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"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Tag: Protection

True Protection Is In Christ Alone.

October 12, 2024 /

MaryEllen Montville

“But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” –2 Corinthians 11:14.

A recent online communication from a well-recognized U.S. bank warned their customers of a significant increase in phishing scams in the banking industry; this, they say, is due to the rise in both online and bank app usage. They said that in 2023 alone, a staggering $10 billion of Americans’ money was lost to phishing scams and online fraud. That’s an increase of 13.6% over 2022. Many of you, or someone you know, have either heard or fallen victim to one of these insidious schemes perpetrated at the hands of those on the dark web—who hide in the shadows. Their sole objective? To rob and deceive you.

Sound familiar?

I am not making light of these insidious schemes or their devastating monetary losses.

Still, it would be negligent of me not to point out that these dubious schemes are mere child’s play compared to the plans of a far more lethal, stealthy, and insidious foe—Satan.

The Father of lies himself, whose sole intent it is to rob us, saved and unsaved alike—here and now and, if possible, from an eternity worshipping God.

Much like the increase in these banking scams made possible by widespread online and app usage, so too is the level of spiritual deception being perpetrated on so many today by those who freely use their pulpits, social media, YouTube, and any other platform available to them to spread false doctrine—deceiving many. “Such people are not serving Christ our Lord; they are serving their own personal interests. By smooth talk and glowing words they deceive innocent people.” –Romans 16:18.

Christ Himself reveals Satan’s sole purpose, nature, and intentions toward us in using such people; We’d be wise to pay attention.

While speaking to the Jews and Pharisees in John 8:44, Jesus said this of Satan: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the Father of lies.”

In John 10:10, speaking of this insidious foe, Christ Himself makes Satan’s intentions so plain that even a child can understand them: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Period.

Friends don’t skip over “only” in the above verse.

This one-word packs a powerful punch.

Webster’s Dictionary defines ” only ” as exclusively, solely, or alone in a category.

If you are a child of God, Satan’s only delight comes from robbing your lives of joy, happiness, rest, peace, and communion with God. And if you are not, he desires to kill any possibility you may have of having a relationship with Jesus by keeping you bound and blind—by any means necessary.

He’ll use chains of religion, deception, false doctrine, fear, and anxiety as tools to keep you so distracted, so blinded to true Light. You’ll continually spin your tractionless wheels, chasing after anything that shines.

And he’ll use anyone he can to accomplish his sinister plan—those in the pulpits or that well-meaning brother or sister sitting next to you in Church—even your mom or dad. There’s a reason Jesus said: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” –Matthew 10:37.

Is it any wonder, then, when asked by His disciples what would be the sign of the times and the end of the age, knowing how insidious, cunning, and manipulative, what a copycat and contortionist Satan is, how much he loathes God and God’s people, one of the very first things Jesus told His disciples weren’t words of comfort, he offered them no reassuring come back.

 Instead, Jesus warned them, and through them, us, to be mindful and not be deceived. “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.'” –Matthew 24:3-4.

And after Jesus, in writing to his beloved brothers and sisters at the Church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul cautions them of deception as well: “I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of Gospel than the one you believed.” –2Corinthians 11:2-4.

Deception enters the individual or Church in numerous ways:

  1. It is tolerated. “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” –Romans 6:15-16.
  2. It will go unrecognized: As with Jesus’ own family or that brother sitting beside you or even yourself, those who have seen and been with Jesus can, at times, be spiritually blinded by deception. They fail to accept the Truth by faith, the Truth of His Gospel message, making it almost impossible to believe what they cannot see until Christ’s Spirit alone opens their eyes—removing their blindness.
  3. It enters in via false religion/beliefs:  What better example of this Truth than the Apostle Paul himself?

Known as Saul then, the Apostle Paul once was deceived—spiritually blinded by a powerful false religious view. But thanks be to God, there is no spirit more powerful than God’s own Spirit. The Spirit of Truth. Saul had plenty of head knowledge but he did not have a genuine relationship with Jesus. Until that is, Christ caused this brother to see clearly. “So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” –Acts 9:17.

Within the email from the well-recognized U.S. bank I referenced earlier was a list of recommended steps their customers take to help safeguard themselves against becoming victims of phishing scams.

We will do all we can to safeguard our finances.

How much more should we do to safeguard our relationship with Jesus by ensuring we are both hearers and doers of the Gospel message? By measuring everything we think we know, hear, and see, all we claim to believe is truth, against the Truth of God’s Word. Safeguarding then our most valuable treasure, our relationship with Jesus. “I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Romans 619-23.

