“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Gal 5:1
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.” Eph 5:9-10
“Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” Prov 16:3
Back in the day, General George Washington described “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots” who lose heart in times of crisis…
It would appear that the Body of Christ is in such a time of crisis, for it “does not know what spirit it is of,” (Lk 9:55) or Whose Spirit it is following…
Jesus’ rebuke from Luke 9:55 above to His disciples occurred because James and John were ready to call down fire from heaven to destroy people who did not receive Him.
Jesus rebuked them because they had a wrong heart, a wrong attitude, and a wrong solution…
Apparently we are not much different today. Jesus told them He came not to destroy men’s lives but to save them.
The problem today is, while the times are calling for the peacemakers of God to arise with light and strength and commitment to the cause and ways of Christ, many interpret the need to be peace at any price.
I’m hearing overtones of: “okay the election is over, all avenues of legitimate pursuit legally are closed to us, time to stand down and roll over, because a good Christian doesn’t cause dangerous stirrings, he doesn’t make trouble, nor does he rebel against the status quo (in this particular case the Democratic Party and all their deceitful ways.)
But I ask you, where are the peacemakers… where are the ones so seeking the will and the way of God to come forth in themselves that they are willing to stand for light, to be light in this day???
To be a peacemaker doesn’t mean I roll over if darkness is more imposing. It doesn’t mean I accommodate evil. I am in fact called to be a party with light…to be light, how then can I align with evil???
To choose a course of evil, to acquiesce in this case with the Biden ascent to the Presidency having stolen the election and perpetrated fraud, is to become one with evil and all the practices of it. It means I am willing to choose bondage to darkness, which I have already been freed from! Not only that, but because I act as a summer soldier and cave at difficulty I cause others to cave in the same manner rather than standing as Jesus calls us to stand.
If I do less than that, I am forfeiting all that our Forefathers paid for our freedom with their lives as they were led by Christ to stand against the wickedness of being a supply stock for English usury.
We have been freed in Christ, no longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery!!! Not to anyone! We are His!!! The yoke we now wear is His! We are His Yokefellows!
If you find that implausible, think of what befell Esau as he gave up his birthright as the firstborn son!!! It could not be restored to him regardless of his regret or tears!
If we throw off the “freedom of Christ” as our yoke, we will surely be yoked by darkness unimaginable at a national scale…
So when people refer to “Christian Nationalism” or “Trumpism”, there is a need to examine really where your allegiance lies.
You must make sure, your trust is in God alone – and Him only!
Does it mean our methods in this time should employ calling down fire from heaven? No, because that too is of a wrong spirit – not that of Christ!
But before us now lies the path of “peacemaker.’’ Which mean I am willing to stand for light, stand for righteousness, stand for what brings life!!! I do not violate the Word of God, nor His character! I work in His ways,with His weapons but they are powerful for the pulling down of strongholds!
Ephesians 5:11 says to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Only when you bring evil into the light does it lose its power!!!
And we as the Body of Christ need to now stand, and expose the deeds of darkness. Ephesians goes on to say, “for it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Eph 5:12-14)
Finally, we are called to understand what the will of the Lord is…(Eph 5:17) Recently believers have even been discounting the importance of dreams and visions, or other ways the Lord is communicating…
Ultimately, I am not answerable to what a prophet says that I cannot understand or receive, but I am always answerable to the Lord Himself for seeking an understanding and confirmation of His will…
If you are in some form of Leadership in the Body of Christ, the best thing you can do is pray for the rest of the Body to hear Him, to know Him, to be delivered from all darkness and to be strengthened in their inner man…to roll, commit, and trust every work wholly upon the Lord, that He will cause every thought to come into agreement to His will, thus it will be established, thus it will succeed. (Prov 16:3 AMP)
If you are someone who is discouraging believers from activities you consider dangerous, but prefer instead to follow the march of the darkness parade…. you need to quit! You are misleading the flock of the Lord! You risk making the Body captive to darkness!
Carry no illusion here! Being a peacemaker is dangerous work, whether it is in the home, or at work, or the church, or in government!!! You are confronting and exposing darkness. You are walking as children of light for peace, and the enemy will get very angry.
Will you be required to fight? Certainly in prayer. Possibly in other ways as the Lord leads. After all, you don’t stand against darkness just for awhile, for a show of strength only to then cave in anyway…
This is a fight to the finish. To the victory of Christ as the overcoming One! But He is the only One with the Playbook. Which means He alone can call the plays!!! And that requires us to listen! To hear with a clean heart and obey!
This is a time when the Lord is weeding out summer soldiers…He wants foremost to make sure you are HIs, and that you know Him. But as His sheep it is important that you know His voice, and the voice of a stranger you will not obey!!!
Start today!!!
3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
~Obadiah 1:3-18 (KJV)