Beloved Family… I believe it’s vitally important for us to develop a perpetual focus on something the Holy Spirit emphasized for every believer of all time:
Romans 12:21
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with GOOD!”
This text has been on my mind a lot in recent days because of what I’ve been seeing and hearing from other people in my daily routines. Due to the many limitations of my current circumstances, I don’t get much chance to interact with people outside of our little family circle these days. But once in a while, I’m able to chat with a neighbor, or with people I encounter in stores, or when our little dog ‘Stuey’ takes me out for our daily walks.
And I find it amazing how similar the demeanors of these people are becoming. Most of them seem to be focused on how crazy and violent our world is becoming. And, as they comment on the heartbreaking and repellant things that are in the news, there is shock and amazement on their faces and in their voices. And, there are very good reasons why their minds and hearts are filled with concern, shock and dread. Danger truly is lurking, everywhere!
But this is nothing new; life in this fallen world has always been that way. The difference now, is that the technology we’ve become so dependent upon enables us to be simultaneously aware of what is going on everywhere else in the world! No previous generation has ever had that much instantaneous input. So our levels of increased awareness make it appear as if things are getting worse and worse. Thus many of us suffer from a sense of ‘overload’… and we stagger under the force of it that presses down upon us.
And so all of the gloom, discouragement and pessimism, that seem to be increasing in this current generation, is why I’m more convinced than ever that one of the major objectives for our disciple boot camp training is to put steel into our character and firmly set our resolve to develop and maintain a laser-like focus on our ever-present, indwelling Lord and Master! He has already overcome the Serpent! He has already done everything needed, to free the fallen world from the clutches of the powers of darkness that have dominated and tortured mankind since the fall of Adam! Our resurrected Lord has done everything necessary to set everyone of us forever free from their demonic clutches!
So now, He is seated at His Father’s right hand… waiting for the proper moment when His Father will send Him back to Earth to reclaim what has always been His. And at that time, His Father will exalt and glorify Him on Earth, just the way He has already been glorified and exalted in Almighty God’s Eternal Heavenly Kingdom!
Psalm 110:1-2
“The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will extend Your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
‘Rule in the midst of Your enemies!’
So, even now, through the Holy Spirit, working through the military-level focus and obedience of faith of Yeshua’s disciples, our risen Messiah can be experienced here in our midst! Through the Power of God’s Holy Spirit, He is able to reach out to, and save, everyone that will come to Him on His terms to repent and receive the Salvation He freely offers to us all. And that is why we disciples, who are commissioned to embody and reveal Him to the rest of the world, must not lose sight of Him for even a moment:
Hebrews 12:1-3
“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Emphasis added.)
Beloved Family… the development of this level of focus is what we will need during our times of personal combat, as the demonic powers of Darkness do their utmost to deceive us into giving up the Covenant Ground that is already ours! Our boot camp must teach and train and equip us to be able to maintain, hold and advance the extent of that Ground… relentlessly and invincibly! We are commissioned to serve God’s Living Word as His points of entry to the earth… and we are to serve as His bases of operation, wherever He may choose to deploy us!
Even as the powers of Darkness continue to delude, enslave, and manipulate fallen sons of Adam into doing their bidding to destroy, murder and devastate God’s Creation, God Himself is using the terrible things they do as a means to gain the attention of more and more people in this world. The more distress they feel, the more ready and open people become to seek answers and relief. And they begin to hear the Lord’s voice, and open up their hearts to His Word and Holy Spirit! Father is plowing up the field of human souls and hearts… and getting them ready for those of us to whom He has entrusted the Seed of His Word, to plant that precious Seed far and wide, wherever we go.
