Join the resistance; Part 1

Therefore rejoice, you heavens
    and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
    because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
    because he knows that his time is short.”

~ Revelation 12:12

In my Last blog I wrote about my friend John, who overcame the Devil by the blood of the Lamb, the word of his testimony, and in that he did not love his life so much as to cower in the face of death.

As John finished his race, victorious over Motor Neurone Disease (in that it destroyed his body but was unable to claim his spirit), by the grace of Jesus, he now dwells in the heavens with cause for rejoicing.

But whilst John was here on earth, he was in occupied territory. As are we all.

Paul in his writings refers to Satan as 'The god of this world' (2 Cor 4:) and there is a sense in which the earth is his Kingdom.

And as we have looked at previously, Whilst in a sense there is no where that is not his dominion, The Kingdom of Our God (and his Christ) is 'now' and yet it is "not yet". The D-day landings have taken place and we wait for VE-day.

And although the Devil likes to keep a low profile (because his existence may cause some alarm amongst those he has deceived), he is ravenous and rampant. Make no mistake about it. His mission and sole purpose is to inflict as much damage on the human race as he possibly can, preventing as many as he can from being saved, and to wage war on those who bear the name of his hated Nemesis; Jesus.

He hates God, and he despises the objects of his love.

No, the dictator of the world is not a benevolent one.

We live in occupied territory, under the harshest of regimes. If only we saw it.

It is manifest prevalently in the kind of evil that is Motor Neurone Disease, in corruption and war, in adultery, in child abuse, in racism, in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, in the Slave trade, in sex trafficking, in arms trading, etc, etc....

But it is also manifest in more subtle ways. In undermining, in erosion of trust, in lust and anger, in selfishness and lies, in pride and vanity.

Yes, the picture ain't always pretty.

But as we live in occupied territory, we are called to live as freedom fighters, sabotaging the infrastructure of the enemy with acts of extreme love, throwing hope bombs into burning buildings, painting slogans of the gospel in public places.

And one mans freedom fighter is another man's terrorist.

Let us be grace terrorists in this harsh world, coming not in a conventional spirit of war but in the opposite spirit of forgiveness and mercy and peace.

1 Peter 5 gives us some tips on how we resist the Devil and I intend to look at these for the rest of the week. I will leave you, for now with this encouragement from verse 8;

 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

But don't despair. there is a way to stand up against him. Peter encourages us to "Resist him".
How? By Standing firm in the faith (v9).

And James says 'Resist the devil and he will flee'.

Join the resistance.

The fight is underway to take back our homeland from the occupier.

His time....is short.

Amen