This past week, of course, the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. This ruling did not prohibit abortion, but sent it back to the states for each state to determine what their liberties or restrictions will be concerning abortion. The probability is that many states will greatly restrict abortions and some states will allow abortions up to the moment of birth. I wasn’t surprised by the strong response on each side of this issue , but one thing did surprise me…a little.

Our senior pastor decided to comment on the ruling and several people left, declaring that they do not come to church to hear or participate in politics. They would be back when we decided to just preach the Bible. I suppose this may be a response that’s been groomed by a misguided emphasis on the separation of church and state. Many believers have come to the conclusion that what happens in church should not in any way influence what happens in our culture or government…as if God has not interest in that.

I want to push back against that view in this blog because the next two to three years are going to be politically crazy and will probably determine the fate of America for the foreseeable future. I certainly agree that the government should in no way establish a state church and require Americans to be part of that church. I believe that was the simple intent of the founders when they spoke to that in the constitution. However, that is a very different thing from our efforts to influence culture so that it lines up with the word of God.

Solomon wrote, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Prov. 14:34). The clear message of scripture is that God still judges individuals and nations. If we care about our nation, our communities, our friends and our families, we must be an influence for righteousness. In America, part of that influence is in the ballot box on election days, speaking up at town hall meetings and sharing our thoughts over coffee. Part of that is also lawful influence towards those who make our laws. We are to be salt and light. We are to be leaven in our culture.

Jesus told his followers, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Lk. 13:20).  We are not to coerce people to do it our way or demand that they see everything our way, but we are to influence the people and the culture around us for righteousness.

From Genesis to Revelation, a constant theme emerges. People and nations that submit to the righteousness of God are blessed. Those who do not, are cursed. It is the responsibility of the church to inform God’s people regarding cultural shifts and trends. Scripture has no value it we do not apply it to life. Teaching on the things that politics are influencing is not politics. It is informing God’s people of what God says about the things that politics affects, so that we might respond in a spiritually responsible way to the world around us. To do less is to invite judgment.

According to Deuteronomy 28-30, judgment looks like natural disasters, war, runaway inflation, crop failures, abnormal levels of disease, abnormal numbers of miscarriages, confusion, corrupt and foolish leadership, oppression, failure, defeat, runaway crime, food shortages, and more. If you check the boxes, America is being judged. It is not God’s desire to judge us, but his righteousness demands it. His heart is for us to repent so that he can bless us once again.

When we treat trends in culture, government, or politics as something we should not speak to in church, we communicate silently that God is not interested in those things. But he is very interested. The judgments of God will affect even believers…our children and our grandchildren. If we are not informed, we cannot be an influence for good…we cannot be salt, light, and leaven. We cannot give a good answer to those who disagree with God. I agree that we should not tell people who to vote for, but we should tell them what God stands for and encourage them to align their voice and their vote with those who best represent God’s values.

In the next two years, there will be an onslaught of political activity at its worst. It will be divisive, deceptive, slanderous, and accusatory. We will need help sorting out the truth and knowing what God has to say about the values represented by each party or candidate. I don’t want to stand with Democrats or Republicans. I want to stand with God because whether we do or not as a nation determines whether we will be blessed or cursed.

I hope we will invite our spiritual leaders to give us guidance rather than bering silent or rather than walking out because we are touching the substance of politics. I promise you, Satan is very involved in the political process because it determines the fate of a nation. . If we do not influence that process with the righteous demands of God, this nation will not stand. We, our children, and our grandchildren will pay the price for our silence. Our goal as believers is not to represent one party or another, but to represent God to this nation in every possible way.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev. 12:10-11).

The apostle John penned this descriptor of Satan in the book of Revelation. He is often called the devil in the New Testament. The word translated from the Greek as “devil” is “diabolou.” It actually means a false accuser or slanderer. It is the nature of Satan to slander and accuse. We discover from John’s words in Revelation that he accuses the people of God day and night. He does so in the presence God.

