God Never Disappoints

April 23, 2026April 23, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. – Romans 5:1-5 ESV

Having settled the case of whether justification is by works or by faith, Paul now moves on in his discussion about the gospel of God. Paul emphatically and confidently states, “since we have been justified by faith” (Romans 5:1 ESV). The tense of the Greek word he uses is extremely important because it speaks of an event that has already happened. In essence, Paul is saying, “having been declared righteous, we have peace with God.” It is in the past tense and describes an event that has already taken place.

Once someone places their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are immediately declared righteous or are justified by God. Their debt to God is paid in full, their sins are removed, and they receive the righteousness of Christ. It is a done deal, accomplished entirely by God and as a result of faith. We no longer have to justify ourselves to God because we have been freed from trying to earn His favor. We have been released from the impossible burden of living up to His righteous standards in the hopes that He will accept us. Our salvation is accompanied by our justification.

One of the greatest benefits of our justification is the peace we enjoy with God. In verse 10 of this same chapter, Paul makes it clear that, before salvation, we were all enemies of God and subject to His wrath. We stood condemned and deserving of His righteous, just judgment. Paul emphasized this vital truth in his letter to the church in Colossae

…you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. – Colossians 1:21-22 NLT

God’s gospel, His plan for man’s salvation, has provided a means by which sinful, guilty, and rebellious men and women can be made right with Him, enjoying a state of permanent peace and the uninterrupted joy of His presence. The Greek word Paul used for peace carries the idea of harmony, security and safety. It is “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is” (Outline of Biblical Usage).

We enjoy this peace with God because of God’s grace; it is His unmerited favor that has made it all possible. We did nothing to deserve or earn it, and Paul reminds us that we obtained access to this grace-given position through faith. In other words, we have access into the very presence of God as a result of God’s mercy. And it is our faith in the graciousness, goodness, mercy, and kindness of God made evident in the death of His Son that makes our reconciliation with Him possible.

And the best part of this God-ordained transformation is that our newfound peace with Him is permanent and includes the future hope of our eternal relationship with Him. This is why Paul states, “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2 ESV). There is a day coming when His Son will return, and those who have been made right with God through faith in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross will enjoy an eternity of permanent peace with God.

But in the meantime, Paul encourages us to rejoice in our present sufferings. While we wait for the hope of the glory of God, we find ourselves living on this earth and facing trials and troubles of all kinds. Our newfound peace with God has put us at odds with the world we live in. Jesus warned His disciples that their relationship with Him would draw the ire of the enemy and the world over which he rules.

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” –John 15:18-19 NLT

The apostle John painted a bleak but accurate picture when he wrote, “the world around us is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19 NLT). In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul warned them that Satan was a very real enemy who, as the god of this world, had the power to deceive and dissuade humanity.

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

As a result of our newfound righteousness with God, we stand in stark contrast with the world around us. As we live by faith and in submission to His indwelling Holy Spirit, our suffering will intensify. Paul reminds us, “Continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. (Colossians 1:23 NLT).

When facing suffering, we will be tempted to bail out or give up. But we must constantly remind ourselves that the trials and difficulties we face have a divine purpose. That is why Paul encourages us to rejoice in them rather than run from them.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. – Romans 5:3-5 NLT

Our reconciled state with God will produce irreconcilable differences with this world. But any suffering we encounter will produce patient endurance in us. As we suffer, we learn to persevere, and that perseverance increases our Christlikeness. The author of Hebrews states that Jesus had to suffer as well; it was all part of His Father’s redemptive plan.

Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. – Hebrews 5:8-9 NLT

So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. – Hebrews 4:15-16 NLT

As we patiently endure the sufferings of life, our character is tested and proven true. Our faithful endurance reveals the character of Christ in our lives, as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

As those divine characteristics show up in our lives despite our suffering, our hope increases, our faith is strengthened, and our confidence in God grows stronger. We become increasingly more certain that we belong to Him and that we truly are new creations. Our hope in God will not leave us empty-handed or disappointed. We will never find ourselves ashamed or embarrassed because of the faith we placed in God’s promises. Our trust in Christ’s redemptive work on the cross will not fail to deliver what God has promised. We can suffer, endure, grow, and hope “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 ESV).

The very presence of the Spirit within us is a reminder of God’s love for us, but He is also the source of our enduring love for God. We love because God first loved us. We endure because we rest in God’s love for us. We rejoice in trials because we know that God is using them for our good and His glory.

But as Paul has made clear, it all begins with faith, a confident hope in our faithful covenant-keeping God. Our justification is by faith, our sanctification is by faith, and our capacity to endure is the result of faith. And, as Paul reminds us, our faith in God will never disappoint.

Father, this is one of those difficult passages that seems so illogical. Rejoicing in trials is counterintuitive and seems impossible to pull off. The concept of suffering well sounds more like an oxymoron than a way life. I have no trouble believing in the reality of trial because I face them on a regular basis; it is the rejoicing part I struggle with. Yet, the older I get and the longer I live, the more I realize that Paul was right; You do use difficulties to transform us. You never said trials would be fun, but You did say they would be beneficial. When going through them, I find myself becoming far more dependent on You. Of course, I will always try to come up with my own solution. But, inevitably, my efforts fall short and I find myself turning to You for help, hope, and deliverance. And You have never disappointed me. You are always faithful and, while Your timing is not always to my liking, Your solution is always perfect. But like so many others, I am prone to forget and find myself facing the next difficulty with the same sense of hopelessness and confusion. I fail to remember all that You have done in the past. Please help me recall Your goodness and greatness when the next trial shows up so that I can rejoice in Your faithfulness long before Your deliverance appears. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Fallacy of Free Will

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

²⁶For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. – Romans 1:26-27 ESV

What happens when man abandons the truth of God for “the lie?” The lie is that God does not exist at all or that He is a figment of man’s fertile imagination. And if the one true God does not exist, then man is free to be the master of his fate and to choose his own moral agenda. With God out of the picture, man can determine what is right and wrong and create his own laws for life.

Three times in this section of Romans 1, Paul uses the phrase, “God gave them up.” Paul is attempting to demonstrate what life looks like when God releases men to pursue and believe “the lie.” Thinking themselves to be wise, their foolish hearts become darkened, and they lose any ability to make decisions based on the wisdom and righteousness of God. In this moral free-for-all, they find themselves believing and practicing every imaginable lifestyle choice.

