VIDEO Mightier Than All

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:9

In English grammar, adjectives can be used in three forms: positive (the book is long), comparative (the book is longer), or superlative (the book is the longest). Obviously, the superlative case indicates the ultimate. If a book is the longest, that means there is no book longer.

The superlative form of adjective is found in God’s name Almighty (Hebrew El Shaddai). It was the name by which God revealed Himself to the patriarchs before revealing His personal name, Yahweh, to Moses (Exodus 6:3). If we say God is “Almighty,” it means He is the mightiest of all. It means there is none more powerful, none who can stand against Him. The New Testament version of almighty is pantokrator—from pas(all) and krateo (to be strong, rule) (2 Corinthians 6:18). Almighty (pantokrator) is found eight times in Revelation, the book that depicts God’s ultimate victory over Satan and his demons.

When you feel overpowered by life’s circumstances, remember that God is mightier than all. You can do all things through Him who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13).

One Almighty is more than many mighties. William Gurnall

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Satan’s Global Conflict – Revelation 12:7-17 – Skip Heitzig

A Heart for Service

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God. 2 Corinthians 9:13

A ministry in Carlsbad, New Mexico, supports their community by offering more than 24,000 pounds of free food each month to local residents. The leader of the ministry shared, “People can come here, and we will accept them and meet them right where they are. Our goal is . . . to meet their practical needs to get to their spiritual needs.” As believers in Christ, God desires for us to use what we’ve been given to bless others, drawing our communities closer to Him. How can we develop a heart for service that brings glory to God?

We develop a heart for service by asking God to show us how to use the gifts He’s given us to benefit others (1 Peter 4:10). In this way, we offer “many expressions of thanks to God” for the abundance He’s blessed us with (2 Corinthians 9:12).

Serving others was an important part of Jesus’ ministry. When He healed the sick and fed the hungry, many were introduced to God’s goodness and love. By caring for our communities, we’re following His model of discipleship. God’s wisdom reminds us that when we demonstrate God’s love through our actions, “others will praise God” (v. 13). Service isn’t about self-gratification but about showing others the extent of God’s love and the miraculous ways He works through those who are called by His name.

By:  Kimya Loder

Reflect & Pray

What’s motivated your service to the community? How might you be more intentional about using your gifts to bring glory to God?

Heavenly Father, I desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Please give me a heart for service. May it be an act of praise and gratitude to You.

Read Compassion: Learning to Love Like Jesus .

Impossible Love Made Possible

Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to fulfill God’s two greatest commandments.

Galatians 5:13-23

Jesus said the two greatest commandments are these: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). What an overwhelming assignment! 

In our own strength, we will find success out of reach, but the Lord has provided a way for Christians to accomplish the impossible. The indwelling Holy Spirit works to produce His fruit in us (Gal. 5:22-23). The first quality listed is love, and the remaining eight are actually descriptions of how it is conveyed.  

Love isn’t produced by trying harder to muster good will toward someone who is irritating or hard to get along with. Instead, think of the process more like sap running through a branch on a grapevine. In a similar way, the Spirit flows through us, producing God’s love so we can express it to Him and to others. 

Whenever we demonstrate kindness, patience, or gentleness, it’s God’s doing, not ours. Even the adoration we offer Him isn’t something we produce in our own heart apart from His assistance. Though the command to love is enormous, God’s grace makes it possible. 

Forsake and Follow

“Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.” (Luke 5:10-11)

Perhaps we take too lightly the fact that the disciples “forsook all, and followed him.” This action involved at least two aspects, the leaving of their former life and the realignment of their loyalty.

The word “forsook” is used in a variety of extreme situations, including the “putting away” of a spouse (1 Corinthians 7:11-12; also “leave,” v. 13), and even death. “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up [same word] the ghost” (Matthew 27:50). This leaving implies a complete severing of a situation or relationship.

Furthermore, they forsook all. For Peter, James, John, and Andrew, this involved leaving a prosperous business; for Matthew, a prestigious position of wealth; i.e., their careers. Certainly each left their livelihood, security, training, possessions, relationships, hopes—everything! “Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

Next, the disciples needed to restructure their lives and loyalties to those of Christ. The word “follow” implies a unity of purpose and direction. Jesus told the rich young ruler to give up all vestiges of his materialistic life “and come, take up the cross, and follow me” (Mark 10:21).

