Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours immeasurably from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am pleased to welcome you to the month of September 2023. My prayer is that God will glorify Himself in very obvious ways in every area of your life in the month and throughout the remaining part of the year. Amen.
As we know from Scriptures, the world we live in is one that lies under the power of Satan (1John 5:19). That is why there is no part of the world in which his wicked works are not obvious. However, God, in His kindness, already sent His Son to destroy the works of this wicked and evil being (1John 3:8). And wherever He is permitted by men to work, Satan’s works will surely be destroyed there and God will be glorified.
For example, John gives us this account concerning a man that our Lord Jesus once healed:
“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:1-4NIV)
Did you see that? That man was born blind, not because of anybody’s sins but because Satan attacked him. So, it is not every time that sin is responsible for people’s sufferings. There are times that people suffer simply because Satan just want to make them suffer. And if they do not know how to resist him and resist him, he will have his way and make them suffer, if God does not stop him. That was what happened in Job’s case. And that was also what happened in the case of the man we are considering.
Satan attacked this man when he was still in his mother’s womb to make him blind. How he did that we would not know. But it is clear that he was not resisted by the parents of the man. Why? Well, the reason would most likely be that they, like the apostles of the Lord, believed that he was suffering because of his own sins or their sins. And that being the case, they could not see Satan in the picture at all. All they could see was God punishing him for their sins. So, their hope could only be that He would one day have mercy on them and take His hand of judgment away from the young man.
However, when Jesus got involved in the situation, He changed the whole narrative. First, He told His disciples that the man was not in that condition because of anyone’s sins. Second, He told them that what happened to him was not the work of God but of the devil. Third, He showed them that every activity of the devil, like that man’s blindness, gives God an opportunity to do His own work of salvation and deliverance. Fourth, He showed them that His purpose of being in the world was to do the works of God among men. And did He do the work of God in the life of that man or not? He did it. He made sure he began to see from that day on. And that caused God to be glorified by the man, his parents and other well-wishers. (Cf. John 9:6-38)
In like manner, God is seeking to be glorified in your life too by destroying whatever work Satan has done or is doing there. And He does not care whether sin is responsible for his works in your life or not. All He wants you to know is that whatever Satan is doing in your life is an opportunity for Him to work in your life and be glorified. So, allow Him to work and turn things around for you good.
How, then, do we allow God to work in us and destroy the works of the devil? First, it is by asking Him to do so. So, pray to Him about whatever work of the devil you can perceive in your life and tell Him to destroy it. And it shall be so. Then we can allow Him to work by acting on whatever He tells us to do. As we see in the case of that blind man, the Lord told him to go and wash in the Pool of Siloam. And when he did, he came back home seeing. If we too will take whatever He says about our salvation, prosperity and healing seriously and act on it, His works will manifest in our lives and people will glorify Him through us.
Have a fabulous week.
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