Father has made it possible for His Son to abide within us and to work through each one of us who are called to be His beloved disciples! This is why we must go through our boot camp training. We must learn to stop being ‘God Seekers’… and transform into the New Covenant’s ‘God Bringers!’ We must outgrow that centuries old pattern of merely going to church. Now, we must transform into the New Covenant Fulfillment and reach the stage where we actually ARE THE CHURCH… THE LIVING TEMPLE OF GOD… that contains and releases His Living Presence into this fallen world! God Himself is the Good that is given to us as the ‘Ammunition’ that we are equipped to fire into this world. And God Himself is our FIREPOWER and our FORTRESS… who covers and encircles us. And we can abide with Him, and defer to Him so that He can live His Life in us and serve as the still, calm, serene ‘EYE’ in whom we can abide amid all the demonic ‘hurricanes’ that always seek to encircle us. In God’s Living Word, we always have total Protection and Provision, regardless of what is going on all around us! God Himself is our Defense and Supply! He covers and fortifies us even as He thwarts, counters, entraps and overwhelms His demonic enemies, and ours, on our behalf.
Trained for His Purposes
So our boot camp trains us to be able to see through all of the demonic bluffs… and gross lies… and crafty delusions. When we see those delusions for what they truly are, we can remain rooted in and based solidly upon GOD’S ETERNAL TRUTH AND REALITY! And even though people in the world become understandably shocked and shaken by the terrible news with which the secular media continue to bombard us, Father wants to train our disciple Family to continually proclaim and reflect the Presence of His Son all across the earth, regardless of what may or may not be happening! He has already filled our spirits with His awesome Presence… and He requires us to fill our fallen souls and bodies with this tremendous Treasure. If that happens, God can also fill all of the people who are around us, with the beloved Son He desires to reveal to them, through us! And that is the world-redeeming purpose for which we are being trained.
We’ve said before that it would be absolutely crazy for people in boxing arenas to carry the losers around on their shoulders after the fights are over. So too is it crazy for ‘believers’ to obsess over the evils that the demonic powers use to oppress this world. Why should we put our focus upon them… when our awesome God has given Himself to us to be the GOOD with which we can overcome all of their evil? And so, our training is preparing us to become spiritual ‘masters’, ‘experts’ and ‘elite forces’ that are invincible and unstoppable and irresistible even amid the deadliest levels of combat. With God Himself as our Covering… how can we not prevail? And since the Word of God that has already crushed the head of the Serpent is our Eternal Life… how can we not rejoice as we bear His abiding Presence and advance to face the foes that He has already routed?
This is another reason why our boot camp training is so important and necessary. Our beloved Master, God’s Living Word made flesh, became one of us and lived with our human limitations just like we must do… except for Sin. And in that weak, humble state, HE WALLOPED SATAN AND ALL OF HIS HOSTS… AND DECAPITATED THE DEMONIC SERPENT AND DESTROYED HIS WORKS. HE HAS ALREADY TRIUMPHED OVER THE POWERS OF DARKNESS… FOREVER… in our name!
So, our boot camp training gears us to remain continually focused on this glorious, eternal REALITY! And not only does God want us to focus on it… but He also wants us to learn to keep drawing from the FIREPOWER of its Benefits… to continually receive from the Throne of God’s Grace all of the ‘daily bread’ or ‘Heavenly Resources’ we will ever need in order to EMBODY our Master’s Total Victory, and to keep advancing… and holding and keeping our Covenant Ground. We’re being trained to prevent the enemy from being able to deceive us into allowing them to overrun the God-won Territory that our Master has already given to us! We’re being trained to persevere and overcome until all of the dust settles and our Lord is finally enthroned as King over all the Earth… just as He has already been enthroned King throughout the Highest Heavens.
Here to Win
Beloved, we’re not here to lose. We’re here to reoccupy what our Messiah has already recaptured for us! This is what our boot camp training is forcing us to learn and to become! So I ask you to join me in thanking God for this great blessing and privilege. Let’s thank Him for all that He is teaching us to be and to do in His service. The more we learn to abide in our Lord’s Presence, the stronger we become. And the stronger we become, the better equipped we are to stare down the enemy. And the more we’re able to see through the enemy’s pathetic lies and delusions… the easier it will be for us to cut through the emptiness of their false fronts and bluffs with the two-edged Sword of the Word of God, and dispel their Darkness with the Fullness of our Master’s Life-giving Light, and Absolute Authority and Omnipotent Ability!
