Do You Know Your Enemy?

Whatever lie the enemy is telling you, remember this: God loves you!

Any thought that is in your mind that makes you feel further from God, unworthy or undeserving of His love and blessings, incapable of being in His presence and leads you to be separated from your King and His people, is from the enemy and is of his nature. 

God has accepted you in Christ Jesus and there is nothing that any one of us can do or be that is too great for the atonement of His blood to cleanse. It has been shed, He yielded it willingly and lovingly, and as you have come to Him, drawn by His love, those things have been removed from the heavenly ledger sheet and no longer show up in the debit column. You are no longer a liability; you are an asset in the kingdom of God, a treasure for which Jesus was willing to die in order to conquer the forces of death, hell, and the grave for the sake of your rescue.

Yes, those things that come to mind from the enemy used to exist, they have happened, you have memories of them, but they are in the past, and a line of His blood has been drawn marking a separation. You have been given a new life, a new identity, a new nature, a new name, a new heart, a new way of thinking, and a new Master to look to and from Whom you receive new types of commands and directions, encouragement, hope, strength, joy, courage, trust and faith.

We do the work of the enemy when we beat ourselves up, when we question the worth that God places on us, when we doubt the gifts and blessings God places in our lives for the sake of His body. When those thoughts show up, refuse them a place to stay and turn instead to giving praise and honor to our Father, the mighty God Who has blessed us beyond measure with eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Are you imperfect? Yes. You are a living, changing, progressive work in God's hands, and He celebrates every step you take, every inch of growth you show, every choice you make in obedience to His Spirit, every improvement, small, slow, incremental, daily growing stronger, every mark on the door-frame showing the results of your growing pains. You are not complete yet, there is still room for improvement, and God rejoices at every change that takes place in your life that draws you closer into His loving embrace. 

God loves you, and He turns His power and might against the powers and principalities that attempt to harm you, pull you down, defeat you. He loves you, and He puts His heavenly host on watch and alert around you. He loves you and He listens attentively for any cry, any question, any request, any expression of love from you. God loves you, and has shaped all of eternity to make a place for you that will give you pleasure, that you will enjoy, that will draw you into close, intimate fellowship with Him. He will not give you up, let you go, toss you out, or count you off. He is committed to seeing it through and has already made every provision necessary for you so that you will have all that you need, daily, to reach the goal He has set before you, to be an overcomer, to walk in His victory as His child, as a son or daughter of our heavenly Father.

Psalm 75
v.9 But as for me, I will always proclaim what God has done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
v.10 For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”

God of all grace, we can scarce believe it, but Your word declares Your love for us. We accept it, and walk in it, and thank and praise and worship You for it. Thank You that You are the eternally unchanging God that keeps His promises and has the resources to back them up. We depend on You for our daily strength, and we turn our eyes from what we were to what You will make us into, from what we currently lack to what You have today given us. We walk in Your love, Lord, sustained, strengthened, filled, furnished, and able to give from our abundance to those we meet who have need. Thank You for involving us in Your work, Your harvest, and making us productive in Your kingdom.

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