2003-01-07
Good Morning Cherished Believers,
For a long time, we have been thinking about ways to combat Satan and his followers, and we still do. The Holy Spirit leads every believer into this confrontation, but that believer is fully equipped by donning God’s full armor and keeping an open, two-way channel of prayer. It’s one thing to be equipped to do battle, but without being given authority by the Great Commander-in-Chief, it wouldn’t do us much good. So, the question comes up: Do we have the authority to use God’s word, the sword of the Spirit, in battle? The answer to that question is clearly, “yes,” and today, I am led to share the citations which will convince us of this.
The first one is COL 1: 13-14, “He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the Kingdom of His dear Son, by Whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.” Once again, we are reminded that we can claim victory over Satan on the grounds of the cross. Don’t think for one moment that Satan doesn’t know this. The proof of that is found in REV 12: 12, “And so be glad, you heavens, and all you that live there! But how terrible for the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, and he is filled with rage, because he knows that he has only a little time left.” We might ask why so many people who profess faith in Christ approach spiritual warfare with such fright. That is directly attributable to their lack of understanding of the authority to use God’s word that they have been given and the very fact that they are on the winning side. It’s one thing to be told that, but believing it is the step that seems to be missing in these people.
Our understanding of the Atonement is enhanced by seeing how Christ changed our relationship with the forces of evil by this one single act-giving His life so ours could be saved. This is seen in COL 2: 15, “And on that cross Christ freed Himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; He made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in His victory procession.” Is it hard to imagine why Satan is so angry and lives in fear that his time to do evil is going to be cut off? When we as believers obey God’s commands, we are acknowledging the accomplishments of Christ’s Atonement and we are also recognizing that Satan no longer has any power over us, unless we are foolish enough to give it to him. That’s a brash and vital realization in our lives. Just in case Satan has any idea that he can wiggle his way out of his predicament, we have Christ’s words in JN 12 31-32 to assure us that he can’t, “Now is the time for this world to be judged; now the ruler of this world will be overthrown. When I am lifted up from earth, I will draw everyone to me.” You’ll notice that the judgement on the ruler of this world (Satan) happens the moment Christ dies on the cross. In addition, this is Christ’s promise that believers will be resurrected at some time after Christ is. At the time that Christ said these things, their full meaning and impact wasn’t understood. We have the advantage of our hindsight and our faith given to us by the Holy Spirit to understand their full meaning spiritually. When Paul writes later about Christ being “the first among many brothers” in RO 8: 29, he is only reiterating what Christ had already promised in JN 12: 31.
In case someone just learning about our faith doesn’t understand Christ’s motives in obeying God and allowing Himself to be put to death on the cross, they are clearly stated in HE 2: 14-15. “Since the children, as He calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus Himself became life them and shared their human nature. He did this so that through His death, He might destroy the devil, who has the power over death, and in this way set free those who were slaves all their lives because of the fear of death.” 1 JN 3: 8 reiterates this fact. “Whoever continues to sin belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to destroy what the devil had done.” The word, “death,” here refers specifically to spiritual death. Another way of looking at this is that before we were saved, we had no choice but to sin. Since sin leads to spiritual death, we were locked into a future of eternal conscious torment in the lake of fire and sulfur. Then, Christ came along as the perfect once-for-all substitute sin sacrifice [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; HE 10: 10] and willingly gave up His life on the cross. Suddenly, the devil’s game plan is up in smoke, and he knows it! Now those formerly locked into spiritual death are no longer under death’s power. We all must die physically, but there is no reason for any of us to die spiritually, unless we are foolish enough to reject the faith that God has given us. The devil hates his loss of authority over us, and we should praise God forever for giving to us the authority to use His word to effectively wage war with the enemy.
PRAYER: O Lord, You call us to spend time in study of Your word and prayer daily. This is no empty command. Instead, it is to equip us for the spiritual warfare that we must endure. Before an ordinary piece of metal can become a beautiful work of art, it must be hammered or shaped in some way. Still, that is not enough. Some metal art work is painted with brush strokes that take much skill. Some must be treated, so it’s surface will take on a beautiful patina. And some must be carefully polished, a process that might take a long time to accomplish. The same is true for You in Your work of sanctifying sinners to become mature believers, eventually perfected. Just as the artist in my illustration takes pride and puts much effort into His work, so You do the same with Yours. Our contrite and open hearts along with our willingness to be molded by You are required. We are Your imperfect but willing covenant partners. We present ourselves to You today to confess our sins and to dedicate ourselves to obeying Your commands, trusting in You. We are ready to listen to what the Holy Spirit teaches us, and we are grateful for Your willingness to sacrifice Your only Son on the cross for us. Today and always, we acknowledge that You have given us the authority to hear, believe, and use Your holy word in every phase of our lives, including our battles with the forces of evil. We voice the words of the Psalmist written so long ago in PS 119: 162-164, “How happy I am because of Your promises-as happy as someone who finds rich treasure. I hate and detests all lies, but I love Your law. Seven times each day I thank Your for Your righteous judgments.” That rich treasure is Your word. Dearest Abba, once again we repeat PS 119:105, never tiring of hearing it. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light for my path.” We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, glory, honor, thanks, and utmost praise. In Christ’s name, amen.
Now that we can be assured we have the authority to use God’s word in spiritual warfare, we need to see how. We already have the beautiful example of how Christ did this in MT 4: 1-11 during His temptation in the wilderness. But, it will be helpful to look at some other examples and discuss how we might use it in our lives. That is the subject the Holy Spirit instructs me to write about in tomorrow’s message. There is a system to spiritual warfare that I never understood until I began to write this long series of messages. When we learn that system as we are doing together, it must be quite obvious that God put a lot of Himself and His wisdom into devising it. All of this causes me to want to utter the words of PS 73: 28, “But is it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.” To this, we should add PS 145: 9, “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works.” We are surely a blessed people when we endure in the faith our loving Abba has given us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn