A 'Diabolical' Devotional
Is 14:12-15 - 12How you have fallen from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have made the nations weak! 13 You said in your heart, 'I will go up to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. And I will sit on the mount of meeting in the far north. 14 I will go much higher than the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. 15 But you will be brought down to the place of the dead, to the bottom of the grave.
There was once a stunningly beautiful angel called the Bringer of Light (Lucifer). He served God and worshipped Him like everyone else did in heaven.
Then one day he wondered why God was always in charge. Lucifer thought heaven would be much better if he was in charge. "I could do a much better job than God", he thought. "I should be God around here."
He told his friends and, as friends often do, they agreed with him. "Yes, you should be God. You would be great at it! You could give us the best places in heaven if you were in charge." So, they made a plan and convinced a third of heaven's angels to follow them in trying to push God off the top spot in heaven.
It didn't end well for them – God had made all of them and, of course, He is vastly bigger and more powerful than anything He Himself created. They were thrown out of heaven and became ugly, angry, violent and filled with hate. Lucifer's name was changed to Satan, the devil, and, because he was separated from God's light, he became completely dark inside.
The angels who followed him had no idea what life would be like with him in charge. They soon discovered it was horrific. It was a lot like hell. God is the only source of everything good, so without God, life is horrendous. Heaven is only paradise because God, the perfectly wonderful One is in charge.
We might wonder what Lucifer could possibly have been thinking. Surely, he could see he wasn't God, and wasn't anything like God. Why did he think he should be in charge of heaven? But maybe it surprises us only because we haven't yet seen that we face exactly the same issue, just on a much smaller scale.
Whenever I say, "My will be done", not God's will, I am saying I want to be God of my own tiny universe. When I say, "My will be done", I am actually behaving as Lucifer did.
The main reason each of us has been placed on earth is to make this choice: Whom do we want to have in charge of our own lives? It's on a different scale, but the choice we face is exactly the same choice as Lucifer faced. Do I want God to be in charge or do I think it should be me?
We all have a free will choice in this life, which means we can choose light or darkness, good or evil, God or self. Lucifer chose badly. Here on earth, God gives each of us time to make our choice, but we get to live with that choice forever. Do we want God as our King forever or do we want self to be king forever?
As we prepare for our Missions Week, let us pray that many people in Derby will be presented with this choice. We're looking to reach 10,000 people with the Gospel. Let us pray that they will receive the revelation they need to make that all-important decision to surrender their lives to Jesus.
Prayer
Father God, we thank You for this forthcoming opportunity we have to speak the name of Jesus over our city and to proclaim Your plan of salvation. We earnestly pray that Your Holy Spirit will capture the attention of many people and will speak directly to their hearts. May Your word be accompanied by demonstrations of power as Your Spirit confirms the truth of Your word with signs following, and may many people come to faith. May we recognise the authority that You give us to be Your witnesses, and may our witness be powerful through Your Spirit to drive back the powers of darkness which seek to control our city and blind people to Your truth and life which set us free. May we partner with You in advancing Your Kingdom. In Jesus' name. Amen!
