The Struggle
Job in his dilemma of physical suffering
describes his experience as the ‘days of
my struggle’ (Job 14:14). He recognizes the fierce battle he is in and
during all of the affliction he has hope as he also waits ‘Until my change come’ knowing that he too will be changed as all children
of God will when the Lord returns to this earth, rapturing those alive and
resurrecting those in the grave as ‘the
dead in Christ will rise first’ and ‘we
which are alive and remain will be caught up together with Him!’ (I
Thessalonians 4)
We all are a lot like Job, in a great struggle
against the forces of darkness, Satan and his demonic emissaries, as they are
waging the war against the righteous, the children of God! Some of us suffer
for the Lord’s sake in many different ways as we witness of His great grace in
the salvation from sin, death and hell that we enjoy.
This is our daily duty, to let those, who
are still chained in bondage to sin, know the truth of the liberating power of the Gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ is able to set free those who are captive in the
prison-house of addiction, the chains of alcohol, the captivating fortresses of
the soul that bring those who know not Christ into physical and spiritual
bondage.
Just the other afternoon the Lord led a
young man into my path whose life was controlled by the Satanic power of
alcohol. Any mind-altering substance can be utilized by the Prince of Darkness
to bring a soul into his control. Whether it be the so-called legal drugs of
alcohol, nicotine, caffeine or the illegal drugs marijuana, cocaine, heroine,
crack etc., Satan is in the midst of them all bringing the soul into captivity,
where he has the capability of influencing men to do his will.
This fellow opened his heart to me as I
witnessed to him of the Lord’s ability to free him from this heinous habit. He
listened intently as the Lord gave me liberty to rehearse many of the things
the Lord has done for me. I told him how, he delivered me from the
life-controlling alcohol addiction in one moment of time when He saved me from
my sins over three decades ago! And, He has kept me, by His power, from returning
to the life of bondage that I experienced for over fifteen years. But, the only way this liberty continues,
is through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is fed by surrendering to His
working and will, seeking instead to do the will of God revealed through His
Word.
The Word of God does the work of God one
old preacher rightly told me years ago, and it is one of the most powerful
truths I have learned through these years of walking with the Lord. Yes, the
Lord gets all the glory as He has given me a supernatural hunger for His Word,
memorizing and meditating on the Living Lord Jesus Christ is in essence what is
accomplished as we focus our minds and hearts on His precious Word!
And so, the struggle that Job experienced
with physical suffering as he was tested by the Lord, is similar to the
struggle we, the children of God, face throughout the days of our life as we
walk with the Lord. But, unless we surrender to His will and utilize the power
of the Holy Spirit through the intake of the Word of God, we will not be all we
can be for the Lord Jesus Christ!
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