Do Not Give Satan An Inch Of Ground

Jesus told His disciples, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30). 

He was saying, in essence, When Satan comes at Me, he can’t find any place where he can get a foothold. I am totally under the authority of My Father.
 
Likewise, Satan cannot enter the body or spirit of any believer whose life is totally submitted to God’s Word. He has to be given a place in order to gain a foothold.

And that happens only when a person holds back “part of the price.” Let me explain.
 
In Acts 5 a couple named Ananias and Sapphira sold a portion of their land and gave the proceeds to the new church in Jerusalem. 

Yet, when they laid the amount at Peter's feet, the apostle was perplexed. He asked, “Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?” (Acts 5:3). 

As soon as Peter spoke these words, Ananias fell down dead on the spot and just a little later, so did his wife.
 
What is the lesson God wanted to teach the Church through this? I don’t believe it had anything to do with the physical piece of land Ananias and Sapphira owned. Rather, it had to do with the inner territory of their hearts.
 
This couple believed they could be 95 percent obedient to God but remain safely disobedient in one small area. 

They had heard God’s pure Word preached but they rebelled against what they knew to be true.

They convinced themselves, “We can serve the Lord yet hold on to this one thing.” That was a lie to the Holy Ghost.

So, the part of the price they held back had nothing to do with money, but a small bit of ground of covetousness in their hearts. 

It was a patch just big enough to give Satan a stronghold, and with their one stubborn disobedience, they allowed the enemy to fill their hearts.

This is why Paul warns, “Neither give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:27).
 
The example of Ananias and Sapphira is clear: The price of an overcoming life is no small matter. It means subjecting our lives wholly to God’s Word, with no more dark places, hidden lusts or rebellion.

Do not give Satan one inch of ground. That’s all he needs to gain entrance and establish a power base.

~David Wilkerson~



 

True Christianity Is A Fight!

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

True Christianity! Let us mind that word "true." There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true genuine Christianity.

There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday and call themselves Christians. They make a "profession" of faith in Christ. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die.

But you never see any "fight" about their religion! Of spiritual strife and exertion and conflict and self-denial and watching and warring***they know literally nothing at all.

Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable; but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible.

It is not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded, and His apostles preached. It is not the religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is "a fight!"

The principal fight of the Christian is with the world,the flesh, and the devil.

These are his never-dying foes! These are the three chief enemies against whom he must wage war. With a corrupt heart, a busy devil and an ensnaring world***he must either "fight" or be lost!

To be at peace with the world, the flesh and the devil is to be at enmity with God and in the broad way that leads to destruction! We have no choice or option. We must either fight or be lost!

It is a fight of universal necessity. No rank or class or age can plead exemption, or escape the battle***all alike must carry arms and go to war.

All have by nature a heart full of pride, unbelief, sloth, worldliness and sin!
 
All are living in a world beset with snares, traps and pitfalls for the soul.
 
All have near them a busy, restless, malicious devil. All, from the queen in her palace down to the pauper in the workhouse all must fight, if they would be saved.

We may take comfort about our souls, if we know anything of an inward fight and conflict. It is the invariable companion of genuine Christian holiness.

The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians, is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity.

They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or twice every week.

But of the great spiritual warfare***its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests of all this they appear to know nothing at all.

J. C. Ryle

Charging GOD With Wrongdoing

And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good. 1 Samuel 3:18

One who genuinely loves God, interprets all His dealings in the best sense.

Though He afflicts sharply the soul takes all well. This is the language of a gracious spirit:
 
My God sees what a hard heart I have, therefore He  drives in one wedge of affliction after another to break my heart. 

He knows how full I am of the cancer of covetousness, or the swelling of pride, or the fever of lust therefore He gives me bitter remedies, to save my life. 

This severe dispensation is either to mortify some corruption or to exercise some grace. How good is God, who will not let me alone in my sins but smites my body to save my soul! 

Thus genuine piety puts a good gloss upon all God's afflictive dealings.

It is Satan who makes us have high thoughts of ourselves, and hard thoughts of God. "Take away everything he has and he will surely curse You to Your face!" Job 1:11
 
Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

~Thomas Watson~

What To Do With Our Money

Our money may destroy us. The love of money is the root of all evil. There is a way of using money, which makes it a curse. But there is a way of using money, which makes it a blessing.

Christ told of this when he said, "Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in Heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." Luke 12:33. 

That is, there is a way of using our money, by which we shall lay it up in Heaven. This is a wonderful revelation that we can take our riches with us into the other world; or rather, that we can bank our possessions in Heaven, as we go through this world, send our money on in advance, so that when we reach there we shall find all our treasures laid up waiting for us.