In the Garden of Eden, Satan, in the form of a serpent, actually slandered God and drew Adam and Eve into agreement with his accusations. In the first chapter of Job, you will find him in the presence of God slandering and accusing Job. In Zechariah 3:1-5, we find a scene where Satan is before the Lord accusing Joshua, the high priest. In Luke 22:31. Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you s wheat, but I have prayed for you…” I think we can assume that Satan had come into the presence of God to accuse the apostles and maybe, specifically, Peter.

In the courts of God, Satan is persistently trying to gain legal access to afflict or torment believers by bringing accusations against them. Remember, his complaint in Job was that God had protected Job against the assaults of Satan, and the devil was seeking permission to afflict the man. In one sense, that is a different topic than I want to discuss today, but it reveals the nature and strategy of Satan against God’s people.

What I want to emphasize today, is that Satan uses the same strategy against each of us. If he cannot keep us out of the kingdom, then he strives to keep us ineffective in the kingdom. His goal, is to make us feel defective, inadequate, and disapproved of. His goal is to discourage us and make us feel disqualified for the blessings of God. He constantly reminds us of past failures and whispers that whatever we have done for the Lord was not good enough. He fills us with doubt about pleasing God. He pushes us to a legalism that demands we do enough to be saved, be sincere enough to be saved, have enough faith to be saved, and, of course, assures us that we have failed in every department.

In my experience, the flesh gravitates towards legalism which is the idea that we are saved by works and our own righteousness. I know that is true because every religion conceived by man, bases salvation on works and self-righteousness. Only the Holy Spirit reveals a salvation by grace through faith. Paul put is this way. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:8-10).

We are created in Christ to do good works, but we are not saved by those good works. We are not even capable of them until we are saved. Good works are our response to God’s grace rather than the cost of admission into heaven. They are evidence of salvation, but not the means of salvation. They affect our rewards in heaven, but not our presence there. That is the work of Christ and Christ alone, whose righteousness is imputed to us when we believe in God’s goodness towards us.

I find that the concept of grace can be slippery and Satan, through his accusations, often draws us into a sense of failure and condemnation by pointing out past failures and present inadequacies. But the blood of “Christ has a erased our failures in the past and makes up for our inadequacies in the present. We need to be convinced of that when Satan comes accusing.

If you struggle with the concept of grace, let me encourage you to find all the passages you can that underline the truth of God’s grace made available to us through the blood of Christ and spend days meditating on those passages. When Satan reminds us of out past and current failures, the answer is that the accusation may be true, but his premise is false. His premise is that our salvation and God’s love for us is based on our performance. That is a false premise. Both are wholly wholly based on the perfect performance of Jesus and the goodness of God. Maybe the accusations of our shortcomings are true, but it doesn’t matter. That is the good news of Jesus Christ. An understanding of grace is the body armor that protects us from the attacks of the enemy. Saving faith is simply the faith that is convinced of God’s grace through the cross.

If the accuser of the brethren is wearing you out, get hold of grace. Meditate on passages about grace. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation of grace. Read books on grace. (What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey is a good one.) Hang out with people who have a handle on grace. And don’t stop until you get it.. When you get it, the accuser will be disarmed.

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” Jeremiah 29:10-14

The text above is familiar to most of us…at least part of it. The “plans to proser you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” part is often quoted. Strictly speaking, in context, this is a promise to Israel and not to the rest of us. However, the important part is that it reveals the heart of God and the nature of his love towards his people…and that does come to all of us.

The “God of the Old Testament” is often characterized as angry and vengeful because he visited judgments on the nations that would not repent and turn to him or that were dedicated to the destruction of Israel. And yet, if you read carefully, God took no pleasure in dispatching those judgments. In Ezekiel, God declares, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live'” (Ezekiel 18:23)?

God did send judgments because he is a righteous God, but they came after decades and even centuries of wickedness and after prophets had warned them, time and again, of the coming judgments. In the Jeremiah passage above, we see that God had sent Israel into exile because of her constant, unrepented rebellion and idolatry. And yet, his heart kept calling them back with a plan to restore their relationship with him so that he might bless them again. God takes pleasure in blessing his children. That is the nature of love. Even his judgments or discipline is an expression of redemptive love, as he tries to call his people back so that he might bless them again. The apostle John simply declares that “God is love” (1 Jn.4:16).

