Living Free of Fear

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

LIVING FREE OF FEAR

Luke 21:20-24

20 "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

NIV

This is certainly all about the destruction of the Temple by the Gentile Roman army in AD70 which history records for us. These prophetic words of Jesus do not seem to have anything to do with our lives today and yet because all scripture is profitable for all that Paul told Timothy, we need to gain some insight into our lives. If we envisioned Christianity, our individual local body of believers, or even our own selves as Jerusalem, then we could see the army of the enemy surrounding us, trying to destroy us. We also know that we should flee from evil, in fact, we pray that God would not lead us toward that evil, but to deliver us from any evil that is attempting to seduce us, tempt us, trying to destroy us. If it were possible evil would attempt to trample on us, overpower us, entrap us, or snare us in its grasp. It will be dreadful if we fall into the grasp of evil. However, we have a defense that cannot be penetrated. We have the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against all the dark forces of this world, all the enemies in the heavenly realms that would attack us, even those with flaming arrows cannot get through God’s shield of faith he gave us. We can stand our ground and need not turn our backs, fleeing from the enemy, giving him credit for making us give up ground. Of course, it would seem right to be afraid of the enemy, as the Jews living in Jerusalem would be in fear during the great destruction of Jerusalem. Still, once again, we need to be mindful of the armor God has clothed us in, and we also need to get dressed in that armor. It is one thing to be given the armor, but we do need to allow God to dress us, to put it on or within us. As we have explored this armor of God many times, and as we have seen each piece a symbol of Jesus, or representing Jesus, we then understand our complete defense against all evil is Jesus. He is the full armor of God and we need to accept Jesus into our lives, allowing him to be our stronghold, our great tower, our fortress, our defender, shield, salvation, truth, our peace, and our great sword that we can smash that enemy down. That old enemy will always be there until the number of gentiles is fulfilled. When God decides that is enough and comes, chaining that devil up for a thousand years until his end will come later. Knowing he is already defeated should give us great hope. So let us live fully clothed in Jesus, and live free from all fear from evil.