“Those who turned against God turned everything on its head. For those who forsook the author of nature could not keep to the order of nature.” – Pelagius, Commentary on Romans

Paul refers to women who “exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature,” and he mentions men who “gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another” (Romans 1:26-27 ESV). There are those who attempt to write this off as Paul’s personal opinion. There are others who try to dismiss what Paul says by insinuating that he is only speaking against “improper” homosexual acts, not the act itself. Still others want to believe that Paul is only referring to homosexual acts that were taking place in the context of pagan worship. But these are not the words of Paul; they are the words of God. They are part of the powerful explanation Paul has provided in this letter regarding the gospel of God.

Men are without excuse; they have abandoned the truth about God and His will for mankind. They have ignored His clear revelation of His invisible attributes and divine nature in His creation. Rather than worship God, they have ended up worshiping anything and everything but God. And Paul makes it painfully clear that sinful man always ends up distorting the truth of God. They exchange the natural for the unnatural, what is right for what is wrong, the holy for the unholy, and the will of God for the will of self. They become consumed with passions, all kinds of passions, both good and bad. But the time comes when they can no longer tell the difference, and the lines become blurred. Their consciences become seared, and they lose the ability to discern right from wrong, even becoming rabid defenders of their actions and attitudes.

It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to read the words of God recorded in Genesis 1 and to reach a conclusion.

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.” – Genesis 1:27-28 NLT

They were to bear fruit, to multiply their kind. That is why God created a male and a female. It was together, as man and woman, that they were to fulfill the command of God. Adam could not do it alone. Eve was incapable of procreating on her own. God built the ability to multiply their kind into their very nature and physiology. But man, in his sin, determined a “better way,” a preferred way. Natural passions are replaced by unnatural, ungodly passions. Paul calls them “dishonorable passions.” The Greek word he uses is atimia, and it carries a very graphic connotation. It was “used of the unseemliness and offensiveness of a dead body” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). It was also used to refer to the dishonorable use of a vessel or container. Bodies were meant to contain life. That is why a dead body is unnatural and offensive to our senses. It is lifeless and no longer operating as intended. The same thing is true of those who are consumed by same-sex attraction. They are no longer operating as God intended, and their acts are unnatural and against the ordained will of God.

But in our day and age, any attempt to make this claim is met with disdain, hatred, cries of bigotry and intolerance, and a violent defense of individual rights and freedoms. But, according to Paul, we should not be surprised. Their foolish hearts are darkened. Claiming to be wise, they boast in their enlightened understanding and progressive outlook on morals and ethics. But they are fools who have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man” (Romans 1:23 ESV). Of course, Paul was referring to idol worship here, but the real issue is that of man-worship. When the best expression we can come up with for God’s revealed power and divine nature is the image of man, we are in trouble. When we make a god out of man, we end up worshiping ourselves, sacrificing truth at the altar of our own corrupt passions and desires. Self-satisfaction and self-gratification consume us, and God releases us to pursue our increasingly perverse passions.

We must not lose sight of the fact that Paul was attempting to explain and expound upon the gospel of God. The good news of Jesus Christ must be displayed against the backdrop of man’s darkened, sinful state. Paul was showing that man is in trouble. Without God, things always go from bad to worse. In Paul’s estimation, it doesn’t matter if you’re pagan or pious, immoral or a moral icon of virtue. Without God’s glorious gospel, all men ultimately receive “the due penalty for their error” (Romans 1:27 ESV). A man without God is hopeless. Left to his own devices, he will always gravitate toward ungodliness and unrighteousness. But the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV).

Father, You created us and You know what is best for us. But, in our sinful condition, we have determined that we know better. We are like the clay pot telling the potter that he has made a mistake. In our arrogance and ignorance, we have decided that our will is preferable to Yours and so we stubbornly follow our own agendas and rationalize our rebellious behavior as nothing more than our right to free will. But rejecting Your will never results in freedom; it produces slavery to sin. Without Your divine guidance, our passions become self-consuming and self-destructive. The enemy convinces us that self-willed lifestyles are making us god-like, when, in reality, they are making us godless. But the gospel provides an escape from this downward spiral of spiritual and moral enslavement. Through faith in Your Son, we can experience true freedom from sin and the soul-stifling lie of self-rule. Thank You for opening my eyes to the gospel and setting me free from the destructive power of sin. Amen

The Power of Perseverance

March 28, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹¹I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing. ¹²The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps? – 2 Corinthians 12:11-18 ESV

Paul confesses that he feels like a fool. All this self-promotion is out of character for him, but he tells the Corinthians that their silence forced him to do it. They are the ones who should have been commending him because they had been the recipients of his ministry and message. They had enjoyed the benefits of his self-sacrifice and loving commitment to share the gospel with them. As far as Paul was concerned, he had no reason to take a back seat to the “super-apostles” who were setting themselves up as his spiritual superiors. He had come to the Corinthians as an apostle of Jesus Christ, armed with the gospel and backed by the power of God as revealed in the signs and wonders he had performed while among them. This had been Paul’s modus operandi everywhere he went.

Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. – Romans 15:18-19 NLT

Paul had not short-changed the Corinthians; he had treated them the same way he had every other Gentile community he had visited. The only difference was that he had not burdened them with providing for his needs while he ministered among them. Others had funded his ministry, and before that, he had paid his way by working as a tent maker. Yet, there were those who accused him of deception and craftiness, claiming that he acted as if he were sacrificing on their behalf while hiding that he was receiving outside aid. There were others who said that Paul had simply gotten money from them by sending his surrogates to collect it, under the guise that it would be used for the saints in Jerusalem. In other words, they were accusing Paul of sending Titus and others to take up a collection, all the while using that money for himself. It seems that, in the eyes of the Corinthians, Paul could do nothing right. His actions were constantly under attack, and his motives were always suspect.

But Paul pledges to keep on loving and giving, whether or not they return the favor. It was his sincere desire to return to Corinth for a third time, and he intended to act in the same way he always had. He would love them like a father loves his children. While he greatly desired that love to be reciprocal, he wasn’t going to let their lack of love prevent him from doing the will of God. He tells them, “I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me” (2 Corinthians 12:15 NLT).