What many of us miss is the incredible extent to which God loves each of us. We often think that he may love others that way, but not us. For those of us who grew up in homes where love was not expressed well or where love was not expressed at all, it is hard to comprehend God’s love. For those who grew up In homes where love was highly conditional – based on perfect compliance with a parent’s demand, or where love was highly erratic – never knowing when it would be given or withdrawn, accepting and trusting God’s love is difficult. We too often expect God to love us or not love us as our parents did. And yet, discovering the depths of God’s love for us is the most transformative thing that can happen.

The cross, of course, is the ultimate expression of his love. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). The heart of God has always been to draw us into a close and loving relationship with him…even at great cost to himself. His heart is not to harm us, but to bless us. He does have a hope and a future of each of us. The people I know that have been able to receive that reality have been transformed by it. But, my experience tells me that most of us have not yet fully been able to embrace that revelation.

Oh, we know that is what the Bible says. I know that we believe the Bible and the Bible says that God loves us. But I also know that to believe in our head is not the same as believing in our hearts. This truth of God’s love must penetrate our hearts if we are to be transformed by it. That “heart knowledge” is the challenge. How do we stop seeing God through the template of our experience with imperfect, broken parents and see him as he is?

This must be a work of the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul wrote, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph.1:17-19.).

We need a revelation of God’s love in our hearts…in the deepest part of who we are. If you had amazing parents who loved you unconditionally and consistently, this may be an easier revelation to receive. But, for many of us, only a true revelation of this love by the Spirit can overwrite our debilitating experiences with love in a broken world. Paul said that we need the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to truly know God and his heart for us. We also need the eyes of our heart to receive the revelation so that we may know the hope to which he has called us. In other words, we need revelation so that we can know God’s love for us and so that we can perceive, by faith, the hope and blessings he has prepared for us. I wonder how often we have missed a blessing because we had no faith for it and we had no faith because we still don’t understand how much God loves us?

If you struggle to comprehend God’s love for you, then I encourage you to pray for yourself, the prayer that Paul prayed for the Ephesians. Pray it every day. Ask him to give you eyes to perceive his love and grace that flows into your life on a daily basis. Start looking for what he is doing rather than focusing on what he hasn’t done yet. Ask the Spirit to open your spiritual eyes so that you may recognize his goodness and his hand in your life each day. Develop a lifestyle of noticing and thanking God for the “little things” as well as the “big things.” Comprehending his heart for us and his love is the real key to joy, security, and optimism in a world that tries to rob us of each of those blessings every day. Pray fervently for this revelation and trust that God will give it to you because it is his will for you to know his love. Blessings in Him.

I believe one of the most important principles in scripture is found in Galatians 6. Paul writes, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh , from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:7-9).

This is a spiritual principle confirmed over and over agin in scripture. It is a spiritual principle revealed in nature and in the outcomes of our own decisions and the decisions of others if we pay attention. First of all, it is an immutable law. Like gravity, you cannot escape the reality of consequences. If you accidentally step off the edge of your roof, you are going down not matter how often you test the law. To deny the law of consequences is to mock God. That word means to belittle, to not take seriously, or to treat with contempt. When we live as if we can violate God’s law without consequences, we mock him.

We often think of those who mock God as brazen sinners who shake their fist in God’s face as if they determine the outcome of their own lives. But many believers do so as well. When we operate outside of God’s will in parts of our lives, we often are doing so because we are deceived. The enemy whispers his familiar phrase spoken first in the Garden of Eden, “You will not certainly die!” He whispers that we will be the exception, even though we know others who have done what we are doing and ended up in a very deep ditch..

