|
|
by L B Cowman
Satan's Tools
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and, let us run with patience the race that is set
before us" (Heb. 12:1).
There are weights which are not sins in themselves, but which become
distractions and stumbling blocks in our Christian progress. One of the worst of
these is despondency. The heavy heart is indeed a weight that will surely drag
us down in our holiness and usefulness.
The failure of Israel to enter the land of promise began in murmuring, or, as
the text in Numbers literally puts it, "as it were murmured." Just a faint
desire to complain and be discontented. This led on until it blossomed and
ripened into rebellion and ruin. Let us give ourselves no liberty ever to doubt
God or His love and faithfulness to us in everything and forever.
We can set our will against doubt just as we do against any other sin; and as we
stand firm and refuse to doubt, the Holy Spirit will come to our aid and give us
the faith of God and crown us with victory.
It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting, and wondering if
God has forsaken us and if after all our hopes are to end in failure. Let us
refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us "count it all joy"
when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by
resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the
reckoning real.--Selected
The devil has two master tricks. One is to get us discouraged; then for a time
at least we can be of no service to others, and so are defeated. The other is to
make us doubt, thus breaking the faith link by which we are bound to our Father.
Lookout! Do not be tricked either way.--G.E.M.
My plan is to shun the spirit of sadness as I would Satan; but, alas! I am not
always successful. Like the devil himself it meets me on the highway of
usefulness, looks me so fully in my face, till my poor soul changes color!
Sadness discolors everything; it leaves all objects charmless; it involves
future prospects in darkness; it deprives the soul of all its aspirations,
enchains all its powers, and produces a mental paralysis!
An old believer remarked, that cheerfulness in religion makes all its services
come off with delight; and that we are never carried forward so swiftly in the
ways of duty as when borne on the wings of delight; adding, that Melancholy
clips such wings; or, to alter the figure, takes off our chariot wheels in duty,
and makes them, like those of the Egyptians, drag heavily.
Gladness! I like to cultivate the spirit of gladness! It puts the soul so in
tune again, and keeps it in tune, so that Satan is shy of touching it--the
chords of the soul become too warm, or too full of heavenly electricity, for his
infernal fingers, and he goes off somewhere else! Satan is always very shy of
meddling with me when my heart is full of gladness and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Yesterday | Archives | Tomorrow
See Also:
Wisdom from Desert Devotionals Archives
Daily Morning and Evening Devotionals by Spurgeon
Daily Devotional: Today With Jesus
Scripture | Daily Devotionals | Weekly Devotionals | Lectionary | Prayers | Church Fathers | Faith | History | Inspirational | Sermons | Qurbana Videos | Devotional Songs | Poems | Humor | Health | General Interest | Library - Home
-------
Malankara World
A service of St. Basil's Syriac Orthodox
Church, Ohio
Copyright © 2009-2020 - ICBS Group. All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer
Website designed, built, and hosted by
International Cyber Business Services, Inc., Hudson, Ohio
