Jonah 1:1-2
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
The Lord tells Jonah to go and preach at Nineveh and tell them that their great city was about to be destroyed because of the wickedness and that they needed to change.
We often times wait until our life goes south before we come to God. And we often time do this over and over again.
If we stick with Christ our journey would be so much easier.
Jonah 1:17- Jonah was swallowed by a large fish.
Satan is waiting to swallow us up, make our life miserable and possibly take our life if we give him the edge.
Ephesians 4:27
27 Neither give place to the devil.
I heard a great story that is a good example of what this means.
What does it mean to “give place to the devil”? Let’s say you own 50 acres of land, and I want one acre right in the middle of it. You sell it to me.
Now I have the right to go into and out of your property at will, to get to my one acre. Supposed I start throwing trash around and paying loud music all hours of the night. I’m desecrating your property, but there’s nothing you can do—you’ve given me access.
You try to make me leave, and I say, “I’m not going, and you can’t make me go. I’ve got a legal right to it. If you don’t like it, tough luck.” You wouldn’t be able to move me out because you gave me a place there.
Some of you do the same thing by giving Satan access to your soul.
Ephesians 4:27-30
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
We give access to Satan by not following what God has commanded that we must do throughout His word.
You cannot get Satan off of your property without getting Jesus in your heart. Through your salvation Satan is conquered.
You see Jonah was trying to hide and run from what God wanted him to do. But, you must know that God always knows what we do and where we are.
This is not all. We must keep Satan from taking over our property or our life again. That means when things come our way we must be careful not to stray from our salvation.
When our car breaks down or our house is in a mess we must watch out for satan trying to take over what doesn't belong to him.
When you have a huge fight with your spouse or family member we need to not forget who God is. We cannot allow Satan to take over our minds and we start saying things that we shouldn't.
It is so easy that when flames are high and someone is mad to say things like cuss words, mean hurtful things, or even speak divorce over our marriage. We can say things that will cause us to lose our spouse, son, daughter or other family members.
God has called us for something more.
2 Timothy 1:9
9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,
Christ Jesus already has you picked out for a calling. You are special in the eyes of Christ.
If Christ picked you then he did not pick you to be a dark night in the middle of a day. He did not pick you for the storm you can cause. When I was a kid I can remember times that it would get so dark in the middle of the day that it would look like it did at 10:00 at night. It was scary looking.
Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
We are who Christ has called. And he is the life of everything we can need are want.
Then Jesus says that "No one comes to the Father except through me.
It is through Christ Jesus that Salvation comes and only through him can we receive everything he has for us. If we will pick up our cross and follow him then he will supply our needs.