Eph 6:12-For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
This is an interesting statement from the Apostle Paul. Could it be that we as Christians are supposed to fight something.........or someone? The meaning of the original Greek word that is interpreted 'wrestle' in this sentence is:
pale-1) wrestling (a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck)
Outiside of Jesus Christ, who is the best soul winner that is ever known? Why, it's the Apostle Paul. After his conversion, he spent all of his energy winning souls to Christ everywhere that Jesus would send him. Since I am not as good as he is at soul winning, then I need to check out his writings a little bit closer to see if he can give me some tips on winning souls.
Notice he did not say to wrestle with the deacons, pastors, worship leaders or church members that don't want to do the way you tell them to do. Paul says that one of the keys to his success in soul winning is not to wrestle people---flesh and blood. But he does say to wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. If this successful church builder doesn't wrestle against the people in the church, then why do we bother with them? Why do we fight among ourselves? Because when our only enemy, satan, the greatest ruler of darkness, can get us to fight one another, (read the meaning of the word wrestle again) he has thrown us and is the decided victor because satan is holding us down with is hand upon our necks. When you hold somebody by the neck, you control the direction they look. When satan gets you to look at your fellow christian in a demeaning way and fuss at him, HE HAS CONQUERED YOU. When he gets people in the church to speak against one another HE HAS CONQUERED THEM. No wonder our churches are powerless and are no longer reaching the lost.
2 Cor 10:3-For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2 Cor 10:4-(For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Pretty plain, huh? Paul tells the Corinthians that our fight is not against each other. That's why the churches are losing souls. We are not fighting the right opponent. Our war is not necessarily with the leaders of nations or terrorists. Our fght is not against the Congress and our elected officials---but with spiritual powers that rule over them.
Luke 10:19 declares-Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Jesus GAVE us power and authority over ALL the power of the enemy. But, how much do we use that power. Now, keep in mind, that Jesus never built up the massive following that He had by bashing the High Priest and berating the church leaders or the people who attended the synagogues. People thronged around Him because He destroyed the power of the devil that had been destroying their lives.
John the beloved declares in 1 John 3:8- For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
John walked and talked with Jesus for three years. Surely he picked up this valuable information by what he saw Jesus doing. Everywhere Jesus went, He was bent on destroying the works of the devil, not people who were oppressed by the devil. Jesus never picked a fight with anybody. Our only enemy, satan, has conquered us. He is holding our neck and forcing us to fight each other while he gets some of his slaves to sell dope to our children. HEY! WAKE UP CHURCH. IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE THE DOPES. As long as we argue with each other, we are conquered.
The enemy is not the ruler of Iran or Columbia or the President of the United States. Our fight should not just be with the terrorists or with Congress. Paul says that a successful soul winner will fight against the evil powers that are behind all of these that oppress us. We should not seek to apprehend and bind with chains these people. We should seek to apprehend and bind the "powers" that govern these people. That's what Paul did. He wrestled against the evil powers that ruled the darkness of the region that he was in. Jesus said that we could bind the devil and loose his grasp from people (Matt 18:18).
How do we do that? We do that by prayer of course. That's the same way Jesus and Paul did it. That's the way that any revival ever got started. It started by getting in tune with the Liberator of souls, Jesus Christ. It began to grow and grow inside saints that would daily spend time in His presence. To be honest, the more you spend time with Jesus, the more you become aware of His awesome Presence. You also begin to realize how physically powerless we are against the power of sin. The more you are in His Presence, the more you realize your total dependence on Him.
Let's take a look at two of the pieces of the armour of God mentioned in Ephesians 6. The first one is the shield of faith in verse 16. Faith becomes a shield to you when you begin believing that what God says is true and what man says contradictory to the Word of God is false. In verse 17, Paul declares that our weapon of choice is the 'Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." The Word of God is the weapon that we use against the principalities, the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. Instead of using our tongue to cut people down to the quick, we can stop the evil rulers by attackin the spiritual force that is causing them to oppress others.
How many times have you gotten angry at these overbearing rulers and politicians for their ungodly ways? Have you ever wished you could get them alone in some back alley and pop the stew out of them a time or two? We all have, but we all know that we could never get the chance. BUT, every day that we are alive, we have the chance to war against the powers behind them. I will never get the chance to go to Iran, or Columbia or to the Congress. However, everywhere that I am, I can call on the name of Jesus over them and use the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Every day and all day, I can bind the powers that are pushing the rulers of Iran into their wickedness. I can't be with the soldiers as they look for and fight the terrorists. But, I can declare confusion into the camp of the enemy (see Part 1 of this series). I can't walk around Savannah and try to break up the drug deals I see going on. But, I can bind the ugly spirit that drives men to buy and sell drugs. I can't be everywhere to do all the things that need to be done in our nation. But, I can plead the blood of Jesus over this nation while I am praying at home, driving my car or walking about the town.
Folks, it doesn't depend on how much of our weight we throw around. Our petty fusses in church have never brought the lost thronging to the alter. However, prevailing before the throne of Grace in prayer day and night has always brought revival. Let's get acquainted with the Word of God and begin standing on it in prayer. If nothing else, let's plead the blood of Jesus over our particular area and cry out for lost souls to be saved.
No comments:
Post a Comment