June 29 I Friday

Job 14-16

Acts 9:22-43

“And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.”  —Ephesians 1:22-23

Watching headline news for just five minutes reveals the fingerprints of the devil all over our world. 1 John 5:19 states, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” Satan and his demons want nothing more than to drag as many of us down with them as they can. Yet, despite the scope of the devil’s authority, he cannot match Christ’s power.

There are two aspects to “Christ’s incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19): His resurrection power and His reigning power. Paul explains, “That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion…” (Ephesians 1:19-21). The last enemy to be destroyed is death, which God has already destroyed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To know His mighty strength is to know that anything that threatens to defeat us is already defeated in Christ. To believe this is to appropriate it and say, “Lord Jesus, I am looking to You. I trust You and thank You for Your resurrected life that lives in me.”

Though we live in a fallen world where evil is active, we need to know that a day is coming when the Lord Jesus will step out of heaven and banish all that is evil and vindicate what is right. On that day, His authority will be unmistakable, so “…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11). 

As Christians, God’s power exhibited through Christ means that we are secure in Him, but it does not mean we will be exempt from hardship and trials. Christians suffer loss, illness and tragedy as much as non-believers. If a plane were to go down with Christians on board, they stand no more chance of surviving than anyone else. We will experience pain and heartache, but in these times, we have the strength, comfort and peace of the Lord Jesus to sustain us. A peace, Paul says, “which transcends all understanding and will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). In Christ, we are secure and under the authority of the One who is right now sitting on the pinnacle throne of the universe. It is this omnipotent Jesus that Paul prays we would know experientially as knowledge of Him grows and thrives in our hearts.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I pray for our fallen world and ask that You grant me the peace that transcends understanding. You are Lord of all and I trust You to work in my life. Thank You, Jesus.