Scripture
One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming {prowling} throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
Quote
It is never good, but the defection from good, that is the cause of evil.
~Augustine {City Of God, p.257}
Augustine believed, as I do, that Satan is a fallen angel and the chief orchestrator of the power and forces of darkness. Augustine believed that the good angels adhere or stick to God. Satan ceased adhering to God and ventured out on his own. He defected from the good and thus became bad. Augustine’s first picture of the city of God is that of the celestial beings. Picture a light bulb and moths clinging to it. The good angels cling to God. They do not wander off unless commanded by God Himself. They share the common good {holiness} and are in constant communion with God and each other. By adhering to God, they adhere to one another and thus form the nucleus of the City of God. According to Augustine, what made Satan’s will bad was falling away from God for when he fell from clinging to God, he also fell from good, since God is the source of all good. You may agree with Augustine or you may be like me. I don’t know enough to agree or disagree. One thing seems to be certain, Satan is a fallen angel and he has ceased to be good. Peter said, “Your enemy the devil {Satan} prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” He is like a ravenous beast on the prowl and he never ceases to prowl. Evil is relentless.
Folks, the church is in a war and unfortunately a lot of church folks don’t realize that we are under attack. Satan is on a rampage. Don’t go out without protection. Go to Ephesians six and put on the armor, every piece. We can stand against him but we cannot do it in our strength. We have to have the LORD’s help. We don’t have a prayer without it. Some folks seem to be satisfied with knowing that ultimately Christ defeats Satan but I am too competitive to think like that…I want to win now. I don’t know about you but I plan to STAND my ground. I am strapping on the armor and I am going to fight. No more compromise; no more giving ground: it is time to form ranks and take a stand. A huge part of the battle is prayer. So as Paul challenged us in Ephesians 6:18, Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Extra
The big rains are missing us but praise God some folks are getting rain. We got another dust settler early this morning. The main part of the storm went north of us. The other day it went south. But we have had a lot of cloud cover and it has not been hot. What moisture we got has hung around.
Busy schedule today…Ty plays at 9:00, lunch meeting at 11:38, visit Granny and Mrs. Leona, then Ty plays again at 1:00 and then mid-week worship tonight.
Tomorrow is a big day for a friend of mine. She finds out the result of her test. Just pray a prayer of peace for my friend and her family. It has been a very hard year for them.