In
Meditation 108 I invited you to start ruminating on the question “How to
overcome the power of sin in my life and in my church?” Then I suggested that we
begin initially by focusing on our personal lives as Christians.
- In the Meditations 109 to 115
we looked into the question of why the acknowledgment of our Triune God is the
pre-condition for victory over sin!
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In the Meditation 116 we saw that Jesus’ death and resurrection is the
blueprint for action in overcoming the power of sin in my life.
-
In the Meditations 117 and 118 we recognized that God’s Spirit has given
me the ‘mind of Christ’ to understand God’s ways.
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In Meditation 119 we spoke about how Jesus’ life within me should direct
and control my way of thinking.
We are left with the question: How do I
protect Jesus’ life within me against Satan’s attacks?
For modern man, Satan is not a spiritual
reality. In our day and age Satan has been banished to the realm of fantasy. Yet,
God’s Word compels us to take his presence dead serious! In Meditation 20 we
looked into the question: Who is Satan? And in Meditation 21 we asked ourselves
if we can blame Satan for all our wrongdoings? At the end of that last
meditation we came to the following conclusion: “Nowhere in the Bible do we read that we can blame Satan for our
wrongdoings. On the contrary, God’s Word shows that we ourselves are
responsible for turning away from God and for giving in to Satan’s scheming.”
Yet, the assaults that Satan launches on the followers
of Christ can be severe and manifold. He has the objective to hinder or even
destroy Jesus’ life within us if that is possible. That’s why God moved
the apostle Paul to provide us with the means to resist any attack. We find his
life-saving modus operandi in his letter to the Christians in Ephesus (Turkey):
Ephesians 6: 10-17. So, let us see in the next meditations what Paul wants us
to do to overcome any Satanic attack.
“Be (or: grow, become) strong in the Lord...” (Ephesians 6:10**)
Right from the onset
it is perfectly clear that Paul does not put the capacity to counter any Satanic
attack within the human heart. From our meditations so far, it is obvious that we
are not able to overcome Satan’s onslaught by using our own strength. Take a special look at Meditations 19, 101 and 102. There are principally two reasons for this:
1.) By nature our own heart revolts against
God and His moral Law.
God allowed the prophet Jeremiah to grasp something of the profound darkness of
the human heart. That’s why he cries out in horror: “The human heart
is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9*)
2.) Satan’s power over the unsaved human
heart. Since
the Fall (see Genesis 3) the unsaved human heart is in the clutches of Satan. The
apostle Paul reminds his fellow Christians of the fact that they “used to
live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying Satan, the mighty
prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those
who refuse to obey God.” (Ephesians 2:2*)
So, in this encouragement, the apostle
prompts us to look away from ourselves if we seek to overcome Satan’s attacks.
Paul points out that we should grow strong “in the Lord”. What does that mean
practically?
a.) Our Lord Jesus Christ lives in us. Paul says to
the Christians in Colosse (Turkey): “Christ lives in you, and this is your
assurance that you will share in His glory.” (Colossians 1:27*) There are
many verses in the New Testament that underline the reality of Christ living in
all those who trust Him for salvation. That’s why Jesus’ life within me needs protection! Let me mention two
more verses:
-- On the evening before Jesus’ death He
said to His first disciples: “When I am raised to life again, you will know
that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:20*)
-- Paul testifies of Christ’s presence
in his own life when he writes to the Christians in Galatia (Turkey): “I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20**)
The question remains: How does Christ
live in us, knowing that God’s Word proclaims that He is enthroned in heaven?
That leads us to the following point.
b.) Jesus lives in us by His Spirit. At the ‘Last
Supper’ Jesus speaks about the mysterious unity between God the Father, God the
Spirit and Himself. He promises to come and live with His disciples by His
Spirit after His ascension: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Counsellor to be with you for ever -- the Spirit of truth. The world
cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him,
for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will
come to you. Before long, the world will not see Me any more, but you will see Me.
Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realise that I am in My
Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.” (John 14:16-20**)
The New Testament is full of passages
that speak of God’s Spirit living in everyone who is a child of God. Let me
only mention one text of Paul in which he shows that the Spirit of God and the
Spirit of Christ are one and the same Person! The apostle writes to the
Christians in Rome: “You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are
controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And
remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not
Christians at all.)” (Romans 8:9*)
c.) Where God’s Spirit is, there is
God’s power. The
evangelist Luke already tells us this about Jesus’ earthly life: “No doubt you
know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
Devil, for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38*)
The
apostle Paul prays for his fellow-Christians in Ephesus (Greece): “I pray
that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of His power for us
who believe Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead
and seated Him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly
realms.” (Ephesians 1:19-20*)
And again Paul prays for them
saying: “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you
mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:16*)
Let me mention one more text.
Paul reminds his young co-worker Timothy that “God has not given us a Spirit
of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy
1:7*)
d.) Becoming strong
in the Lord means becoming filled with God’s Spirit. In Ephesians
6:10 Paul commands his fellow-Christians in Ephesus to become strong in the
Lord. One chapter earlier he had commanded them already to become filled (i.e.,
controlled) by God’s Spirit. I think that by now it is clear that Paul points
in both verses to the same reality: If Jesus Christ lives in our hearts and
controls our lives by His Spirit, we will have the precondition to overcome any
of Satan’s attacks. At this point I remember the words of the apostle John who
wrote to his Christian audience: “... the One who is in you is greater than
the one (i.e., Satan) who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4**)
Now
that we have seen that our powerful Saviour offers His presence in our hearts
as a precondition for overcoming Satan’s assaults, the question is: What do I
need to do from my side?
That will be the subject of our next
meditation.
Translations: * New Living Translation; ** New
International Version
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