“Our Daily Bread”   

http://odb.org/2012/07/18/the-best-things-in-life/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

John 13:15-17… “For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”  (NKJV)

The opening scripture has Jesus giving His disciples last minute instructions, at what is now called “The Last Supper”, the night before His crucifixion on the cross at Calvary… I just have to believe that what Jesus was trying to teach His disciples…is what He thought to be the most important thing for His disciples to remember, when Jesus was gone…

Jesus had just finished washing and drying the feet of all of His disciples…  This task, normally left to the woman servant of a household, was performed by Jesus to show them that humility was more important than their pride… For Christian’s, this lesson of putting others ahead of ourselves, is mandatory to remain humble to our Spirit…

Being humble is indeed the first step toward becoming a Christian to begin with… I spent the last 2 days writing about the missing link of repentance, which is left out of church teaching that is commonly known as “Easy-Believism”, in many of today’s churches… The sinning un-believer must be humbled to the fact that they can in no way, shape, or form…save themselves from eternal damnation… Without this humility, they can never come to Christ, to seek Him to be their Lord and Savior…

I spent considerable time explaining the 3 parts of repentance that must be understood…along with the necessity of understanding and obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ; before a sinner is redeemed by God, through God’s grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ…Ephesians 2:8-9…

Once a Christian has been forgiven of their sins, and filled by God with the Holy Spirit (as God’s lifelong, live-in Helper…John 14:26), they are called to remain humble to the leading of the Holy Spirit; as He is left in total charge of the Christian’s life… This struggle between God and Satan (along with our own flesh), becomes the next hurdle the Christian will face…as Satan will do everything in his considerable power…to keep the Christian from growing in spiritual wisdom, knowledge, and maturity… Satan has lost the battle; but he doesn’t want to loose the war, by allowing the Christian to share their testimony and the “good news” of the gospel of Christ…

All Christian’s are commanded by Jesus Himself…in His last words to His disciples (and us) before ascending into heaven…to share the gospel of Christ to the lost and dying world around them…Mathew 28:19-20… Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.  (NKJV)

If Satan can keep the new Christian out of the Bible, where they will grow in spiritual knowledge and wisdom, (including learning about how to protect themselves completely for Satan’s attacks, as taught by the apostle Paul in…Ephesians 6:10-20… “The Armor of God”)…Satan will be able to temp the new (or old) Christian into sinning on a regular basis… It is only the protection of God’s full set of spiritual armor, along with remaining filled with (being controlled by) the Holy Spirit, which can protect the Christian from Satan’s attacks…

God’s spiritual armor must be put on by the Christian…piece by piece… This (at least for me), took some time… with due diligence in spending time every day in God’s Word, the Bible…  Paul declares God’s Word, as… “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17b); and the only offensive part of the 6 pieces of God’s full set of spiritual armor… I urge all readers to open their Bibles to…Ephesians 6:10-20…to read about  how God promises to keep the Christian protected from the evil one…Ephesians 6:11…  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (NKJV)

I must tell you, that I was (and still am) protected from Satan’s attacks, by wearing the “whole armor of God”…  If you are missing any piece, or have even have a small kink in your armor…Satan will find his way back into your life… But watch out for your own flesh…  Somehow (as I so often acknowledge), I slowly allowed myself to take back control from the Holy Spirit… Here is the link to read about God’s complete set of protection from Satan…  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV

Again, I emphasize, that it is humility (remaining humble to being controlled by the Holy Spirit), and constant prayer to the Lord…confessing and repenting of any sins as quickly as possible after they occur (1John 1:9)…which will keep the Christian aligned with the will of God, and Satan looking for an easier target to snare with his net of deception and lust…

Heavenly Father, I pray that all readers would dig into Your Word…and as Christian’s, would put on Your whole set of spiritual armor that will indeed protect them from all forms of attack; including the fiery darts of the wicked one (Ephesians 6:16)… I pray Lord, that all of Your children would remain humbled to the leading of the Holy Spirit…and that their love of Christ would become evident to all of those around them… I pray for this perfect peace and overwhelming joy the fullness of the Holy Spirit will bring…to all of Your children who remain humbled to His control…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills