perhaps right along next to them who has strong faith in God; “he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water; his leaf also shall not wither.” Why? He trusts in the living God. 

It is a terrible thing for man to put faith in man. Then Psalm cxlvi. 3: “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. 

"“Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; ...Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” 

Now here we are told very plainly by God that we are not to put our trust in this man or that man—not to lean upon an arm of flesh. All the ministers in the world and all the potentates in the church put together cannot save one soul. It is thoroughly impossible. 

It is the Lord who can save, and the Lord alone; therefore we want to get our eyes away from man, from the church, and right straight up to the man Christ Jesus. We read in Mark 11:22 whom we are to believe in. Christ says—and how sweet it sounds—“Have faith in God.” I never saw a man or woman in my life that had faith in God who was confounded; I do not care what their troubles or trials were. Have faith in God, and not in man.

Believe You are Saved.

By Dwight L. Moody

PRESENT SALVATION.

Another verse that has been used a great deal during the past two years, and I feel that I rest my own salvation on it, is John 5 v. 24. I trust God will write it on your hearts, and burn it down into your souls. “Truly truly, I say unto you, He that hears My Word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life.”

Thank God for that “has.” I had a few men in the inquiry-room the other night who could not find peace. I said, “Do you believe the Bible?” “Yes, sir.” “I think I will prove you don’t. Turn up John v. 24.” They turned it up. “Read the verse.” “‘He that hears My Word—’” “You believe that?” “Yes, sir.” “‘And believes on Him that sent me—’” “You believe God sent Jesus?” “Yes.” “Well, read on.” “‘Hath everlasting life.’” “You believe you have everlasting life?” “No, we don’t.” “Oh, I thought you believed in the Bible!”

What right have you to cut a verse in two, and say you believe the one half, but not the other? It plainly says, that he who believes “has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” Why, if you believe God’s words, you can say, “I have passed from darkness into light.” Just by resting on that one little word in the present tense we may have “assurance” now. We don’t need to wait till we die, and till the great day of judgment, to find it out.

It is wonderful to know God loves you and you will live with him one day. When I was first a Christian, I was like those men; I couldn't believe I was saved because I didn't feel saved. But my husband convinced me I must not rely on my feelings but believe what the Bible said. It took a long time, but I now believe I am saved and will see God.

This Man Receives Sinners!

by Dwight L. Moody

The kings and princes of this world, when they issue invitations, call round them the rich, the mighty and powerful, the honorable and the wise; but the Lord, when He was on earth, called round Him the vilest of the vile. 

“This man,” they said, “receives sinners, and eats with them.” Luke 15:2 
Publicans, sinners, and prostitutes pressed into the kingdom of God in His days. 

Here in London there is no society that would have such a man as John Bunyan once was in their company; yet the Lord saved him, and welcomed him into His kingdom. Here is some poor miserable drunkard cast out by his father and mother, and deserted by all his friends, but the Lord has received him. I have known some of the most miserable outcasts that were ever seen, cast out and despised by everybody, and yet the Lord has received them. Take Him then at His word to-day, and accept His invitation, “Him that comes to Me I will not cast out.

But you say I must just get rid of my sins first, and then I will come to Him. Why, that’s just like a man dying of the scarlet fever saying, “Oh, I’ll wait till I get rid of the fever before I send for a doctor!” Why, it is just because you are a sinner, and cannot get rid of your sins, that you need a Saviour. If I was dying for want of bread, it would be just as reasonable for me to say, “When I have got rid of this hunger, then I will begin to eat.” It is because I am hungry that I need to eat, and it is because we are sinners that we need Christ. It is because a man is sick that he needs a physician, and Christ is the Physician of the soul.

Don't Listen to Feelings.

THREE YEARS SEEKING JESUS.

by Dwight L. Moody

 One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me as if she were drinking in every word. It is precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor. I got interested in her, and after I had done talking, I went and spoke to her.

“Are you a Christian?” “No, I wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years.” I said, “There must be some mistake.” She looked strangely at me, and said, “Don’t you believe me?” “Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don’t take an anxious sinner three years to meet an anxious Saviour.” “What am I to do, then?” “The matter is, you are trying to do something; you must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, ‘Believe, believe, believe!’ I don’t know what it is.” “Well,” I said, “we’ll change the word; take ‘trust.’” “If I say, I’ll trust Him, will He save me?” “No, I don’t say that; you may say a thousand things, but if you do trust Him.” “Well,” she said, “I do trust Him; but,” she added in the same breath, “I don’t feel any better.” “Ah, I’ve got it now! You’ve been looking for feelings for three years, instead of for Jesus. Faith is up above, not down here.

People are always looking for feelings. You are getting up a new translation of the Bible here, and if the men who are translating it would only put in feelings instead of faith, what a rush there would be for that Bible. But if you look from Genesis to Revelation, you cannot find feelings attached to salvation. We must rise above feelings. So I said to this lady, “You cannot control your feelings; if you could, what a time you’d have! I know I would never have the toothache or the headache.

So I said to the lady, “Have no more to do with feelings; but, like Job, say, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’” She looked at me a few minutes, and then, putting her hand to take mine, she said, “Mr. Moody, I trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save my soul to-night.”

Then she went to the elders and said the same words. As she passed out she met one of the church officers, and, shaking his hand, said again, “I trust the Lord Jesus to save my soul.” Next night she was right before me again. I shall never forget her beaming face; the light of eternity was shining in her eyes! She went into the inquiry-room. I wondered what she was going there for; but when I got there, I found her with her arms round a lady friend, saying, “It’s only to trust Him. I have found it so.” From that night she was one of the best workers in the inquiry-room, and whenever I met a difficult case, I got her to speak to the person, and she was sure to help them.