When the scriptures declare that God is our refuge, our fortress, our strength, to whom is the writer referring? Anyone? Everyone? No of course not. Only to those who are His. Those who have believed into Jesus Christ. And while all these attributes of God are there for the believer to embrace and experience. Many, if not most, believers never fully access these wonderful provisions of our Father. Why? The following was sent to Laura as a daily reading... Tuesday, October 15 Inside and Outside God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed .... Psalm 46:1-2According to Psalm 46, there are external and internal provisions from the Lord in times of disaster, for God is both our refuge and strength. The external provision of His grace is seen in the word refuge. A person being chased might run toward a fortress and race across the mote as the drawbridge is being raised. Hell find himself enclosed within the walls of safety. As Martin Luther said, A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing! The internal provision is the strength God gives. According to Psalm 46:1, the same God who is our refuge on the outside is our strength on the inside. I wonder if youve discovered the strength verses of the Bible. Theres no room to list them here, but sometime when you feel worried or weary look up the references to strength in the Bible. The Book of Isaiah says God renews our strength (Isaiah 40:31), and Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Both within and around you, God is your refuge and strength. Sounds good. But did you notice what was missing? Jesus Christ. God cannot be a refuge to anyone outside of Jesus Christ. Also, he made no reference to the cross and our new birth in Christ. The strength within is Him, not me. It may seem picayune, but when you add these little errors together, it builds itself into one huge edifice of self-righteousness. The little foxes spoil the vine. All the verses which presuppose God as our strength, refuge, fortress, etc. are all prefaced on the fact these attributes are only accessible IN Christ. To the measure I abide in Him, to that measure He is all of these things. Thats how I experience Him as those things. As I abide IN Christ. They are all together another reality which has nothing to do with this life. But has EVERYTHING to do with the life which is from above. If we do not allow the Spirit to divide soul and spirit within then we can never hope to see without or know experientally and understand His ways....because they are ALL spiritually discerned. (Pneuma...blow effect) The enemy is very subtle. Why because subtle works. He probably would not be able to crush us with an open frontal assault but if he can place tissue after tissue on us, what one tissue weighs may be imperceptible to us, several hundred thousand tissues would be a crushing weight. Subtle works. We are constantly being challenged in the way of Truth. The world and its system is designed solely to distract the Church, confuse the Church, hamper the Church. On the other hand, this system is also designed to elevate Mankind to Gods throne. The main thrust of our enemys thrust against us is in the realm of agreement. Remember, Symphoneo. Just to let you know how effective this tactic is, car salesmen will attempt to get you to agree with them on any number of unrelated topics. Great weather were having isnt it? And any other inane chitchat, but it is not without purpose. If they can get you to agree on these apparent unrelated topics, then chances are, you will agree to buy their car when they get to that phase of the deal. This technique has been proven. So it is with our enemy and his world system. It is ordered, not chaotic, it has hierarchy, a chain of command, it has authority, it has submission. Demons assigned a particular task would never consider deviating from the task they were assigned. Thats how regimented they are. All tactics of modern warfare has as its counterpart in the demonic realm. Satan does not care how much the Church makes noise and shouts and sings Gods praises. He does not care how much you declare Gods Word or will. Why? Because as long as the ground upon which the Church declares itself is Adamic ground. It makes not one bit of difference. But on the other hand, if just two or three Saints gather IN his name....NOTHING shall be impossible for them. Satans entanglement of the Saints has a diluting effect upon the Church. The Church has little or no power because it has little or no authority. And it has little or no authority because it does not stand upon the ground of the new life in the Spirit, accessed via the cross. The newness of the life of Christ in us is directly proportionate to the depth of the in working of the cross in our lives. The two are directly related. That is it for now.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:27:01 +0000
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