For my devotions this morning I read the great old story of Daniel in the lion's den - Daniel, Chapter 6 - one of my favorites. In reading and re-reading this story once again, verse 16 jumped out at me: "So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel,'May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!'" NIV. That's the whole truth, isn't it, about serving God: when we allow God to help us to seek to continually, consistently serve Him - not compartmentalizing Him; not prioritizing Him depending on the day of the week, the season of the year, how well we feel, or whether we got that raise that we so wanted; not patronizing Him by reading a few of His Bible words every once in awhile, or going to church every 4th, 5th, or 6st week, or dropping a dollar or so in the plate when we do go - no, when we make the goal of our lives Jesus, and His Kingdom, and His will, and His grace - He will rescue us from every lion's den that is ours to face. Are we perfect? No! Do we get sidetracked sometimes? Regrettably, yes. But if the general desire and drive of our lives is, 'Father, draw me a little closer - really, a lot closer - to you today than I was yesterday', than I believe that consistency, growth in grace, continuity for Christ will become more and more the characteristic of our lives - and victory over temptations, moods, fears, negative thoughts and anything and everything else that Satan uses to threaten all of God's children will become more the norm as well.

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Commenting on Luke 22:48 - 'But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" NKJV - Charles Spurgeon writes:

'What if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as Judas, that son of perdition? Do I live in the world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of being a follower of Jesus? Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love you, Jesus, and though I often grieve You, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because I betrayed my Master with a kiss.'

Spurgeon is right here. If I am not to follow in Judas' footsteps in my own life, the first prayer of each day of my life must begin with, 'O Lord, today, make me sincere and true . . . never let me betray you . . . cause me to desire to abide faithful to you even unto death. Lord, if I am going to be faithful to you today, You are going to have to cause it to be so . . . I am helpless.' The good news of the gospel is that He will answer this prayer. Victory has nothing to do with me trying to summon up the gumption and strength and self-control to be true in my faith - I have no gumption, strength, or self-control in me. Victory has everything to do with me honestly telling God that if He doesn't work, nothing can happen - but that He can work - He can do anything that He desires.

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On the occasion of my 57th birthday this past week I was reminded again of the 'great sinfulness of sin' as one theologian I read a long time ago put it. If you have never had the privilege of eating my wife's pineapple upside down cake - well, I'm sorry for your loss. May 5 was approaching and she says 'Steve, what kind of cake for you this year?' I'm a big banana cake person - I'm a big any kind of cake person - I'm afraid I'm just big, but that's another story - and I usually go for the banana on my birthday, but we had just had some fresh pineapple somewhere and commented on how good a pineapple cake would be, and so I chose that and what a good choice it proved to be. Anita can really cook! So then, a couple of days later, there I stand in the kitchen staring - now - at the last remaining piece of that cake. We've both had our portions - this last one his hers. She's gone and I've promised to clean up the kitchen and I'm happy to do it and I come to the cake in its container and go to put the container on the far end of the bar and I start thinking again about how good that last piece would be. A thought comes to mind: I put Anita's daily work lunches together and always try to have a treat in there for her. Recently she playfully accused me of trying to get her fat with all these treats. SOOOO? Wouldn't I be doing her a favor by eating the last piece of pineapple cake for her? Wouldn't that be showing her love, helping her to stay slim and trim? Surely she would thank me. I must tell you I was shocked at the strength of this temptation to sin - and sin it would have been, for stealing and lusting and envying and gluttony are wrong whether its for money or sex or power - or someone else's very, very, good slice of pineapple cake. And Satan - our adversary - is very proficient at knowing and exploiting our weaknesses. The Apostle Peter warns us of Satan's prowess in I Peter 5:8

'Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith . . .' NIV

I did resist him - later that day Anita enjoyed the last piece of her handiwork. Did I sin because I was tempted? Not at all - temptation is not sin, giving into it is. And God's grace is always sufficient to make us victorious in all of our challenges. Jesus has won every one of our victories already for us. We must claim them. But I will say this, I'm shocked now that I was shocked that I could be tempted over a piece of cake. We cannot be naive about either our weaknesses or Satan's abilities. Our eyes must should never leave the face of Jesus!

