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Writer's picturePastor Bowler

THE LORD REBUKE THEE [3] — Jude 9

God gives us a warning in 1 John 4:1. The Bible says we need discernment from the Holy Spirit to discern the spirits. Our world has become a garden of strange gods. We meet all kinds of folks who talk about gods, spirits, spirit begins, channels, spirit guides, masters, and use many types of religious expressions. The Bible says that we need the Holy Spirit to discern the truth. behind all these evil spirits is the devil. As our enemy, he seeks to harm us.


We’ve noticed the evil that surrounds us, the enemy that seeks to harm us, and thirdly we see the everlasting refuge we have in the Lord. The Bible says, “Yet Michael the archangel, she contending with the devil he disputed about body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”


In this passage, Michael commits Satan to the Lord. Our refuge is in the Lord God Almighty. The hardest thing to do in life is to determine the human from the divine. We have brains, bodies, muscles, and other abilities. We can see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. What are we to do, and what is God to do? We must distinguish our ideas from God’s ideas.


When dealing with authority, this verse teaches that we need to commit it to the Lord, and not take it into our hands. It is a shame that many of us try to play God with other people’s lives. If there is a clear, definite guideline in the Word of God, give people the verse and commit it to the Lord.


Every human being is a soul for whom Christ died; a person God created. God wants to do a spiritual work in each life. Christian people should walk with the Lord and leave things in God’s hands.


The Bible records that Michael said to Lucifer, “The Lord rebuke thee.” Our refuge is in the Lord, not just from evil and harm, but from attempting to do more than God wants us to do. The most taxing thing on human life is assuming God’s responsibility. We often admit that things are out of our hands and that we are not going to be able to change people’s hearts, but we continue wrestling with it.


I have had to learn as a father and a pastor that God by His Holy Spirit can convict, lead, work, and do things that I am not capable of doing. I can be used of God by committing the things to the Lord. If I do not commit them to God, I will not be used of God.


We all agree that we are surrounded by an evil conspiracy, a spirit world, and a raging battle. There is an evil one behind it all. We cannot stand in our own strength. God is our refuge and our strength. Holy angels and unholy angels are not out somewhere having sword fights to see who is the best. The battle rages over the souls of men. None of us are as aware as we should be that God wants to use us as vehicles to point people to Jesus Christ. Either we are going to be used of God or used of the devil.


Our only everlasting refuge is to cast ourselves at the mercy of Jesus Christ and ask God to use us and direct us. Someone is battling for your home. Someone is battling for your spouse. Someone is battling for your mind. Someone is battling for your children. Someone is battling for your church. Someone is battling for your Sunday school class. Someone is battling for everything you love dearly. We need to make sure that we are being used of God in the battle by casting ourselves on the mercy of God, trusting in the Lord, and being filled with the Word of God.


Michael the archangel said, “The Lord rebuke thee.” I can tell if I am walking in the Spirit of the Lord by the way I react to things. If I react properly by looking for God’s hand in my circumstances, trusting God to use me, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me, and finding God’s Word to help and strengthen me, then the Lord can get glory in every situation. If I do not depend on the Lord and look to His Word, then He cannot get the glory.

Our churches must awake to the spiritual conflict. As God’s people, we must say, “Lord, be our everlasting Refuge.”


Think of the times we have been lifted up in pride—thinking we had accomplished such great things. The Lord wants to say, “I would like to explain something to you if you would listen. That victory was not won by your efforts. I gave you that victory. I took care of that for you because I love you.”


Even the archangel said, “The Lord rebuke thee.” Many of us need to come again to the feet of the Lord Jesus and say, “Lord I need Thee. I know that I am not going to have the spiritual victory apart from Thee.”


“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” — James 4:7-8.



















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