Are you safeguarding your heart and faith against those who will do their best to rob you of Truth?

Friends, your only protection from spiritual deception is found in Christ alone.

God’s Word tells us there is only one way to the Father: through His Son, Jesus. Don’t be deceived. Don’t let those who use darkness and perpetuate lies rob you of the Truth and a real relationship with Jesus. “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.” –Matthew 24:42-44.

Jehovah Jireh—Yesterday, Today, Forever

September 25, 2021 /
MaryEllen Montville

“He fed you manna in the wilderness, [a substance] which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you [by dependence on Him] and that He might test you, to do good [things] for you at the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth’ –Deut. 8:16-17.

Outwardly, their grumbling was directed at Moses and Aaron. In truth, however, the Israelites were grumbling against God. It was God’s abilities they were calling into question—not Moses’. God’s ability to provide for them. It had started at the edge of the Red Sea when the Egyptians, Israelite’s savage oppressors, had them hemmed in—in front, a wall of charging chariots and fierce soldiers in hot pursuit, and behind, an impassable sea. “Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this that you have done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” –Exodus 14: 11. The Israelites’ persisted in their grumbling at Marah when the only water for miles was bitter. And the grumbling continued during their barren desert trek concerning what they’d be given to eat. Then again at Rephidim, also concerning water, “So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” –Exodus 17:2.

Until the time of His death, the Israelites were relentless in their tetchy grumbling against Moses.

As modern-day Christians, how like the Israelites of old many of us can be, waspish in our complaining—often petulant and unbelieving, even while professing our faith in the God who knit us together in mother’s womb. We complain about our jobs or our boss, or our lack thereof. We complain about the size of our house or the lack of desired clothing not hanging in our wardrobes. We complain about the weather—it’s too hot, too cold, too rainy, too dry. We complain about where we live. “Why couldn’t I have been born in Hawaii or Fiji or Spain instead of ________?” All the while, precious brothers and sisters are being martyred for their faith in Afghanistan.

And like the Israelites before us, we too forget, at times, that at the heart of our grumbling, at its core, is our professed dissatisfaction with God—our complaining aimed at Him. Our unrelenting questioning of His motives, intentions, those things He allows to touch, influence, or straight-up change life as we’ve known it, is, too often, tinged, not with honest questioning, but with lack of faith. As if we, His creation, somehow know better than God, our Creator, which experiences, and paths are best for us. As if we, in our overinflated sense of self-importance, feel, somehow, that we know better than God what will ultimately bring about His plan of our being fashioned into the image and likeness of His Son—our purpose.

Am I the only One who finds themselves murmuring of late?

Whispering complaints under my breath against any host of circumstances, people, or events—praying, in one instant, that God has His way in my life. That He builds-up or tears down whatever needs reworking in me, that I might draw closer to Him, serve Him with a pure heart? While in the next minute forgetting, momentarily, that my God is Sovereign. And His Words command me to give thanks in every circumstance in which I find myself—regardless of how I feel. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God” –1 Thessalonians 5:18.

There are no accidents in life, not even in those events our finite-limited minds define as such. In God’s economy, He has already made provision for our perceived losses before they could ever affect us. “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose” –Romans 8:28.

To believe otherwise flies in the face of God’s Sovereignty.

Our God is not caught off guard by where we find ourselves right now, whatever our circumstance—be that employed, unemployed, clothed in the finest, or in second-hand clothes. Belly full or empty, body toasty warm or bone-chilling cold, wet, dry, vaccinated, or not, joy-full, or in mourning. “I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation— to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” Philippians 4:12-13. El Roi, the God who sees me, the very same God who saw Hagar laying on a hot and dusty desert floor, knows where each of us is right now. And, He has already made a way out of this place in which we now find ourselves, though we can’t see it quite yet. For me personally, that’s day two of mourning the loss of my only brother—my beloved friend. The One I sat laughing with just two weeks ago as he recounted childhood tales of adventures we’d shared.

Though frail then, he bravely did all he could to shield my sister and me from the pain cancer was causing in his body. There is no way I could have put this teaching out today and not mentioned one of the most significant, most hard-hitting, darkest valleys I have experienced to date; witnessing my brother die.

