THIS DAY WE FIGHT
In his book, "This Day We Fight - Breaking the Bondage of a Passive Spirit", American pastor and author, Francis Frangipane recounts a scene from the third film in the "Lord of the Rings" series, "The Return Of The King". Quoting from page 32 of the book, Francis Frangipane writes: In a scene from the third Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King, Aragorn seeks to inspire his outwardly outnumbered men against what seems to be sure defeat: Hell's swarming legions have amassed before them and the courage of Aragorn's fighters is weakening.
Riding along the front lines of his gathered, but rather lowly, army, he shouts: I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day....This day we fight! By all that you hold good on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West!
The day we committed our lives to Jesus Christ and He became our Saviour and Lord, we were enlisted in an army - but unlike a soldier in a physical army, who may after a time decide to leave the ranks of the military and return to civilian life, our commitment to fighting our enemy, Satan, is a life long one, and we dare not remain passive in our stance toward our foe. If we do not take up the offensive position toward him, he will seek relentlessly to weaken us to the point of being ineffective in the Lord's army. After all, as Jesus said in John 10:10, the thief (Satan) has his unwavering aim to STEAL, KILL and DESTROY - Us!
As I was pondering the quote above from Francis Frangipane's book, "This Day We Fight", I thought about the passage in Ephesians 6 where the apostle Paul encourages the Christian to "Be strong in the Lord and the power of His Might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
Four times in the verses Ephesians 6:10-14, Paul admonishes his readers to STAND. Verse 13 says: Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to, to STAND.
As I read and watched the impassioned cry of Aragorn in The Lord Of The Rings, I was amazed at the last sentence:............"I bid you stand, men of the West."
Isaiah, one of the major prophets of the Old Testament, writing at around 700 BC, said this in Chapter 59 verse 19: So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the West,
And His glory from the rising of the sun;
When the enemy comes in like a flood,
The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.
It seems that as each day passes, all that we hold dear in the West, as in western nations and society is being attacked and eroded. For those who do not hold to a Biblical worldview, there are no longer any moral absolutes. What once was white is now black with all shades of grey accepted in between.
Truly the words of Isaiah the prophet spoken some 700 years before Christ are true of our times:
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter. Isaiah 5:20 NIV
Whether it concerns issues such as Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage, Euthanasia, or all the implications of Political Correctness, including the seeming blindness of politicians and media for the most part - to the very real threats to our way of life, and future well being by fundamentalist Islam, the common denominator in thousands of terror attacks committed since 9/11 - the need has never been greater than today for Christians who are committed fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and who are committed to obeying the Word of God, the Bible - TO STAND FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and TO KNOW WHAT we are standing FOR, and AGAINST according to the unchanging standards of Truth and Righteousness in the Word of God.
That being said, Australia, my home country has just had a national election, and against all the odds and in defiance of almost all election analysts, opinion polls and mainstream media, the government led by conservative born again Christian, Scott Morrison, has been returned with a slight majority. Christians are in agreement that a government change to that of the Labor Party, led by Bill Shorten would have been disastrous for the nation - for the economy, social order, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, protection of children from radicalised sex education and rubber-stamping a culture of death, with free tax-payer abortions provided by public hospitals in all states and state and Commonwealth-sanctioned euthanasia.
Amongst Bible believing Christians across the nation, there is a sense of jubilation and a sense of relief that the evil agenda of the Labor and Greens parties has been thwarted - at least for another three years. But this is not a time for Christians to be complacent.
This election victory has been won largely because thousands of God-fearing Christians across the nation, have petitioned the throne of Grace, through intercessory prayer and fasting for righteousness to be exalted in this nation - and God has answered those prayers, enabling the conservative Coalition parties to win what has been called the "unloseable" election for the Australian Labor Party.
I, along with many other other followers of Christ, are sensing a positioning for Revival in Australia with this election result providing a prophetic foretaste of the turning of the tide of evil in the nation, with the Holy Spirit being poured out on young and old, ushering in a Great Awakening in this land.
In the year 1606, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros gave this continent the name "Australia del Espiritu Santo" or Southland of the Holy Spirit. Look out Australia - you are going to see your prophetic destiny fulfilled with the Church of Jesus Christ marching forth as an army with banners proclaiming loud and clear that: "Jesus Christ is Lord." He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and many, many people of all ages are going to have their lives totally transformed by the power of the Living God.
"Even so, Come Lord Jesus." And we will give you all the glory due to your Name!
This is my post-election blog. Be encouraged!
ReplyDelete