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Wednesday September 16, 2020
What about condemnation?
“We live in the no-condemnation reality of Romans 8:1. If Satan can get us into taking condemnation for temptations or get us to believe again that we are independent selves, then what we believe holds us. But if, instead of being tricked into such negative believings, we accept temptation as Satan’s right by all his emissaries of people and things (for we are within his camp to rescue his captives), we then do not deny or oppose any forms of temptation. We recognize that they do not issue from our flesh, but from the sin-tempter of our flesh, and then we take no condemnation.
By this we are able to pull Satan’s teeth, and he becomes a roaring but toothless lion (1 Peter 5:8)–unless we give him teeth by responding by fear or condemnation. We ‘agree with our adversary quickly’ as Jesus said in Matthew 5:25, or he will imprison us. If we agree with his right to attack us, we have well blunted his sword. By thus freeing Satan to exercise his rights, we are equally now free to exercise our own. We answer his assaults by affirming who we are, Christ in us/as us, which really is practicing the daily death-resurrection process of 2 Corinthians 4:10. The light of expressing ourselves as Christ )light through lamp) swallows up the darkness. Where we are tempted to hate, we love with God’s love, including enemies. Where tempted to hear (which is really negative believing in evil), we have the faith of God for the situation: anxiety with assurance; depression with affirmation of Him as our joy, though soul feelings may last. We ‘resist the devil,’ as James says (James 4:7) by submitting to God, and in that affirmation that coward of a devil flees.”
Taken from: To All Believers…It’s as Simple as This
By Norman Grubb
Pages 28-29
