Hi Friends, Diane here. God and His Love is bigger and greater than all things, seen and unseen, and all put together! As I said last week, whatever we focus on becomes a bigger influence over our thoughts, words and deeds. The enemy is forever trying to make himself big. He distracts us from God, trying to move our attention from Him down to this world. He confuses us with problems and conflicts we didn’t see coming, again trying to move the use of our time, resources and energy to these lesser things, rather than to keep our eyes on God. The more he can grab our focus, the more he can cause havoc in our lives. But the more we know WHO we are, because of Whose we are, the more we can choose to not fall for the enemy’s tactics anymore.
We are not supposed to focus on the devil. Oh, he is real and he is really evil. Yet remember James 4:7? The way we resist the devil is to submit to the Lord. The way God is and the way the devil exists are complete opposites. Please note: the devil is not the opposite of God. He is a created being just like us. To elevate him to the position of opposite, is giving him way more credit and power than he has. This is one of the reasons he continues to try to capture our attention, trying to make himself bigger than he is. Don’t let him. It is, however, his ways that are opposite to God’s and why? God is Life and the devil exists by death.
God’s Way is love, compassion, understanding, mercy and grace. The devil’s way is apathy, hatred, self-righteousness, revenge and pridefulness. When we do not know we now belong to God and Life, then the enemy can seem bigger than he is, like a roaring lion. (1Pe 5:8) But please, oh please, never forget: he is a defeated foe! Jesus has already won our release from the enemy’s limited power, up on that Cross! (Col 2:15) and because of this victory, we are free to understand, and live by, our “verse to remember,” which is:
“You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1Jn 4:4 BSB
Again I say, God and His Love is bigger and greater than all things, seen and unseen, and all put together!
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
30- Ro 8:1
31- Pr 4:23
32- Pr 18:21
33- Ps 118:24
34- 1Jn 4:4
<>< Peace, Diane
