RESIST THE DEVIL

Proclamation:

“Submit yourselves, then, to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by James, the half-brother of Jesus, The Christ.  His point was that we must choose virtues instead of vices.  We frequently obey the suggestions of the devil and sin instead of following The Word of God.  James states that we must make a conscious effort to resist the devil and choose to submit ourselves to God and follow His Word.  Only then will the devil flee from us.

Application:

The devil is busy.  He attacks us and tempts us all of the time.  If he is not bothering you, then maybe you are already doing what he wants you to do.  As Christians, we do not have to give in to the devil.  We have a choice in what we do.  However, we cannot resist the devil by ourselves.  The beginning of this Bible verse says, "Submit yourselves to God ..." and the verse which follows it says, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you ..."  Only with God's help can we resist the devil.  We need to get closer to God and do His will or we do not stand a chance against the devil and his powers.  God has already defeated the devil.  We just need to get on The Lord's side and make a conscious effort to obey The Word of God and then the devil will leave us alone for a while.  Remember, the devil temped Jesus three times before he let Him alone. (Matthew 4:1-11)  Even after Jesus rebuffed him twice the devil continued to tempt Him.  So, don’t be surprised when you resist one temptation to sin and the devil presents you with another different temptation.  We have to continually be on guard for attacks by the devil.  That is why we must put on the whole armor of God in order to stand up against the devil and his attacks. (Ephesians 6:11-18)

TRUST IN THE LORD

Proclamation:

“It is better to trust in The Lord than to put confidence in man.” Psalm 118:8 (KJV) 

Explanation:

While there is some doubt as to the human author of this psalm, it is clear that it was written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God and it points the reader to Jesus, The Christ.  The point of this psalm is that only The Lord God is worthy of our trust.  Man will let you down and disappoint you, and maybe even deceive you.   

Application:

Blessed is the man who put his trust in The Lord. (Psalm 40:4)  He is always with us.  The Lord God will never leave us nor will He forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:8 and Hebrews 13:5)  He hears our cry and He sees our tears.  He even understands our frustrations and our temptations.  He can get us out of a bad situation, clean us up, place us on the right path, and give us a new song of praise to sing because of His goodness and mercy. (Psalm 40:1-3)  No man can do that.  We cannot even do that for ourselves.  Trust in The Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)  The Lord is our strength and our protection, our help and our Savior, only He is worthy of our trust. (Psalm 28:7)  Do not put your trust in a person, trust in The Lord and be blessed.

LORD HAVE MERCY

Proclamation:

“Show me Your ways, Lord, teach me Your paths.  Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.  Remember, Lord, Your great mercy and love, for they are from old.  Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to you love remember me, for You, Lord, are good.” Psalm 25:4-7 (NIV)

Explanation:

The words of this psalm were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by King David.  He recognized that he was a sinner and that he needed God’s forgiveness and help.  David was a man after God’s heart. (1 Samuel 13:14)  This was so not because he was so good, but because when he sinned he frequently prayed and asked to be forgiven.

Application:

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we have messed up a lot trying to do things our way.  We need help and forgiveness for our sins.  We really do not want to be reminded of all of our past sins.  We need God's grace and mercy.  We need His Grace because we want God to give us of His goodness that which we don't deserve.  We need His Mercy because we want Him to withhold the punishment that we do deserve.  If we would confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us for all of our unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)  That's why, like David, we need to pray and appeal to God's mercy and His tender loving-kindness.

WHAT GOD REQUIRES FROM US

Proclamation:

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does The Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the prophet Micah to the people of God.  In the previous two verses (Micah 6:6-7) he makes it clear what God does not want from His people.  In the verses which follow he list the sins of Israel and then spells out the punishment which they will receive for their sins. (Micah 6:9-16)

Application:

What does man have to do to please God?  Put another way, what does God require of man?  This rhetorical question was asked by Micah because the people of Israel should have known what God wanted from them.  God wanted a spiritual commitment that was sincere and from the heart, from which right behavior would result.  That is what God wanted from them back then and that is what He wants from us today.  He wants us to believe and obey His Word.  He wants us to love our fellow man as we love ourselves.  He wants us to walk humbly in this world as we follow Him.  Our problem is not a lack of knowledge regarding what The Lord God wants for us.  Our problem is that we are so caught up in pleasing ourselves and doing what we want that we don’t do what He wants us to do.  We need to put God first. (Matthew 6:33)  We need to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek The Lord God, and stop our self-indulgent sinful ways, then we would be able to do what He requires of us and we would be blessed for doing so. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

DESTROYED FOR A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

Proclamation:

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee ..." Hosea 4:6 (KJV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the prophet Hosea to the Jewish nation to convince them of their many sins and to invite them to convert to Christianity.  Both the priests and the people had rejected knowledge and had turned from The Word of God

Application:

A lack of knowledge of God is a bad thing.  Being ignorant is bad enough but refusing to learn is worse.  Do not reject the instructions of The Lord by refusing to read and obey His Word.  We can easily be misled by false prophets and false teachers when we do not know The Word of God for ourselves.  Everything that sounds good isn't good or true.  Think about how much time we spend in other less significant activities as compared to the time that we spend in the study of God's Word.  Let's read and study the Bible more.  Let us not be destroyed for a lack of knowledge of The Lord God and His Holy Word. 

FEAR THE LORD AND BE BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE

Proclamation:

"Fear The Lord, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.  The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek The Lord lack no good thing.  Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of The Lord.  Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.  Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.  The eyes of The Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry ..." Psalms 34:9-15 (NIV)

Explanation:

This psalm of David deals with the happiness of those who fear and trust in The Lord.  He begins with a personal testimony and ends with public teaching on Christian behavior.

Application:

We are blessed in more ways that we can count, and yet there are still some blessings that we miss out on because of our behavior.  God supplies the needs for those who fear Him.  Fear here is not being afraid, it is more like being in awe, respectful, and obedient.  The fear of The Lord requires that we tell the truth, turn from evil, do good, seek peace and live like we love and follow The Lord.  If we do this, we will be blessed beyond measure.

GIVE TO THE POOR LEND TO THE LORD

Proclamation:

“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to The Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.” Proverbs 19:17  The King James version of The Bible reads: “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto The Lord; and that which he hath given He will pay him again.”

Explanation:

King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, wrote these words under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Solomon told the people that charity is a principal of good heart.  It is charity to do for the poor.  That shows compassion, concern and sympathy for the less fortunate.  Solomon also encouraged the people to be charitable.  He told them that giving to the poor is the same as lending to The Lord.  That which is given to the poor, The Lord God will place it to the account as lent to Him and He will repay it with interest.

Application:

As Christians, we should be kind to those who are less fortunate than we are.  All of the blessings that we receive were not meant for us to keep to ourselves.  We are to pass them on and share them with others.  Remember the rich man who would not share anything with the beggar Lazarus who sat outside his gates. (Luke 16: 19-31)  That selfish rich man ended up spending eternity in hell.  The Bible says that blessed are those who have compassion for the poor, The Lord will deliver him out of trouble, preserve him and keep him alive, and heal him when he is sick. (Psalm 41 1:1-3)  The Lord looks upon us as if we treat Him the same way that we treat the poor. (Matthew 25:40)  The Lord keeps a record of how we treat the poor and what we give to them.  He treats that which we gave to them as a debt which He has to repay.  And, when He repays us He pays the debt in full, plus interest.  We get more from God than we give to the poor.  We are abundantly blessed for being a blessing to the poor because The Lord repays us.