On the Cutting Edge
Perhaps my senses are sharpened a bit to this sort of thing,
but that may just be part of the Almighty plan for all the things He has
brought me through. In any case, working on the audio recording about the
journey that brought me to this place has sharpened my focus.
One of my prayers over the last day or so has been about
what to say to counter the many well-intentioned believers who are prone to
post things on Facebook in an attempt to sound holy and good, but which simply
express their lack of understanding. I certainly can’t address them all. Yet it
saddens me to see it. My spiritual antennae go up when I read things like, “God
wanted him in heaven,” or when I hear world-renowned and respected teachers lump
a group of God’s servants together and accuse them all of being representatives
of the devil, then proceed to misrepresent their motives and their teachings.
And then, there are others who ‘lightly heal’ the deepest wounds of grief and untimely
loss with words that sound good but really mean nothing.
At the end of each daily segment in my One-Year Bible, there
is a devotional by the late Selwyn Hughes (Everyday With Jesus). Most of the
time, my heart says, ‘Amen, my brother.’ Today, I my heart leapt up in praise
and went searching to find it online, so I wouldn’t have to retype it. Not
finding it there (and perhaps I should not be surprised), I will humbly and
gladly retype it here, because I know it is the essence of the problem for so
many… I pray that God will open eyes as He did with the blind in Jesus day.
ANOTHER KINGDOM –
Then
Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every
sickness (Matthew 9:35).
While we focus our thoughts on the
kingdom of God, we must not forget that there exists in the universe another
kingdom – the kingdom of Satan. The Bible shows us that in ages past there was
just one kingdom, the kingdom of God. But, through the rebellion of an angel
named Lucifer (also known as Satan), another kingdom was established over which
the Prince of Darkness rules.
Every person since Adam (with the
single exception of Jesus Christ) comes under the dominion of Satan and is, in
fact, classified as a citizen of the devil’s kingdom (Eph 2:1-2). When, through
conversion, we become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become citizens of
the kingdom of God (Col 1:13). Once we receive this new citizenship, whether we
realize it or not, we are thrust into the age-long conflict which has existed
between God and Satan, and we become participators in the Almighty’s plan to bring
about Satan’s defeat and to bring the universe once again under the control of
God and His kingdom.
Standing as we do on the cutting
edge between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the Almighty has
given us the most powerful weapon in al the armories of heaven. That weapon is
prayer. Our citizenship in God’s kingdom entitles and enables us to pray: “Thy
kingdom come.” And when said with sincerity and trust, those words spell out,
every time they are spoken, the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God.
… And I pray that once those eyes are opened, the kingdom
will be better for all the beauty you can clearly see. It multiplies, exponentially, every
day, with Jesus.