Everything Paul had done for them had been motivated by love. He had sacrificed greatly so they might receive the gospel. He had already written two other letters, intended to encourage them in their faith and to provide them with wise counsel regarding real-life scenarios taking place in their midst. He was like a loving father, gladly providing for his children’s needs and willingly making sacrifices for their benefit. And while he would have longed for them to return his love, he would not let their distrust and disloyalty sway his actions. All his efforts were motivated by his desire to please his heavenly Father. When all was said and done, Paul was out to please God, not men; he was looking for the praise of God, not the praise of men.

Paul’s only regret was that he was having to waste time defending himself before the Corinthians. There were other pressing needs he would have preferred to address. Instead of wasting time “boasting” about his qualifications and defending his actions, he would have preferred to help them grow in their faith. Paul was a teacher, yet he had to spend all his time playing defense attorney.

He could have given up and written off the Corinthians as too stubborn and hard-headed to waste any more of his valuable time on them. But Paul was committed to their spiritual well-being and was not content to see them languish in their faith and settle for the status quo. He would not allow their complacency to deter his commitment to the call of Christ on his life. He was out to make disciples, and nothing was going to stand in his way, including the damaging accusations of false apostles, the lack of love from those to whom he had shared the gospel, or the constant time spent defending his motives and reputation. His attitude remained, “I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you” (2 Corinthians 12:15 NLT).

Father, nobody likes to have their motives questioned, especially when their efforts are sincere and well-intentioned. So, it is understandable why Paul was so frustrated with the Corinthians. He had done nothing wrong, yet all his efforts on their behalf were under attack and unappreciated. His character was being attacked in an effort to undermine his authority. Yet, he never gave up or threw in the towel. It would have been so easy for him to dismiss the Corinthians as ungrateful and unworthy of his time and energy. But he saw himself as Your servant and was willing to take abuse for Your sake. As ministers of the gospel, we will not always be understood or appreciated. Our message will be rejected by some and our motives will be questioned by others. People will falsely accuse us and attempt to undermind our efforts. But, as difficult as that may be, we have to remember that we work for an audience of one: You. Never let me forget that. When I begin to lose heart because others seem to dismiss or even discredit my efforts, remind me of Paul’s unwavering commitment to his commission. He was not a quitter. When it came to his Christ-ordained mission, he refused to be distracted, deterred, or defeated, and that is the mindset I want to have. Amen

The Truth About Falsehood

March 24, 2026March 24, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. – 2 Corinthians 11:8-15 ESV

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had been forced to argue in defense of his apostleship. He had once again found himself under attack by individuals who questioned the validity of his claim to be an apostle of Jesus, and he strongly defended himself.

Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. – 1 Corinthians 9:1-2 ESV

The believers in Corinth were all the evidence he needed to prove he had been sent by the Lord. He was an authentic messenger of Jesus Christ, and yet, while living among the Corinthians, Paul chose not to exercise the rights of an apostle. He reminded them, “the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Corinthians 9:14 ESV). However, he had not asked them to fund his stay or help him in any way financially. But he insisted on his right to do so.

This is my answer to those who question my authority.Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals?Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?

What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? – 1 Corinthians 9:3-7 NLT

In the book of Acts, Luke records how Paul sustained himself while living in Corinth.

Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was. – Acts 18:1-3 NLT

Paul had paid his own way and had been aided by others who willingly chose to fund his work in Corinth. He had not burdened the Corinthians by asking them to provide for any of his ministry among them. Which is what led Paul to make the following dramatic claim:

I “robbed” other churches by accepting their contributions so I could serve you at no cost. And when I was with you and didn’t have enough to live on, I did not become a financial burden to anyone. For the brothers who came from Macedonia brought me all that I needed. I have never been a burden to you, and I never will be. – 2 Corinthians 11:8-9 NLT

Paul’s claim to have “robbed” the other churches by taking their aid was based on his not having ministered to them in return. He took their money but used it to fund his ministry elsewhere, something they perfectly understood and approved. But it obviously bothered Paul. He felt an obligation to return their generosity by ministering to them as well. However, he was grateful that their gift had allowed him to stop working and concentrate all his efforts on sharing the gospel while in Corinth.

It seems that Paul’s critics were accusing him of duplicity. He had at one time refused to accept support, but then had accepted the gift from the Macedonians. They saw this as a sign of Paul’s hypocrisy. And yet, these false teachers had evidently been accepting support for themselves.

Paul was not going to apologize for his actions. In fact, he said, “what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do” (2 Corinthians 11:12 ESV). He would not stoop to their level, and he would not allow them to compare themselves to him. He had already accused them of preaching a different gospel and a different Jesus. So, Paul pulled no punches, accusing these men of being “false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13 ESV).

Paul had taken the gloves off, claiming these men to be in league with Satan himself. This was not a gentlemanly debate, but all-out war. Paul was not just defending his ministry, but the integrity of the gospel itself. And like a shepherd, he was protecting his flock by fending off the attacks of dangerous predators. What made these men particularly deadly was that they were like sheep in wolves’ clothing. They were cunningly deceptive and had won the confidence of the Corinthians by appearing as something other than what they really were. Jesus had warned about these kinds of men.

Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. – Matthew 7:15-20 NLT

These men had disguised themselves as “servants of righteousness,” but they intended to harm God’s people. Their messages sounded safe and in line with what Paul had taught, but there were dangerously subtle differences based on a carefully crafted mixture of truth and falsehood. They were teaching Jesus, but it was a slightly variant version. They were teaching grace alone, but with a dose of good deeds mixed in.

There will always be those who infiltrate the church, disguising themselves as servants of righteousness, but who are actually servants of Satan. Their words are deceptive, and their outward appearance is convincing, but their fruit is deadly. The book of Jude describes them in stark, but realistic terms.

…they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you. They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness. – Jude 1:12-13 NLT

Be on the alert for them and don’t be deceived by their subtle lies masquerading as truth. Have nothing to do with them because their deeds are deadly.

