Pilgrim
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Weeks
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The strong man in his armour Thou mettest in Thy grace, Did’st spoil the mighty charmer Of our unhappy race. The chains of man, his victim, Were loosened by Thy hand, No evils that afflict him Before Thy power could stand.Many have not the
courage to go on in God’s warfare, because they hold on to something
which is inconsistent with the light they have received. Perhaps, alas!
they lose the light which they have not acted up to, and Satan is able
to bring their mind under the darkness of his good reasons for staying
where they are without conquering more territory from him. The armour should
be put on before the battle, not just at the battle. It is exceedingly
serious to fight God’s battle against Satan. … It is a most solemn
thing that my business is to overcome Satan. The greater the
energy of the Spirit the more is the individual in whom it is
manifested exposed to the fury of Satan. We ought not
merely not to be beaten by Satan, but ever to be gaining ground upon
him. A new place
brings new temptations … but if temptations are new, grace is as new,
as various, as infinite to meet them when we are where He would have us. It was by the
power of death that the Lord destroyed all his strength who had the
power of death. Death is the best weapon in the arsenal of God, when it
is wielded by the power of life. There is nowhere
that conflict is so much felt as in prayer: that is where Satan desires
to come in. If a Christian
gets out of dependence on the Lord, he will be beaten by Satan in
conflict. Moses, Aaron and
Hur go up to the top of the hill, and Israel under Joshua fights in the
plain below with Amalek … Israel might have reasoned on the manner of
their fighting, on the strength of the enemy, and on ten thousand
things; but, after all, their success depended on Moses’ hands being
stretched out. It is very hard for us to see ourselves and Satan to be
as nothing and God to be everything. I daresay many of
us have thought … that one good battle with Satan and all will be over;
but no such thing, we have security and the certainty of victory, but
no promise of cessation from conflict. (Heb. 2:18.) He
suffered—never yielded. We do not suffer when we yield to temptation;
the flesh takes pleasure in the things by which it is tempted. Jesus
suffered being tempted, and He is able to succour them that are
tempted. It is important to observe that the flesh, when acted upon by
its desires, does not suffer—being tempted, it, alas! enjoys. But when,
according to the light of the Holy Ghost and the fidelity of obedience,
the Spirit resists the attacks of the enemy, whether subtle or
persecuting, then one suffers. This is what the Lord did, and this we
have to do. My happiness, O Lord, with Thee Is long laid up in store
For
that bless’d day when Thee I’d see,
And
conflict all be o’er.
Pilgrim Portions - Meditations for the Day of Rest - Selected from the Writings, Hymns,
Letters, etc., of J. N. Darby SEDIN-Servicio Evangélico |
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