The Ohio Independent Baptist, October 1967

I , • by Dr. John G. Balyo Christians are always engaged in )nflict and are alway under attack , atan. He attacks tl1e1n in 111an) 1 a,·s. It is not unu ual for him to t~ck God' people physically. Djd ~ not attack Job in this fashion? ... e ' 'afflicted Job with loath ome lre from the sole of his foot to the own of his head' (Job 2:7.) And in uke 13: 16 we read of Christ saying, And ought not this woman . . . horn Satan hath bound, lo, these ghteen years, be Joo ed fr.om the ond on the Sabbath day?,, Now the ible doe not teach that al I physical fliction is caused by atan. It does ach that sometimes affliction i ~ause of atan. God therefore 1ust ~ometimes help us phy ically 1 order to aid us spiritually, nd He does. There is a re- 1arkable tory in the Old Testament oout God's prophet of fire, Elijah. lijah had won a great victory on fount Carmel. Then, being afraid of 1e threats of Queen Jezebel he fled >r his life. He went a day's journey ,to the wilderness, sat down under a niper tree, and requested that he 1ight die. He said, "It i enough w. O Lord. take away my life, for a~ not better than my fathers." ~nd as he ]ay and slept under a 1niper tree behold then an angel 1uched him and said unto him, arise 11d eat. And he looked, and behold, 1ere was a cake baked on the coals nd a cruse of water at his head. And e did eat and laid him down again. nd the angel of the Lo~d came again 1e second time and touched him and 1id, ari e and eat; because the journ- is too 111ucl1 for thee." ( I King 9:5 , 7.) lL is a rer11arkable thing 1at ,od wa o concerned abou l the P phet' ph}' ical Y.'elfare that he Jo\.\ 1 ed hi111 to Jeep, then he gitvc 1n1 mething to eat, becau e od new ttl i I~lijab \.\'as haust d , SC) r d , o o, 1 er-v. 1 r ugl1t t l1 at he 111t1st 11 Ip d ph)' ical)}' h £ re 11 oou lcl ce tl1 Jlirjtual r,roble 111 that ,-.fere . d 111 i 1 i t r t o ur l> I i e . n t · ,1 , 11 v.,e , r, 1 le e ~pt: t tis l unction in J>iri1 o ~1)1~ 1 i I J)r b- 11 . u r n1 111b 1, n loul>t, tl1c: 1 1p] 111 tJ1 n a1 . .. }1c n ei1 1 11r d . I u I tJ J)I i,11)' tliaA cir } \ re }1 } • 11 h" }1a 1 t1au 111 g l , nd tli } " r I u 11 el) 131 , I u 11ri t 1 Id J1""""" 11 1111 tJr d I d1 t pr • \\ 1 ]1 n H O 10 I DEP NDENJ BAPTI He came back and found them sleep– ing He awakened then1, then com– manded them to pray. He reminded the e men that they mu t not allow the flesh to conquer. They must drive the weak fie h with the willing spirit . There are times when we simply must not give in to phy ical weakne s but mu t obey God in spite of phyiscal di abi]ity. Satan, of cour e, takes ad– vantage all that he can. Dr. John G. Balyo Satan al o attacks us e111otionall) 1• Mo t of us, I think, are like Lt1cy. When reminded that life had it tip and down , she aid, ' 'I don't want any down . I ju t want up and t1p and upc; and up ." Well, we are going to have our up and down regard– les<; of what we want. We can't be del iriou ly happy all the time. . atan knows lhi~ and works to di cot1rage u~. I f lie c·c111 clifcoc1rc1ge ti\ s11//ic·ie11t– l v lie ca,1 clefeat 11s co111ple1el)'. If \.VC • give in to ottr 1ee1ingc; and give tip, \.