So stay focused on The Winner of all winners! Stay focused on His Perfection and on the Eternal Fullness of what He has already done in our name and for our sake! IT IS FINISHED! And we’re being trained to hold onto that Reality and to stand upon that Truth… no matter what the doomed enemies of God may try to say or do to fool us into giving up our Eternal Inheritance.
And as we make our way through the shocks and sudden, unexpected shifts and upheavals that are built into each of our boot camp training processes… it will become more and more apparent to us that the path upon which God’s Son is leading us continues to get narrower and narrower! The training we are privileged and honored to receive from God forces us to experience the opposite of what worldly people continually seek, and demand to experience. People of the world make sure that the path they follow becomes broader, wider and filled with ever more options! They demand that more choices be added to their menus. So apparently for them, existence in this world seems to become freer, easier and less and less confining. But that too is a demonic deception.
But for those of us who wear our Master’s uniform, and who experience continuous training for combat with the powers of Darkness, our menu of options has diminished! And now, only one choice is left to us. Truth and Reality, as they really are, limit us to this one choice: There is only one True, Living God. And He is our one and only Source for everything! So now, we must be trained to look to Him, and Him alone, at all times. Now we are learning to get by with that one choice, regardless of what may be happening to us, and all around us. God’s Living Word, Yeshua, is our one and only Source and Shepherd… in all things, and at all times! And He is here to prove to us, that He is more than enough!
John 3:29-36
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.
“He MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE! He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from Heaven is above all. What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony.He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal Life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see Life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (Emphasis added.)
Isaiah 9:6-7
“For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the Government will rest on His shoulders; and His Name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His Government or of Peace, on the Throne of David and over his Kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with Justice and Righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” (Emphasis added.)
Ponder the words above, and you’ll receive a glimpse into what the Holy Spirit is working to train us to instill into our own minds and brains, concerning the awesome Lord who summoned us to follow Him: He who has come to us from Heaven (God’s Living Word) is above all. Thus, He has ALL Authority, in Heaven and on Earth! And conversely, His enemies have no authority whatsoever! Ponder that! Let it sink into your heart of hearts! There is only one Lord… and He is your Eternal Shepherd and Covenant Friend! His Authority on Earth is increasing progressively. So the Holy Spirit testifies to what He knows concerning Almighty God, and all that is in God. And that is the Truth He is causing to become real within us:
Galatians 4:18-20
“But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable manner, and not only when I am present with you. My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.” (Emphasis added.)
And the text from John said: “…No one (who is of this fallen world) receives His testimony!” And beloved, that is what we see happening all around us. The world into which God sent His Son seems to be unanimously agreed in this one thing: it is not about to receive and embrace the One who was sent to unite us to God. They do not want Almighty God, so they will not receive His Word. And because they won’t receive God’s Word, they won’t receive those of us who are sent to proclaim and embody Him. So, can you see the position into which that places us? It’s not enough for us to tell the world about Him. We’ll have to be equipped by the Holy Spirit to PROVE to the world, that our Master is really here with us, and that all of His claims are absolutely true!
1 Corinthians 4:20
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER!” (Emphasis added.)
Can you see what God has to prepare us for, and where He has to take us? The people who remain blinded to this Truth will be manipulated by the powers of Darkness to resist and oppose us. But those people are not the true enemy. They are puppets in the hands of the true enemies!
Ephesians 6:10-17
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God!” (Emphasis added.)
The Holy Spirit has to put us through boot camp… to prepare us for all of the God-rejecting we’ll encounter as well as the conflict and personal opposition we’ll experience in the Last Days Era. That’s why He puts us through the grueling testing and refining and equipping and drilling during our gut-wrenching days of training. The apostle John was inspired to give us some very strong hints concerning what we can expect to receive, if we remain faithful and steadfast in the service of His beloved Son:
John 3:34-36a
‘He whom God has sent speaks the words of God… He gives the Spirit without measure! The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand! He who believes in the Son has Eternal Life!’
