Col 1:13 - Special Devotional on June 1st, 2009

Col 1:13 "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" NIV

Today we will pause our reflections in the psalms for a brief focus on a very important subject. As this verse points out to us there are two kingdoms contesting for the life of every man. Each person who has surrendered their life to God through faith in Christ has been rescued from the domination of Satan and his servants. We were created for freedom as Gal 5:1 says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” There was a time when every one of us who believe was a slave to both the power of sin and the power of Satan. We were under the dominion of these two forces but the cross of Christ has purchased the freedom of all who believe.

Through the victory of the cross Satan’s power was cancelled and the power of sin and death was destroyed. Col 2:13-15 victoriously proclaims, “When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” We have been made alive, forgiven. The power of sin has been canceled! Through that same work the evil powers and authorities that once had legal right to dominate us have been disarmed so completely that a public spectacle was made of them. The work of the cross was God’s greatest triumph! This is good news!

However, the good news is not the end of the story. We are still in a battle. While we remain on this earth as it is before the recreation of all things we are still in a place of conflict with the sin, Satan and the powers of darkness. Our deliverance is still contested by these evil forces. Each person who walks the earth with faith in Christ is living on a battlefield. There is no place of passivity. There is no place of neutrality or truce. Satan hates us and seeks to steal, kill and destroy everything that God is doing both in us and through us. We need not live in fear but we must also not live ignorant of our situation. 1 Peter 4:7-8 teaches the church “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” We are exhorted to live alert and prayerful because of the age that we live in, remembering Paul’s reminder in Eph 6:12-1 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

The church is in a great struggle for the souls of men! Satan has not merely conceded his defeat. We are called upon by the instruction of the word of God to enforce Christ’s victory. We are God’s divine representatives who carry both authority to stop the works of darkness and the power to do so as we receive the fullness of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Empowered saints with an empowered testimony, created to be God’s source of deliverance to a bound and tormented world; that is who we are. The church is the earthly expression of Christ’s eternal victory! We are called to enforce his commitment to justice and compassion as we carry the power of God into every setting where He leads us. It is time for the church to arise and walk in the victory that is ours, bringing glory to God through every soul that is transformed as we manifest the triumph of Christ over Satan’s power through the great work of preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing the sick, casting out devils, and speaking the prophetic word of God!