November 03, 2019
Greetings and blessings to all of you. In Jeremiah 17:5 God wants us to know “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when good comes but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a slat land and not inhabited.” Trusting in yourself (man) is displeasing to God. You cannot trust in yourself because in Jeremiah 17:9-10, God says, “the heart is more deceitful than all things desperately wicked who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart I test the mind….” The Bible says PRIDE is the worst of sins and leads to destruction. Do you recall that it was PRIDE that the devil became the devil and God had to kick him out of heaven and now Satan and his imps are “prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour?” I Peter 5:8
Satan has come to steal, rob and destroy the abundant life that God has promised us in John 10:10 “I came that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” Are you living the “abundant” life or are you living the mediocre Christian life by not fulling your calling in administering your gifts to the honor and glory of God? But be careful. Your flesh can have you believe your “good works” is pleasing to God, however if it is done without the Spirit then it is only to your honor. God addresses that when He said, “I never knew you depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” Matt 7:23 So it is imperative that we understand that Satan would love for us to trust in ourselves instead of God. He constantly sows doubts about God’s goodness and wisdom. Jesus said, “The devil is the “father of lies” whose most frequent weapon is deceit. We are most likely to succumb to the devil when we place our confidence in ourselves and not in Christ alone. We can fight Satan only with THE TRUTH. How will you get the Truth? Only by being armed with sound knowledge of Scripture. As our minds are renewed through the study of the Lord’s Word we will live out the truth “cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength.”
With the Love of Christ
First Lady Vivian C. Currie
Pastor ALC