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Keep Your Eyes on the Lord!

Rule
# 3
,
from the Red Sea Rules Book… Acknowledge your Enemy but keep your Eyes on
the Lord
.
     Who is our enemy in this world?  Anyone who wishes to harm us. We need
discernment to know how to protect ourselves from the Enemy.  Ephesians
6:12 gives us the guidelines for our awareness.  For we do
not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 
        
What can guard us against the Enemy and gives us the name?  Verse 11-12 of
the same chapter.  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the
strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the
devil. 
 
       We need constant vigilance to distinguish
Good from evil.  An insidious phrase might sway my parents to gain
permission to be like my friends. They quickly dismiss this idea. 
“Everyone else is doing it!” 
        
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the
excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are
God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received
mercy. 
I Peter 2:9-10.  What sets us apart?  Being chosen
by God and choosing to be under His protection and mercy.
        
Being chosen by God means following His expectations.  Not every whim that
seems right at the time or feels good should be our guide.  A college
professor once taught his class, and had them act this out in different
scenarios, “If it feels right, do it!”
        
When we treasure the Way of our Lord God, we will understand the truth of Psalm
18:30-31.  This God—his way
is perfect;
 the word of
the Lord proves true; He is a shield for all those who take
refuge in Him.
 For who is
God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
        
Understanding how the Devil works, helps us thwart him in swaying us from God
Almighty. As a serpent, he deceives Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1. The
second is a bird, trying to despoil God’s harvest in Matthew 13:3. 
Jesus considers him as a wolf attack God’s flock in John 10:12.  He
appears as a lion trying to devour God’s children in I Peter 5:8. 
While in Revelation 12:12-14, he becomes a dragon wanting to destroy
God’s own Son.
“But woe to
you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great
wrath because he knows that his time is short!”
 
Revelation 12:12b gives the reason why the devil becomes furious. 
Satan comes in many guises although he
is known as the great deceiver, the father of lies.  Jesus says in John
8:47, “Whoever is of God hears the words
of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not
of God.”
         Where can we find peace?  Where can
we find love?  Where is our joy in living? The second part of Rule #3
holds the answer, the key to a relationship with God, enjoying life in the Way
He Leads. 
The Lord your
God is in your midst, a mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you
with gladness; He will quiet you by his love; He will exult over you with
loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17. 
Our Lord God is faithful, just, and
delights in us.  May we praise Him with every breath, enjoy His Presence
through His Word, as we live for Him by keeping our eyes on the Lord.
Many
are the sorrows of the wicked,
 but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in
the Lord.
 Be glad in the Lord,
and rejoice, O righteous,
 and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!  Psalm 32:10-11
“Draw near to
me, hear this:
 from the
beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been
there.” And now the Lord God has
sent me, and his Spirit.
 Thus says
the Lord,
 your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am
the Lord your God,
 who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.”  Isaiah 48:16-17.
Yet
they seek me daily
 and delight to know my ways as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of
their God; 
they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to
God. 
Isaiah 58:2.
         I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made
heaven and earth.
 He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps
you will not slumber.
 Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on
your right hand.
 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by
night.
 The Lord will keep you from all
evil;
 He
will keep your life. The Lord will
keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and
forevermore.
  Psalm 121

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