In one of our Lord's parables***that of the rich man and Lazarus we are told of a man who had not learned the secret.

On earth, the rich man lived in luxury and splendor. He was dressed in purple and fine linen. He fared sumptuously every day. That was one scene.

But the rich man died. Wealth cannot bribe death. No palace walls can shut out the messenger whom God sends for a man's soul. 

The rich man died and was buried. But that was not the end.

The veil is lifted, and we see him in the other world***rich?
Oh, no; in torment! He is beggared now. He has no sumptuous banquets. He wears no fine linen. He has no honor. 

We hear him begging Abraham to send Lazarus who once lay, a beggar, unhelped, at his gates***that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue, to ease his torment.

This man had missed the secret of laying up treasure in Heaven. He has treasured up only sorrow for himself. 

This man teaches us how not to use our money on the earth. He lived only for himself***to accumulate and to spend in enjoyments and luxuries for his own selfish gratification.

I fear there are too many men in these prosperous days, who are making the same mistake that Dives made. 

We are not told that he got his money dishonestly. There was no taint of fraud or embezzlement on it. So far as we knew, it was not amassed through oppression of the poor, through robbing of laborers. 

The man's sin lay in the use he made of his money. 

And it was not used in wicked schemes of any kind. Dives was a highly respected gentleman, a prosperous citizen. He spent money freely among the merchants and the tradespeople. He was popular in the city. He was probably a good Pharisee, orthodox and religious. There was no taint on his character. He was honorable in his business, and just in all his dealings with his fellow-men.

What was wrong with Dives? Why is he shown to us in torment beyond the gate of death? So far as we know, it was all because he did not use his money in the right way.

That is, he used it only for himself. He did not use it for God. He did not use it to bless his fellow men. He used it only for his own selfish gratification. He spent it for luxuries in dress and for luxuries on his table. 

The beggar lay by his gate unfed, unhelped. Human misery lived by his doors, without receiving any pity. 

Are there not many men in every community who are living just as Dives did? Honest, honorable, respected, with no taint on their business but living only for themselves? What sequel to their earthly life can they hope for, different from that of Dives? 

It is not enough that money be gotten honestly; after it has been obtained in the most righteous way it may be so used as to destroy the soul of its possessor. Nor is it only dishonest or wicked using of it, which brings down a curse. It is enough that it is spent only for self and for selfish gratification.

It is a serious thing to have money even a little of it. It brings weighty responsibility to him who has it. It is a talent entrusted to us by God; and like all other talents it must be used and then accounted for.

Then the practical question for us is, "How shall we use Christ's trust-funds?" How would he use the money himself, if he were in our place, and were to spend it?

Part of it he would use in providing for his own needs. He would have us receive food and clothing. Nor does he condemn business energy. Money-making is not sinful. 

There is no sin in growing rich, provided a man does it as Christ's trustee and for Christ. Only he must keep his own name off it. 

He must not say "my fruits," "my store," "my bonds," "my gains." We must learn to leave the "I" out of our speech. We must learn the lesson of self-effacement. We must do all for Christ. We are only trustees for Christ.

It is when we have learned to handle our money as a trustee for Christ that we have gained the secret of laying up treasure in Heaven. All that we truly use for Christ we lay up in purses that will not wax old. 

The only safety when one is always getting is also to be always giving. Giving is living. The pool which has no outlet stagnates and breeds death. The stream that ever flows lives and keeps pure and sweet. Giving is living; hoarding is dying.

In India they tell the story of the golden palace. Sultan Ahmed was a great king. He sent Yakoob, the most skillful of his builders, with large sums of money, to erect in the mountains of snow, the most splendid palace ever seen. Yakoob went to the place, and found a great famine among the people, and many of them dying. He took all his own money, and the money given him by the king for the building of the palace and gave it to feed the starving people.

Ahmed came at length to see his palace but he saw none. He sent for Yakoob and learned his story — but was very angry and cast him into prison. "Tomorrow you shall die!" he said, "for you have robbed the king!" But that night Ahmed had a dream. There came to him one who said: "Follow me." Up from the earth they soared, until they were at heaven's gate. They entered, and lo! there stood a palace of pure gold, more brilliant than the sun, and vaster far than any palace of earth.
 
What palace is this?" asked Ahmed, and his guide answered, This is the palace of merciful deeds, built for you, by Yakoob the wise. Its glory shall endure when all earth's things have passed away." Then the king understood that Yakoob had done most wisely with his money.

The story has its lesson of truth. The money spent in doing Christ's work in this world, is laid up in Heaven. It may seem to be thrown away — but it builds its palace beyond the skies.

~J. R. Miller~

Reviving Grace

Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Will You not revive us, O Lord? My soul! are you conscious of your declining state? 

