You have established a new relationship with the powers of darkness. Whatever you were before you were a Christian… you are now a sworn foe of the legions of hell. Have no delusions about their reality or their hostility, but do not fear them. The God inside you terrifies them. They cannot destroy you, let alone hurt you, but they can still seduce, and they will try. They will also oppose you as you obey Christ. … if you are serious about Christ being your Lord and God, you can expect opposition.
~John White
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
~ 2Corinthians 12:7-10
There are some things about which we should have no doubt.
1) God has won the battle over spiritual death and the devil.
2) God wins battles today over the devil.
3) God will eventually crush evil out of creation altogether.
4) God is temporarily ALLOWING evil to roam about to fulfill His own Good purpose.
5) ALL of us are affected by item numbers 1 through 4.
And it seems that He allows us to be buffeted by evil and evil intention and resistance for a very non-intuitive purpose.
This buffeting is an indicator that our lives are moving in the direction of His will.
What?
Yeah. The hardest direction indicates two things.
1) It is the place where the evil one does not want us to go. he knows that a true servant of the L_RD of Hosts is a definite problem for evil, for it is not the person at work – but rather the very presence and power of G_d moving in and through His set-apart weapon of righteousness. And as such, this weapon (you and me in Christ) is unstoppable. The only chance the deceiver has is to try and get us to try to begin advancing in our own strength. So, he will try to distract our eyes away from the Source of our strength – that he might thwart (however temporarily) the advance of the Church into His territory. He does this by hammering our emotions and circumstances and bodies with whatever G_d allows him to throw our way.
and…
2) It is the place most impossible for us to go on our own. And this is the really cool part. Our Captain simply laughs at impossible. He does not ‘grok’ hard (i.e., G_d understands ‘hard,’. But it is not part of who He is. Nothing is hard for G_d). His yoke is easy. His burden is light. And this is, generally, exactly the center of the narrow road down which He would have us to walk. And this is because this is exactly the place where He can rightfully showcase His glory, goodness and power to a world that so desperately needs to see His glory, goodness, and power.
Can we see it beloved? What is hard in life is that which we try to do in our own strength. We were Designed to run on His power exclusively. This is simply true. And herein is hidden another glorious truth, we were Designed to do the impossible. We were Designed to walk, in His strength, down the path of greatest resistance. And when we do so, the world begins to get a proper opinion of Who this G_d we serve really is.
And fear not – have no doubt dear reader – that when we do recklessly abandon any hope in our own power, G_d does not leave a power vacuum for any time. He immediately fills that abandoned space in us with copious, overflowing portions of His very power (read infinite here) to do His will.
So, this we know. When we know for sure that we are doing the right thing; when we have, through prayer, The Word, and the communication of His indwelling Spirit – become convinced of the road we are to take. This is the road we must take. THE WORLD MAY COME CRASHING DOWN AROUND OUR EARS! NO MATTER… HE WILL GIVE US THE POWER TO BOTH STAND AND MOVE FORWARD IN THE MISSION HE HAS SET BEFORE US.
Getting buffeted? Excellent! Looks like you are headed in just about the right direction.
When obedience is in the ascendant,
He will tax the remotest star
and the last grain of sand
to assist you with all His Almighty power.
~ Oswald Chambers
Thanks to one of His ‘mighty men’ for inspiration on some of the phrasing in this post. Your name is written not only in the Book of Life, but surely also in the annals of the ages for reporting on That Day. i cannot wait, sir, to be regaled by Him of stories about how you brought glory to Himself – our Captain, King, Lover and Friend.
