One of the biggest tricks of the enemy of our souls is to get us to believe that God is against us and all of our efforts to please Him are ultimately futile since we can’t get anything right in His eyes. If you have ever felt that then it only validates the point I’m making. It is an effective tool and the deceiver has used it for ages. His second biggest trick is to convince us he (satan) isn’t real at all so we end up not only believing the lie that God is against us, but we assume that idea is either a fact of the universe or is our own opinion derived from our deep understanding of how life works rather than a carefully crafted lie planted in our minds by our advisory. I want to press on these deceptions for a moment this morning and clearly proclaim, “God is for you today!”
More than a simple sweet notion or platitude spoken by a cheerleader who isn’t watching the game, this statement of fact is proven in more ways than could ever be expressed. However, because the lie is so big and so effective it can be difficult to see it playing out in our lives. Much like believing the sun has gone down because you are standing in the shadow of a mountain, the belief that God is ultimately impossible to please and is rooting for our failure can seem “obvious” when we are standing in the shade of something so big we cannot distinguish the shadow from nightfall. This is what our enemy is counting on, and history proves it is an effective strategy. But you do not have to fall for it today. God is for you. (Click to read my post Life is a Package Deal)
For You, Not Subject To You
What does it mean when I say, “God is for you”? Let me start by defining what it does not mean. God’s love and care for us all is not the same thing as His approval or affirmation of our decisions. This is where some of the breakdown in our belief can take place. God is clear in His expectations and standards as expressed in the Bible, God’s Holy Word. When we violate His Word and live contrary to His leadership He is still very much for us, but He is wholly (and holy) against our actions in those cases. As our culture becomes more and more dependent on endless affirmation of our every whim, we will increasingly be tested by God’s steadfastness to His Word. He does not, will not, and can not affirm our every feeling or behavior. He is infinitely more powerful and supportive than that very small idea.
God is for us in that He empowers and supplies us with everything we need for life and godliness according to His precious promises as stated in 2 Peter 1 (provided below). Not only does God give us His clear standard, He provides the means by which to live at that standard through the Blood of His Son Jesus, and the power of His Holy Spirit given to all at repentance and salvation. God supplies the mode and the means by which we accomplish the impossible standard because He is for us, and not against us. (Click to read my post The Fruit of the Fall)
Hope That Heals
To know that God is for you is to know that He has your best in mind at all times, is proactively working for you to live in and enjoy His best for your life, and is unwavering in His commitment to that end. That commitment includes not supporting our demands to be in control, to live based on our feelings and opinions, or to surrender to our attempted manipulation of His Word to say what we want it to say. God is for you today in such a beautiful way that He will not allow you to experience less than His best for you even when you think you know what that is! I am grateful for this truth because I can often protest and demand my own way only later to realize just how empty and misguided it was. I can honestly say many of my “best ideas” turned out to be the “worst ideas”. If only there was an all-knowing, loving God who can have seen and steered me away from such choices before I made them?! Ah, but there is and He loves me enough to not demand my allegiance but to allow me to choose, even wrongly, so that my surrender to His leadership would be willing and true. This is true love free from cohesion and manipulation.
God is for you today, my friend. You may not see it nor able to believe it at this moment but it is no less true. It is my prayer that You would experience His love and delight, through His Son Jesus, by the power of His Holy Spirit. He is never far away and He is ready right now to draw near if you would allow Him to. Simply invite Him to draw near and respond to His nearness with gratitude, repentance, and love and you will experience the power of the God who is for you and not against you. Selah. (Click to read my post The Goldilocks Gospel)
From the Bible:
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. – 2 Peter 1:3-4 NIV
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose… What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? – Romans 8:28,31 NIV
But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. – Psalm 3:3-5 NIV