Father, our enemy is dangerous because he operates as an “angel of light,” disguising and delivering his message in subtle ways that make it difficult to discern where the lie stops and the truth begins. As he did with Eve in the garden, he always mixes just enough truth with his falsehoods to make it sound palatable and acceptable. Yet, he remains the father of lies and the great deceiver. However, You have given us Your Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit to make sure we can recognize the real thing from the counterfeit. But it is easy to get lulled into a sense of overconfidence and complacency and forget that our enemy “prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour ” (1 Peter 5:8 NLT). Keep us on the alert and ever vigilant so that we are never caught by surprise. Help us to stand strong against him and firm in our faith because, as John wrote, “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 BSB).
Amen

The Weapon of Words in the War of Wills

March 20, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ²I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. – 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 ESV

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but Paul’s experience was just the opposite. His long-distance relationship with the Corinthians had created some significant leadership issues for him. While he had been away, various individuals had shown up who questioned his apostolic authority, accused him of being heavy-handed, painted him as a coward, and labeled him weak. A good portion of this letter contains Paul’s defense of his actions and authority. He felt compelled to defend himself because, ultimately, an attack on him was an attack on the very gospel he preached. He viewed the battle as a spiritual one. For Paul, this wasn’t just a case of one man’s opinion over another’s; it was about the integrity of the gospel.

Paul uses military terms to describe what was happening, and he indicates that the conflict was taking place behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. Those who were raising doubts about Paul’s integrity and undermining his ministry were actually being used by Satan himself to damage the cause of Christ. He makes it clear that the attacks against him demanded more than a “fleshly” response. He was human (of the flesh), but his actions were anything but fleshly (according to human means). He says, “We do not wage war according to human standards” (2 Corinthians 10:3b NLT). He wasn’t going to resort to human means to fight a spiritual battle. Manipulation, deceit, slander, lying, self-promotion, power-grabbing, and hypocrisy had no place in a battle that was spiritual in nature.

Yet, Paul’s enemies were waging war according to the flesh. They were using any means possible to tear down Paul and destroy his influence among the Corinthians. They spread rumors about him and raised questions about his integrity. They insinuated his lack of trustworthiness and flatly denied his apostleship. They accused him of timidity when he was among them, but of being arrogantly bold when he was writing his letters from a safe distance.

But Paul used a different fighting technique. He says, “The weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT). He knew the source of his enemies’ attacks, and it was none other than Satan. Paul was facing more than a war of words and wits. He describes the verbal attacks of his enemies as “arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5a NLT).

When these people attacked Paul and his ministry, they were really speaking against God Himself. These pawns of the enemy were causing people to doubt the reality of God and the veracity of His offer of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. The NET Bible translates verse five as, “we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.” Paul wasn’t going to let the false opinions and deceptive teachings of his enemies slide by. He was going to attack them and make them his captive, forcing them to surrender to the sovereignty and Lordship of Christ.

Paul was ready to come and clean house, but his primary concern was the Corinthians’ obedience to God’s will. Once that was taken care of, he would do business with the rebels in their midst, punishing their disobedience once and for all. Paul was anything but politically correct or tolerant. He did not operate on the notion that everyone is free to have their own opinion, at least not when it came to the gospel’s message. And since the gospel included man’s salvation, sanctification, and ultimate glorification, Paul was anything but tolerant of those who claimed to teach a different version of the gospel. He would not tolerate anyone who questioned his commission by Christ because there was too much at stake.

The phrase, “taking every thought captive,” has often been construed to mean that believers are to manage their thought lives. They are to think right thoughts and to control the inner workings of their minds. And while this is true, it would seem that Paul’s point has nothing to do with our thoughts, but with those of the enemies of God. We are to do battle with these false teachings and vain philosophies, taking them captive, like prisoners at the end of a victorious battle. We are to force those thoughts to submit to the Lordship of Christ, like captives kneeling before a conquering king. They have proven insufficient and inadequate to overthrow the King of kings and Lord of lords.

To stand for the truth, you must know it. If we are to do battle with the false teachings and the subtle lies of the enemy, it is essential that we know what the truth is. We can’t spot the counterfeit if we don’t know what the real thing looks like. Our familiarity with the truth enables us to recognize falsehood and stand against it. Our commitment to that truth motivates us to resist the lies, no matter what form they take.

Exposing the enemy’s lies is one of our primary functions as believers. Paul was at war, but he knew he was on the winning side. He was willing to go out swinging, never letting up or giving up, until the Lord called him home. Which is why he could write the following declaration of confidence to his young protegé, Timothy.

As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. – 2 Timothy 4:6-8 NLT

Father, I want to fight the good fight. But I know that means I have to know who my enemy is and what I am fighting for. We live in a confusing world that propogates lies and attempts to promote false versions of the truth. There are so many false gospels out there that offer alternative promises of hope but leave out the reality of sin and the need for a Savior. That was exactly what Paul was dealing with, and nothing has changed. Even among professing believers, there is an ongoing battle over what the truth is and how we are to live in a world where relativity and tolerance rule the day. We are in a spiritual war in which primary weapon of the enemy is words. In the garden, Satan got to Eve by saying, “Did God actually say?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV). By questioning the accuracy and reliability of Your words, he caused Eve to doubt Your authority, and, ultimately, Your goodness. Satan’s tactics have not changed, but his efforts have intensified. He is desperate to win the battle for the minds of men and will stop at nothing to obscure the truth of the gospel. Give me the strength and determination to stand for the truth to the bitter end. Don’t let me get distracted by the cares of this world. Don’t allow me to give up or grow weary. I want to stand for the truth until You call me home or Your Son returns. Amen

Protection For Our Affections

January 26, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁵I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? ¹⁹What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²²Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? – 1 Corinthians 10:15-22 ESV

As far as Paul is concerned, this is all about our affections; it is about what we love and choose to prioritize in our lives. As Paul addresses the issue of idols and meat sacrificed to them, he is not implying that the idols actually represent other gods. In fact, he says that when the pagans offer sacrifices to their idols, they are actually sacrificing to demons. The fact that the gods they worshiped were non-existent did not make their activity any less sinful. They were giving their affections to something they believed existed. They were associating themselves with a god who represented an alternative to the one true God, and they were joining with those who shared their beliefs, participating in worship and the offering of sacrifices together. When they held their feasts, they were doing so with those who were of like mind.

Paul uses the Lord’s Table to illustrate what he means. Paul asks the Corinthians to consider that when they take the cup and the bread together as part of communion, “is it not a participation in the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:16 ESV)? The Lord’s Table was a common celebration and commemoration of their shared belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. When the Israelites made sacrifices to God at the altar in the Tabernacle or Temple, did they not do so with a sense of shared belief in God? And Paul insists that the pagans are doing the very same thing. By participating together in their sacrificial services, feasts, and celebrations, they express their common bond as worshipers of their particular god, whether that god is false or real. And when the Corinthians joined them in their celebrations, they were aligning themselves with the pagan worshipers and their false gods, or, as Paul indicates, demons.

