On the Cutting Edge

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.