When it comes to sin, Satan’s favorite strategy is to simply convince us that we won’t be found out, we won’t get addicted, our unhealthy habits will not end up destroying our health, or that we can cash in on God’s grace so that nothing really hurtful will come from our actions. I can’t count how many church- going believers I know have been deceived into believing that an affair won’t be found out, that dabbling in pornography won’t end up in an uncontrollable addiction, or that they will be able to put the money back before the boss realizes it is gone. Here is the thing: these secret sins will not be without consequence because either God will bring it into the light to cleanse it, or Satan will bring it into the light to destroy you and your family. Why? Because God will not be mocked. There will be consequences. We will reap what we sow. If we sow to the desires of the flesh, we will reap hurt and destruction.

This deception from the enemy can be incredibly strong. There is no greater expression of sowing and reaping than in Deuteronomy 28-30. In these chapters, God spelled out in detail the blessings he would grant Israel if they remained faithful to him. He also spelled out in detail, the disasters that would come if they chose to reject God and his commands. And yet, Israel chose to ignore God’s commands and to chase after other gods. The only explanation is that they believed Stan’s lie that God was all bluff and no action. Yet, they were destroyed and scattered all over the world….not because God was evil or unfair, but because those were the consequences of their choices. When we choose the path, we choose the consequences.

Now the good news is that, when we do life God’s way (sow to the Spirit), God promises good outcomes and blessings. We receive life…in this world and the world to come. God cannot be mocked in this matter as well. This is not a promise that trouble will never come our way, but that God will ultimately bring blessing, even out of trouble. “And we know that in all things, God woks for the good of those who love him. who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom.8:28). Sometimes, the challenge is in waiting for the blessing to manifest. Remember Paul said they we must not grow weary in doing good (sowing to the Spirit), but should know that in due time, a harvest will come.

When a farmer plants, it takes time for the seed to germinate, the stalk to grow, blooms to form fruit, and the fruit to mature. It can be the same with prayer or acting righteously whenever all those around us are ignoring the commands of God. Waiting is hard. Satan will whisper that God does not hear our prayers or that he has obviously said “No” to our prayer, so that continuing to pray or act in faithfulness is pointless. Like a crop, It takes takes time for blessings to manifest and we will have to fight discouragement at times, especially when we see those who don’t serve God getting what they want in this life while we wait But don’t be deceived, God will not be mocked. What you sow in faithfulness will bear a harvest.

When we think serving God is pointless because the wicked seem to prosper, we must remember that it takes time for curses to manifest as well. That is part of the trap. People disobey and see no immediate consequence and, because of that, they believe nothing will ever happen. I have a pastor friend who had a secret addiction for years, but was eventually found out. It became a huge embarrassment to him, his family, and his church. He told me that the deception was that you only imagine the moment of pleasure or excitement, for relief but you need to “run the film to the end.” What he meant was that you need to imagine not only the pleasure of the moment but the pain that will come when your sin is revealed…because it will be. “Running the film to the end” is a very effective way of discouraging the persistent sin or secret sin in our own lives because it recognizes that consequences will come because God will not be mocked. Of course, when negative consequences arise we are prone to blame God for our losses, our embarrrassment, or our hurt. But God is just and has revealed the truth to us about our choices. he simply honors our choices, whether we choose curses or blessings.

When we make choices, we need to do so with Galatians 6 in mind. Every deed, every word, every prayer is a seed that will some day bear fruit. It is up to us to determine the harvest. Because seeds take time to grow, we often forget this immutable law of God. But if you remember, you will see the faithfulness of God in blessings as the years of your life wear on.

When you are involved in spiritual warfare, it is critical that you have realistic expectations to avoid discouragement and even deception by the enemy. As believers discover the power of the Holy Spirit and the name of Jesus, they may anticipate immediate deliverance or emotional healing as they pray over others. They may expect instantaneous healings as presented in the gospels or for spirits to exit immediately at the name of Jesus. They may expect one fifteen minute prayer session to heal every emotional scar in a human soul and every problem to disappear over night because we have declared a thing or commanded a thing. Sometimes, it does happen that way and sometimes it doesn’t. As you enter into the realm of healing and deliverance, it is best to be prepared for things to take a little longer than you hoped for.

