Last night I had a dream. I was going on a journey and I was by myself, struggling to the airport with an over-abundance of luggage. I had packed many bags with everything I would require for this trip, as I wanted to be sure I would not arrive at my destination in need of something essential. The struggle I had in my dream trying to get on that plane had left my physically tired and I was only ON the plane--I still had to get from the airport at the other end of my journey to my father's house. This trip was just too tiring, and I decided that on my next trip I would not take so much luggage.
I awoke in the morning exhausted. As I thought about this dream, I realized the spiritual implications.
As we consider the church of end-times in the Book of Revelation to which Jesus spoke, we read that we must be `overcomers.' Our Lord knew that our trip would not be easy, but in His admonition to the seven churches He told us how to clean up our act (Rev.2:3). Jesus' mission was, by His life, death and resurrection, to conquer sin and death. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work (I John 3:8). The church today is only beginning to realize that to be `overcomers' we must engage in a war with the age-old enemy, Satan. While the church, for the most part, has been snoozing in comfortable pews, satanic influences have permeated our churches and society.
The enemy is today being identified. What do we do about it?
Many decide to pack bags filled with ammunition of knowledge--to learn all the man-made theological doctrines. Weeks, months, and years are spent in this endeavour. However, this luggage becomes too heavy, and we arrive at the airport too late. It is time we Christians checked through our luggage to eliminate non-essentials so we can get off to the war with only the luggage necessary as time is running out.
What do we need to take with us?
Ephesians 6 gives us some advice. We must get on our knees and ask Jesus for a conversion experience so that we will have "the helmet of salvation." We need a strong "shield of faith" in Him to protect us from enemy attacks; we will need to read our Bible daily and pray much. Jesus said He would leave the Holy Spirit with believers to guide them into all truth; we need the "belt of truth" to differentiate between true and false teachings. We also need "the breastplate of righteousness" we must remember we are righteous only because of Calvary. Our feet must tread in God's love to prepare us to spread the Good News of the "gospel of peace."
The essential luggage is the Lord's mighty power as we, of ourselves, are no match for Satan. We are not in a defensive war to merely fend off attacks; our warfare must become offensive as the enemy has already made deep inroads into Christian territory. The other article essential for the war is "the sword of the Spirit" to pierce our hearts with God's words. Sometimes our war takes us into hand-to-hand fighting when we, through prayer, release someone from bondage. We can use Jesus' name and the power of His blood to tell Satan to back off.
We haven't time to pack much spiritual luggage, and we won't have the strength to carry it anyway. Let us quickly pack the essentials and get off to the airport so that we can "go into all the world and preach the good news" (Mark 16:15) before it is too late.
© 1999, Doreen Palmer