‘Woe
to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my
pasture!’ (Jeremiah 23:1). Help us, Lord, not to be like the false
‘prophets’: ‘They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth
of the Lord.’ What were these false ‘prophets’ saying? - ‘They keep
saying to those who despise Me, “The Lord says: You will have peace.” To
all those who follow the stubbornness of their hearts, they were
saying, “No harm will come to you”’ (Jeremiah 23:16-17). Lord, You're calling us to be faithful. It will not be easy. Often, we will be tempted to ‘take the easy way out.’ We will feel the pull of the world:
‘Just be the same as everybody else.’ When we feel that we are being
pulled towards the ‘easy’ option, show us, Lord, that there is something
else we must never forget: The 'easy' option is also ‘the broad road
that leads to destruction.’ Help us to keep on following Christ on ‘the
narrow road which leads to life’ (Matthew 7:13-14).
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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