6/12/19 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
War is an awful thing, and unless you have personally been on the battlefield, you can’t really comprehend it. Listen to men that were involved in what is considered one of the greatest battles in our history: D-Day.
“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“Lieutenant Welsh remembered walking around among the sleeping men, and thinking to himself that they had looked at and smelled death all around them all day but never even dreamed of applying the term to themselves. They hadn’t come here to fear. They hadn’t come to die. They had come to win.”
Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest
“Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Often, our personal lives can seem like a battlefield. At times it seems that we are being attacked on every front. Yet Paul tells us that the war the Christian is involved in, is different… For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
Although those brave men and women that were involved in D-Day did not know who would win, for Christians, the outcome is predetermined. Notice Paul’s terminology… “they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Not damage, not hinder, not bruise, not even disrupt, but “demolish.” I looked up the word demolish in the dictionary and it said this… “To destroy or ruin, especially on purpose; tear down; raze. To put an end to; destroy; explode, to lay waste to; ruin utterly.”
Well, that pretty much describes it! Our enemy Satan, whatever form he shows up in (discouragement, betrayal, unforgiveness, spiritual or emotional attacks), does not have to win. “On the contrary, they (our weapons) have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
Think about it! False religion has tried for years to silence Jesus, governments have tried to wipe out His memory. One government, the Roman government, even killed Him, although only temporarily. Science has tried to disprove His claims, even Satan took Jesus to a desert and took Him on, one on one. Yet when it was all over, after Satan threw everything he had at Jesus… Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'”
Now notice what happened next… “Then the devil left him.” Matthew 4:10-11 Satan immediately left Jesus, not because it was Satan’s idea to leave, but he had to, because Jesus said he had to!
Jesus was not joking around when He said… “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18 Jesus has the final say, not only on earth but throughout all the galaxies (the ones we know and the ones we don’t know.) Jesus has authority over the White House, the Kremlin, North Korea, the Islamic Imams, our food supply, the weather, your life and everything that is going on in it. How can I be so sure of that? Jesus told me… “All things have been committed to me by my Father.” Matthew 11:27
You know it is going to be a good day, when the name of Jesus is mentioned, and everyone drops… That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:10-11
Remember this: no matter what is going on in your life today, no matter who or what is getting ready to come after you next week, no matter what foolishness is put forth by the politicians in Washington, this same Jesus, who soundly defeated Satan on the cross, is the same Jesus who outranks Satan, all his demons and all his human helpers combined!!
D-Day was a great event in our history. D-Day was a day when brave men and women were given an opportunity to reveal what was hidden inside. Although it happened 75 years ago this month, the results of their bravery still affect us today.
Yet a better day is coming, but until then, remember, as Christians we too can live a life that can reveal what is on the inside, and we have the power living within us to affect our world… 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. 1 John 4:4
When you think you are in a battle you can’t win, bring Jesus into it and immediately it becomes a battle that Jesus can’t lose!
