Deeper Life #366

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

—Matthew 24:35

THE FIRST FEW CENTURIES OF the church were among the greatest, the purest, and the most blessed that the world has ever seen. Those early Christians had an unquestioning love for God. All of the subsequent reformations and revivals have been spurts of spiritual energy to get back to those primitive Christian days.

Yet the present church age continues to manifest three prime characteristics of the apostolic church. The main features of this church age are: (1) individual responsibility for letting God cleanse the heart from sin, readjust our nature, and infill it with His divinity, on the sole ground of the substitution of Jesus Christ for the sin of the world; (2) personal realization of a personal God, by making the response of perfect love and devotion; and (3) consciousness of each individual’s accountability to God alone.

These fundamentals are what Satan is trying to undermine. Yet all of our work as Christians must spring from these elements. The worldly never fight God, but religious people do so by letting Satan work through them.

Prayer Thought: O God, let me realize when I am playing into the hands of Satan as he attempts to undermine Your work.

SUGGESTED READING: Matthew 24:32–44