Christ issues the same call to discipleship to each of us. Peter asked Him the question that we frequently ask. “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27). Christ answered, “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (v. 29). JDM

What’s Happened to Morality?

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. —2 Timothy 3:5

The question being discussed by many these days—why religion is increasing and morality slipping, all at the same time—finds its answer in…the error of religious intellectualism. Men have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.

The text alone will not elevate the moral life. To become morally effective, the truth must be accompanied by a mystic element, the very element supplied by the Spirit of truth. The Holy Spirit will not be banished to a footnote without taking terrible vengeance against His banishers….

The mysterious presence of the Spirit is vitally necessary if we are to avoid the pitfalls of religion. As the fiery pillar led Israel through the wilderness, so the Spirit of truth must lead us all our journey through. One text alone could improve things mightily for us if we would but obey it: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). WTA097-098

Evangelical obedience expresses not merely the form, but the power of godliness….God neither requires nor will accept obedience which does not spontaneously flow from supreme love to Himself. DTC199

“Clinging to His Creeks”

Asher remained at the seashore and stayed in his harbors.—Judges 5:17

One of the greatest mistakes we can make in life is to block the efforts of the Divine Eagle when He attempts to push us out of the nest of the accustomed into the world of the adventurous. Asher did this—the account in the Moffatt translation reads: “Asher sat still by the seaboard clinging to his creeks.” Although the metaphor is changed, the principle is still the same. There was Asher sitting by the seaboard, clinging to his creeks, when he could have launched out into the ocean and experienced the joy of a great adventure. In the face of the big, he settled for the little. They were “his” creeks and he wasn’t going to let the accustomed go to venture into the unaccustomed no matter how great the possibilities.

Asher is a type of the Christian who wants to stay by the safe and secure and finishes up by doing nothing and getting nowhere. I am not advocating spiritual recklessness, nor am I arguing for an unmindful approach to the Christian life; I am simply saying that we ought to be ocean-minded and not creek-minded Christians. The people who try to find inner security by clinging to the creeks are invariably unfulfilled, for we are inwardly made for growth and creativity.

A turtle doesn’t get anywhere until he sticks his neck out! To cling to our creeks for safety and security is to be upset at every call of the big. We are made for the big and are restless in our littleness. We cannot be content this side of God’s purpose.

Prayer

O Father, You are calling and I must come. I come from my littleness and watch it sink into the bigness of Your purpose for me. The great calls and I must come—at any price. Amen.

Further Study

1Sm 17; Mt 21:22; Mk 11:24; 1Jn 5:14-15

In what ways was David adventurous?

On what was his adventurous spirit based?

The Christian Hope

John 14:1-3

Jesus left many bequests free and clear, requiring only the acceptance by the beneficiary. However, He left one special gift in the form of a testamentary trust (a trust formed under the terms of His will).

Jesus looked into the troubled eyes of His disciples and responded to their unspoken grief with sympathy and reassurance. “Do not let not your hearts be troubled,” He said. “Trust in God; trust also in Me. In my Father’s house are many rooms… I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1-3).

The Christian hope is not a wish; it has substance. We can depend on it. Faith is personal, an attitude which we can choose to have—or not to have. The Christian hope exists independent of our attitudes.

If there is one distinction which separates the Christian faith from other religions, it is the Christian hope. Without what the Church fathers called “the sure and certain hope of the resurrection,” the Christian faith crumbles. It becomes a lovely, impractical dream. When Jesus presented Himself as the hope of the world, and proved the validity of His promises through His resurrection, He made it possible for the common, unremarkable person to live an uncommon, remarkable life. This is a life of victory with the sure and certain knowledge that our Lord has not forgotten us, but will one day return to claim us as His own.

As a beneficiary, I am able to draw from His trust freely, day by day, even moment by moment whenever the need arises, without diminishing the assets. This daily draw-down on the Christian hope makes it possible to move ahead in faith, knowing that God can fashion beauty from ashes when they are given over to Him.

The Christian hope rescues us from grieving over what might have been—or what we might have done better—and challenges us with all that God has yet for us to accomplish in His name. The Christian hope keeps us from wrapping ourselves in the encumbering robes of self-pity and despair. It sets us free to praise and honor the Lord in word and works, in spite of what happens in the world.

Sharon Robertson, The War Cry