13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit...
We have been placed in this earth, but we realize that there is more than just what we encounter with our 5 physical senses. There are spiritual forces at work - many aligned with God, others aligned with Satan - and it's important to be discerning about the way that the enemy's forces are working to try to distract, deceive, and even to destroy you. That's why we need God's armor and why our working knowledge of the Word of God is critical to living the life that God has in store for us. If we can "see" spiritually when temptation is coming, we can take the steps - in Christ - to walk in victory. If we can recognize a spiritual attack, we can use God's resources to resist the enemy.
Ephesians 2 identifies the spiritual enemy, whom we face each day, and gives us some insight into his operation:
1And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,2in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience...
The missions organization SIM, which stands for Society for International Ministries, has a piece on the GodReports.com website that drew my attention and caused me to think about the nature of spiritual warfare.
The report is from Benin, West Africa. which is known as the birthplace of voodoo. Signs of this ancient practice are entangled in the culture, especially in the southern parts of the country.
At a recent Fulani women’s conference, one participant described how she was set free from the bondage of demons and idols after she had listened to the “Programs of Life” radio broadcasts. For years Fulani herdsmen have heard the gospel in their mother tongue on eight local radio stations. Many of the women listen faithfully and have now started to support the radio work financially to mark their commitment.
Gospel broadcasts in the Adja language recently touched the hearts of a respected Voodoo deity and his assistant, as well as the leader’s three wives and many children. All came to faith in Jesus Christ.
The UEEB Church radio broadcasts, which are related to SIM, began in the early 1990s. They now reach out in 16 local languages on the national radio and close to 25 local community and private FM stations. The report says this:
Radio goes where people cannot easily go, and it is perceived as official, true and important. Prominence is given to the gospel message as radio continues to open new areas for church planting.
The enemy is described as the "prince of the power of the air", and we're reminded in Ephesians 6 that we wage war against unseen forces. Voodoo is a practice that is contrary to Scripture and is aligned with forces that oppose the lordship of Christ. Through the airwaves, people are being set free.
Another area where voodoo is prevalent is the nation of Haiti, and we are grateful to our ministry partner Radio 4VEH, which has an impressive track record in sharing God's Word.
And we congratulate this outstanding ministry: National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) has announced that Radio 4VEH, The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti, will be honored with a Milestone Award at the annual NRB Convention next week.
The Milestone Awards are presented annually to ministries with more than 50 years of continuous ministry in Christian broadcasting. This year, Radio 4VEH is celebrating 64 years of serving God and the Haitian people through radio. Radio 4VEH is one of five ministries to receive a Milestone Award at a ceremony next Tuesday at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
This is the second time that Radio 4VEH has been honored by the NRB. Last year, Radio 4VEH received the NRB International Radio Ministry Award, for “excelling in radio or audio ministry, exercising integrity and faithfulness to the cause of Christ, while demonstrating unusual effectiveness in impacting the target culture with the Gospel.”
These stories can reminds us of the reality of spiritual warfare. We do have weapons available to us to counter the strategy of the enemy, who comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. In order to effectively engage in this war of the unseen, we first have to recognize that it exists. We acknowledge that there are forces around us that are intent on manipulating circumstances to get us off track, and who bring negative thoughts into our minds in order to break our connection with Christ and to make us less effective for Him. We have to train ourselves to see with spiritual eyes, which transcends what we we see with our physical eyes.
We also must be intentional in using the tools that God has entrusted to us. And, I believe in order to use those tools, we have to, as Paul says in Ephesians 6, put on the full armor of God. There are five components: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, our feet prepared with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And this is all coated in prayer.
Recognize that the only offensive weapon in the list of 6 components is God's Word. Returning to the story from Benin, we hear that people are set free by the Word of God as it is transmitted through Christian radio. Same situation in Haiti. And, we trust through the communication of His truth through the ministry of Faith Radio, that people will be set free as they hear it and it begins to take root in their hearts and saturates their lives. When we engage in spiritual warfare, we recognize that God's Word, spoken into the air to confront the prince of the power of the air, has tremendous power.
No comments:
Post a Comment