Standing in the New Year

They were all trying to frighten us, thinking,

“Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

But I prayed,

“Now strengthen my hands.”

Nehemiah 6:9

In a sermon entitled How I know you’re going to stand, Pastor said the Lord gave him a prophecy of hope to deliver.  We will not revert back to the way were before we knew Christ.  We will fulfill God’s purposes for us.

When the children of Israel were leaving Egypt, the Egyptians decided to chase them, despite knowing they were defeated by the Lord himself.  They pursued because of their own pride and arrogance (Exodus 14:5).  All the Egyptians could hope for was to get close enough to the Israelites to yell at them and remind them of their slavery in Egypt.  When the Israelites and Egyptians were encamped at the Red Sea, the Glory of the Lord settled between them, making it impossible for the Egyptians to touch them (Exodus 14:19-20).  All the Egyptians could do was try to shake the Israelites’ confidence by speaking to them.

So it is with Satan.  He knows he’s defeated, but he’s going to try to yell at us and shake our confidence.  Pastor said that these are all the ways we’ve been protected from Satan.

1)    God’s word, which dispels every negative word spoken over us.

2)    God’s presence, which stands between us and the devil.

3)    God’s promise, which draws us and defines us, shaping us so that we can’t go back

4)    Our testimony.  When we think of our own testimony, and how much this world needs to hear it, how could we turn back?

5)    The Body of Christ.   (If you were crossing the Red Sea & decided you wanted to go back to Egypt, how could you with 2 million people pushing you forward?)

6)    The works of God.  What a Mighty God we serve!

7)    God’s authority.  In Christ, we have the power and authority to say “no” to Satan.  (Pastor said that his conversations with Satan are quite short.  He’ll just say “no”, then go back to sleep.)

8)    After all that, we wouldn’t want to give the devil the satisfaction

As we go into 2013, let’s all remember that Satan has fallen – and he can’t get up.

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Luke 10:18