The Lord Your God Is With You, The Mighty Warrior Who Saves
If It's Not Of Christ, It Shall Profit You Nothing
ZEPHANIAH 3:14-18
“Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
”Zephaniah 3:14-17 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/zep.3.14-17.nkj
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Zephaniah tells us we have every reason to rejoice, for “The Lord our God is in the midst of us; He Himself will take away His hand of judgements and cast out your enemies, He will deliver you from the evil one, and come to live among His people.”
But if He is to deliver us from the evil one, we must repent and turn from our wicked ways.
Sin opens the door to the devil and allows him in because we have become in agreement with him even if we didn’t know or realise it.
To them, our bodies are a place of residence, and like squatters that enter and begin to influence our decisions and responses; they bring torment and confusion, nightmares sickness, anger, and rage. They bring addiction and all kinds of mental health issues, anxiety/ depression, suicidal thoughts, and all kinds of evils.
But God reveals the truth, exposing the darkness in us with His light (JOHN 1:4-5), and through His Word (HEBREWS 4:12).
Furthermore, we Spirit filled believers of Christ have authority over these demonic beings (LUKE 10:17) and by His power can cast them out.
James put it like this, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
James 4:7 NKJV
Jesus, when we submit to His ways, works in our lives to transform us into Christ like people by the renewing of our minds that we come to understand what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (ROMANS 12:1-2).
Whilst that process can be uncomfortable or even painful as God exposes the truth and rebellion in us and brings us to repentance, Zephaniah points out that gladness comes into our lives when we allow God to be with us by faithfully following Him and obeying His commands. It is then that God rejoices over us with singing and the heaviness leaves.
Peace by peace God is doing a good work within you, and I am confident that God who started a good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day Christ Jesus returns (PHILIPPIANS 1:6).
Our God is the Creator, all powerful, all knowing, and perfect in every way. He needs nothing nor indeed anyone to be those things forever. He is the great I am (EXODUS 14:3).
He made humans to know Him.
Christianity is anchored through relationship with God. He is our creator, our sustainer, our leader (1 COLOSSIANS 1:18), our teacher, and our guide. He is our provider (MATHEW 6:25-34), our protector (PSALM 3:3), our healer (ISAIAH 53:5), and redeemer; His is the cornerstone on which we stand (EPHESIANS 2:19-20); He is the source of happiness, joy, and contentment; He is the source of God’s perfect peace that surpasses all understanding and shall protect your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7).
He will rejoice over His people, the true church with gladness , He will quiet you with His perfect love, and He will rejoice over you with singing.
But to trust Him, one must know Him well.
Invite Him into your life today. Go behind a closed door and speak to Him. He is faithful to receive you with open arms. Truly I tell you, there is joy in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents (LUKE 15:10).
But this promise is to Jesus church, the true body of Christ. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV
My beloved, if it’s not Christ five fold ministry, it is man’s church, and however good it feels, it shall profit you nothing.
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
