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This week's Quiet Times:
FORCES AT WORK WITHIN US…
MONDAY
Remember how we studied Satan’s Master Plan two weeks ago? Now we are going to look at a Scriptures that details the temptation process. Read James 1:13-15. Does this passage assume that everyone is tempted? Where does the temptation come from? What or who drags you away and entices you? Look up entice in a good dictionary. Does this word imply that temptation is a process that begins outside ourselves? Who sets the trap, the lure, to involve our fleshly desires and arouse passions? When is sin conceived (done)? So, to which point does Satan want to take you? Check out 1 Co 10:13. Are you alone in your temptations? How does God prove His faithfulness toward you? Is He in control or what?! How do you see this passage applied in Job’s story? (Read Job 1-2:13). Does God always provide a way out of your temptation? Write 1 Peter 1:14-15 on an index card and memorize it.
TUESDAY
Satan craftily uses our emotions to darken our understanding. Emotions are so real and palpable that they are hard to ignore when present. If you get back to Satan’s master plan in Ephesians 4:18-19, you can see how Satan’s goal is to get your passions (emotions) flowing. What does he try to darken? What are they ignorant of? What, then, do they go by? How does this relate to Prov 12:16 ? How does the fool show his annoyance? What kind of temptations come to a person through logical, intellectual thinking or reasoning? What kind of temptations come to you through your feelings, especially when those feelings (emotions) have the strength to overpower your reasoning? Are you more frequently driven by intellect or by emotions? Read Hebrews 11:25. Who is this passage talking about? What does this passage say about that person? Was this person satisfying the sinful nature? What does this passage say about sin? Can pleasurable things be good and bad? What makes the difference? Can something be bad even if it feels so good? Can you trust your emotions? Write Jeremiah 17:9 on an index card and memorize it.
WEDNESDAY
Let’s get back to Job to take another look at how Satan uses another of our weaknesses against us. Check out Job 1-2:13 again. What was Satan trying to incite in Job when he challenged God in 1:11? What was Job’s response in 1:22? Did Satan quit just because Job didn’t fall into the trap (2:7)? Again, how did Job respond (2:10)? If you were Job, what would you have thought when all those bad things happened? Would you have questioned why God let them occur? Would you have been angry with Him? Let’s look at an incident in Jesus’ time that reveals how God responds to our pain and anger. Read John 11:11-35. Did Jesus disciple’s understand what He was about to do (12-15)? Even though these men struggled with their feelings about Jesus, do you think Jesus continued to believe in them? Were Mary and Martha upset at Jesus’ delay (21, 32)? Do you think both sisters were deeply hurt about their brother’s death and Jesus’ delay? Do you think their hearts were filled with pain? How do you react towards your loved ones when they have caused pain in your heart? What did all this commotion cause in Jesus (33)? Think about what he was seeing around Him: hurt, disbelief, doubt, anger, pain. Was He weeping in vs 35 because of Lazarus’ death or because He was Himself feeling the pain and taking on the burden of this pain in His heart? How do you think God reacts when you are angry at Him, or doubtful or unyielding? Write Romans 8:26-27 on a big piece of paper this time, and stick it on your wall, maybe next to your bed. When you pray at night and read this passage you will be assured that your Lord knows what’s on your mind and in your heart!
THURSDAY
One of the most powerful tools Satan and his armies have conjured up to render God’s people ineffective is aberrated religious convictions. Between hypocrisy, fratricide and self righteousness (look up these words in a good dictionary) Satan and his henchangels confuse and render useless many of Christ’s soldiers. We all are pretty familiar with the Pharisees and how Jesus treated them (Mark 7:6). He Didn’t hesitate to chastise them in public so that other would beware of this self-deluding sin. During Job’s intense suffering and anguish three of his friends came over to comfort him in Job 2:11-13. If you continue reading through the end of the book, you will realize what these “friends” were really doing. Instead of comfort they brought accusation because of their narrow-mindedness. I’ll let you figure out how Satan used these good-hearted men, who had good intentions and were not hypocrites, to commit spiritual fratricide. What about the church “cops”? The “pious” self-righteous who do not need a doctor? Read Luke 18:11-14 to see who is really justified and by Whom he is justified! The faith of the self-righteous is the weakest of them all because he refuses to be healed by confession à James 5:16.
FRIDAY
The family was the first institution established by the Lord God (Gen 2:23-24). From our studies in the Heart of God Series, we clearly see that the fifth commandment is a transitional command. The first four deal with God's relationship with His covenant people and the next six focus on the dealings between the people of the covenant community. The root of the dealings with the community are established by the conviction of this fifth commandment. Those who regard their family relations with honor will pass this honor and respect to future generations and appropriately defer their honor to God above all. In families where disrespect and folly reign, probably the first four commands were held with lose convictions and the rest of them will also be held loosely as well. Read 1 Tim 5:4,8. How is what we believe put into practice? What is pleasing to God? What can you become if you don’t provide for your family? Look up provide in a dictionary and make a list of how Satan can use you or has used you to not provide for your family. If Satan succeeds in breaking the spiritual strength that can exist in a believing family to wreak havoc and confusion in the saved, imagine how much more he can do to those families that are not with God!