“Paul’s line of reasoning proceeds as follows: Christians who eat the bread at the Lord’s Supper express their solidarity with one another and with Christ. Likewise, Jews who ate the meat of animals offered in the sacrifices of Judaism expressed their solidarity with one another and with the God of Israel. Therefore Christians who eat the meat offered to pagan gods as part of pagan worship express their solidarity with pagans and with the pagan deities.” – Thomas L. Constable, Notes of 1 Corinthians, 2007 Edition

There is a spiritual dimension to virtually everything we do. We are spiritual beings, and there is a spiritual battle taking place all around us, hidden from our view, but as real as the air we breathe. Paul warned the Ephesians about this spiritual war.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12 NLT

There is very little in life that is not impacted and influenced by this unseen spiritual conflict. While we may view a particular action or activity as amoral, being neither right nor wrong and not prohibited by God, we need to walk carefully. It is essential that we examine our motives and check our affections. We need to ask ourselves why this activity is so important to us. Would we be unwilling to give it up if the circumstances required it? There were those in the Corinthian church who were eating meat that had been sacrificed to false gods. They were even participating alongside pagan worshipers at the feasts associated with those false gods. But their rationale was that these gods did not exist, so their activity was perfectly acceptable. However, Paul warns them that if their participation caused a brother or sister in Christ to stumble, they were wrong. Not only that, but by joining in the feasts alongside idol worshipers, they were expressing unity with them. To the rest of the world, both pagan and Christian, they appeared to be one with those who worship false gods. And as if that was not bad enough, Paul indicates that they are really associating themselves with demons.

There are many things we are free to do as followers of Jesus Christ. But that does not mean that all of them are things we should do. We are free to read books other than the Bible, but it is imperative that we give thought to the content of the books that we read. As believers, we are free to watch TV and movies, but not every show is one we should expose ourselves to. We need to examine the content and consider the message it sends. There are very few movies that do not have an agenda. The world we live in is heavily influenced by the unseen spiritual battle taking place behind the scenes. Satan will use any resource available to him to influence our affections and diminish our dedication to God.

It always goes back to our affections. When God commanded the Israelites to have no other gods but Him, He was not suggesting that these gods actually existed. He simply knew that He had wired mankind for worship. God’s intention was that humanity share its affections with Him, but men and women are fully capable of giving those affections away.

When the Pharisees asked Jesus to name which was the greatest commandment given by God, He responded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37 ESV). The most daunting challenge we face as Christians involves our affections. Do we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind? The answer is no, because we can’t. We are incapable of doing so. But that does not mean we should not try to make it a high priority in our lives.

The enemy wants to get our minds off of God and to distract our affections from God. He wants our souls to be satisfied by something other than God. There is a spiritual battle taking place all around us, and Satan subtly uses the seemingly innocuous and inconspicuous things of this world to deceive us. Our failure to believe in the demonic realm does not make it non-existent. Just because we don’t see the spiritual warfare taking place all around us doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Because the battle is invisible, we need to arm ourselves with the spiritual weapons God provides. We need spiritual discernment and divine assistance to fight an invisible yet real battle. That is why Paul told the Ephesians, “Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm” (Ephesians 6:13 NLT).

God offers us protection for our affections and a way of escape from every temptation.

God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. – 1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT

Father, we live under constant siege from the enemy, but sometimes act as if the battle is not even real. Through compromise and complacency, we make alliances with the enemy and allow his subtle lies to dilute our faith and diminish our dependence on You. If we refuse to spend time in Your Word, we will be easy prey for the enemy’s deception. We will find ourselves defenseless and powerless to resist his temptations. He loves to deceive us and cause us to compromise our convictions. He doesn’t waste his time trying to get us to walk away from the faith; he simply tries to make our faith a non-factor in the way we walk. But You have called us to live set-apart lives that reflect Your character and demonstrate the Spirit’s power within us. Don’t allow us to compromise or grow complacent. Keep us alert to the enemy’s lies and more determined than ever to live according to the truth of Your Word. Amen

Run, Don’t Walk

January 12, 2026 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁸Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 ESV

The Corinthians were not taking their union with Christ seriously. Due to their dualistic approach to life, they seemed to believe that what they did with their bodies really didn’t matter. This led them to look on any sins they committed with their bodies as somehow separated from their spiritual lives. One can see the logic behind their thinking from the popular phrase they used.,

“All things are lawful for me.” – 1 Corinthians 6:12 ESV

This was a common expression among the Corinthians that was used to excuse their behavior. It had led them to commit all kinds of sin with impunity, including sexual sin. The very fact that they had refused to deal with the man in their church who was having sexual relations with his stepmother shows how skewed their thinking had become. But Paul is out to confront and correct their improper views of the body and its relationship with sin.

Paul commands them to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18a ESV). He uses the Greek word, φεύγω (pheugō), which means “seek safety by flight or to escape safely out of danger” (“G5343 – pheugō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible). It is the same word he used when writing to Timothy.

But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from (pheugō) all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. – 1 Timothy 6:11 NLT

Paul had warned Timothy about those who have “an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy” (1 Timothy 6:4-5 NLT).

Paul told Timothy to flee from these things and, instead, to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. The word Paul used means “to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after” (“G1377 – diōkō – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible). It is not enough to simply run from something, but we must also run to something else. However, if the Corinthians did not see sexual sin as wrong and dangerous to their spiritual well-being, they would continue in it. That was unacceptable to Paul.

So he attempts to paint a vivid picture of the dangers of sexual sin by emphasizing that every other sin a person commits is “outside the body,” while sexual immorality is a sin “against” the body. The word he uses is a Greek preposition that is most often translated “into.” When committing sexual sin, a physical union takes place that sets this particular sin apart. All sin requires the use of my body. To lie or slander, the tongue is necessary. Stealing requires the use of the hands and feet. To murder another human being requires the mind to plan the deed and the body to carry it out. And while these sins are no less serious than sexual immorality, Paul’s point is that there is a difference. Sexual immorality is a blatant sin against the body, and that body, Paul stresses, “is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God” (1 Corinthians 6:19b NLT).

As followers of Christ, we enjoy a mystical, but real union with Him. His Spirit lives within us, and we take Him with us wherever we go. Paul told the Colossians, “Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory” (Colossians 1:27 NLT). So, when someone commits sexual sin with his or her body, they are dragging Christ into that experience. Paul asks the Corinthians, “Don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her?” (1 Corinthians 6:16a NLT). There is an intimacy and interconnection established, and this led Paul to ask, “Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute?” (1 Corinthians 6:15 NLT). And just to clear up any possible confusion, Paul provides the correct answer: “Never!”