\ 't: are vt1lner,ablc cve1 ywhcre: n1ora l– I y, 111cnlally, p1r1tuall)' · lie 11ses 111t111 v 1/1 i 11g · to lliJ·c·oc,rt1ge ,,s. or 1n tancc, l1e tiiics to gel ti lo indtrlge in self c 11tle111n,tti o11 . lle v-7ot1ld cttu. tis t 1 accust.:: our ~eJ,,es a11tl co11dc111 11 ()ll r- • ~~ i v~ so that \\' l1 a,,c n ) J ', 11f> J) Y.'Cr, 110 vi t )I')' i11 tll t; J1 ri tian Ii J t:. 1 r 1 or ll r t c , 11 t 11 1: 11 r i I f el f C 11d f)ltl f tio11 \\' lllllSI d l l\V) 1}1 ing : ( J ) \A..' 111t1st firt >f,ill a - ce1>t , J' lorgivc:11 11 l~ il)lc le<1 Ji t lldl , ti t ak s " ttr ins , i 1lsl ,e 111111 JJ 111 ti s. JI J)llt ur s111 as law a,, a H tJ1 :i. '1 t i fr 111 the ,, st . \\ 1 si1111,1 n1us1 n ,1 Ii,, in the pre. encc <)f the ~in thar (ic)tf ha. ren1oved. We mw t not Jive in a pirit of self accusation and elf con– demnation. (2) We mu t be patient with our elves becau e God i patient with us. He remember our frame that we are du t. God know very well that we are going to grow gradu– ally, not all at once. When you place seed in the ground you do not expect an immediate harve t. Oh , eventually a great harve t should come but it does not come immedi ately. All that con1e up at fir t are a few blades of gras . ometi mes we Chri. tian look at our own Jives and we expect a great h.arve t immediately. But it take time to grow, it takes ti me to develop a a Chri tian~ and we mu t be patient with our elve or we . hall indulge in elf condemnation . We , hall become discouraged . Satan woz1ltl also discoitra{?e 11s h.v 111eans of self-devalitation. atan would tell us that we have no talent , that we are worthle , that we do not a·mount to anything. He tell u that we cannot make any genuine con– tribution to the cau e of Chri t. I aiah reminded u that God would not break a brui ed reed and would not qL1ench moking flax. Ye , the re d may be brui ed but God will not break it and throw it away. There may be but little fire in the flax, it may be only moking: but God will not put out the little fire there i . God i patient with ti , and we there– fore must be patient with ot1rselve. . Satan lVOllld also rlisco11rage 11s 11 1 itl1 tl1e proble111s lt'e face. W will alway have problen1 . There are problem in ot1r liv , pr bl n1 in 011r h n1e~, problen1 in t1r \\t1rld : and we arc al\,\ ay g ing to ha, e problen1 a hri t1an . Our Litff1- ct1ltie n1a 1 he like the pr hlt.:111 in the ht1r h :.1t Ph1l1pp1 \\hen ther\: \\ a\ dt\ 1 1011 becat1,c t,, o \\ 0111t.:n h.ltf engaged in ct111 tr , c1~,. P "1t1l \\r,tc to th1"' ch11rch, ~1nd ,,tlLi, .. In n th111g l',e an\.1ot1s ... lt)fl \t be till\;d ,vith an~ i– etv al1our ttn\ thing. \\ hen l"' t1L,J1 ..1 .... ht~,1rd that ' l'le 111i g ht h .. t,c ~ .. t1d ..\\ ~11, 1 h.. t, t.: catt\e for atl\.1 t,. ll ,\vc '/ tt h ~,1rll at-, ut S\ 1 nt, 1 cl1 ~ sh is <.Jttitl~ ., ,l J1l' L)l1 ) "' (ll ill tJ1j~ (;httlc..:h ." ., lll }1 n1igl1t l1a, t: 'i~litl tht.: \dill:. thi11g ·•b )tat l~t1 Lli 'ts. Bttt rh ' BilJle 111n1and ··1n ,1othi1,g l1 n11. i us, t ttt in all tl1i11gs, l))' Ir,) r ar1 I s lll)J li ati 11 I I \ ll t r re flh:: st s l1c 111a I k11 ,, 11 Lt11t tl1 ., l ortl ,vitl1 tl1a 11k !,i, ing 11 I tl1 11 a c:: >f • LI \,l1i 11 J)as 1t1 .. 111 tin- t r t a n I i n g s l 1 a 11 gt 1 1 cl ( t 11 11 e ,11 t s (Contit1ued on p g e 1 ) OCTOBER 1967 PAGE 5