Father, we love you because you are you!
- Your ways are beyond finding out
- All authority in Heaven and on earth, indeed in the whole creation, belongs to you and you delegate it temporarily to whomever you will but eternally to your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.
We can never understand how you would allow Satan in what ever form he manifests himself to exercise your authority. More puzzling is the authority given to him “to wage wars against the Saints and even to conquer them”. (v7)
Our consolation and reassurance however is that:
- You put a limit on his authority – the extent, the time; you say this far and no more – like you told him not to touch Job beyond a point.
- Ultimate victory is always yours. Thus your saints can remain faithful and not worship the beast even if the whole world does (v8). Your saints can endure patiently (v9) because they know that all other authority is temporary viewed from God’s perspective. Your saints know that you are perfecting your purpose for them, you will avenge their blood as revealed in (Rev 6v10-11). You are allowing the number of the martyrs to be complete.
Father, we love you because you are in control. We love you because you are you!
Father, thank you for loving us so much as to suffer pain at the cross as you allowed and saw your only begotten son, Jesus Christ, suffer and died for us!
Thank you for the assurance that because He rose and is now at the Father’s throne, someday I will arise! I will be translated. The victory is sure. Father, I love you. Please give me the enablement to hold on and be faithful to you to the end. This I pray through your Son my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! AMEN.
Yes, His ways are truly past finding out. Perhaps the most amazing is the fact of His self-emptying to take on human flesh with all its inherent weaknesses. Can you imagine Him as a child grazing his knees when he fell over and running to mum for comfort?