Thoughts for Life: #73 Remitting the Sins of Nations

C. Peter Wagner: Many raise questions about the appropriateness of taking the spiritual offensive against principalities and powers because of the Bible's teaching that they have already been defeated.

We are told that on the cross Jesus "disarmed principalities and powers [and] made a public spectacle of them" (see Col. 2:15). If they have been defeated, who are we to think that we can add to Jesus' work on the cross?

Nothing, of course, can be added to the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. His sacrifice was made once and for all. Satan has been defeated. Jesus has overcome the world.

The outcome of the war is no longer in doubt. But meanwhile we are engaged in mop-up operations. The Kingdom of God is here and we are a part of it, but it will not arrive in its fullness until Jesus' second coming.

Then, and only then, will Satan be cast into a bottomless pit and finally into the lake of fire. Until then he is the prince of the power of the air, although a defeated prince who is constantly being pushed back as the gospel spreads throughout the world.

Civil rights leaders and social planners alike are realistic enough to know that only through strenuous and conscientious effort on the part of all Americans will our social situation ever be brought in line with the full legal intent of the Emancipation Proclamation.

How long that will take is anyone's guess. Meanwhile, I myself want to be counted among those Americas who are striving right now to see complete equality and social justice for African-Americans as well as for all other minority groups.

The war for liberation was won in 1863, {and signed into effect by Abraham Lincoln}, but I also want to be part of winning the mop-up battles for civil rights in the 1990's.

Jesus' death on the cross was the emancipation proclamation for the human race. However, 2,000 years later multitudes are not yet saved and huge segments of the world's peoples live in social disaster areas.

Just as I want to see victims of social injustice in our nation receive their rightful freedom, so I also want to see victims of satanic oppression around the world freed from Satan's evil grasp.

In order to do either, however, it is not enough to look back to legitimate legal transactions made 130 or 2,000 years ago. Evil is too great and too aggressive.

Tom White of Frontline Ministries says,

"Too often the church is re-active in responding to this
flood. But the role of the redeemed is to be courageously
pro-active in devising and implementing strategies that
penetrate and weaken the influence of evil. "The Believers
Guide to Spiritual Warfare (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant
Publications, 1990) p. 15.

Warfare Prayer

#74 Remitting the Sins of Nations

By C. Peter Wagner

(pg. 125 - 127) Regal Books

Father, thank You for Christ's emancipation for all of mankind. May I do my part in letting folks know of it, and to give them Your love in my actions and words.
I know that Your Kingdom is here, and that I am a part of it in winning souls for Christ. May I remember that Satan's domain is soon to be demolished, and that Jesus will be the Supreme Ruler and King.
Help me do my part in the defence of righteousness against the forces of evil. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today’s Bible verse: 2 Cor. 10:4 "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

Today’s quotes: Dr. Charles F. Stanley: "Conviction about God's truth is like an anchor. When the winds of opinion blow and the waves of temptation pound us, we can know with certainty the right way to respond. Don't vacillate in your obedience to the Lord. Your unwavering stand for what's right can powerfully influence others."

(Used by permission customercare@intouch.org - Taken from p. 54 of In Touch, a publication of In Touch ministries, February 2014)

- S. D. Gordon - "Prayer needs three organs of the head, and ear, a tongue and an eye. First an ear to hear what God says, then a tongue to speak, then an eye to look out for the result. Bible study is the listening side of prayer. The purpose of God comes in through the ear, passes through the heart taking on the tinge of your personality, and goes out at the tongue as prayer.

It is pathetic what a time God has getting a hearing down here. He is ever speaking but even where there may be some inclination to hear, the sounds of earth are choking in our ears the sound of His voice. God speaks in His Word. The most we know of God comes to us here. This book is God in print." (Taken from Quiet Talks on Prayer by Gordon, p. 105).

Some thoughts today: Have you noticed that wind blows strongest at the tops of trees? When we reach out to God for empowerment, He will give us more of His Spirit, and He will blow on us to bring the awakening we desire for our church. (Gen. 2:7 to see where our breath comes from).

- Step through the silence and listen to God's Voice, the wind of the Spirit. Prepare yourself to hear and to follow the Holy Spirit's leading.

- Only you can do what God needs done where you live. He is sending higher level of revelation to His people who desire more of Him.

25th- Thursday’s post: #74 Satan's Lust for the Nations
C. Peter Wagner
27th- Saturday's post: Stuck in the Mud
Marion Stroud
28th- Sunday evening's post: Job Had No Bible
James H. Cagle
30th- Tuesday's post: #75 Recognizing the Enemy's Strongholds
C. Peter Wagner

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particularly in certain American church circles. One of the denominations..."

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