Satan The Intimidator

Scripture

“This message {from Sennacherib} is for King Hezekiah of Judah. Don’t let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you with promises that Jerusalem will not be captured by the king of Assyria.”

~2 Kings 19:10, NLT

Quote

Satan is a play ground bully.

~Ya’akov

It is a mistake to underestimate the power of Satan but it is equally tradgic to overestimate his power. There are many things that Satan cannot do. He is mighty but he is not almighty. He possesses more knowledge than you and I but he is not omniscient; he does not know everything. 2 Kings 19 contains one of the greatest stories in the bible. Sennacherib, the pagan butcher who ruled the Assyrian Empire surrounded Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the LORD in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the LORD had given Moses. So the LORD was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. {2 Kings 18:5-7}

Sennacherib in this story is a picture of Satan, the one who opposes the children of God. By using and misusing ‘words’, Sennacherib tries to intimidate the people of Judah. His goal is to paralyze them with fear. Sennacherib sent his minions to Jerusalem to do his work. They insulted Hezekiah and made fun of God. They boasted of their power and made it sound as if they were invincible. They told the Jews on the wall, “You better surrender to us or you will be eating your own waste and drinking your own urine.” Their bullying tactics worked to a point but Hezekiah was a man of faith and deeply devoted to prayer. He also called for his chaplain, a man by the name of Isaiah. Isaiah reassured the king, “The man is simply blowing off steam. He is no threat to the city. He will never fire one arrow over the wall. He doesn’t know it but he and his army have been marked for destruction. God is going to take care of Sennacherib. You don’t focus on him, you keep your eyes on God. He will deliver you.” Hezekiah did as Isaiah instructed, it went to the temple and prayed. God heard his prayer and that very night one angel went throughout the camp of the Assyrian army and killed 185,000 soldiers. The next day, Sennacherib had the tents taken down and they returned to Nineveh where he was executed by his own sons.

If you are a child of God the devil cannot touch your soul but he will enslave you to fear if you are not careful. He will terrorize you and have you living in constant fear. He did this very thing to Elijah through the threats of Jezebel. Get in the word of God and stay there. Put your faith in Jesus not in circumstances. Pay no attention to the devil. Laugh at his threats: he is blowing smoke. He cannot damn you to hell: he does not have the power {thank goodness}. His goal is to intimidate you and cause you to live in fear.


Don and I had a good visit with Jimmy Hogan. I was impressed. Jimmy has a great attitude and a good spirit. Like all of us, his life is not perfect and he has a burden for one of his family members. Let’s join together in praying for Jimmy’s burden to be lifted: it will take a miracle from God. Jimmy has a beautiful place. He lives very near Keith and Kim McCaghren and Dwight and Beverly Bowling.


GOLDEN GIRLS will meet on May 13th instead of the 6th. 


SENIOR ADULT DAY May 7th with an all Senior Adult Cast…John Tucker leading music, Linda Glenn on the piano, an all Senior Adult choir–62 and up. Lord willing, I will be preaching. Following our service, we have BBQ in the FORTE. Order your plate from Mandy. You have three choices: pork, chicken and turkey.


My 50th High School class reunion is coming up on April 29. I will not lie, I am a bit apprehensive.


Jimmy’s daughter Dawn is his caregiver. I know Dawn from Hannah’s work. Every time I see her, I sing a line of the old song, “Delta Dawn what’s that flower you have on.” Yesterday was no exception: Dawn just laughs. I visited with her while Don went in to see Jimmy. Then Don came to the den and said, “Bro. Jack, he wants to see you.” Dawn said, “Don’t sing to him Bro. Jack.” I gave her my word I would not sing. Don chimed in, “Yeah, Bro. Jack joined the choir and then what few we had in the choir quit.”

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