“...and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them." Deuteronomy 7:2 Scripture tells us that the stories of the Old Testament were written to teach us what we need to know. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning..." Romans 15:4 In this chapter in Deuteronomy, the Lord is speaking about the victory he gives over our enemies. The enemies of Israel were far stronger than they, many of them of the "giant" races. Those giants were real. A passage in 2nd Samuel says that the bed of one of them was more than 13 feet long and 6 feet wide, twice the height of a tall man. We all know the story of David and the giant Goliath. The whole point of the story was to show us that we're up against "giants" in our own lives that are far greater than we are. On our own, from our own resources, we don't stand a chance. No, we are to place our trust in the Lord who will himself obtain the victory for us. "...you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt..." Deuteronomy 7:18 vs 21: "You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you." vs 23: “But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed." vs 22: “And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you LITTLE BY LITTLE;" Just as Israel had to take one area at a time, it is not the Lord's way to set us free all at once. One thing I've learned in my own walk through deliverance is that before the deliverance takes place, the Lord has to prepare us. He shows us the depth of sin and bondage holding us, and sometimes - and this was often my case - the things holding us are things we weren't even aware of. He needs to make us ready to acknowledge the evil as he shows us just how evil a particular enemy is. It can be shocking. Every deliverance is a story, a story of how God makes us ready to maintain the deliverance once he sets us free. When I came to the Lord and was taught about deliverance, I presented to the Lord the things I wanted him to set me free of. But he said no, let's start with this instead, and he showed me "this." The "this" was something I knew nothing about, but something that I later realized absolutely needed to be taken care of before we even thought of addressing other things. The victory is the Lord's, and HE leads the battle, not us. Our only part is to cooperate with him, and there's far more to this cooperation than one might think, because it's going to be a challenge to long-held ideas, long-held deception, long-held ways. It's a true battle to come out of deception and to put down our resistance which is rooted in pride. When the Lord shows us what's in us, it truly is shocking. Any vestige of pride has to go. In order to get the victory, the enemy's king has to be brought down. This will usually be painful, because you've lived with that "king" a very long time, perhaps from childhood. It's "a familiar spirit," something you haven't ever questioned or even thought was wrong, because it's so familiar to you. You're used to it. But in order to set you free, that king has to fall. Again, it won't be your doing, it is the Lord who leads the battle. It is the Lord who gives the victory. vs 23-24: “But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. And he will deliver their kings into your hand..." Once you have been set free, you have to destroy all that was associated with that enemy. God warns you not ever to have anything to do with it again, you must utterly destroy it. Has God set you free from drug abuse? You must utterly stay away from all that has to do with acquiring drugs, including friends who aided and abetted you in drug use. Has God set you free from pornography? You must never again go near that snare, you must throw out every vestige of porn from your house and never go near it again. "Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing." Deuteronomy 7:26 If you do slide back, you'll be back ensnared again and it will be worse than it was before: "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he (the evil spirit that was cast out) goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first." Matthew 12:45 A human being can be afflicted in body and also in soul. Jesus casted out spirits of deafness, spirits of dumbness, spirits of lameness, showing us that SOMETIMES afflictions in our bodies are demonic in origin. King Saul had a spirit that afflicted him in his soul, his mind. He would bring David to play music for him because when David played, the torment would ease. These things are real. The Gospel of Mark shows that one third of Jesus's ministry was casting out demons. He didn't send the deaf person to a doctor to get hearing aids. He casted out the SPIRIT that was the cause of the deafness. Demons are real and this is a subject pathetically overlooked by the church. Many people are suffering at the hands of demonic torment, and nice words are not going to set them free. Persuasion won't set them free. You can't persuade a demon, you can't control a demon, you can't train a demon, you can't re-educate a demon. It has to be cast out. How? Present yourself before the Lord in total humility. Profess your willingness to be shown things you don't want to see. Confess what he shows you to confess. And ASK. Ask him to set you free, not only from the presenting problem, but from all that goes along with it, all that goes before it, some of which you won't be aware of until he shows you. Father, it is my prayer that those reading this who are in bondage to, or tormented by demonic holds on them, I ask that you would show them that. Show them the nature of their affliction. I pray grace for them to cooperate with you as you lead them to freedom. Help them to understand that YOU are the deliverer and that they need to to cooperate with you as you lead them toward a deliverance that can be maintained. I pray patience for them. Protect them from discouragement in the face of enemies that they know are far too strong for them. Wrap them in your love. Stand by them every minute. Strengthen them to do all you ask of them, whether it be confession of sin or perhaps the willingness to part with things in their home or on their person that they're reluctant to part with. Heal them, Lord. Heal them of the damage done inside them. Let their deliverance be a testimony as their hearts swell with awe of you and gratitude and love for you as they reach out to others - bringing them the hope of deliverance and healing. In Jesus's Name. Amen.
"And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life,
he who comes to me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in me shall never thirst."