I love the gospel accounts of Jesus encountering demonic spirits. They often come trembling before him, begging not to be sent into the abyss. When Jesus commanded a spirit to depart, that spirit left almost instantaneously…except for Legion, who hung on trying to broker a better deal with Jesus for his troop of unclean spirits inhabiting the Gadarene demoniac. When Jesus commanded, demons exited immediately or almost immediately. Occasionally there were severe manifestations of a spirit as it exited, but we can say the standard was quick and almost immediate departure.

That does happen in our ministry as well. But, more often, it takes a little longer and more than one command. It is not unusual for deliverance to take five minutes, ten minutes, an hour or even longer. It is not unusual to cast out several spirits, but to have to come back later for others. Although Jesus functioned as a man, he functioned as a sinless man who was also the Son of God. The spirits he encountered knew that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Holy one of Israel. Let’s face it, his personal presence had to be much more intimidating to the enemy than a representative. We definitely minister in his name, represent him, and serve as those given power and authority over the enemy, but we may not have exactly the same spiritual gravitas that Jesus had.

I have seen several negative consequences of unrealistic expectations for deliverance. Some believe that as soon as you command a spirit to leave, it must leave and, therefore, stop too soon in the deliverance process without real evidence that a spirit has left. This view does not recognize that some spirits are more powerful than others and can hold on longer. Sometimes, there is still something giving the spirit a legal right to remain so that “open door” has to be discovered and closed. Some strongholds have been there for generations and may take more time to tear down. Just declaring that a spirit has left because we told it to go does not always make it so. If we say it must be gone and the one we are ministering to feels no difference, he or she can be confused or discouraged because they sense that nothing has actually happened.

Demons usually adopt one of two strategies when eviction is in the air. Often the spirit manifests in ways designed to intimidate the person being ministered to or to intimidate the one ministering. It is not unusual for a spirit to growl, hiss, and sneer at those ministering freedom. It is not unusual for a spirit to declare that he is more powerful than we are and that the “host” belongs to him and he will never leave. Intimidation is simply an effort to discourage everyone involved or to convince them that they are powerless over this demon and to give up. Unclean spirits manifest in such ways when they are threatened and on the verge of losing their assignment. Instead of being intimidated, we need to be encouraged because the spirit is on the run when it manifests strongly.

A second strategy is for demons to step back into the shadows, so to speak, and be silent. We may be tempted to assume that a spirit has left because manifestations have ceased, but unless you or the host are very confident that something has left, you may want to continue a while and even command the spirit to manifest if it is still present.

Another reality is that sometimes freedom and emotional healing come in stages and not all at once. Often a person finds a significant level of freedom or peace, but knows a few things remain to be done later. Sometimes, they have a season of freedom and peace but then experience some return of torment, depression, fear etc. a few months later. It possible that an open door in the spirit realm has allowed spirits to gain access again but it may simply be that some spirits that have kept a low profile for a while that feel safe to begin their torment again after a few months have passed.

This is warfare. Battles are not always won in a single day or by a single volley. We learned in Vietnam that enemy soldiers may hide in tunnels during a powerful assault by the opposing army, but emerge later to fight again once the attacking army has moved on. In warfare, we discover that some fortresses are more resistant than others. Some enemy troops are more skilled and determined than others. Even though victory is assured, battles may be brief or may be prolonged. We also know that if may take different strategies to win different battles and so we may need to wait on a strategy from the Spirit in order to set someone free. That strategy may come in the midst of deliverance or as you sleep after not achieving the victory you wanted earlier in the day.

Quick and immediate is our desire when we pray for healing or engage in deliverance. Sometimes that happens, but at other times we need to know that a prolonged battle or multiple skirmishes will be required. When that happens, know it is normal. Persistence and faith are often required to win the battle. Every command, every scripture quoted in the face of the enemy, and every rebuke weakens the enemy. In due time, the walls behind which the enemy hides will crumble and collapse and then the enemy will flee in all directions. Don’t assume deliverance too soon and don’t give up because he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Be blessed.