By Valerie Bergquam
Thriving in our relationship with God and life involves some concentrated effort. We freely receive God’s love through His gift of salvation, as we believe on His Son Jesus Christ. Even though this relationship is given by grace, a believer soon learns there are a variety of factors involved in building and maintaining this friendship with God.
Picking up where we left off in this acronym for PRAY, part 2 covers the letter R. R = Resist Evil: and what is the result? God will protect you!
How do we resist evil? Prov. 16:6, “ By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil.” What is the fear of the Lord? For an example of this- we look to perilous events surrounding Jochebed’s baby Moses, in Ex 1:15-22! Before Jochebed is compelled to put her son in the Nile River ,we read about two midwives who were protected because they chose to respect God more than bow down to an evil law.
Shiphrah & Puah were brought to the King of Egypt’s attention because they defied his law= an evil law which said the Hebrew midwives must kill all male babies as they were being delivered. When Pharoah demanded they give a reason for not obeying his command, they told him that the Hebrew women were robust and gave birth so quickly that they couldn’t stop the children from being born! Pharoah didn’t kill the midwives but changed his tactics! I think it’s quite remarkable that the king didn’t have these women killed for breaking his law! The Lord protected these strong women who practiced the fear of the Lord in their everyday activities and work! E.M. Bounds said, “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil.”
Here are 2 ways to resist evil: (1) Don’t be afraid of what people think of you, instead be more concerned about pleasing God! Prov 29:25, “the fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” A snare is a trap used by hunters to catch animals. When we allow people to intimidate us, we can end up going into unhealthy places, or be swayed into a situation that is harmful. 2) Don’t negotiate with the devil! He doesn’t play fair. God promises to protect His children who listen to His advice, and will protect you from incoming evil!