The present situation in which we find ourselves, partially locked down again with possibly more to come, freedoms lost, normal life horribly circumscribed, uncertainty, confusion and fear all around – all this can leave us with a swirl of negative emotions. Anger, disappointment, hurt, frustration and fear, just to name a few – and I have struggled with some of these . The danger is that we then bottle these emotions up, or they spill out over other people causing unnecessary pain for others.
I believe that behind this pandemic situation, stands our enemy, Satan. He is the originator and the manipulator behind all that we see going on at the moment. (He is the source of evil, of sickness, of disease, of enmity, of poisoned emotions and feelings – the trail leads right back to his door). I think at the moment we are being treated to a little taste of the enemy’s kingdom. The question for us is what do we do? How do we fight back?
Let’s look at Jesus – always a good plan! How does He respond?
Let’s look at two occasions where Jesus directly encountered the handiwork of Satan. The first was when Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into an encounter with Satan in the desert. Jesus won in that encounter and you could forgive Him for thinking that now He deserved a little rest. Time to get back to normal life. Ha! Not our Jesus!
On coming out of the desert from His encounter with Satan, He discovers that His cousin, John the Baptist has been put in prison. His enemy is still active and now causing havoc in Jesus’ own family – ‘if I can’t get you, I’ll get those you love’. It’s like a warning shot from Satan, designed to make Jesus feel powerless. But look at Jesus’ response. The whole account begins in Matthew chapter 4.
When Jesus heard that Herod had imprisoned His cousin, He did two things.
- Firstly, we are told that He withdrew (to Galilee). He took time out with Father to get perspective and direction.
- Secondly, He came out fighting!
He began to preach (tell people) about His Kingdom. He gathered 12 disciples and began a spectacular ministry of undoing the work of Satan, healing thousands in the area around Him and from as far north as Syria. Here was the Kingdom He spoke about. This is what it is like to live under the rule of King Jesus, rather than the enslavement of Satan.
His second encounter where Satan got up close and personal, was when cousin John was executed (Matthew Chapter 14). Again Jesus withdrew to be with Father, gain perspective and an action plan. Again, He came out fighting.
- He healed all the sick people from the surrounding towns, miraculously fed a crowd of thousands, demonstrated his power over nature so that His disciples realised who He really was, and then he healed yet more people from more towns and villages
- He then went on to begin to dismantle more of Satan’s kingdom rule – He began to challenge the Religious System which had held the people in bondage for far too long
So what can we learn? There are two great dangers facing us at the moment, and if we fall for either of them we will miss our God given opportunity
- Danger number 1 is that we harbour negative emotions that damage us and/or that spill out and damage others.
- Danger number 2 is that when the current pandemic is over, we forget who caused all this mess, breathe a sigh of relief and try to resume life as it was
Actually we need to come out fighting, NOW.. But first we need to withdraw, to readjust our perspective in line with God’s perspective; to realise that we are not fighting flesh and blood….(Ephesians 6 v 12). Our enemy is not people. Our legitimate anger is directed at the author of our troubles. So how do we fight against Satan? By advancing the Kingdom of Jesus, an opposing Kingdom that emasculates Satan’s rule and authority. Every place that we allow Jesus to rule, is a place that Satan can no longer rule in. He is disenfranchised, locked out, powerless. Every place that we manifest the Fruit of the Kingdom and the Gifts of the Kingdom is a place where he is undermined.
We are not going to acquiesce with Satan’s plan for a new normal (abnormal really). We are called to usher in a completely different New Normal. The-transforming-everything-it-touches-kingdom-of-God new normal. And every time that we come at circumstances in an opposite spirit – love not hate; peace not anger; hope not despair; joy not gloom etc then we usher in the New Normal Kingdom of God. It’s the same every time we heal the sick (let’s pray for unbelievers – God simply loves to touch their sick bodies with His healing power).
Just to close, I believe there is a time coming very shortly where we are going to see an absolute explosion of the power and authority of the Kingdom of God in this country and we need to be ready to move. Not looking to relax back into the comfortable, but looking to push the boundaries of Jesus’ kingdom. It’s time to find out what church is for (I have written more about that in the Articles section of this site), and it’s time to fight back.
Church is out there 