March 16, 2011
De-Powered
Japan’s emergency backups designed to supply power to the nuclear power plant failed and now the country has a power plant with no power. We may not always grasp it, but believers put Satan in a similar situation when they come to Christ. Oh, Satan might spew some toxic fumes around, but he truly becomes a power plant with no power. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1John 4:4 NIV)
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Gail;
-----That is a good local analogy. I have known many brethren who insist we do nothing; God does everything through us. They have a scripture or two for back-up. And if you don’t mind an ethereal discussion of it, in a sense they are right. We overcome the spirit of evil because we have the power of the Holy Spirit within us. That does our spirits good. But does it alone do our lives good?
-----So we have an eternal destiny of glory and bliss because our spirits have been made alive. Yet we must live a piece of time wherein our bodies are not yet alive. Nor is anything amongst which they must survive alive; the whole universe has been subjected to decay. Satan still moves about wreaking powerful havoc in this mess of death and destruction. He has gained immediate access to almost every house - turn on the television and select a few channels at random. Select a lot of channels at random. The overwhelming predominance of messages piped into homes is woven of that same old fabric: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and pride of life.
-----TV is merely one of his resources; he masters multi-media. But I select its example because it makes thoughts and feelings in the souls of individuals who then go outside and act accordingly. Their actions empower Satan because they have effects upon others who likewise act accordingly. Conversely, God has given the Christian something beyond just a joining of spirits somewhere deep inside. And although the effects spread much the same as those of TV, they come by much greater difficulty than throwing emotions into the winds of a stream of noisy, moving pictures.
-----We have to read the Bible from a deep and sincere desire to know and understand what it says. That takes a lot of hard work in not only study, but also in bringing our behaviors into line with its messages. Then we go outside and act accordingly. I want to be cautious not to imply our actions empower the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t need anything from us for His power. But the effects they have on others pulls open doorways of thoughts and feelings for Him to move into their lives as well. Even if this spreading effect coming from our choices and actions does not choke off Satan‘s power in the world, the crowding effect of God’s Word taking over our thoughts and actions chokes him out of a residence within our temporal lives. The effect might be greatly local to each individual wise enough to join the Holy Spirit in making it, be to such an individual, the Satanless space within may as well seem like the whole world.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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