Faith
A lot of Christians today struggle with their identity more than at anytime in Christianity's age. We are continually ridiculed and bashed for what we believe by this eccentric generation.. We have turned out to be the "weirdos" and not the beacons of truth. Media has had a celebration churning out article upon article delineating the absurdities of the Bible. One recent article even said about a "study" which reveals born-again people have brain atrophy! Such media releases have somehow succeeded in gaining undue influence on the young resulting in doubt and shaking faith.
I read a news item recently about a group of atheists who gave pornographic material in exchange for a Bible. How bold to even approach young Christians at university areas to offer them the deal! How about us? What do we do with the Truth and the Light that we supposedly should be sharing with the same, if not greater, boldness that these lost beings have?
The reason is simple. We are intimidated. We are weak. We have walked with Jesus our Savior using our lame crutches, the wood of which might have been plagued by the termites of recurrent sins. We have the light of the Gospel but ours is such a pitiful flickering light as little as a birthday candle it fails to even touch the person next to us. Such a sight of spiritual inadequacy, even the devil chuckles at us in amusement!
We need to be on fire with passion! We should be blazing trails of burning Light with Christ as our banner, Jehovah Nissi, and the Word as our swords! We are the ones who break the chains of sin captivity with the very Name of Jesus Christ! Our fervent prayers activate the Almighty Power of God's Word! How then can we even think of being silenced by whatever "correctness" seeks to hinder us - and hinder God's calling?
The Bible says in Psalm 11:3
"When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
1. We take a stand.
I remember an actor who made such a stand - Kirk Cameron made that stand when he spoke against the gay marriage issue in Piers Morgan's show. What did he get in return? Hate speech and name-calling. But in the eyes of God Cameron is the real Christian soldier who took his battle gear and stood his ground for what the Bible says about homosexuality. Quoting from TMZ news:
"Piers Morgan admits that Kirk Cameron ticked a lot of people off by voicing his opinions against gay marriage ... but Piers thinks the former child star was "brave" to stick to his beliefs.
GLAAD predictably blasted Cameron after his appearance on "Piers Morgan Tonight," during which he called homosexuality "unnatural" and "destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization." But Morgan feels Cameron "was honest to what he believed" even if most people find his views to be "antiquated."
"...we speak as men approved by God, to be entrusted by the Gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, Who judges our hearts." (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
"God is not unjust; He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled..."
(2 Thessalonians 1:6-7)
2. We speak the Word of God.
Silence is the best way to promote evil. Not speaking about God's Truth when values around us are being polluted in disguise by modern culture is like closing our eyes to the darkness of SIN. Silence alone means consent. "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." (JAMES 4:17)
Speaking boldly what God says in His Word about sin is declaring His Power to demolish such corruption and crush the spirit of hate that goes with it.
“Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)
The Word of God has Power, it is alive. When spoken with boldness of Faith and deep conviction, it can be as sharp as the double- edged sword declared in Hebrews 4:12. "For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Jesus declared His Word is Life and Spirit in John 6:63.
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life." (John 6:63)
3. We bind unbelief in prayer.
The battle we fight is not with flesh and blood but against principalities. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12)
In every area of the human realm there are evil forces at work and we as Christians have enlisted in God's army to fight those forces. We have become soldiers of Christ the moment we accepted Him as our LORD and Savior. In that army there is no retirement, it is an eternal commitment and our victory has been won on the Cross.
God manifests the Truth of His Word and His Power in the daily realities of our lives. Every trial or situation is a way for Him to show us He is Alive and He is there to help us. Just as the Evil around us is real, so is the Great God Who is in us is also real.
Three weeks ago, my daughter had a strange illness. She had very high fever that reached almost 40 on the thermometer. She was extremely hot and refused to eat. We gave her analgesics to lower the fever and anti-biotics that would deal with infection if there was any. Her fever would come and go and would rise specially at night. After a few days she got well and on that Sunday, she was well enough to attend church. At the moment when we were singing the Worship song, she told me that suddenly she could not breathe. I gave her a glass of water and we had to go home that instant as I was alarmed at her condition. But in my heart I had the suspicion that it was not a physical ailment but a spiritual attack. Evil cannot stand worship. It cringes and convulses when we sing in worship before God. Evil will always react and it did in that moment.
While she lay in her bed, I took my Bible and declared in prayer that God is our Refuge and our Strength, God is our Healer, Greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world, that Christ bought us with a Price and we are no longer our own but God's, the battle belongs to the LORD! I bound the spirit of whoever was doing this in the Name of Jesus Christ and declared the covering of His Blood upon us, the Blood that Jesus shed on the Cross of Calvary. I spoke this loudly in the living room for the spirit to hear me and the LORD was Faithful to activate His Power in answer to my prayer.
At that instant the fever left my daughter and she started to perspire. She asked for water and food and was as healthy as if she had not been sick at all. Recalling the weeks before that incident, I remembered praying for a sick woman who has a brain tumor. She has a relative who actively practiced witchcraft and boasted in the neighborhood that she had skills in "healing". Her methods are the use of leaves and prayers written on a piece of paper with her saliva and a drop of blood (hers) pasted on a patient. I recall the woman whom I prayed for had those leaves pasted on her stomach skin. She had the color of ecru, had hallowed eyes and looked deathly pale. Her relative who was the witch caused her illness. My coming over to "her territory" provoked her to test me and she inflicted my daughter's illness to see if she can overcome "my skills". She did not realize it was God in me Who was doing the healing - and the binding. Evil is real and witchcraft still exists. There are a lot of them still around in this modern world. In the Philippines there is a cult that calls on other spirits to heal and work in other people, they are called "Espiritistas".
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:19)
4. We exercise the authority given by Jesus Christ and power of the Holy Spirit in us. We fight!
The Bible tells us we have been given fullness in Christ. "For in Christ the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ Who is the Head over every power and authority." (Colossians 2:9-10) We have the power and authority of Christ over every evil and we need to use it.
"Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His Power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout generations, forever and ever!. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Our strength and the wisdom to fight against the rulers of this world - unbelief or atheism, greed, selfishness, addictions, corruption, pride - can only come when we use the power and authority we received from Jesus Christ with FAITH and purity of heart. Heart cleansing is always done when we repent and ask Jesus to forgive us. We can always ask Him to keep us pure and to hold us against temptations and the weakness of flesh, such as pride.
"Such confidence as this is ours through Jesus Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter (doctrine) kills but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)
God never changes. If He stood by reluctant Gideon and walked with the obedient Enoch, if He remained steadfast guiding the stubborn Israelites in the Old Testament, so He will be the Eternal God Who will be with us in every battle. He is with us most specially when we fight on our knees in prayer, for He is Jehovah Shalom, God with us.
The God we call to deliver our generation from the wiles of Evil has eternal Power, that Power He used to raise Jesus Christ His Son from Death. Shall we cower in fear before these puny foes that face us today? I say fight.
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