From Within

"The devil has no kingdom."

WE DON’T KNOW what we’ve taken. Jesus is the antidote of God’s healing plan. Where Adam’s choice created selfishness. Jesus’ choice is selflessness. We still don’t see it; but selfishness is an infection in the human race, and Jesus is the antidote, the only healing medicine. From selfishness came distrust and terminal ways of thinking. From Jesus’ laying down His will and choosing obedience to our Father, comes freedom of mind from all that torments us. We do what we want, saying it’s our right, and step on people who get in our way, slowly, one selfish attitude at a time, destroying ourselves. Addicts to sin which holds us in its grip.

“For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” (Romans 7:14)

Put the devil to sleep and leave him there. Too many times I hear Christians say, “The devil in my ear,” or “demons in my head,” when that is not the case. Though there are devils on this earth, chances are, what you are arguing with is a selfish mind. God says take the narrow road. You choose the broad way. If you put water in a gasoline engine, it won’t start but dies. So, too, is our hate, criticism of others, strife with words, and continual self-defense. We are not here defending ourselves. We are instead casting the care of it on Jesus (1 Peter 5:7). He de-feeted the devil and all those who followed him from the kingdom of Light.

The devil has no kingdom; he is ruler only in the sense of the Greek word “archon” meaning that he is the “first” to sin. He didn’t even recognize Jesus as the One who created him when staring him in the face. And think of this – the Holy Spirit is upon Jesus without measure. So He was there in fullness when the devil spoke to Jesus in the wilderness. That’s a little mind-blowing because the Spirit allowed the temptation. He sent Jesus there for that purpose (Matthew 4:1). That said, the devil is only IN the kingdom of darkness, darkness being the absence of Light; he didn’t form darkness, he ended up in it through his selfish choice.

Jesus became human to make the right choice on our behalf, and shed spotless blood, the blood of God which cleanses us of sin. It had to be God’s doing. That’s the point. And Jesus’ unselfishness heals us of not only sin’s control, Jesus destroyed the works of the devil, but the Spirit of God heals the infection in our mind, enabling us to think like Jesus. We don’t “pull down strong holds” under our own strength and fortitude but from within, where God abides (2 Corinthians 10:4). It is Christ in us that does the work, Christ – Father, Son, and Spirit. Our thought patterns take time to overcome. We determine to do it, but we begin and continue maturing from childishness to childlikeness through the Spirit’s healing Presence. This is what it means to go “from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).” We go deeper in Him and climb higher in His ways, until we don’t recognize who we once were. What was once comfortable thinking for us is foreign now, forbidden even, and our low-point perspective replaced by God’s higher one. He is the Highest, above all things.

“At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.” (Ephesians 1:22-23 MSG)

We move from simple natural beings to supernatural ones where heaven meets earth. Jesus’ life not only returned mankind to where they’d once stood, when Adam was created, but He elevated us to be next to Him (Eph 1:3). It is a lie that our struggles are God-ordained. There is no sickness or deficiency in God’s Presence. “When we all get to heaven,” we won’t find any illnesses or deformities there. And what are Jesus’ words of prayer to His “learners,” the disciples? “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).” See Jesus transformed to speak with Moses and Elias and raise your standards of living. Study the life of Abraham and notice, here’s a man without New Covenant salvation, and thus, no Holy Spirit living in him, yet he spoke directly with God, having supernatural healings and visions. He prophesied the story of Israel before his son, Isaac, was even born. He is not alone. We could list the prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, to name three. Men full of God but not filled with God. There is a difference.

How much more should we, children of the Most High, yearn to see? And not compromise and settle for a simple, binary existence. Being honest, I was content with the day-to-day, happy even. It felt safe. Then it wasn’t and God turned my gaze higher. Now, I see how much He longs to do, how much He longs to show us, but most of us aren’t ready. We’re too consumed by old habits and selfish thinking to properly understand what He would say. I can no longer be that person. I can never say this often enough: God is nothing like the image painted by the church. He’s far, far better.

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Timothy 1:17)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com