Sunday, September 13, 2009

It's been some time

I know it's been some time since the last post. I've come back from the Czech, finished the first 3 weeks of my last semester, and gone street preaching for the first time since I went to Ukraine in the summer of 2007. There's a lot I could talk about.

Spiritual warfare is real. Paul is right when he said, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). I have experienced the reality of this twice now in the last two weeks. Many times you will preach the gospel to those who are dead in their sins, enemies of God, but twice in the last three weeks I have found myself witnessing to someone who is not only dead but being influenced and deceived and taught by those forces of evil (1 Tim. 4:1). It is a reality.

I believe God is teaching me something. Teaching me to speak truth in love well, to not speak truth in fear but in boldness, in the spirit of power, love, and self-control that He has given us (2 Tim. 1:7).

It is a fascinating thing to speak with someone about Christ who is being influenced and deceived by a demon. It is like no other kind of conversation I have ever had. It is different than any time I preached the gospel in Ukraine or The Czech Republic or the second week of our floor's (plus others) outreaches. It is unique. It is a spiral of conversation in order to escape the truth of God's word.

I believe God is teaching to really speak the truth. I think He is preparing the gift of prophecy - truth teller and proclaimer - I think. I believe God desires to make me a better teacher, a better proclaimer of His gospel, to His glory and the blessing of others, for His name's sake and the sake of the elect.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17). Christ is the rescuer of the captives. When He rose from death, He rose in victory over Satan, Sin, and Death. He conquered our greatest foes, and thus, there are now no lost causes with Christ. In and by the Spirit we preach life to those who are dead. In and by the Spirit through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ from the dead we stand united in His victory, and we preach from this victory, we love from this victory; thus, we can love rightly, purely, as He loved us first.

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us...In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:10-11).

Amen.