Father is telling us that as long as we remain united to His beloved Son, the Word, He will continue to share all of Himself with us… by and through His Word! To know and have the Word, is to know and have the Father who spoke and sent Him to us. It is through Yeshua that Almighty God is able to give Himself, and all that He is and has, to His beloved people! So Father is revealing that our best interests lie in our ability to forget all about ourselves and our earthly perspectives and concerns… so that we can focus upon His Word… exclusively! If we do that, nothing created will be able to stand in the way of our total union with our awesome, beloved Creator… not even the demonic powers! When we are one with Yeshua, we are one with the Fullness of the Living, Almighty God!
God doesn’t intend to ignore or belittle or deprive us or put us down! His aim is not to forget about us and give His love and attention to someone else! He is doing whatever is necessary to bring us all the way into the Ultimate, Eternal Restoration and Fulfillment He has always had in mind for His human creation. He is doing what it will take for us to become as one with Him at all times and in every possible way… so we can partake in His awesome Eternal Heavenly Reality! He wants us to enjoy His inexpressible Eternal Joy, Peace and Rest with Him to the fullest extent possible! And all of that is contained in Yeshua… who is, now and forever, our one and only Choice.
Genesis 2:1-3
“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (by and through God’s Living Word). By the seventh day God completed His work, which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had done. Then God (through His Word) blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
John 4:21-24
“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth.’” (Emphasis added.)
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Emphasis added.)
Beloved, can you see what the powers of Darkness are trying so desperately to do in this era? They are striving to try to blind and deafen the human race into losing sight of God and what He has created them to be! The demonic powers are desperately trying to stop God from being able to place us, His image and likeness, over them! The demons are not about to allow humans to be placed over them. So they do whatever they can to blind and deafen us and beat us down until we’re nothing but pulp! This is why they try to erase God’s Word of Revelation from our minds and hearts. That’s why they distort and blur and contradict the details of what our humanity, in all of its male/female integrity, fullness and beauty, is truly all about! The more they can confuse people, the less human we become! They can’t afford to allow us to know the Truth about what God intended and created us to be! They are terrified of what will happen when we finally see the Light and the Truth concerning God, and what His plans are for us, and why we were created, and where Father intends to take us when our earthly journeys are finished.
The dark powers have always wanted to take God’s place as Lord of Creation! And that’s why it is unthinkable to them to have God place us humans above them! That’s why they keep insisting, to any human that will listen to them, that God can’t be trusted and that He in truth has forsaken us and tries to keep us down. But the opposite is true! God sent His Son to fully cover and reconcile and restore us to oneness with Him and to allow us to join His Word as He rules from the highest place in the heavens! This is why Paul made this awesome declaration to his fellow disciples in the first century:
Colossians 3:1-4
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died (to being radically independent); and your life is hidden with Christ in God (You and God are now forever one, through your Messiah)! When Christ, who is our Life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in Glory (to the eternal consternation and disgrace of God’s demonic enemies).” (Amplification added.)
God hasn’t forsaken the human race! He keeps sending His Word and Holy Spirit after us, to win us back! Even though the world for the most part continues to despise and rebel against Him and continues to defy and disobey and reject His beloved Word made flesh, and strives to place false man-made gods above Him, God never stops reaching out to them! He knows what Sin has done to us! He doesn’t despise us; He is filled with compassion for us! In His awesome Lovingkindness, He continues to speak to the heart of anyone who will listen. And He patiently continues to send His Word and Holy Spirit into our midst. He never stops trying to penetrate the enormous static and distracting opposition and contradictory flack that the powers of Darkness keep generating to drown out God’s voice and keep people trapped in the depths of ignorance, delusion and devastation.
Psalm 103:1-14
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with Lovingkindness and Compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is Compassionate and Gracious, slow to anger and abounding in Lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His Lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust…”
And to make sure that we understand what Father’s intentions toward us are, He adds this awesome revelation of what is in His heart for us, and what His purpose is, in sending His beloved Son to us. This is what He has in mind for us… despite the wretched twisted, living death state in which the Serpent and his powers of Darkness and their lies have left us:
Isaiah 55:1-11
“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me (Hear My Word, for I am sending Him to fill you with what comes from Me), and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, according to the faithful mercies shown to David (through the Covenant I made with Him to make My Living Word His own Descendant, the Messiah King of Israel). Behold, I have made Him a Witness to the peoples, a Leader and Commander for the peoples (all the peoples of the earth).
