WHAT CAN WE DO? Part 1
Ephesians 2:2 “In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”
Looking at some of these men that I have been writing about, the one common denominator that comes out is how the demonic is prevalent in their writings and in their lives.
Paul was writing to the Ephesians to tell what they were like before they came to Christ, and what the world is like without Christ today. According to this passage of Scripture many people are being manipulated by a very deceptive unseen power that is causing people to do things that are nothing but downright evil. Shootings are taking place. For example, one that took two years ago in Sandy Hook where a young man came in and gunned down 20 children, ages 5-10 years old. There have been random shootings in many schools, in work places, etc., and there have been terrorist bombings, road rage on our highways, disputes where family members kill one another, civil wars breaking out, like in Syria where hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced, communal riots, like ones that break out in India leaving thousands dead. One could go on and on, but we get the point. So the question is: How do we explain all of this? The only answer is that it is the demonic taking over more and more.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 Paul tells us: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.”
We, as God’s people, must come to realize what and who the real enemy is. I believe that Satan has gotten us off track into thinking that the real culprit is flesh and blood, the ones that we see making decisions affecting so many, especially in the political and economic realm. We fall into the trap thinking that we need the right men/women in the right place. In one sense this is true that we need men/women of character in places of authority, but we cannot lose sight that the real culprit that we are fighting is demonic.
One of the things that I have been praying for and that I feel is essential, is to see an army of intercessors raised up who will begin to deal with these unseen, but very real entities. We are in a spiritual warfare and with the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and knowing that their time is coming to an end, these demons are doing all the damage they possibly can before they wind up in the lake of fire reserved for Satan and his co-laborers.
We need to see God raise up spiritual warfare intercessors in every community throughout our countries who have been in the battle and can train others in spiritual warfare. Can this be done? Yes! But first we must see the necessity and the urgency of the situation we are faced with.
What a challenge lies with the church! It would be great if each church could identify who are the ones called to intercessory prayer and want to be trained and set them aside for the work that God has called them to.
Acts 13:1-3 “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” With the Antioch church we have an example that needs to be followed today; that of the church leaders setting time aside to worship, to minister to the Lord. So often we want God to minister to us, but there are times when we need to minister to the Lord. This is what they were doing in Antioch, and in that setting God told them what to do: “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
I believe in this type of setting God will speak and show who can be set aside as well as get trained in this ministry of intercessory prayer. We know from Ephesians 2 that the answer to what we are faced with today lies in the Gospel. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians2:5-8)
One of the first tasks of the intercessor is to prepare the ground so the blinders that are on the minds of unbelievers can be removed to be able to accept this great gift from God. When redemption has taken place then the work of sanctification and discipleship takes over and these people who are and will be in different places within our community will begin to radiate the Kingdom of God for an impact to be made on society.