BE STRONG IN THE LORD.

DAILY DEVOTION.

DAY TWENTY SIX.

1 SAMUEL 30:6.  Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was greatly grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
David here is facing one of his most difficult situations, David and his men had come to Ziklag, only to find out that the Amalekites had already been there and burned the city and taken captive all the wives and the sons and daughters of David and his men. David and his men grieved the loss but his men spoke of stoning him. Facing this situation, David did the only thing he knew to do, he strengthened himself in the Lord. David knew from past experiences that it was only God who could give him the strength and the courage to face this situation. 
So how do we apply this to our own situations, we may never face the same situation that David did, but we certainly will face our spiritual battles. In Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, put on the whole armour of God, that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Paul here tells us that we must be strong in the Lord, that it is only through His might that we can put on the whole armour. It is vitally important that we do put on the whole armour, because if we don't we will leave ourselves open to attack and ultimately defeat. Paul goes on to say that our battle is not with flesh and blood but is a spiritual battle, unlike David, we cannot see who we are fighting or who are enemy is, but our enemy is as dangerous and is far more deadly than anyone that David would face. Again in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down of strongholds. We see in these verses that even though we live in this flesh body, and we walk around in it, our fight is not in the flesh, that our weapons are not carnal or fleshly weapons, but that they are mighty in God. Our enemies plan is to build strongholds in our lives, for he knows that if he can build strongholds in our minds then he can control us and what we do. It is our responsibility in God to cast down thoughts or imaginations that try to exalt or put themselves above the knowledge of God's word. The only way that we can cast these things down is when we know what the word of God says regarding the situations we face. Jesus said that His words are Spirit and Life, He also said that if we abide in His word then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Thy key for us is found in the word, it is the revelation of who Christ is in us, and what authority we have in Him that gives us the ability to face our enemies and to walk in victory. Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church in Ephesians three is that they would be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that would have the revelation of the love of God, that they would know how the love of God works in every situation that they would face and that as they walk in this love and the power of His Spirit in them they would see God do far beyond anything that they could even imagine through the power of the Spirit that lives in them. 
These are the keys for us to strengthen ourselves in God, that we know who Christ is in us, that we stay in His word, walking in His will and in His love. Knowing that in Jesus we have the full authority of heaven behind us, that God is able to do far beyond anything that we can even imagine and that in any situation that we face we can know and walk in His love and that nothing can separate us from that love and that in His love there is no fear. 
We see in the story of David in 1 Samuel 30 that when David had strengthened or encouraged himself in God that he then prayed and asked God what he was to do. God then gave them the strategies that they needed to then go out and pursue the Amalekites, to have a great victory and to recover everything that the enemy had tried to steal from them. We can learn so much from this, as we come under attack we must stand strong in the things of God, stay in His word, walk in His love, pray and seek His will and purpose and God will give us the strategies that we need to walk in the victory that Jesus has won for us. AMEN.

OUR RESPONSE TO ISLAM

OUR RESPONSE TO ISLAM.