For Paul, union with Christ was an essential doctrine that needed to be understood and incorporated into every aspect of a believer’s daily life. John Murray wrote that “union with Christ is . . . the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. . . . It is not simply a phase of the application of redemption; it underlies every aspect of redemption” (Redemption – Accomplished and Applied, Eerdmans, 1955, pp. 201, 205).

We are one with Christ. We share His identity. We are progressively being transformed into His likeness. We not only share in His death and resurrection, and all that those things imply, but we also share in His righteousness. We have the capacity to live like Christ in this lifetime. The very same power that raised Him from the dead lives within us and is available to us. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:3-4 ESV).

He went on to emphasize their oneness with Christ.

In him we have redemption through his blood – vs 7

In him we have obtained an inheritance – vs 11

In him you also … were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit – vs 13

We are in Christ. We are one with Christ. Sexual sin uses the body that belongs to Christ and re-purposes it for immorality. It takes what God has bought with the precious blood of His Son, our body, and uses it for ungodly purposes. In so doing, we degrade and desecrate the very temple of God. Which is why Paul ends this section with a call to “honor God with your body.” Why? Because “You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT).

We belong to God – body and soul. Our bodies are no longer ours to do with as we want. Each believer’s body is the temple of God’s Spirit and is to be used to bring God glory and honor. Paul reminds us, “Give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind he will find acceptable” (Romans 12:1 NLT).

All of this is in keeping with the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden on the night He was betrayed. As He prepared for his pending death, Jesus took the time to pray “for all who will ever believe in me through their message” (John 17:20 NLT). That includes us.

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.” – John 17:21-23 NLT

The reality of our unity with Christ should motivate us to pursue righteousness in all that we do. We are His body and serve as the temple of the Holy Spirit. As individuals, we contain the indwelling presence and power of God. As a community of believers, we serve as His temple on earth and display His glory to the world around us.

Father, we live in a world that is obsessed with sexual sin. It is everywhere and the enemy is constantly tempting us to not only participate in it but to accept it as normal and natural. Our children are being exposed to its allure and lies at increasingly earlier ages. The gift You created has been turned into a cheap substitute for love and offers a self-obsessed pursuit of personal pleasure at all costs. It is destructive and antithetical to the selfless and sacrificial life we have been called to live. Open our eyes to the danger of sexual sin and give us the strength to pursue righteousness at all costs — for our own good and Your glory. Amen

The God-Less Life

May 12, 2024 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

⁶Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, ⁸that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” ⁹Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, ¹⁰and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. ¹²And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?” – 1 Samuel 22:6-13 ESV

These verses provide a stark contrast between Saul and David. While David was in a cave surrounded by misfits and malcontents, Saul was sitting under the shade of a tree surrounded by his servants and soldiers. The contrast doesn’t stop there. David provided protection for his family by sending them to the king of Moab for refuge. Yet Saul was busy accusing his own son of treason and of conspiring with David to kill him. David was surrounded by men who were willing to die for him. Saul was surrounded by men who feared him and some had even abandoned him to follow after David. But the greatest contrast between these two men was their relationships with God.

David received a prophetic word from God that told him to leave the Cave of Adullam and return to Judah. But Saul had received no word from God. In fact, he had no relationship with God at all. God had removed His Spirit from him, leaving Saul completely on his own and by all accounts, God-less. The result was a growing paranoia. He truly believed everyone was against him. He thought his own children had betrayed him. He viewed his servants suspiciously and feared their disloyalty. No one could be trusted, and his paranoia led to a heavy dose of self-pity. He felt all alone and accused his servants of being compassionless traitors.

“Has that son of Jesse promised every one of you fields and vineyards? Has he promised to make you all generals and captains in his army? Is that why you have conspired against me?” – 1 Samuel 22:7-8 NLT

“You’re not even sorry for me.” – 1 Samuel 22:8 NLT

Saul even accused Ahimelech the priest of treason, seeing his actions to help David as a personal attack against him.

“Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me?” – 1 Samuel 22:13 NLT

Without God in his life, Saul was susceptible to all kinds of irrational and unrighteous thinking. His capacity to mentally process the circumstances of his life was greatly hindered by his lack of God’s presence. He had become a fool, lacking reason and the capacity for rational thought. He wasn’t even able to process the fact that all of this was the outcome of the prophet’s warning that God was removing His hand from Saul’s life and giving his kingdom to another. Saul was in a state of denial and suffering from delusion, believing that he could somehow prevent the inevitable and stay the sovereign hand of God. But his unwillingness to accept the will of God would simply cause him to sin against God, committing greater and greater transgressions, all in a hopeless attempt at self-preservation.

Standing among Saul’s servants that day was Doeg the Edomite. This keeper of the flocks of Saul had hurried back from Nob eager to share his incriminating news about David. In an attempt to win favor with his employer, Doeg disclosed all that he had witnessed. When Saul heard this report, he immediately sent for Ahimelech, his family, and all the priests who served alongside him at Nob. If Ahimelech had been scared when David showed up in Nob (1 Samuel 21:1), he must have been petrified at the news of a summons from the king, and any fears he had would have been justified.

Saul was a man possessed, both figuratively and literally. He was constantly beset by a “harmful spirit,” the result of God’s removal of the Holy Spirit from his life. Without the influence of God’s Spirit, Saul’s reasoning was impaired. He became self-absorbed and suspicious of everyone and everything. Over time, he would become man-obsessed, unable to think of anything other than the destruction of David. Essentially, he would no longer perform his role as the king of Israel; his entire life would be focused on David’s death. His kingship, the very thing he was trying to protect, would get lost in his obsessive-compulsive quest to kill off the competition. Sadly, Saul would be unable to enjoy the benefits of being king because he lived in constant fear of being replaced as king.

One of the sad realities of godlessness is that it always results in joylessness, discontentment, fear, jealousy, and anger. The apostle Paul outlines the characteristics or “deeds” of a godless or flesh-based life in his letter to the Galatians.

…sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. – Galatians 5:20-21 NLT

Saul was miserable, not because he was losing his kingdom, but because he had lost his relationship with God. His unhappiness, paranoia, self-pity, and misguided attempts at self-preservation were driven by his lack of a relationship with God. His decision-making was totally flesh-based, driven by his own sinful nature and devoid of any divine wisdom. He had lost his capacity to see things from God’s perspective; everything had become all about him. He was no longer concerned about the good of Israel or the honor of God’s name. His only thoughts were for himself.

The life of the godless is not a pretty picture. The truly sad thing is that even those who have a relationship with Christ can end up living godless lives, refusing to seek His will, listen to His Word, or heed His direction. Rather than living God-centered, God-directed lives, they become self-absorbed and susceptible to the flawed input of their own sinful natures and the lies of the Enemy. While the Spirit of God never leaves them, they quench and grieve the Spirit through disobedience and willful, unrepentant sin. Rather than enjoying the fruit of the Spirit and the joys of sanctification, they become obsessed with self-preservation and paranoid about protecting their own earthly “kingdom.”

Jesus gave an insightful contrast between Satan’s objective and His own.

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” – John 10:10 NLT

Satan had deceived Saul, convincing him that joy could be found in pursuing and eliminating David. Saul had grown used to being king and enjoyed all the trappings of power, possessions, and prominence that came with the position. He viewed David as a threat to his preferred lifestyle and was willing to do anything to kill the Lord’s anointed. Yet, he was nothing more than a hapless pawn in the hand of Satan. There would be no joy in his future. He would never experience a rich and satisfying life. The Enemy had convinced Saul that standing against the will of God was not only possible but preferable. Despite the words of God’s prophet, Saul believed he could retain his crown and continue his control over the nation of Israel. But even with Satan’s assistance, Saul would find his will was no match for that of God.

The lesson from Saul’s life is timeless and provides a powerful reminder of how easy it is to fall prey to the Enemy’s tactics. He is still out to steal, kill, and destroy, and the primary focus of his efforts is the people of God. Just hours before His death, Jesus warned Peter, “Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail” (Luke 22:31-32 NLT).

Peter provided a stern warning about the destructive nature of Satan’s actions.

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8 NLT

Paul also warned against the Enemy’s relentless assault on God’s children.

Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:11-12 NLT

Satan is constantly attempting to deceive the children of God, tempting them to believe that their way is preferable to God’s way. But our way is the way of the flesh, and it eventually robs us of joy, kills our capacity to love, and destroys any hope of having a rich and satisfying life. Satan offers what he cannot give. Jesus promises what He died to make possible. The Godless life is a paranoid, self-pitying, joyless life. But the godly life brings joy amid sorrow, peace in the middle of the storm, hope when all looks hopeless, contentment in the face of loss, and strength despite our own weakness.

Saul would never experience a rich and satisfying life by listening to the lies of the Enemy. His relentless pursuit of David would rob him of peace, joy, contentment, satisfaction, and any hope of ever experiencing the favor of God again. His life would be filled with misery and sorrow but so would David’s. Yet, because of his relationship with God, David would be able to say, “He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:3-4 NLT).

From Bad to Worse

March 1, 2023 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁰So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. ¹¹Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” ¹²So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” ¹⁴And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

¹⁵Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” ¹⁷But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” ¹⁹The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” ²⁰They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; ²¹and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²²Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” – Exodus 5:10-23 ESV

When God appeared to Moses in the wilderness near Mount Horeb, He had revealed His knowledge of the Israelites’ plight in Egypt.

“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings…” – Exodus 3:7 ESV

And God had assured Moses that He was ready to do something about their untenable situation.

“…I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” – Exodus 3:8 ESV

Much to his surprise and initial dismay, Moses learned that he was to be the one God would use to bring about the deliverance of His people. After much debate and a great deal of delay, Moses finally gave in to God’s call and made the long journey back to Egypt. And he and his brother, Aaron, in obedience to God’s command, delivered His messages to the people of Israel and Pharaoh. But while the Israelites were thrilled with the news of God’s presence among them and His plan to deliver them, Pharaoh had a far less sanguine response to God’s plan. In fact, he was enraged at the audacity of these two nondescript and unimpressive Hebrews. How dare they walk into his palace and demand that he provide their fellow Israelites with a week off so they can worship their so-called God in the wilderness.

Rather than give in to Moses’ request, he decided to teach this upstart Hebrew a painful lesson. To who Moses who was boss, Pharaoh turned up the heat on the already suffering descendants of Abraham. Moses’ arrival had gotten their hopes up and they were expecting an immediate improvement in their circumstances. But, instead, their situation got exponentially worse.

One of their duties as an unpaid workforce for Pharaoh was to manufacture the bricks used in the many construction projects around the kingdom. This labor-intensive process was difficult enough, but now it was going to become even more time-consuming and wearying because Pharaoh denied them access to the straw that helped bind the clay together. As punishment for their request for time off, he ordered them to find their own straw. This would require additional time and effort, but the daily quota of bricks would remain unchanged.

On top of this, Pharaoh ordered the Egyptian slave masters and Hebrew foremen to show no mercy. They were to push the Israelites relentlessly. When the people fell behind and failed to meet their quotas, the Egyptians punished the Hebrew foremen.

And in time, the people began to lose hope. They were in a no-win situation and there seemed to be no other recourse than to appeal to Pharaoh for mercy.

So the Israelite foremen went to Pharaoh and pleaded with him. “Please don’t treat your servants like this,” they begged. “We are given no straw, but the slave drivers still demand, ‘Make bricks!’ We are being beaten, but it isn’t our fault! Your own people are to blame!” – Exodus 5:15-16 NLT

Pharaoh responded, but not with mercy. He accused them of being lazy and trying to use their request to worship their God as an excuse for shirking their duties. And he would have none of it. As far as he was concerned, their whole reason for being was to work, not to worship. Their job was to sacrifice on Pharaoh’s behalf, not on behalf of some impotent deity from a backwater region like Canaan.

So, Pharaoh reiterated his expectation that they meet their daily quota of bricks or suffer the consequences. This left the Hebrew foremen in an even deeper state of despair as they exited the royal palace. Now, they had to go back and break this less-than-encouraging news to their coworkers. But on the way, they ran into Moses and Aaron. And it would not prove to be a well-timed or particularly propitious encounter for the two unsuspecting brothers.

Full of pent-up anger and frustration, the foremen unleashed their vitriol on these two relative strangers, blaming them for the recent spate of troubles.