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I was in a local 'chain' bookstore lately and was amazed to find an isle totally dedicated to the - obviously - very popular 'Dummies' how-to books. There doesn't appear to be a subject 'under-the-sun' - from cooking, to car maintenance, to child raising - that you can't find help on. Maybe victorious Christian living is also in this group, (I kind of doubt it), but if I were asked to share my thoughts on how to live for Christ in this life right now where we are and with all that's going on, I would - and do - share this with you from a man who lived over 100 years ago. Pastor F. B. Meyer wrote:

'There is no foe to your growth in grace, no enemy . . . which was not included in your Savior's conquests. You need not be afraid of them. When you touch them they will flee before you. God has promised to deliver them up before you. Only be strong and very courageous. Fear not, nor be dismayed. The Lord is with you. O mighty men of valor - mighty because you are one with the Mightiest. Claim victory. Whenever your enemies close in upon you, claim victory! Whenever heart and flesh fail, look up and claim victory! Be sure that you have a share in that triumph which Jesus won, not for Himself alone, but for us all; remember that you were in Him when He won it, and CLAIM VICTORY! Reckon that it is yours . . . You are one of the conquering legion. Claim your share in the Savior's victory.

Whatever all this may mean, I believe at least it means this: 2000 years ago on the cross and at the empty tomb, every spiritual battle that I face right now and every battle that will come in the future - starting the next second: temptations, attitude issues, fears, and 1000 other demonic attacks - were won for me by Jesus. For 2000 years these battles HAVE BEEN OVER. All that is left for me to do today is to say: 'Jesus, I accept what you have already done for me; I accept your will; I wait for your peace.' And the Word says, 'And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' Phil. 4:7 NIV You know, there are alot of things those 'Dummies' books can teach me, because I don't know a huge lot in life. But, through God's grace, I think that I know the most important thing in life: I know that true meaning and purpose in life comes only in Jesus Christ. Its already been taken care of - will I accept?

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Bad news. I was speaking with a good friend of ours today and she informed me that she had just been terminated at her job. Circumstances surrounding her job situation of which I am aware make this action extremely unfair. That being the case, the peace that she demonstrated during our talk was remarkable. Though admitting to understandable feelings of fear and uncertainty during these stressful times, this was her statement: 'Though this has happened to me, this has really happened to Christ. I'm His and therefore my troubles are His troubles. He will take care of us!' I thank God for the faith that our friend possesses and for the power of her testimony. She is totally correct. If we belong to Jesus, our problems are His problems and He has promised us the resources of heaven to help. One of the great Christians in history - Pope Leo I - put it like this:

'We must not pursue foolish and vain things or yield to fear in the midst of trouble. We are no doubt, flattered by deception and weighed down by troubles, but because "the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord," Christ's victory is ours. He fulfills what He said: "Fear not, for I have overcome the world." So then . . . we must always arm ourselves with the Lord's cross."

Jesus really is bigger than what's-the-matter! Are you allowing His victory to be yours today?

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'What we need in the Christian life is to get believers to WANT to do God's will as much as other people want to do their own will. And this is the idea of the Gospel. It is what God intended for us; and it is what He promised. . . it shall no more be the old covenant made on Sinai, that is, a law given from the outside, controlling a man by force - but it shall be a law written within, constraining us by love.' Hannah Whitall Smith

I really believe that the heart and soul of the Gospel is this idea that, given the chance, God the Holy Spirit will so rework our hearts over time that whatever other loves and wants and desires may be in our hearts, God will make our love, want, and desire for Him to be greater. And perhaps even more miraculously, He will make our want to want Him more than anything else in life to be the most dominating force in our lives. This is what Paul was talking about in Philippians 2:13:

'For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.'

Living the Holy life does not begin with 'doing deeds', it begins with establishing the fact that I love God - and want Him - with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. When this 'first commandment' issue is settled, God then will see that all else falls into place.

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