As we look around the world at this time we see many things being done in the name of Islam and the name of Allah that are causing people great concern. Looking at this from the Christian perspective, what should our response be? I am seeing many Christians, both leaders and pastors and people who are considered as mature Christians, posting articles on social media which report on the atrocities that are being carried out by the extremist factions of the Islamic faith. At this point in time there are approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world which is about 23 percent of the current world population. Research shows that at the moment there are about 106,000 individuals who are known to be terrorists, which given the current Muslim population makes up about .006625% of the overall Muslim population. So clearly not all Muslims are terrorist and the majority of Muslims do not outwardly condone what the extremists are doing.
Those who try to prove that Islam is a religion of hate will quote verses from the Quran showing that it is perfectly okay to kill those who are not Muslims or who speak out against Allah or who have left the faith to join other religions. Moderate Muslims will defend the Quran and say that it does not teach this and that those who believe it does are not really Muslims. They will even goes as far as to say that Isis is not Muslim but that the name Isis stands for Israel secret intelligent service. Personally I don't agree with them, and I believe that Isis is the extremist arm of Islam. One certainly cannot condone the actions of the extremists, but we also have to understand what motivates these people to do what they do. What we must realize and understand is that the Quran denies the person of Jesus Christ, it denies that He is God's only begotten Son, that He came to earth as Saviour, that through His death and resurrection that He paid for the sins of the world and there is salvation only through Him. They deny the deity of Jesus and the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. They believe that their eternity is based on them being obedient Muslims, living in obedience to the law and what the book of Quran teaches. The extremists believe that if they kill the infidel, those who are not Muslims, then their rewards will be greater in the kingdom to come.
The truth is that any religion, whether it be Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, or whatever that denies the deity of Jesus, the Holy Trinity and that there is only salvation through Jesus and that we must be born again is a works based religion. Works based religions are fear based, based on the fact that if the adherents to these beliefs do not prove themselves worthy by their own efforts they will loose their eternity. Fear will eventually turn to hate, I personally have seen this, I have been verbally abused on-line by Muslims and Jehovah witnesses when they have been confronted with the truth spoken in love. When you expose the lies that these people are believing in they react out of fear because their security in what they believe is now threatened, The way they react many times is to attack the person exposing the lies, verbal abuse is not uncommon, I am not the only person who has experienced this sort of thing.
Islamic extremists are motivated by fear, the fear that if they don't do as they are taught, that is destroy the infidels, they will loose their rewards in the next life. This fear promotes hatred and so they will go to any lengths to prove themselves worthy as good Muslims. We must realize something. these people are under deception, Satan has blinded their eyes to the truth, they are controlled by spirits of fear and of hatred. As I have already said, one cannot condone their actions or the teachings of the Quran. As a Christian I do not accept any of the teachings of Islam, it is totally anti-Christ and Ungodly. For me personally the greatest problem with the Quran and the teachings of Islam is not the verses that we use to prove that Islam condones the murder of innocent people, the rape of women and the physical abuse of women, but the fact that a person can grow up as a Muslim or can convert to Islam and study the Quran and they will never read the greatest love story to be told, they will never read the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is summed up in John 3:16; "For God so loved the world that He gave is only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal Life." If a person is never taught their acceptance is not based on their behavior, but that God loves them regardless, and that He loved so much that He was prepared to send His only Begotten Son to die for them to pay the price for their sins, how can we expect them to know the power of love and that God truly loves them. For these people their lives will be continually controlled and motivated by fear.
Coming back to the issue of Christians posting articles exposing the atrocities of the Muslim extremists, the truth is, this will not stop the spread of Islam. On the contrary, the extremists will welcome it. They see it that they are winning the war and that we are running scared. That we are afraid that they will attack our country and possibly kill friends or loved ones. If these reports are continually in the forefront of peoples minds they will generate fear, people will become afraid that this will happen in our country and as I have already stated this fear will cause hatred, hatred for what the extremists are doing will eventually turn into hatred for the individual if people dwell on it. The other aspect of this is the fact that other Muslims see and read these posts and many now believe that all Muslims are hated, we must remember who is behind the religion of Islam, Satan and he is the father of lies and hates the Body of Christ so he is the one who is speaking into the minds of the Muslims who read these articles and is telling them, "See Christians hate all Muslims" and because they are already under his deception they will believe his lies. As Christians we are taught that we are to love even our enemies, that we are to bless those who persecute us and pray for those who despitefully use us. The truth of the matter is, by posting these articles on social media, we are playing right into the hands of Satan. He will use them to build walls of resentment and hatred against the Gospel. We will never win Muslims to Christ by telling them that their religion is a religion of hatred. Moderate Muslims will tell you that Allah is a God of love, I have even been told that if I truly followed the teachings of Jesus then I would be a Muslim.
So what is my advise to those who believe that we should post these articles? Instead of posting them, begin to share the love of God with Muslims, begin to show them that God loves them and that they don't have to try to prove to God that they are good people. Pray for opportunities to serve them in love, to demonstrate the love of God in practical ways, pray for the right words to say to them that will open up their hearts to hear the Gospel of Christ. Remember that these people are controlled and motivated by fear, but that the perfect Love of God casts out fear. AMEN.