To tell you that it was not difficult would be a bald-faced lie. It was agonizing, as anyone who has witnessed a loved one inch away daily can attest. But it’s not towards my brother’s struggle or pain or even his passing that I want to point you; instead, it’s towards God. Towards the One who provides for our every need, even the strength to let go when all we want to do is selfishly hold tight. I want to point you towards His waterfall of mercy, grace, peace, and provision—towards His faithfulness. Both towards my brother, in God never once leaving him to walk through the dark and unfamiliar valley of death alone, always ensuring that he had everything he needed right when he needed it, down to our being with him as he took his final breath, and towards us. Giving each of us His strength in place of our human weakness. This leads me to God’s faithfulness to me personally. To one of the greatest blessings of my life, indeed, one of the most bittersweet. The sure knowledge that the God of the 11th hour answered my prayers for my brother’s salvation and met him as he lay dying in his bed. And, in His great mercy, quenched my brother’s parched soul with Living Water, washing him white as snow.

“But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life” –John 14:4. God met my brother in his dry and solitary bed of suffering as assuredly as He’d met Hagar as she lay crying out to Him on that hot, arid desert floor.

That’s our God. The One who comes and provides those things we didn’t even realize we needed.

I have peace in the knowledge and the greatest of blessings knowing that in my brother’s darkest hour, the Light of the world came and did for him what none of us as his family could. He drew close to my brother and lit the way before him, leading him to the place He had prepared for him. I know this because our God is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Our God is faith full. Yesterday, today, and forever. A Pillar of Fire by night and a covering of Cloud by day—our Protector.

 My family and I may have been blessed in having had the great privilege to care for our brother in his final hours, but clearly, it is Christ Jesus alone who deserves all the glory. In His Sovereignty, God orchestrated all things to work together for the good of all involved—according to His will, and for His glory.

Friend, if you have yet to ask Jesus into your life as Lord and Savior, do it today, please. No man is promised tomorrow. “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart, you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved” –Romans 10:8-10.

In Loving Memory of Richard M. Murphy

Deliverance, Again. Luke 24:13-16.

April 11, 2020 /
“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.”

“We are marching towards this new thing God is about to reveal; we are marching towards the New Jerusalem.”

Gethsemane felt like a distant memory, His precious Blood long dried now; browned—at least what was left of it that is. His Cross, bare. His tomb, empty. Everything that had once filled them with such hope, painted bright with the broad brushstrokes of possibility, those areas of their lives that had been infused with faith and joy and a future in Him—because He had said it was so— as dried up and brown now as His spilled Blood. But how? How could this have happened? Why? Why didn’t He save Himself? Save us all? Why didn’t we see this coming? Distractions are designed to force you to make adjustments to your area of focus. –Pastor Mike Padgett.

They had been expecting Him—their Messiah, to come and fight. To raise up an army. To deliver them from the death-like grip of Roman oppression as David, the mighty warrior King would have…

There’s a real danger in looking backward when something new is standing right in front of you. Not only will looking back blind you from being able to recognize the new thing standing before you—but looking backward also robs the hope new-ness offers. And so it was with these two men. Heads bent, heavy from grief and disbelief. They were certain they had just lost forever the One person that meant everything to them. Grief has a way of blinding us to those who are walking right beside us.

Jesus had been with them for some three years. He had foretold of His death and resurrection on numerous instances while He was with them. “…He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” –Mark 8:31; Luke 13:33; Matthew 16:21. He’d also told them that He had come to do the will of His Father. “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.”—John 6:38. Not once did He ever mention fulfilling their will—nor His own. That day on the Emmaus road they hadn’t yet grasped that this Jesus, their Messiah—ours too, was their Paschal Lamb. Would quite literally throw Himself in front of the enemy of their souls—ours too—in a way no David, no mere man ever could. They had no clue the power in this Lamb’s Blood! They didn’t understand its reach extended far beyond the doorposts and lintels of their ancestors…

Christ was right there with these two. This same Christ whom they had walked with and ate with. Had slept beside and had their hearts and minds and bellies filled by His teachings was walking side-by-side with them now. And, yet, they weren’t able to recognize them. The Scriptures tell us they were kept from recognizing Him. It wasn’t until Jesus broke the bread and blessed it that their eyes were finally opened. For whatever reason, the Bible doesn’t elaborate, it wasn’t until they saw this familiar action being performed that their eyes were finally opened, recognizing Him. “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.” –Luke 24:30-31.

That got me to wondering: So how much of Jesus, His nearness and wisdom, His desiring for us to see beyond our natural seeing do we miss in our everyday walk with Him because we’re not able to recognize Him in anything other than what’s familiar to us? This newly resurrected Christ had been keeping stride with Cleopas and this other disciple all the while—and nothing. Not a clue. Not only did they not recognize Him by sight, but His voice was obviously foreign to them as well.

