Meditation John chapter 8:41-50
1. Jesus said to them they are doing the deeds of their father. For which they replied they are not born of fornication but God is their Father. (V41)
2. Jesus said to them if God was their father they will listen to him because he came forth from his father. He did not come by himself but was sent by his father. (V42)
3. He said they cannot understand him because they cannot hear his word. (V43)
4. Christ said that their father is the devil. The lusts of their father they will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and he did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks it of his own for he is a liar and father of lies. (V44)
5. Christ said because he tells them the truth they do not believe in him. (V45)Christ said nobody can convince him of sin but still they do not believe in him. (V46)
6. He that is of God hears God's voice but they do not hear because they are not of God. (V47)
7. For this they said that he was a Samaritan and he has a devil (V48))
8. Jesus replied to them that he does not have a devil and he honours his father, but they dishonour him. (V49)
9. Jesus said he never seeks his own glory and it is God who seeks and judges. (V50)
LIFE APPLICATION:
Today we are going to meditate on the topic
KNOW YOUR ENEMY.
The WORD of GOD says,
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians:6:12
Dear Child of God, I
Want you to realise today that there is a unseen world around us that always wage a war against our members.
It is not the neighbour or the boss whom we see, our enemy. But there is something more deeper... there are unseen principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness that wrestle with us.... they rub on our bodies and our souls.
This is the kingdom of darkness and they have a king... the Devil. This is what CHRIST refers in V44,
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John:8:44
Once we have accepted Christ as our Lord and our God we are transformed into a marvellous new life and the enemy has lost his authority over our us.
But still, as long as we are in the flesh... we will have to fight him as the children of God. So it will be better for us to KNOW The ENEMY as Paul said,
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1 Corinthians:9:26
Let us see some attributes of the Devil in our meditation today:
A. He works in the children of disobedience:
The Prince of air is the spirit that works in children of disobedience.
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Ephesians:2:2
B. The Devil is the Father of lusts. (V44)
Devil operates in lust. God operates in love.
Let me explain a little on lust and love.
* the word of God says,
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1 John:2:16
Lust is of the eyes and of the flesh. It uses the eye gates. But Love is divine and is of God, poured into our spirits.
Let us see some biblical examples for lust:
1. Devil lusted the throne of God.
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Ezekiel:28:5
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Ezekiel:28:6
2. The Devil made Eve to lust after the forbidden fruit.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis:3:6
3. Lust makes us want things at whatever cost even if it is forbidden, even it is illegal and even if it mean to murder someone.
But Love is patient and submits to God's will and time.
And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.
1 Kings:21:15
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
2 Samuel:12:9
There are many more examples of how the devil operates in lust. Dear Child of God! Commit yourself to walk according to the spirit and you will not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.
I would suggest to keep every one of our wants and wishes to be kept at the altar. If it burns and gone forever it is lust...
But it stays with you it is love.... painful but safe.
C. The Devil is a liar and a FATHER of lies: (V44)
Here the enemy works through our ear gates. He speaks lies in our ears till the truth of CHRIST Is obscured in our hearts.
One of his mighty weapon is slander. He makes people slander against us and he makes us slander against others too.
For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.
Psalm:31:13
He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
Proverbs:10:18
And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
Numbers:14:36
2. He condemns:
It can be people condemning us or we condemn ourselves. CONDEMNATION and ACCUSATIONS are not of God.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Revelation:12:10
With lies he makes the heart of the righteous sad:
Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
Ezekiel:13:22
With lies he can put fear in our hearts; with lies, he can disturb our peace.; with lies, he can bring enmity among brethren...
Dear Child of God! Are you a victim of lies of the enemy ? Recognise and fight it with truth and the truth will set you free.
Identify and cast down every imagination that are sowed in you by the enemy that you will not be an easy target for the enemy.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2 Corinthians:10:5
Let us learn to bring every thought of ours under captivity to the obedience of CHRIST and we will walk over the enemy in this area too.
D. The other important character of the Devil is that He is a Murderer.
He kills and destroys.
He can carry out this mission in the form of diseases, or in the form of witchcraft or in the form of hatred or any other.
We thank God for the blood of Christ that has been shed as an atonement.
This blood of Christ protects us from such viles of the enemy.
For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
Exodus:12:23
There is a secret and a quiet place where we can hide into.
That is the shadow of the almighty even his sanctuary.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm:91:1
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psalm:91:4
This is the place the eyes of the enemy can never find us.
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Job:28:21
Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
Job:28:22
God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
Job:28:23
The Lord himself shall keep us from all evil. He will deliver our souls... He himself will keep us safe from the snares of the enemy.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
Psalm:121:7
Let the Lord's prayer be ours today.... that we will be safe each day...
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Matthew:6:13
May God bless you!
