I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Eph. 1: 18-19
The talk radio pundit Rush Limbaugh likes to say that everything is political. If the press has wall to wall coverage over something like the personal behavior of NFL football players then there are underlying political reasons to do so.
I am thinking more and more that everything is actually spiritual. At one time I looked at the constant breaking down of morality, the glorification of violence, the acceptance and inroads that occultism has made throughout society, the indifference and then hate toward anything Christian and I saw that as irreversible, a sign that we are in the last days before the return of Jesus.
Now I am realizing that even though we may well be on the very brink of seeing our blessed Lord return the spiritual battle we are in today is no different than any other since the time of the Apostles. Each generation of believers, whether they know it or not, is placed in the midst of a conflict that has been going on since the evil one rebelled. We are the forces, in our place and time, that God in His great wisdom has chosen to fight the forces of darkness.
It would seem that we are at a great disadvantage. The enemy's spiritual forces have an established game plan and play book that is both ancient and being constantly refined. Their leader is called the father of lies who also seeks to murder and destroy. Religions, societies and people groups are infiltrated by their agents for the express purpose of denying or distorting the truth.
And what do we have, each generation of us, born into such a dangerous world filled with traps, snares and enticements to follow an attractive way that ultimately leads to disaster?
We have a heavenly Father who loves us and only desires the best for us. Any other testament about Him is a lie.
We have His Son Jesus, who is one with the Father, who gave up His heavenly estate and became man and as God and man suffered and died for our sins so that we could find eternal life in Him. This He gives freely to any who would surrender to Him as Savior and Lord.
We have The Holy Spirit, the power part of the Godhead, who moved through the prophets of old, who gave Jesus as man the wisdom, knowledge and power to teach, to prophesy, to cast out evil spirits, to destroy strongholds and to perform mighty miracles. This Holy Spirit Jesus poured out upon His church to do the same.
These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Eph. 1: 19-23
Christ, our Savior and Lord both lives in us and is seated in the heavenly places in a position of authority over everything. He is head over His body which is the church and which we belong to because we are in Him. By His great grace we have been freed from the power of the evil one who is the god of this world and we have been set apart to do the work that God desires to help free this fallen world from the grasp of the destroyer.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience . . .
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us . . . made us alive together with Christ . . . and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .
And the reason that the Father has done that is
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Eph. 2: 1-6
The spiritual battle we are in today is not just for ourselves or our family. It is not just for our city or nation. It is not just for the time that we live in. What we do, believing in the grace and mercy of The Father, trusting Him in every circumstance and hurdle, worshiping Him through the midst of our tears, rejecting the passing attractions of this world to walk a life pleasing to Him, all of this is a testimony that resounds in the past, present and future.
As the church, the body of Christ, we must fight the good fight now, not accepting that the enemy has territory that cannot be conquered or is too powerful to prevent the light of Christ from shinning in. Perhaps we are in a period that is just like the days of Noah, when the world became so evil and debased and Jesus is just around the corner to judge the world and the rebels of this age and their leader. Yet our marching orders are still the same.
May we be a generation willing to do all that God has called us to.
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