Good Morning Friends,
Today’s lectionary selection from Joel on this Friday the 13th reads a lot like Revelation 9 and all the woes of the end times. Part of the reading is about the time when Joel, a Temple prophet and lay botanist, lived and the occasion of an unprecedented locust plague which he compared to the assault of reval armies. But it can also be read as part of spiritual invasion in a future catastrophic event that is related to a great spiritual battle yet to come. And in all honesty, it is a bit confusing unless it is read like poetry, and you get caught up in the rhythm of its message. Perhaps you might imagine it as a sign of a spiritual battle to be fought in our lifetime. For Joel writes about the idea that judgement and blessings come through nature. But Joel also writes about the necessity of repentance and the importance of formal worship and the idea of salvation by grace through faith. So, the battle is both spiritual and physical woven together into the world in which we live as we seek a balance of inner life with the outer world. And when this idea is combined with today’s passage from Luke, with the changing events in nature the world is experiencing…. with hurricanes and floods and record heat and red tides… the concept of the Judgement Day of the Lord and the outpouring of the Spirit and a battle with demons seems all too close to home. So, look in the mirror, look at each other and ask God and those closest to you what the future holds and ponder this about the demons of this world…. If Jesus Defeated The Devil and Death, Why Do We Still Have To Fight Evil?
Scripture: Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God! Grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near— a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.
Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2 (NRSV)
But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
Luke 11:15-26 (NRSV)
Message: This morning I am wondering why, if Jesus disarmed principalities and powers, and caste out demons, we are we still wrestling with evil. And I have concluded that we still wrestle, in part, because we are arming the enemy with the words of our mouth and the decisions we make, handing the Devil our God-given authority to use against us when we fail in the original command to keep the earth including those who inhabit it. Friends, we too often are double minded and unbalanced in those things internal and external. Sure, we believe that Satan has no authority over us unless we give it to him, just like the serpent had no authority in the garden until Adam gave it to him. But words are weapons. See how they are used in today’s scripture. Then know that when we speak God’s Word out of our mouth, it casts out death and opens the door to life in our situations. And when we make the mistake of speaking the enemy’s fearful lies out of our mouth, we are allowing the enemy to use our own words as weapons against us. This brings us to a point that we must address. Friends, we are facing a great battle. Some do not realize it. Others do not understand the dynamics of this battle. We all could learn more for too many are unprepared to face the battle before us. It is the battle between Satan’s kingdom and the kingdom of God, and the effects are seen in our world. And our lives hang in the balance. As Christians, we can reign victoriously over the assault of the enemy. We have within us the ability to live above and contrary to the dung Lord of this world. But to reign victorious in the kingdom of God is to understand the dynamics of this spiritual warfare that is before us for every kingdom divided against itself will fall. America could learn from the history of Israel, if she would…We can learn from it as individuals too, for we not only must face human enemies, but also natural ones. There is no justification for allowing our imaginations to run wild but know this, Jesus prayed we would be in unity for a reason. Prophecy cannot mean just anything we want it to mean. There is a truth to be discovered. A literal actual truth. The problem is that people do not really know which side they are on and they go back and forth not realizing they are compromising victory in their life and the lives of others. If the world sets our agenda, we are in more serious trouble than we realize.
And So, the war is on for the souls in the world, and it is both and inner and outward fight. So even in this writing, if I am wanting to influence you to learn something from this devotional about the thin places of nature and casting out demons it may well be pure vanity unless God chooses to use it to extend the love in your life. Perhaps the only good is if through some supernatural act we are somehow connected to loving more in the reading of scripture and the living of our lives. Friends, learning has its merits especially for those who lead worship, but unless it is ultimately about learning to love and practicing that love for a purpose that glorifies God it is all worthless. So, if we save the world from the negative effects of our cultures and climates but do not love, maybe something even worse than the catastrophes of nature may replace them. Beware of demons and know that God ultimately wins the war for us but that the battle for the souls of people everywhere is not yet done.
Pray we fight the good fight. Pray we exercise great care in how we deal with evil in the world realizing that it is often in us. Pray we go to God in prayer and seek a divine purpose. Pray we learn from the suffering and the need for trusting God in of our life’s experiences. Pray the demons of the chronology of terror that has befallen the people of our nation and its divisive politics be exorcised from our memory. Pray still that we would heed the warnings and take notice of the prophecies of God and the healing needed. Pray we act like we are redeemed by God. Pray we choose the right side. Pray we play to win. Pray we are victorious in the battle. Pray we give life to God’s plan through the words we share.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 