At All

"No man has to live in the devil's grasp."

ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, the sound of a rushing mighty wind filled the room where they were sitting, and tongues of fire appeared upon their heads. But those who’d been praying for this moment were founded upon the Rock of Christ and could withstand it, even greater, were fortified from it, and so their house grew by 3,000 that day. The house the devil had erected to deceive men, both those held back by the Law and those who knew nothing of it, could not stand firm in the face of the wind of the Spirit. All man’s efforts to build religion under self-effort were in vain.

God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit (John 4:24). Anything done in the flesh will eventually fail. It’s the eventually we’re not concerned about, and that because we’re confident in our self-effort. A house built upon God’s foundation will stand through Spirit wind or the devil’s tornado. A house built upon philosophies and education, human striving and man’s wealth, will fall under the strength of both. The only true way to be victorious and successful is in God.

Yet, to the human eye, many times, it looks like people fail even there, so we pull out some common saying to console ourselves, how God is a mystery we will never comprehend. First, that isn’t scriptural. 1 Corinthians 2:10 tells us, “But God has revealed his secret plan to us by his Spirit (Remedy).” The Father sent Jesus to reveal the mystery of God to us. Second, He doesn’t want us to live in the land of consolation. He wants us to live exceedingly abundant, over-the-top, look-what-God-has-done lives for as long as we want until we are satisfied and ready to go home (Ephesians 3:20; Psalm 91:16).

In His Word are all the promises we need to be financially solvent and generous, completely well and healthy, peaceful, wise and discerning. We can put our spiritual foot down and refuse to fall into any of the devil’s whoopsie-daisy holes. Psalm 91:3 says, “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” “Deliver from” does not mean I have to “go through it” first, but that I don’t need to encounter either the snare or the pestilence at all. No one in my household had sickness from the recent pandemic, and some worked retail where it was prevalent. I said, “No, not here,” and the Spirit wind blew it away.

Much of God’s goodness to us is not seen in us because we don’t appropriate the Word of God. We give the devil a foothold saying, “This happens to everybody.” It doesn’t have to. We need never suffer any physical or mental affliction, no financial hardship, no family turmoil at all. God’s desire for us is His complete salvation, and that includes prevention and protection.

“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6 BSB)

Now, there is no condemnation if we don’t, no matter how minor or severe we trip up. God loves us regardless and, even greater, He loves us for that reason. The apostle Paul said to the church at Corinth, “For God did not send me to perform rituals, but to present the good news about him, about his methods, principles and character as revealed by Christ—not some human theory of appeasement—lest the death of Christ be seen as some payment to an offended god, and therefore lose its power to free the mind from fear and mistrust of God (1 Corinthians 1:17, Remedy).”

Jesus did not come to earth, born of a virgin, and die on the cross for our sins to appease the Father’s wrath. No! Remember John 3:16, “For God SO LOVED the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus rose victorious over sin, hell, and the grave, He defeated the devil (His reason for coming to earth), because God loved us so much.

Jesus is the foundation of our temple because the Father loved us that much. Because Jesus loved us so much. Because the Spirit is love.

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)

Forgiveness is the heart of the gospel. For all our sins and mistakes, Jesus became the sacrifice, willingly and on purpose. He wasn’t pushed there, forced to do something blindly like the Old Covenant animal sacrifices. He chose to die in the greatest act of faith ever performed. He had to release His spirit to even physically die and had to believe that the Holy Spirit would do what He’d promised to do for thousands of years. From such a great example, we are commanded to forgive one another. Here is our foundation. Jesus said to love our neighbor summed up the entire Law. We are also told to pray for all men, to pray for our enemies, to bless our enemies, and to pray for kings and all in authority. But have we been doing lately? Do we pray and forgive or gossip, shaking our heads? I choose forgiveness. I choose compassion.

Another foundation. Jesus came to do good and heal all that were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). He came with the Spirit of the Lord upon Him to “heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set a liberty them that are bruised (Luke 4:18).” We are commanded to GO and DO as He did. Not to make new congregants, nor even the church’s idea of disciples (a word that means learners), but to touch the lives of people. It is interesting to me that in Luke 17, Jesus speaks to “the disciples” in verse 1 and to “the apostles” in verse 5. His words on forgiveness (verses 1-4) are for the learners who were listening. His words on servanthood (verses 6-10) are to the apostles, the sent ones. First, we learn and lay a foundation, we renew our mind to think like Jesus, then we are sent out to heal, deliver, and give recovery because NO MAN HAS TO LIVE IN THE DEVIL’S GRASP.

At all. But from this day until the end of our days, when we decide we’re ready to go home, we can be healthy, wealthy, and wise, to quote to old adage. Our health, we dedicate to God to do His work. Our wealth is not to build a bigger barn but to support the work of others. His wisdom spoken through us is to give us His perspective. We can go from glory to glory into whatever height of the Spirit our heart desires. There is no end cap. No final story. But this house we’ve been given can get as big and as tall as we can dream. The floor built upon the prayers of our forefathers; the walls erected by our praises; the ceiling beneath us; God’s throne in our direct gaze.

“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.” (Ephesians 1:3, MSG)

“Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!” (Ephesians 1:3, TPT)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com