Riverside, California, United States - Greg Laurie Daily Devotion for Thursday, 3 April 2014 "The Spiritual Battlefield"

Riverside, California, United States - Greg Laurie Daily Devotion for Thursday, 3 April 2014 "The Spiritual Battlefield"
Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.-—1 Corinthians 10:12 
Someone once asked the great evangelist Charles Finney, "Do you really believe in a literal devil?"
Finney responded, "You try opposing him for a while, and you see if he's literal or not." If you want to find out if there is a literal devil, then start walking with Jesus Christ and seeking to be in the will of God. You will find just how real he is.
I think that many people, after they have decided to follow Christ, are surprised to find that the Christian life can be so difficult, so intense sometimes. It isn't a life of ease, but one of conflict, warfare, and opposition. Our choice is simple: Will we be victorious? Or will we be victims on the spiritual battlefield?
It has been said that you can tell a lot about a man by who his enemies are. The same is true for us. We are no longer opposing God, but we now have a new, very powerful foe, and he is described in the Bible as the Devil. The Devil, of course, is not happy with the fact that he has lost one of his own. He is angry that you have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. Now you have become a potential threat to his kingdom as well.
The closer you stay to the Lord, the safer you are, because you stand in the work that Jesus did on the cross. Don't try to engage the Devil in your own ability because he can chew you up and spit you out. But if you stand in the Lord and in His power and stay as close to Him as you can, then you will be safe.[Today's devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013]
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Here's why the Christian life can be so difficult, so intense sometimes. . . .
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Today's Bible Reading:
Judges 17:1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it.”
His mother said, “May Yahweh bless my son!”
3 He restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, then his mother said, “I most certainly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make an engraved image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.”
4 When he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to a silversmith, who made an engraved image and a molten image out of it. It was in the house of Micah.
5 The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim,[a] and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. 7 There was a young man out of Bethlehem Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he lived there. 8 The man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem Judah, to live where he could find a place, and he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he traveled. 9 Micah said to him, “Where did you come from?”
He said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem Judah, and I am looking for a place to live.” 10 Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in. 11 The Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was to him as one of his sons. 12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now know I that Yahweh will do good to me, since I have a Levite as my priest.”
18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day, their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. 2 The children of Dan sent five men of their family from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. They said to them, “Go, explore the land!”
They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; so they turned aside there, and said to him, “Who brought you here? What do you do in this place? What do you have here?”
4 He said to them, “Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I am become his priest.”
5 They said to him, “Please ask counsel of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.”
6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace. Your way in which you go is before Yahweh.”
7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people who were there, how they lived in safety, in the way of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was no one in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with anyone else. 8 They came to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol; and their brothers asked them, “What do you say?”
9 They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. Do you stand still? Don’t be slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. 10 When you go, you will come to an unsuspecting people, and the land is large; for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”
11 The family of the Danites set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, with six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 12 They went up and encamped in Kiriath Jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh Dan, to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath Jearim. 13 They passed from there to the hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14 Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brothers, “Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,[b] and an engraved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do.” 15 They turned aside there, and came to the house of the young Levite man, even to the house of Micah, and asked him how he was doing. 16 The six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war.
18 When these went into Micah’s house, and took the engraved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
19 They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”
20 The priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, the teraphim, and the engraved image, and went with the people. 21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, the livestock, and the goods before them. 22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. 23 As they cried to the children of Dan, they turned their faces, and said to Micah, “What ails you, that you come with such a company?”
24 He said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away! What more do I have? How can you ask me, ‘What ails you?’”
25 The children of Dan said to him, “Don’t let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall on you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household.”
26 The children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. 27 They took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword; then they burned the city with fire. 28 There was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone else; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth Rehob. They built the city, and lived in it. 29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel; however the name of the city used to be Laish. 30 The children of Dan set up for themselves the engraved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up for themselves Micah’s engraved image which he made, and it remained all the time that God’s house was in Shiloh.
Footnotes:
a. Judges 17:5 teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.
Judges 18:14 teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.
Psalm 89: A contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the loving kindness of Yahweh forever.
    With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
    You established the heavens.
    Your faithfulness is in them.”
3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
    I have sworn to David, my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your offspring[a] forever,
    and build up your throne to all generations.’”
Selah.
5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh;
    your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
6 For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh?
    Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
7 a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
    to be feared above all those who are around him?
8 Yahweh, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
    Yah, your faithfulness is around you.
9 You rule the pride of the sea.
    When its waves rise up, you calm them.
10 You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
    You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
11 The heavens are yours.
    The earth also is yours;
    the world and its fullness.
    You have founded them.
12 The north and the south, you have created them.
    Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
13 You have a mighty arm.
    Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
    Loving kindness and truth go before your face.
15 Blessed are the people who learn to acclaim you.
    They walk in the light of your presence, Yahweh.
16 In your name they rejoice all day.
    In your righteousness, they are exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength.
    In your favor, our horn will be exalted.
18 For our shield belongs to Yahweh;
    our king to the Holy One of Israel.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints,
    and said, “I have given strength to the warrior.
    I have exalted a young man from the people.
20 I have found David, my servant.
    I have anointed him with my holy oil,
21 with whom my hand shall be established.
    My arm will also strengthen him.
22 No enemy will tax him.
    No wicked man will oppress him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him,
    and strike those who hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my loving kindness will be with him.
    In my name, his horn will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also on the sea,
    and his right hand on the rivers.
26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
    my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
27 I will also appoint him my firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
    My covenant will stand firm with him.
29 I will also make his offspring[b] endure forever,
    and his throne as the days of heaven.
30 If his children forsake my law,
    and don’t walk in my ordinances;
31 if they break my statutes,
    and don’t keep my commandments;
32 then I will punish their sin with the rod,
    and their iniquity with stripes.
33 But I will not completely take my loving kindness from him,
    nor allow my faithfulness to fail.
34 I will not break my covenant,
    nor alter what my lips have uttered.
35 Once have I sworn by my holiness,
    I will not lie to David.
36 His offspring[c] will endure forever,
    his throne like the sun before me.
37 It will be established forever like the moon,
    the faithful witness in the sky.”
Selah.
38 But you have rejected and spurned.
    You have been angry with your anointed.
39 You have renounced the covenant of your servant.
    You have defiled his crown in the dust.
40 You have broken down all his hedges.
    You have brought his strongholds to ruin.
41 All who pass by the way rob him.
He has become a reproach to his neighbors.
42 You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries.
    You have made all of his enemies rejoice.
43 Yes, you turn back the edge of his sword,
    and haven’t supported him in battle.
44 You have ended his splendor,
    and thrown his throne down to the ground.
45 You have shortened the days of his youth.
    You have covered him with shame.
Selah.
46 How long, Yahweh?
    Will you hide yourself forever?
    Will your wrath burn like fire?
47 Remember how short my time is!
    For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
48 What man is he who shall live and not see death,
    who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?[d]
Selah.
49 Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses,
    which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants,
    how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
51 With which your enemies have mocked, Yahweh,
    with which they have mocked the footsteps of your anointed one.
52 Blessed be Yahweh forever more.
Amen, and Amen.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 89:4 or, seed
b. Psalm 89:29 or, seed
c. Psalm 89:36 or, seed
d. Psalm 89:48 Sheol is the place of the dead.
2 Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh. 4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; 6 who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away: 8 won’t service of the Spirit be with much more glory? 9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For most certainly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses. 11 For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.
12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, 13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away. 14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away. 15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie 
P.O. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514-4000
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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