Are we being offered some glimpse into our resurrected appearances within this verse? I digress…

In allowing Christ Jesus to be sacrificed, God had just done this new thing. Actually, He had just fulfilled an old agreement. No more sprinkling the people with the blood of slaughtered animals. “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” –Exodus 24:8. From now on, there’d be no further need for walking between slaughtered animals. His covenant with Abraham confirmed and undergirded through Moses, (Exodus, chapters 19-34) fulfilled now in His Paschal Lamb, Christ Jesus. “So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram… –Genesis 15: 9-10;17-18.

Notice that it was only God who walked between these bloody carcasses. He was that “smoking firepot with a blazing torch.” Abram was in a deep sleep. The covenant made with Abraham and Moses has always been God’s alone to fulfill. From the very second He stood over the dark void, until the very second the feet of Jesus touch this earth for a second time, only God is, has been, or will ever be, worthy to uphold His covenant. He is the only One without sin. Only God has ever been capable of fulfilling the promises He’s made to any man. Man, on the other hand, has broken every promise we’ve ever made to God. We’ve never once managed to hold up our end of the covenant…

And as it was with those who have gone before us, those who swore to keep God’s commands, to follow His ordinances, His ways, so too is it with every one of us today. Sinners all, in need of salvation. In need of the Blood. In need of what had been offered to us way back in the garden—a relationship with God.  This broken relationship restored now, made possible once again through Jesus, our Paschal Lamb. In God’s offering of His only Son, never again would the blood of an animal be required to atone for the sins of a people—any people, us. No more animal blood need be painted on doorposts and their lintels. “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. –Exodus 12:13-14. What had been required by God’s law; a foreshadowing—has become a memorial now, a homage, an altar of remembrance, our unfathomable privilege…

“Why is tonight different from all other nights?” Because God had just sacrificed the only Lamb, the only sacrifice, that is wholly acceptable in His sight; His pure, sinless, spotless Son. The Lamb of God Himself. Because He chose to cover us, as He did Adam and Eve and Abram and Moses and Joshua and all of His children before us—as well as those yet come. This same God who had covered Adam and Eve with bloody animal skins in the garden—a foreshadowing, knew death was coming for every first-born in Egypt, a judgment, yet another foreshadowing, flung Himself in front of death and, in offering His own Blood said, “Not this one!” God, with Jesus in mind, protected His people eternally with the shed blood of a lamb or a kid so that He might deliver them—leading them out from under the grip of the one who sought to oppress them, destroy them. Leading them instead, back into right relationship with Himself…

Sound familiar? It should.

God is still delivering us out from under the death-like grip of that same one whose sole mission in this life is to steal from us, destroy us, and finally, to kill us. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. This part of the story has never changed. It started in the garden with the words, “Did God really say”, and it will continue until the day Jesus returns and puts an end to him.

Friend, many things in this life will not change until Christ returns. That’s just a fact. If you’re waiting to get it right or for things to be right before you come to know Christ, you, my dear friend, will miss out on all that He has for you both now, and in the world to come. More, you will have been as blind as those friends of Jesus who failed to see what was right in front of them. That same Christ that was with them is walking right beside you now. He’s just waiting for you to ask Him into your life. And I promise you, that if you do, honestly ask Him I mean, then He will open your eyes to all that God has for you, has yet to come in this world, just as He did for those two.

And to you my brothers and sisters, if you’ve become stagnant in your walk with the Lord, I pray you will begin to stir up your faith, your gift—repent, earnestly seek His face and will and direction for your life. The price Christ paid that you might be restored— have a relationship with God at all, was far too dear for you or me—for any of us to let grow cold or stale…

Again and again, God has delivered those He calls to Himself. Delivered them from every kind of sin, sickness, and dis-ease. “It is finished.” So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. –John 19:30. We don’t serve a one time—one chance God. Thankfully, we serve a God whose mercy is new each morning. An Intercessor who sits at the right hand of the Father, praying for us day and night. A God who is ever offering us the opportunity of a new life in Himself…

Friend, if you don’t know this Jesus personally, in this holy season of hope and renewal, won’t you ask Him to break bread before you that your eyes may be opened too? He did it for them, if you truly desire it, He’ll surely do it for you …

Whether you know it, or not. Recognize it, or not. We are marching towards this “new thing” God is about to reveal; we are marching towards the New Jerusalem…”  

My highest prayer for you today is that you’ll march with us. If you have yet to ask this Jesus to come and break bread with you, make Himself real and recognizable to you, then please, don’t let this moment pass. “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” –Revelation 21:5.

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