John 6:35
People spend their lives hungering after that which will not and cannot satisfy. They seek after fame, after prestige, after riches, after success, after accomplishment, after entertainment, yet should they succeed in obtaining these things, still they are not satisfied. Many of the richest and most successful men and women in the world commit suicide. Why is that?
It's because God created us with a God-shaped void inside which cannot be satisfied with anyone or anything other than him. Try as men might, nothing else can or will satisfy except momentarily. The most dangerous thing that can happen to a man is to reach that which he strives for and obtain it, then realize that it has not satisfied him. This is where many go into despair.
"He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver,
nor he who loves abundance, with increase."
Ecclesiastes 5:10
Jesus Christ is the bread of life which satisfies that hunger and quenches that thirst. Once a man has found the Savior, all other things grow dim and his whole perspective is changed.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven
is like treasure hidden in a field,
which a man found and hid, and for joy over it
he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
Matthew 13:44
The experience of being born again totally changes a person. When one is born again, he is filled with the Spirit of God, and from then on he seeks the will of God - not from hunger, because he is satisfied - but from intense love for Him. The uppermost thing in his mind now becomes the joy of serving Christ with all of his heart. The devotion of his heart becomes "Oh how can I bring others to find you?" That's how powerfully the born-again experience changes a person.
If you have been chasing after what you think will satisfy you, but find that nothing does - come to the One who created you and who has a personalized plan for your life that truly WILL satisfy you. You'll not find it any other way, regardless of what you currently think will satisfy you "if only" you can attain it. I pray that you do attain it, so that you will find that it doesn't satisfy, and having realized that - that you might come to the One who DOES.
It might be an honor to be called to be a high official in the President's office. Most know they could never aspire to that. But just think - you CAN be an assistant to the Creator of the universe. He who created you also created the plan for your life that alone will be FITTED to you personally, and that which surely will satisfy you if only you turn to him and walk in that plan which he has fashioned for your life. No one else on earth can fulfill your call, nor can you fulfill anyone else's call. Turn to the Lord and ask him to show you HIS call for your life.
Do not argue that you have things you must do and don't have time for God. He knows your needs only too well. But he has ordained the way those needs are guaranteed to be filled:
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’
or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For after all these things the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father KNOWS that you need all these things.
But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED TO YOU."
Matthew 6:31-33
"For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
Revelation 19:10
The Bible is full of prophecy from Genesis to The Book Of Revelation. Let's take a look at some of those prophecies.
“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?”
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Psalm 22:1
This Psalm was written more than a thousand years before Jesus cried those words from the Cross.
One can go back and forth from this Psalm to the New Testament passage of the Crucifixion and it’s very obvious how the details in the Psalm were so demonstrably fulfilled at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Look at some of those details in Psalm 22:
vs 7-8:
“All those who see me ridicule me,
they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
‘he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him,
let him deliver him, since he delights in him!’”
Fulfilled in the New Testament:
“He trusted in God, let him deliver him now IF he will have him;”
Matthew 27:43
Some prophecies contain very specific details:
“They divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
Psalm 22:18
Fulfilled in the New Testament:
“Then they crucified him, and divided his garments, casting lots…”
Matthew 27:35
Consider the fact that King David, the author of the Psalm, lived more than a thousand years before Christ was on the earth! How did he know the details that Christ would fulfill a thousand years later?
Some argue that Jesus knew the prophecies and deliberately fulfilled them. Well ...how did he deliberately fulfill the prophecy that he would be born in Bethlehem, especially since Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth?
All the prophets prophesied concerning Christ as well. For example:
"...then they will look on me whom they pierced."
Zechariah 12:10
In the New Testament:
"But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out."
John 19:34
The birth and death of Jesus Christ were the most important events in all of history, and Satan does all he can to minimize them, or to corrupt them. Satan becomes very obvious when you examine what his focus is. His focus always is to corrupt what the Bible says about Jesus.
The one thing that makes the Bible different from every other “holy” book, is prophecy.
“For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING,
and from ancient times things that are not yet done…”
Isaiah 46:9-10
No other religious book can include prophecy except in a very general way, because God alone knows the future. Satan knows the Bible thoroughly, and based on what has been revealed he can predict some things, especially things that he is able to cause to come about. But he cannot be accurate because except for what God has revealed, Satan does not know the future.
The Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, is filled with prophecy, many in great detail. Imagine knowing a thousand years before the crucifixion that those at the crucifixion would take the garments Jesus wore and cast lots to divide them among themselves? Only God, only God alone could put such specific details of prophecy together so long before Jesus was even on the earth.
“For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 19:10
If you have a heart to search for truth, do not search among the many “religious” books outside of the Word of God. They are limited to only what has already been revealed and most of them, if not all, contain blatant falsehoods; in details they will show themselves liars unable to deliver. No, search the Word of God. Ask the Spirit of God to show you the truthfulness of the Scriptures in the prophecies contained therein. There you will find truth beyond all question.
More:
Who Is Jesus Christ?