Christian Living

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Today's society is very spiritual, unfortunately the abuse of spirituality has infiltrated the church and made anything supernatural a taboo to Christians and churches all across the nation. The Bible promises us that we will be in a constant war with the supernatural, evil spirits. Ephesians 6:12 states that, "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." It would be silly of anyone to dismiss the reality of evil, the Bible says it will be a constant battle and that we have to be prepared for it. If you read further along in Ephesians 6 Paul gives a metaphorical description of the reality of the battle and how we need to prepare ourselves for it. In order to prepare oneself, reading through Ephesians 6 and taking it seriously is a good start, but it requires proactive work.

Moving on from the actuality of evil work in this world, I came to a grand realization last week. While hearing my friend and pastor teach about eschatology (end times view) I realized the only power satan has is what we have delegated to him. Learning and understanding that I finally found why I have not been tormented to the point of succumbing to his tactics and lies. Here is the thing, when Jesus was being tempted by satan in the book of Luke, we see the devil telling Jesus that he will give him all the rights to the lands and kingdoms because the authority had been given over to him. I struggled with that verse for so long and it messed with my theology because it made me believe that satan actually has some power. I took that view with me for the majority of Christian life, and it is just not true! Luke 4:6-7 has the story of Jesus being tempted by satan. In this passage satan does not only say that he has authority over it, he decided to throw in that it was "delivered to him". All the authority and kingdom satan tempted Jesus with was forfeited by men to satan, that is sad to see how weak we can be and misguided with our beliefs we are! Satan cannot create, because he was a created being. When God created the world He delegated power and authority over to man (and woman) and allowed us to reign over every aspect of creation (Genesis 1:27-28). God did not also say that he gave authority to satan.

After the fall, man and woman had to face the consequence of their disobedience and live elsewhere. However, we still had authority and dominion over the earth and free will, meaning choose to do whatever we want. This is such an amazing gift God blessed us with, but one that comes with an equally large responsibility. Because we have such authority and choice, we have to be careful with how we handle it because, the schemer, is really good at lies and trickery. When we subdue to his lies, we lose authority and had it over to whatever we believe. And if we believe lies from satan, guess where our authority, power and belief is going to go? This is not condemnation, this is realization, satan would not have any power or say in this world if we did not allow him to. So the question is, how can we get back the authority and power from satan that we, and the world, handed over to him so easily?

The first step is stop believing he has power, because he does not! That is a bold-faced lie that satan loves for you to believe. If what we do and believe does not line up with the grace and love message of Christ or diminishes any of the Gospel, it is most likely something that satan twisted, so we need to get back to Biblical truth (that is a whole new message, but crucial). The next step is a realization and actualization step. Each of us is a child of God, made in His own image and we have all authority on earth because whatever is the Father's is the Son's, and whatever is the Son's is our because of the price the Son paid for. Start believing, acting and living in the truth that you are God's and "if our God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31, I suggest reading that chapter over and over again!). "The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus dwells in us" because "our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit". If we can recognize and live in this reality, how can satan have any say or stronghold in this world? It is time to brighten up our lights because the light is started to fade. Remember, dark cannot get darker, light can get less bright. And what are Christians called to be in this world? A light, so, let's illuminate the darkness and hold up a candle in front of satan's face, just to make him mad and let him know that we know who we are.

If you read through the Gospel stories of Jesus casing out demons, each demon he cast out knew who Jesus was and had to obey him, you know why? Because each demon knew the authority of Jesus. And the authority of Jesus is ours as well. If we do not act in our authority when dealing with demons, evil spirits, yada, yada, yada, we will not be able to do much. Acts 19:15, believers are trying to cast out demons, and trying without practicing their authority and the evil spirit said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?" This means that the evil spirit knew and recognized anyone that was working in the authority of Christ. When we do not, evil spirits will not listen.

When satan has the power and authority handed over to him, he can pretty much do what he wants, or at least whatever is in their power. When satan has a hold of the same power we possess, there is big trouble going on. So, we need to stop believing that satan has any power, because he does not, and we need to walk in the identity, or persona, of how Christ sees us. When we do that, there is no way for darkness to have any strength or say in our lives.

Satan does not ever mess with me for this reason: satan knows that I know who I am in Christ. I dare you to have this mindset if you ever feel like darkness is overcoming you or having any power in your life. Once you walk in this truth and belief, there is no way satan or evil can mess with you. They never messed with Jesus successfully, and it can be the same for all of us!

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