Quote from Forum Archives on October 16, 2009, 7:11 pm

Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional

(A Devotional Classic from 2002)

Welcome to the 1144 new subscribers since January 1, 2009

10.15.09

Living for the Devil

And David said in his heart, 'Now I shall perish someday by the hand of
Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to
the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore
in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.' - 1 Samuel 27:1.

Then David said to Achish, 'If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them
give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why
should your servant dwell in the royal city with you.' - 1 Samuel 27:5.

In Devils Lake, North Dakota for 25 years "Satans" was the nickname for the
Devils Lake School and the mascot for the school was also a "Satan". By a
unanimous vote, the school board has decided to drop the name and mascot. Ed
Brown, the vice president of the school board said, "I think we need to move
forward. This has been hassled with many times the last 25 years. I really
think we need to have a change." Brown also hopes the change will help to
bring the community together and move it forward.

I can see how for those who have a belief in God and the supernatural that
having "Satans" as the school nickname would be difficult to live with.
Usually we do not have that big of a choice as to where we live especially
as juveniles. Devils Lake may be a great place to live and probably most
people who live there do not even think about the name of the place, and of
course they were not responsible for naming the place. I have lived in some
places where I didn't necessarily like the name or some aspect of it but
adjusted over a period of time. For a while, I lived in a town called Dill
City on Roach Street. The street was named after a man of character and
nothing derogatory was meant by it. I live now in a place where the zip code
is 73666. We would like to see the zip code changed (Because of "666" being
the symbol for the beast in the Book of Revelation.) but there is not much
we can do about it, and we have gotten used to it.

Spiritually we sometimes settle down with the world and get used to it, and
it takes something drastic to move us out of the situation. David was afraid
King Saul was going to catch up to him and kill him, but it was an
unreasonable fear because God had continually protected him. For the
Israelite to live in the Promised Land was to live in the place of God's
blessing but now David has decided without consulting God to flee to
Philistia. King Achish is the archenemy of the people of Israel and David
calls himself the servant of Achish. It would be like our saying we were
going to settle down in the kingdom of Satan and serve the devil. King
Achish gives David the little place called Ziklag and he settles down there
with his 600 men and their families. David grows accustomed to living in the
enemies' camp until one day he is shocked out of his complacency.

For sixteen months David has lived in the kingdom of Satan, and he is happy
Saul is no longer chasing him and he has no reason to leave. He has gotten
used to where he is living. But finally the unexpected happened; "Now it
happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together
for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, 'You assuredly know
that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men (1 Samuel 28:1).'"
What a shock to David! Achish now wants him to go and fight on the side of
the enemy against his own people and against God. That's exactly what that
old devil wants us to do, and he lures us into complacency until suddenly we
have a choice to make between the world and the will of God.

There is always a wage to receive for being outside of the will of God
(Romans 6:23) because being in Christ and in the perfect will of God is the
place of blessing for the child of God. Have you settled down with the world
and gotten used to living for the devil? It may be comfortable at the
moment, but it is only an illusion that will crumble away eventually
revealing the true damage that has been done to your life. Before you become
too used to the world maybe it is time to start serving the Lord and living
in His Kingdom. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone
loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing
away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1
John 2:15-17)."

It may be that like the school in Devils Lake, North Dakota that it is time
for a change in your life.

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