ICS Daily Devotions
God Is Not Our Adversary
James 1:17 (NKJV) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Matthew 7:11 (NKJV) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Jesus who came to declare God to us, did everything that was good and He set the oppressed free! We have a good Father in heaven. Therefore, it is easy to identify what comes from God and what is the work of the devil.
There are many who have made God an adversary rather than a source of help during times of crises. We have forgotten that there are demonic forces that work against us too. The devil doesn’t want us to succeed nor enjoy the abundant life that God has planned for us. He wants us to believe that God is the source of our problems. He would like us to feel that God has abandoned us and doesn’t care to help us, even though He is the supreme God. The devil makes us feel condemned and pushes us away from God. He throws fiery darts at us and brings tribulations into our lives to steal the Word that has been planted in our hearts. He wants us to be bitter with God!
God is not our adversary but our ever-present help in times of need! He is a Good God who has given us a mediator and an advocate in heaven! He ensured that nobody is able to condemn us because it is HE who has justified us. He has made PEACE with us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He is not trying to torment us nor make life difficult for us. He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love. He has bound Himself to help us by establishing an everlasting covenant with us through the blood of Jesus Christ. When God establishes a covenant with us, He wants to journey with us when we are faced with a crisis. Covenant is the highest form of commitment understood by man.
We will not be able to fully comprehend everything especially during a period of crisis but we will have to rest our faith in God. This is especially true when we know that He is compassionate and merciful. Our faith can be shaken during a time of deep suffering unless we have our faith rooted in the love of God. The very foundation of our relationship with God is built on His unconditional love for us. This is especially true for us who have the full counsel of the Word and the help of the Holy Spirit as our teacher.
It is the work of the devil that kills, steals and destroys. Therefore, we need to constantly remind ourselves that we do not have an adversary in God. We have a good Father in heaven, full stop.
Sermon Series: Job and I
