Living in Reaction
I have felt many times the pressure of a problem. You wake up one morning to a text of bad news, or the health report that came back discouragingly. Many of us are well schooled in the way to pray against the evil after it happens, but what does it look like to live a life of prayer out of offense instead of defense?
the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 3:8
Once I am convinced that the Lord desires to act on my behalf, I have two options in life. I can either use the authority that I have received from Jesus to pray in response to what the enemy is doing or I can decide to use that same authority to destroy the works of the devil. The first way is an act of survival. My faith grows when my problem becomes to big for my head to handle. The second way, is a life lived in the promised land. My faith is not dependent on my head needing a solution. My mind has been renewed to see my life’s purpose is to steal every last person from the clutches of the enemy. I was re-born in the Holy Spirit to destroy the works of the devil. The very assignment that Jesus carried he passed on to me by the Holy Spirit. I was born not hide and survive. I was born with a sword in my hand and the word in my mouth. How many times have you “hoped” that something bad wouldn’t happen tomorrow? Do you know what destroys that foreboding spirit? It is the person who sees that WE HAVE THE BALL. When you live in reaction to the devil’s strategies, you are living a life directed by what the devil is doing. Now what I am not saying is that we shouldn’t pray for breakthrough when bad things arise. But what I am saying is that we should live our life out of GOING and not DEFENDING. The gospel needs no defense. It is a double edged sword on its own. We are the ones who must renew our mind to what is possible by a group of believers who have the courage to simply burn. The commission Jesus gave us is permanent permission to daily destroy the works of the devil. Our vision for the future should not be shaped by the problems the devil is throwing at our camp. It should be shaped by the glory that destroys his.