Is your walk less with God, your affections less heavenly? Have you less conscious nearness to the mercy-seat, diminished communion with your Savior?

Is prayer less a privilege than it has been? The pulsations of spiritual life more languid, and fitful, and spasmodic?

The bread of life, less relished? The seen, and the temporal, and the tangible, displacing the unseen and eternal?

Are you sinking down into this state of drowsy self-contentment, this conformity of your life with the world, forfeiting all the happiness of true religion and risking and endangering the better life to come?

Arise! Call upon your God! "Will you not revive us, O Lord?" 

He might have returned nothing but the withering repulse, How often would I have gathered you; but you would not! "Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone!"

But "in wrath He remembers mercy." "They shall revive as the corn." "The mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

How and where is reviving grace to be found? He gives you, in this precious promise, the key. It is on your bended knees by a return to your deserted and unfrequented chamber! 

Those who wait upon the Lord! "Wait on the Lord; be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!"

~John Macduff~

Trust In Him And He Shall Bring It To Pass

Psa 37:5  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

I once believed that after I prayed, it was my responsibility to
do everything in my power to bring about the answer.Yet God
taught me a better way and showed me that self-effort always
hinders His work. 

He also revealed that when I prayed and had confident trust in Him for something, He simply wanted me to wait in an attitude of praise and do only what He told me.
 
Sitting still, doing nothing except trusting in the Lord, causes a feeling of uncertainty, and there is often a tremendous temptation to take the battle into our own hands.
 
We all know how difficult it is to rescue a drowning person
who tries to help his rescuer, and it is equally difficult for the
Lord to fight our battles for us when we insist upon trying to
fight them ourselves.

It is not that God will not but that He cannot, for our interference hinders His work. 

~C.H. P.~

Spiritual forces cannot work while we are trusting earthly forces.
 
Often we fail to give God an opportunity to work, not realizing that it takes time for Him to answer prayer.

It takes time for God to color a rose or to grow a great oak tree. And it takes time for Him to make bread from wheat fields.He takes the soil, then grinds and softens it. He enriches it and wets it with rain showers and with dew.Then He brings the warmth of life to the small blade of grass, later grows the stalk and the amber grain, and finally provides bread for the hungry.
 
All this takes time.Therefore we sow the seed, till the ground, and then wait and trust until God’s purpose has been fulfilled.
 
We understand this principle when it comes to planting a field,
and we need to learn the same lesson regarding our prayer life.
It takes time for God to answer prayer.

~J. H. M.~

Faith Rests On The Pure Word Of GOD Alone.

Psa 119:42  So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.

The strength of our faith is in direct proportion to our level of belief that God will do exactly what He has promised.

Faith has nothing to do with feelings, impressions, outward appearances, nor the probability or improbability of an event.

If we try to couple these things with faith, we are no longer resting on the Word of God, because faith is not dependent on them.
 
Faith rests on the pure Word of God alone. And when we take Him at His Word, our hearts are at peace.
 
God delights in causing us to exercise our faith.  

He does so to bless us individually, to bless the church at large, and as a witness to unbelievers.

Yet we tend to retreat from the exercising of our faith instead of welcoming it.

When trials come, our response should be,“My heavenly Father has placed this cup of trials into my hands so I may later have something pleasant.”
 
Trials are the food of faith. Oh, may we leave ourselves in the hands of our heavenly Father!

It is the joy of His heart to do good to all His children.Yet trials and difficulties are not the only way faith is exercised and thereby increased.

Reading the Scriptures also acquaints us with God as He has revealed Himself in them.
 
Are you able to genuinely say, from your knowledge of God and your relationship with Him, that He is indeed a beautiful Being? 

If not, let me graciously encourage you to ask God to take you to that point, so you will fully appreciate His gentleness and kindness, so you will be able to say just how good He is, and so you will know what a delight it is to God’s heart to do good for His children.
 
The closer we come to this point in our inner being, the more willing we are to leave ourselves in His hands and the more
satisfied we are with all of His dealings with us. Then when
trials come, we will say, “I will patiently wait to see the good
God will do in my life, with the calm assurance He will do it.”
 
In this way, we will bear a worthy testimony to the world and
thereby strengthen the lives of others. 

~George Mueller~

Have You Thanked Him For The Thorns?

2Co 12:10  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

The literal translation of this verse adds a startling emphasis
to it, allowing it to speak for itself with power we have probably
never realized. It is as follows: “Therefore I take pleasure in
being without strength, being insulted, experiencing emergencies, and being chased and forced into a corner for Christ’s sake; for when I am without strength, I am dynamite.”
 
