Category: Devotion of the Day

Choosing Your Angel

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Hebrews 1:14.

Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. II Corinthians 11:14.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. I John 4:1.

Angels ministered to Jesus, they minister for the saints, they minister to little children. But Satan goes about as a Mock Angel and does more harm in that pose than as a roaring lion. Again he comes as the Accuser and whispers insinuations which harassed believers imagine proceed from themselves. Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress was grievously beset in the Valley by such a spirit. Satan can produce a false conviction and we may mistake his voice for that of God’s Spirit. In such a dark and dismal state many harassed souls fancy they have lost their salvation or have committed the unpardonable sin.

We are commanded to test such voices by the Word of God. We need not walk in such company. Submitting first to God, we must resist the devil, bidding him in the name of Christ to depart.

Do not take up with the wrong spirit. Satan apes God, and we must not be ignorant of his devices. While on your guard against the Roaring Lion, do not be deceived by the Mock Angel!

Reproach and/or Riches

Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
Hebrews 11:26.

Moses had to choose one of two kinds of wealth, the reproach of Christ or the treasures of Egypt. He esteemed the first to be the greater riches and so laid up treasure in heaven.

He chose the imperishable, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” He saw the invisible: “He endured as seeing him who is invisible”; He did the impossible: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea.”

Moses got off to a good start in his parentage. This same account tells us (v. 23) that his parents hid him when he was a baby and that “they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” We read later that Moses forsook Egypt, “not fearing the wrath of the king.” Like parents, like son!

Moses’ choice was reproach and/or riches. It is a matter of whether one wants to get rich or be rich. We can be rich in Christ Jesus or perhaps get rich in Egypt, but we cannot do both. It is never “Christ and…” It is always “Christ or…” We cannot serve God and mammon.