“Behold (O Israel, although you too reject Him) you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation which knows you not will run to you, because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel; for (by the Perfect Work of Redemption and Full Restoration that He has already done through His Word) He has glorified you. (Therefore, all you peoples) Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the (Word of the) Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.’” (Amplification added.)
Beloved… God’s Love and Life and His Invasion of Salvation are Invincible! Nothing but a human will that insists on remaining set in its state of living death can stop His Love from entering our hearts and transforming us. Anyone who will heed His voice and open up to the reconciliation that His Word and Spirit offer to us… will be enveloped in the Father’s Life-Giving Love! We have this promise from God’s own Living Word:
Revelation 3:19-21
“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My Throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His Throne!” (Emphasis added.)
Father will have His way! His Word will accomplish everything He sent Him among us to do! God’s Love will overcome all the Evil on behalf of those who are willing to repent of their radical independence and surrender to His care. And His Light will destroy and dispel all of the demonic Darkness that we surrender to His Dominion! And that is why I believe our job, as disciples of God’s Word, is to look past and through all that is wicked, evil and wrong. We are not to be distracted, much less dismayed and overcome by such temporary things. All of that will pass! But the Word of God, who is our Eternal Life and Covenant Friend, will live and stand and rule forever! He will set us free from everything the demonic powers have managed to do to us in the past.
So, as long as we disciples have breath, and for as long as the Holy Spirit continues to empower and supply and equip us… let us remain firmly focused upon Yeshua, the Light of the World! Let us reflect Him and His Light into whatever Darkness remains in us, and all around us. Let us continue to apply His Truth to every demonic lie. And let us resolve to allow our Master’s Light to shine and radiate all that He is, from us, into the world around us. Let us usher Him in, as much as we possibly can, into anything that pertains to us! Let our Father’s Eternal, Changeless Truth and Life-giving Love be seen, heard and felt by those who are around us… no matter what may be happening to the contrary in the world that surrounds us. God’s Living Truth is not a set of dogmas or theological and philosophical propositions. His Truth is the Person of His Living Word… our resurrected Master… Messiah Yeshua! He must be seen and heard coming out of us, regardless of what this poor fallen world may have to face and endure in the days to come.
Our awesome Father will win out! Of that there is no doubt! His Truth and the Word that brings His Truth will prevail. And when the enemy is finally utterly confounded and devastated and overwhelmed and is reduced to eternal silence, at last… we will see our Lord Yeshua… standing over them in His Eternal Triumph… and we will be standing with Him… sharing in His everlasting Victory. This is why Paul said these words to the believers of His day:
Colossians 2:1-15
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the (demon-possessed) world, rather than according to Christ.
“For in Him all the Fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the Head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the (demonic) rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.” (Amplification and emphasis added.)
And so, through another apostle, John, the Holy Spirit continues to remind us of just exactly who it is that we’ve been called to serve. We must remember who it is that abides and operates from within us… through our obedient, enduring, persevering faith, hope, trust and love:
Revelation 1:12-19
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.
“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, and The Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am Alive Forevermore, and I have the Keys of Death and of Hades. Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.”
Don’t worry dear ones, the fads of this poor, desperate, demon-oppressed world come and go. What is truth to this world today, is soon forgotten completely and replaced by something else tomorrow. One thing follows another… and that too is later replaced by something else. And it goes, on and on… the seasons come and go; each generation is replaced by the next, and nothing substantial remains of what was here before. But in the midst of all that temporality that emerges out of the emptiness of the demonic lies…. The Living Word of God remains Perfect and Eternal and everlastingly Faithful and True to His own:
Hebrews 12:26-29
“And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the Earth, but also the Heaven.’
“This expression, ‘Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a Consuming Fire!” (Emphasis added.)
Revelation 21:3-7
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the Tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His People, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
“And He who sits on the Throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to the one who thirsts from the Spring of the Water of Life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son!” (Emphasis added.)