The secret of knowing God’s complete sufficiency is in coming to the end of everything in ourselves and our circumstances.
 
Once we reach this point, we will stop seeking sympathy for
our difficult situation or ill treatment, because we will recognize
these things as the necessary conditions for blessings.

We will then turn from our circumstances to God, realizing they are the evidence of Him working in our lives.
~A. B. Simpson~
 
George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland,
once said,“My dear God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. 

I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses but not once for my thorns.

I have always looked forward to the place where I will be rewarded for my cross, but I have never thought of my cross as a present glory itself.

Teach me, O Lord, to glory in my cross.Teach me the value of my thorns.

Show me how I have climbed to You through the path of pain. Show me it is through my tears I have seen my rainbows.
 

There Stood By Me This Night The Angel Of GOD

Act 27:23  For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve

Tempest and long darkness, coupled with imminent risk of shipwreck, had brought the crew of the vessel into a sad case; one man alone among them remained perfectly calm, and by his word the rest were reassured.

Paul was the only man who had heart enough to say, “Sirs, be of good cheer.”

There were veteran Roman legionaries on board, and brave old
mariners, and yet their poor Jewish prisoner had more spirit than they all. He had a secret Friend who kept his courage up. 

The Lord Jesus dispatched a heavenly messenger to whisper
words of consolation in the ear of his faithful servant; therefore he wore a shining countenance, and spake like a man at ease.
 
If we fear the Lord, we may look for timely interposition's when our case is at its worst.
 
Angels are not kept from us by storms, or hindered by darkness. Seraphs think it no humiliation to visit the poorest of the heavenly family.

If angel’s visits are few and far between at ordinary times, they shall be frequent in our nights of tempest and tossing.

Friends may drop from us when we are under pressure, but our intercourse with the inhabitants of the angelic world shall be more abundant; and in the strength of love-words, brought to us from the throne by the way of Jacob’s ladder, we shall be strong to do exploits.

Dear reader, is this an hour of distress with you? then ask for peculiar help. Jesus is the angel of the covenant, and if his presence be now earnestly sought, it will not be denied. 

What that presence brings in heart-cheer those remember who, like Paul, have had the angel of God standing by them in a night of storm, when anchors would no longer hold, and rocks were nigh.

O Angel of my GOD, be near, Amid the darkness hush my fear; Loud roars the wild tempestuous sea, Thy presence, Lord, shall comfort me.”

~Charles Spurgeon~

Sensitive To Warning

Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD
2 Kings 22:19.

Many despise warning and perish. Happy is he who trembles at the Word of God. Josiah did so, and he was spared the sight of the evil which the LORD determined to send upon Judah because of her great sins.

Have you this tenderness? Do you practice this self-humiliation? Then you also shall be spared in the evil day. God sets a mark upon the men that sigh and cry because of the sin of the times. 

The destroying angel is commanded to keep his sword in its sheath till the elect of God are sheltered: these are best known by their godly fear and their trembling at the Word of the LORD. 

Are the times threatening? Does infidelity advance with great strides, and do you dread national chastisement upon this polluted nation? 

Well you may. Yet rest in this promise: "Thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace: and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which l will bring upon this place." Better still, the LORD Himself may come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended. 

~Charles Spurgeon~

I Solemnly Warn You!

                                                                       
Some professors are always trying to keep in with the world. 

They are ingenious in discovering reasons for not separating decidedly, and in framing plausible excuses for attending questionable amusements, and keeping up questionable friendships.

One day you are told of their attending a Bible class; the next day perhaps you hear of their going to a ball!

One day they fast, or go to the Lord's table and receive the sacrament; another day they go to the racecourse in the morning, and the opera at night!

One day they are almost in hysterics under the sermon of some sensational preacher; another day they are weeping over some novel!

But to walk closely with God; to be really spiritually-minded; to behave like strangers and pilgrims; to be distinct from the world in use of time, in life-style, in amusements, in dress; to bear a faithful witness for Christ in all places; to leave a fragrance of our Master in every society; to be prayerful, humble, unselfish, good-tempered, quiet, contented, charitable, patient; to be jealously afraid of all manner of sin; to be tremblingly alive to our danger from the world— these, are rare things!

They are not common among those who are called Christians; and, worst of all, the absence of them is not felt and bewailed as it should be!

I beseech you not to be content with a small measure of grace not to be satisfied with being a little better than the world!

I solemnly warn you not to attempt doing what never can be done: to serve Christ — and yet keep in with the world. 

I call upon you and beseech you to be a whole-hearted Christian,to follow after eminent holiness, to aim at a high degree of sanctification to live a consecrated life, and to present your body a "living sacrifice" unto God!

~J. C. Ryle~