Love Is Not Passive
God is love and God, Love, is not passive. God is full of action. He is an active God. Even so, we as His children are not to be passive when it comes to pursuing Him on one hand and resisting the devil on the other. We are to passionately pursue God, and we are to aggressively resist the devil and all of his operations. The devil is a ruthless enemy whose whole goal is to wipe us out if he can. And he succeeds because of ignorance of our authority and dominion over him, because of our doubt and unbelief that God will prevail for us, because of a sense of unworthiness in some cases and because of fear that whatever we do won’t work for us.
We as God’s children have all power, all authority, all of God’s might, ability over all the power of the enemy. Jesus told us in Luke 10:19: I give to you power (My authority, My capability, My ability, My permission, liberty, freedom to exercise might) to tread (walk all over the devil and the territory he has stolen from you and claim what belongs to you) on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing (no nothing, not in the least) shall hurt or harm you. This authority over all the power of the enemy is ours. It has been given to us.
But I do want you to note here that in the very next verse, Jesus said that we were not to rejoice in this authority (because it is ours without question—it is a given right), but rather, we were to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. That is our source of rejoicing. The other is just an automatic right as far as God is concerned. Rejoice because you are God’s child. Your name is written as part of the household. And the reason you rejoice in that Truth is that it gives you all the privileges of the household, which includes authority and power over your enemy. It comes with the package. It is a done deal.
Let’s look also at a very familiar word that Jesus spoke in Matthew 11:11 and 12. Among men born of women, there had not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But in the kingdom of heaven, he that is least is greater than John. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is gotten by force, seized by force as a precious pearl, a precious jewel to be held close, to be held like you hold the fortress that you take. It is sought with great zeal and intensity.
What was Jesus saying here? He was saying that of those born of physical birth, there was no one greater human on this earth than John, but of those born of the spiritual birth of God, those who have seized from the enemy for themselves the Kingdom of heaven, the least one is greater than one born of human birth. We who have taken what God has given to us, we who have taken back from the enemy personally what God has given to all of mankind through Jesus, the least one is greater. Why? Because of the power of God that is now resident in that person because he has accepted what Jesus did for him and Who Jesus is in Him and what the Holy Spirit is doing for Him right now. WE ARE FULL OF POWER! There is nothing the enemy satan can do to stop us. Oh, if we will only grasp that Truth to our hearts and receive it in our minds. Greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world. The Greater One lives in us, and He expects us to take what belongs to us. He has already given it all to us. What we have to do is to stand our ground and not allow the devil to steal what belongs to us. We must become aggressive against the devil and not only take what belongs to us but keep it once we get it. We are the enforcers of what has already been given to us.
We worship our Lord and adore Him with an ardent zeal as the great love of our life. We bow down before Him and bask in His Presence, bathe ourselves in His love for us. That is our joy. But we are also a people of power and authority over all the power of the enemy. It is a right which we must exercise to keep what God has given to us. We must be active in our pursuit of God and active in our resistance of the enemy. I find it interesting that Jesus used the word “violent” to describe how we as people of His kingdom are to pursue what is ours. There is certainly a lot of wrong violence in our society today, violence which comes from the devil’s realm. But the violence that Jesus was talking about was an aggressive standing of our ground where our rights are concerned as God’s children.
Today, purpose that you will receive every privilege God has given you as His child.
We as God’s children have all power, all authority, all of God’s might, ability over all the power of the enemy. Jesus told us in Luke 10:19: I give to you power (My authority, My capability, My ability, My permission, liberty, freedom to exercise might) to tread (walk all over the devil and the territory he has stolen from you and claim what belongs to you) on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing (no nothing, not in the least) shall hurt or harm you. This authority over all the power of the enemy is ours. It has been given to us.
But I do want you to note here that in the very next verse, Jesus said that we were not to rejoice in this authority (because it is ours without question—it is a given right), but rather, we were to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. That is our source of rejoicing. The other is just an automatic right as far as God is concerned. Rejoice because you are God’s child. Your name is written as part of the household. And the reason you rejoice in that Truth is that it gives you all the privileges of the household, which includes authority and power over your enemy. It comes with the package. It is a done deal.
Let’s look also at a very familiar word that Jesus spoke in Matthew 11:11 and 12. Among men born of women, there had not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But in the kingdom of heaven, he that is least is greater than John. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is gotten by force, seized by force as a precious pearl, a precious jewel to be held close, to be held like you hold the fortress that you take. It is sought with great zeal and intensity.
What was Jesus saying here? He was saying that of those born of physical birth, there was no one greater human on this earth than John, but of those born of the spiritual birth of God, those who have seized from the enemy for themselves the Kingdom of heaven, the least one is greater than one born of human birth. We who have taken what God has given to us, we who have taken back from the enemy personally what God has given to all of mankind through Jesus, the least one is greater. Why? Because of the power of God that is now resident in that person because he has accepted what Jesus did for him and Who Jesus is in Him and what the Holy Spirit is doing for Him right now. WE ARE FULL OF POWER! There is nothing the enemy satan can do to stop us. Oh, if we will only grasp that Truth to our hearts and receive it in our minds. Greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world. The Greater One lives in us, and He expects us to take what belongs to us. He has already given it all to us. What we have to do is to stand our ground and not allow the devil to steal what belongs to us. We must become aggressive against the devil and not only take what belongs to us but keep it once we get it. We are the enforcers of what has already been given to us.
We worship our Lord and adore Him with an ardent zeal as the great love of our life. We bow down before Him and bask in His Presence, bathe ourselves in His love for us. That is our joy. But we are also a people of power and authority over all the power of the enemy. It is a right which we must exercise to keep what God has given to us. We must be active in our pursuit of God and active in our resistance of the enemy. I find it interesting that Jesus used the word “violent” to describe how we as people of His kingdom are to pursue what is ours. There is certainly a lot of wrong violence in our society today, violence which comes from the devil’s realm. But the violence that Jesus was talking about was an aggressive standing of our ground where our rights are concerned as God’s children.
Today, purpose that you will receive every privilege God has given you as His child.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:38 AM
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