November 28

"With intense interest the unfallen worlds had watched to see Jehovah arise, and sweep away the inhabitants of the earth. And if God should do this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan for securing to himself the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had declared that the principles of God's government make forgiveness impossible. Had the world been destroyed, he would have claimed that his accusations were proved true. He was ready to cast blame upon God, and to spread his rebellion to the worlds above. But instead of destroying the world, God sent His Son to save it. Though corruption and defiance might be seen in every part of the alien province, a way for its recovery was provided. At the very crisis, when Satan seemed about to triumph, the Son of God came with the embassage of divine grace. Through every age, through every hour, the love of God had been exercised toward the fallen race. Notwithstanding the perversity of men, the signals of mercy had been continually exhibited. And when the fullness of the time had come, the Deity was glorified by pouring upon the world a flood of healing grace that was never to be obstructed or withdrawn till the plan of salvation should be fulfilled."

     Where do we start? “unfallen worlds” or Satan’s plan? Let’s go with Satan’s plan. There appeared to be an option to wipe this sinful world out of existence. Satan had prepared a plan against this eventuality where the object was for Satan to take over the allegiance of heavenly beings. He would not, of course, have mankind to rule over. No matter, Satan is not interested in us. What He wants is dominion.

     Satan’s plan comes to nought because God does not do what Satan expects. Instead of wiping us out of existence God decides to forgive the whole fallen race, if they will accept God’s Grace.

     The issue here is about ‘right-thinking’. Satan simply wasn’t thinking correctly. I would assume that when he first came into existence he thought correctly – he would never have been appointed to the role of ‘covering cherub’ without the right mind-set.  That all changed. Instead he began thinking his own thoughts and arriving at his own conclusions. That form of thinking allowed him to think the unthinkable. A loving God would never wipe out a planet.

     How do we develop ‘right-thinking’? Surely right-thinking, in spiritual matters at least, means thinking the way God would think? Take a look at 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, note what leads up to having the mind of Christ. Look at a few selected verses to help us work out what we need to do to think rightly,

     “No, we declare God’s wisdom, … these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. … In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

     First, we need to think in the way that God thinks. How does that happen? We need the Spirit of God. How do we get the Spirit of God? We need to receive the Spirit of God. In that way we will understand things in the way God understands them.

     We will never understand God’s ways unless we think like God. Satan couldn’t think that way because he didn’t have the Spirit of God. That had long since been lost.

     A final twist here. Just think what having the mind of Christ will do to your prayer life. Because you think like God you will only ask in prayer according to God’s will. You will only ask for what He wants to give. That way all of your prayers will be answered in the way you want – because that is the way God wants to give.

     Make sure that you invite the Holy Spirit into your life today. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the root of right thinking.