My heart has been heavy this week as I have watched the news and read many of the reactions. It’s the word “reaction” that keeps playing over in my mind. Why do we as people, and especially those that call themselves Christians tend to be so reactionary? I can understand the world being worldly. The Bible says that the wheat and the tares (weeds) grow up together. So we know that evil is growing but the wheat (the believing church) is growing too. As evil escalates in the spirit realm, it manifests in the physical realm and as believers we need start being less reactive and more proactive in both the spiritual and natural realms.
We can’t be the ones who throw a tantrum and hurt others with words or physically because we feel we’ve been wronged. That’s the way a child behaves, screaming and hitting when things don’t go their way. As believers, we are no longer to be children. We must put away childish ways of thinking and acting. Our Father God is calling us to maturity. As the tares mature in the field, so must the wheat.
We must become proactive by fighting in the spirit realm against the powers and principalities of this dark world. That’s intercessory prayer, standing in the gap or the breach in the wall and holding back the enemy. As believers, this is our responsibility and we must step up to the plate and become true prayer warriors.
However, it’s more than just prayer. We can’t spend all our time crying out to God and waiting for Him to intervene. We must take responsibility in the natural also. We must follow Christ’s example and become a bridge by reaching out and showing love to all people. I love the way people are hugging, dancing in the street and doing nice things for others who are different than they are. But why do we wait until a crisis before showing this kind of love. We get so busy with our own lives that we just assume people know we care, but real caring must manifest itself for others to see it.
I don’t mean to sound harsh; we all fail at this. But maybe we can begin to do better. It’s so easy to reach out to someone who acts like us, believes like us or looks like us. What if we start noticing and reaching out with kindness to those who are not like us?
It’s time to grow up and be warriors in every sense of the word. Put a sword in one hand and a hammer in the other. Let’s join together and battle in the spirit but let’s also build a bridge to the prince of peace.
Adapted from Diana’s Corner by Diana Trout. Diana along with her husband Tom, have over 30+ years of experience pastoring the local body. They both serve local churches by traveling as a part of Dustin Smith Ministries, teaching and speaking all over the nation. You can hear Dustin and James’ podcast through the DSM app or iTunes.
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