Be Strong In The Lord

King James Daily Bible Study Devotional
Message Title: Be Strong In The Lord
Date: Tuesday December 27, 2011
Chapters: Revelation 12-13
All Scripture quoted comes from the King James Version, words in red are quoted by Jesus.

Hello My Friend,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” -Ephesians 6:10-17.

There is a battle going on, a battle like no other, a spiritual battle, much stronger and more destructive than any battle we will ever fight with the flesh. It is a battle that will never end until the day Christ returns and takes His throne as the King of kings. The closer we get to that day the bigger that battle will become, and like we learned yesterday, death is no escape, no one, not even Satan himself will escape Judgment Day, except those who have put on the whole armor of God. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God...And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” - 1 John 5:13,20.

As John has been given visions that foretell what will happen before, during, and after Christ returns, he is taken back to a time well before God even created the earth. A time when there was actually a war in heaven. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” - Revelation 12:1-5,7-11.

The early prophecy fulfilled in which God said He would put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) is foretold here well before God created the heavens and earth. The woman about to give birth represents the Church, those who overcame Satan by applying the blood of the Lamb upon them. The attempts of Satan and his recruits to prevent the offspring of Israel and Jesus Himself from coming were and always will be unsuccessful. He can destroy as much as he wants, he can deceive as much as he wants, he can even bring death to the body, but what he cannot do is take away one soul that has been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.” -1 Corinthians 6:20.

Satan knows his fate and because he knows his fate he is going to try everything to prolong his life and take as many people with him as possible until Christ returns. Since he has not idea when that will happen either he is going to do his best and will succeed in not only deceiving those who have not received Christ, but those who have as well. How is he going to deceive them? By passing himself off as Jesus, known as the antichrist, I guess you can say that antichrist is the off spring of Satan.

“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.” -Revelation 13:13-18.

Satan is determined to try and destroy everything that Christ stands for, but in the end the King of kings, Lord of lords is the one who will prevail. Christ prevailed when He died on the cross and arose three days later, those who ask Jesus to save them are a part of the church of Christ. Those who are saved are not written out of the book of life! “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” -Revelation 3:5.

I remember growing up the horror stories I heard about the number 666, anyone seeing that number would freak out. We should be concerned, there are literally people out there working for the antichrist, these are false preachers, teachers, layman, working for this beast. They look good, sound as if they know what they are talking about, and have people eating right out of their hands. They are literally sending millions of people to hell through their deception. Their motive in none other than to do the dirty work for the antichrist, no, Obama is not the antichrist, but there are many today working for the antichrist. “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” - 1 John 4:3.

While we cannot know the hour that the antichrist will be here nor when Christ will come to save all who truly believe in Him, we can be prepared, we can know the difference, we can be ready and armed to handle those who come and try to deceive us. Only those who have put on the full armor of God can be strong enough to distinguish the truth from the lies. Those are salvation, faith, righteousness, truth, the peace of the Gospel, and the Word of God, which is our only defense against false doctrine. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” -Hebrews 4:12.

I often read commentaries from different people who read the same version I do so I can get some insight from others who would know more than I do. Let me tell you, there have been times in my early days of reading God's Word that I believed the things some of these people were saying. Now, I am stronger in the Lord and getting better at figuring out who has no idea what they are talking about. We cannot be strong in the Lord without His Word in us, we cannot know and live by the truth of God's Word without studying it for ourselves, and not just one time, it has to be constant. Even if you take two, five, or ten years, to read the Bible through you become stronger in the Lord, it just needs to be constant. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” - 2 Timothy 2:15.

This will be my sixth year of reading the Bible through, every year I become stronger in the Lord. I witnessed to someone last night through the internet and knew exactly which passage to turn to when he asked questions about the Bible, which obviously he had gotten from reading too many books or listening to too many people. That all comes from the power of God and the witness inside of me that gives me the strength to speak the truth. “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth...He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” - 1 John 5:5,6,10. Praise God for His Word!

Today's Prayer:
God,
Thank You for Your Word, it is just amazing to have Your Word readily available to us. While some of the contents can be a little confusing You slowly teach us through the Holy Spirit what You want us to learn. Thank You for the guides who help explain the more complex things and thank You for giving us the ability to discern the truth from the lies on our own as we study Your Word. The more we study it the more we are armed and ready for anything the devil throws at us. We can only be armed with the strength that comes from Christ, the Word in the flesh, who saves all who believe in Him. In Jesus' name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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