“May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!” – Exodus 5:21 NLT

As bad as things had been before Moses and Aaron arrived on the scene, the situation in Egypt had taken a decidedly dark turn since their unexpected arrival. These two men had brought down the wrath of Pharaoh and the full weight of the Egyptian government apparatus. The atmosphere had become oppressive and foreboding. And now, the disgruntled and disillusioned Israelites were turning their anger on God’s two messengers.

Moses’ worst nightmare had come true. He had feared this very thing happening. When God had first announced His plan to use Moses as His deliverer, the surprised shepherd had argued, “behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’” (Exodus 4:1 ESV). He was already convinced that this mission was doomed to failure. Now, his suspicions had become a very painful and personal reality. This led him to cry out to God in despair.

“Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!” – Exodus 5:22-23 NLT

From his perspective, nothing had turned out well. He had left Midian and returned to Egypt only to find his own people ready to run him out of town on a rail. And, driven by his frustration and fear, Moses shook his fist in the face of God and dared to accuse Him of a failure to do the right thing. God had claimed that He was going to “deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:8 ESV) but instead, the whip of Egyptian slave masters had fallen on the backs of the Hebrew foremen. And now the anger of the foremen had come down hard on Moses and Aaron.

But God was not done. He had not promised immediate deliverance. And God had warned Moses that Pharaoh was going to reject their request to release the people of Israel. This was going to prove to be an epic battle of wills – the will of Pharaoh against the sovereign will of God Almighty. And though Moses was doubtful of the outcome, God had everything under full control. Yes, things were going to get worse before they got better. The circumstances under which the Israelites lived were going to become unbearable but that did not mean that God’s plan was fallible. His will would be done. The deliverance He promised would be forthcoming. And Moses was going to learn the invaluable and timeless lesson of waiting on God.

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him. – Isaiah 30:18 ESV

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Resources to Resist the Enemy

May 18, 2022 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. – Ephesians 6:10-13 ESV

Having just addressed the topic of godly submission by illustrating its impact and influence on three different relationship settings, Paul now makes a somewhat jarring shift in thought as he brings up the seemingly unrelated topic of spiritual warfare. But upon closer examination, it seems clear that Paul is simply continuing the same train of thought he began when he called the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they had been called. Throughout two chapters, Paul has been emphasizing the need for believers to live out their faith in everyday life. He has called them to put off their old selves and to be renewed in the spirit of their minds. They were to put on their new natures, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). They were to walk in love, as children of light. There were to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ and willingly sacrifice their rights in order to selflessly love others as Christ had loved them.

But this was not going to be easy, and it wasn’t going to come naturally. Paul knew that their old sin nature or flesh would fight them every step of the way. Their natural inclination would be to lord it over one another, rather than submit. They would be prone to pride and self-exaltation, not humility and selfless service. Submitting to those who don’t appear to deserve it or loving those who don’t seem worthy of it are not easy things to do. And to make matters worse, Paul knew that believers have an enemy at work behind the scenes to make their walk of faith as difficult as possible.

He was keenly aware that there was an unseen spiritual battle taking place to which most of us as Christians were blissfully oblivious. What Paul was asking the Ephesians to do was impossible to pull off in their own strength. They were not equipped for it. Their fallen human nature, apart from the help of God, was not suited for spiritual warfare. Without the assistance of God, they would be like someone bringing a knife to a gunfight. So Paul tells encourages them to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10 ESV).

He doesn’t tell them to gut it up or get busy. Paul doesn’t berate or belittle them for their lack of effort and determination. No, he calls them to place their hope and trust in the all-sufficient strength of God. Earlier in this letter, Paul told the Ephesian believers that he prayed for them regularly. His request was God would empower them so that might be “strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy” (Ephesians 3:16 ESV). He prayed the same thing for the believers on Colossae.

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy. – Colossians 1:11 ESV

When Paul called the believers in Ephesus to “be imitators of God” and to “walk in love as Christ has loved us” (Ephesians 5:1), he knew that he was asking them to do the impossible. But not if they did it in the strength that comes from God. Not if they recognized their insufficiency and God’s all-sufficiency. The impossibility of the task should drive them to the reliability of their Father. The life to which God had called them was only possible through the power He had graciously provided for them.

And the good news is that the very same power is available to us today. Paul calls it the whole armor of God. Notice that he refers to it as whole or complete armor. We can’t afford to be selective or picky about it. Not a single piece of the armor was to be left off or left behind. It is only as we are wholly equipped with the divine protection God has provided that we will “be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11 ESV). God has given us the armor but we still need to put it on. And we must always keep in mind that his “armor” is spiritual in nature because “we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies” (Ephesians 6:12 NLT). In other words, our battle is not against other people. Our enemies are not those on the left or the right, the liberals or conservatives, the Muslims or the atheists, the irreligious or the immoral.

Paul reminds us we are fighting “against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 NLT). Sound scary? It’s meant to be because it’s true and the enemies are very real. What we see happening all around us today is an orchestrated effort on the part of the enemy of God to subvert His will and supplant His authority. Satan stands opposed to all that is godly, and that includes every single believer because the Spirit of God lives within them. As Jesus Himself warned, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10 ESV).

So what are we to do? Paul is quite clear.

Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. – Ephesians 6:13 NLT

Notice that Paul says, “to resist,” not go on the attack. Our job is not to destroy Satan, but to resist His efforts to destroy us. James gives us some invaluable insight into how this is all supposed to work. He writes:

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. – James 4:7 NLT

Humility before God comes before the resistance of Satan. Acknowledgment of your need for God’s strength must precede any attempt to withstand the enemy’s attack. By putting on the armor God has provided, you are acknowledging your need for Him. The reason so many of us fail as Christians is that we refuse to put on the whole armor of God. We think we can survive without it.

But God has provided a complete set of armor that must be put on and depended upon. Each piece is designed to work in concert with every other. They are spiritual resources designed to fight a spiritual battle. Paul told the Corinthian church, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4 ESV).

We live in evil days. We have a formidable enemy whose mission is to destroy us. We still have our old sin-prone nature, weak and worthless when it comes to resisting a spiritual enemy. But we have not been left defenseless or devoid of help. Our gracious, all-powerful God has given us His divinely empowered armor to protect us and the indwelling presence of His Spirit to do battle beside us. Like Paul, we need to recognize our own insufficiency, the enemy’s reality, and God’s gracious provision for our security.

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

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the enemy