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].
The definition of the Greek word that is translated "wrestle" means a contest in which the winner is the one who is able hold his opponent down with just his hand on the opponent's neck. Now that's a lot of whippin', folks. If you are so mean that you tear up your opponent so bad that he is so weak that you can hold him down with one of your hands on his neck..........THAT'S A LOT OF WHIPPIN' FOLKS.
As a whole, the church gives up to the devil without a fight. We see our kids going astray and we just shake our heads and say "What a shame." We see drugs, prostitution, alcohol taking over our streets and we just shake our heads and say "What a shame." We see Congress and the President passing laws and turning our nation upside down, we fuss and cuss but then we shake our heads and say "What a shame." We hear rulers of other nations and terrorist groups make and carry out threats to our nation, we fuss and cuss and shake our heads and say "What a shame." Jesus said this in Luke 10:19-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 over ALL the power of the enemy. He said that nothing shall by any means hurt us. But the Christians of the world just sit idly by, watch all the hell going on and shake their heads and say, "What a shame."
Yes, it is a shame. I am ashamed that I did not realize what Jesus expected of us for so long. Jesus gave us the shining example of a successful child of God. The apostles told us a lot of prayer secrets that are dynamic........but we never use them.
Let's see what James said in James 4:7-Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. First, he says to submit yourself to God. If we did that, we would be walking around looking for the works of the devil to destroy like Jesus did. (1 John 3:8) The next thing that James said was to resist the devil. The Greek word for resist in his statement means to "set one's self against--oppose." Have we missed this? Sure we have. We have to ask ourselves the question, "Have I really set myself against the works of the devil in my family.......in my church.........in my nation.........in this world?" The majority of Christians haven't. The fact that sin runs rampant in the world today and our lives are in danger is evidence that we ACCEPT what the devil brings along. We tend to just sigh and say, "Oh, well. That's just the way it is. It's awful, but that's just the way it is." It might be the way it is, but that's not the way it has to stay.
What do we need to do? First, take James' advice and set yourself in opposition against the horrible things that are attacking your family and people all over the globe. Next, take Paul's advice in Ephesians and begin to wrestle the devil until you whip him. Jesus told us we had the power over all of his power. We learned in Part 3 that the nations and those who set themselves to hurt others are controlled by demonic forces......which you have the power over.
Meditate over the fact that the devil is actually powerless when you pray. Quit meditating on how powerless you are against him. Remember, YOUR creator and HIS creator said that YOU had power over HIM. Spend time in God's presence. The presence of God is not a wimp. The heart of God is to destroy all the works of the devil. The heart of God is to bring "whosoever will" into a victorious relationship with Him. Come before the Lord and ask Him to teach you how to stand against the devil. He will show you. You'd better believe He knows how to do it and will begin moulding you into a prayer warrior that knows how to take care of business.
Find the scriptures in the Word of God that talk about victorious Christianity. Meditate on HIS WORD and not what the devil is doing right now. The Word of God is always the key to victory in any situation. Heb 4:14 tells us-Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast [our] profession. Profession of what? Whatever the Word of God says about us. God's opinion of us is the one that counts. If He said we are successful, we're successful. If He said we had power of all the power of the enemy, then we have power over the enemy. Heb 10:23-Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) The writer of Hebrews tells us to hold fast to our profession of faith. Hold fast to God's statement of who you are and what you can do. God's the boss, not the devil or the bad circumstances you are in.
The word 'profession' in those verses is the same Greek word that is translated confession in 1 Timothy 6:13-I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and [before] Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; As I have said in previous blogs, Jesus stood before Pontias Pilate battered, beaten and bloodied. He did not look like a king. He did not feel like a king. The angry mob did not tell Pilate that He was a king. The mob accused him of being a sinner worthy of death. BUT, when Pilate asked Him if He was a king, Jesus said in John 18:37, that He was born a king. He held fast the profession of His faith. If I was to ask you where did He get that stupid idea from, you'd get all huffy and tell me that He got that crazy idea from what the Word of God said about Him. You'd whip out your Strong's concordance and proceed to give me the lecture of a life time about all the prophecies that the death, burial and resurrection found in the Bible that Jesus fulfilled. Then you'd look at me with that wild-eyed 'Dear God you're so stupid for a preacher look' and slam the concordance down on the coffee table and say "There. Dispute that."
We need to use that same dogged vehemence about what the Word of God says about us being powerful over the enemy and begin resisting the devil like James said to do. We need to wrestle with him over our loved ones, our armed forces, the Congress and our enemies just like Paul said to do. We need to get down into our hearts the desire to destroy the works of the devil like Jesus had. Let's be determined to set the captive free. (Is 61) Let's be determined to bind up the broken hearted. Let's be determined to fight until the bands of wickedness are broken. (Is 58:6) Take the gumption to call on the name of Jesus over our Congress and President. Have the audacity to cry out in prayer against the drugs, prostitution and alcohol in our cities. In other words, SHAKE YOUR FAMILY, SHAKE YOUR CITY AND SHAKE THE NATIONS IN PRAYER.
No comments:
Post a Comment