‘I
know the plans I have for you... to give you a future and a hope.’
Lord, this was Your long-term purpose for Your people. It was important
that they did not lose sight of this. There would be ‘seventy years’ of
captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:10-11). At times, they must have
wondered, ‘Will this ever end? Is there really something better still to
come?’ Our life on earth may sometimes seem like the ‘seventy years’ in
Babylon: ‘The length of our days is seventy years... yet all they bring
us is trouble and sorrow’! We wonder, Lord, ‘Is there a glorious future
still to come?’ In our times of ‘suffering’ and ‘sorrow’, teach us to
draw our ‘strength’ from Your Word. May we look forward to ‘the Day’
when Christ ‘comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be admired
in all who believe’ (Psalms 90:10; 119:28; 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5,10).
We thank You, Lord, that our determined enemy - Satan - is Your defeated enemy. To us, the devil seems so powerful. In Your eyes, He is defeated - defeated by Jesus, our crucified Saviour and risen Lord. Jesus has triumphed over Satan. He has won the victory for us (1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14-15). Lord, Your Word says, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 5:7). Will he really flee from us? He flees from Jesus - but, surely, not from us? Have we not forgotten something? - Jesus won the victory for us. He gives His victory to us. Help us to resist the devil - in the victorious Name of Jesus. He will flee from us. Why? Because Jesus is Lord over Satan. It's not us he's fleeing from. It's Jesus. When the devil comes 'knocking on our door', help us to send Jesus to the door - and send him packing!
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