To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. Revelation 3:21.
Satan is wrestling and battling for our souls. He casts his hellish shadow right athwart our pathway…. Look away from his power to the One that is mighty to save to the utmost. Why doesn’t your faith plow through the shadow to where Christ is? He has led captivity captive and given gifts unto His followers. He will teach you that Satan claims every soul that does not join with him as his property.
Satan is the author of death. What did Christ do after He brought Satan under the dominion of death? The very last words of Christ while expiring on the cross were “It is finished” (John 19:30). The devil saw that he had overdone himself. Christ by dying accomplished the death of Satan and brought immortality to light.
And after Christ came up from the resurrection, what did He do? He grasped His power and held His scepter. He opened the graves and brought up the multitude of captives, testifying to everyone in our world, and in creation, that He had the power over death and that He rescued the captives of death.
Not all who believed in Jesus were brought to life at that time. It was only a specimen of what would be, that we may know that death and the grave are not to hold the captives, because Christ took them to heaven. And when He comes again with power and great glory, He will open the graves. Again the prison house will be opened, and the dead will come forth to a glorious immortality.
Here are the trophies that Christ took up with Him and presented to the universe of heaven and the worlds that God had created. Any affection that they ever had for Lucifer, who was the covering cherub, is now destroyed. God gave him a chance to work out his character. If He had not done this, there might have been those who felt the accusation he [Lucifer] brought against God, that He didn’t give him a fair chance, was justified.
The Prince of life and the prince of darkness were in conflict. The Prince of life prevailed, but at an infinite cost. His triumph is our salvation…. Did not our Saviour have something to overcome? Did He not keep up the battle with the prince of darkness until He was a victor on every point? Then He left the work right in the hands of His followers. We have something to do.—Manuscript 1, 1889.
Christ Triumphant p. 287
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for Marvin who is having surgery Monday. Rose
—-Please pray that God will guide and protect E and her children. R
—-Please pray for us as we find a way to some property we own in another state. Marilynn
—-Please pray for our caregiver, Pamela. She is at the hospital for tests, and in a lot of pain. Sylvia
—-Please pray for Ron. He is having a lot of lung trouble. Rose
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Dear Friends,
One day some years ago, a young couple with a baby came into our office trying to find the courtroom where they needed to be. As Bev and I tried to help them, I noticed a sour odor filling the room. They were dirty and disheveled, and I began to wonder why someone would appear in court in that condition. I was glad when they went their way. Now the air would be more pleasant.
Strangely, throughout the day, I would occasionally get a whiff of that same sour odor. Toward the end of the day, I suddenly realized that the smell wasn’t coming from that couple after all. The source of the smell was coming from something at my own workstation that had been forgotten until it looked like a science experiment. How embarrassed and ashamed I felt for “looking down my nose” at those people, when the fault was with me all along.
How careful we should be in our attitudes toward others. “For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” James 2:13 Our Dear Saviour bids us, “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” Matt 7:1-5
“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Rom 2:1-3
May we “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John 7:24 May we “love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” 1 Peter 1:22 May our thoughts, attitudes, motives, words, and actions be pleasing in the sight of the Great Judge is my prayer.
Rose