Text: Isaiah 14:12-17
“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?”
We can see why following and serving God has been premised on self denial and dying to self. Jesus said: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). And the Apostle Paul said: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Self is the nature of Lucifer that the fallen man has put on.
In the text, five times, from verse 13 to 14, you see Lucifer saying, “I will”, “I will”, “I will”, “I will”, “I will”, making everything about I, I, I. He was entirely driven by self (Mr Flesh). This is why we are admonished: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24). The manifestations of the nature of Lucifer, the old man or Satan, is what Paul describes as the work of the flesh. He said: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, editions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
This is why God resists the proud (1 Peter 5:5), that the flesh glory not in His presence. Hear this: “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
Anytime you see that you are beclouded with self centeredness, know that the spirit, the nature of Lucifer, is at work. This is why we have to keep renewing the spirit of our minds for the new man, Jesus, to be at work in us (Ephesians 4:23-24). When you are putting on Christ, you manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Prayer:
I pray for you that every trace of the nature of Lucifer (self) in you dies, in the name of Jesus Christ.