Devo Week 30 - Discerning the Unseen Realm
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matt.10:16
God’s Love for the Nations - We or Me?
The letter M is also the letter W. It just depends on the way its positioned. When it comes to me or we, both are important. Jesus said so, even when He reduced the Ten Commandments to Two: 1) Love God, and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt. 22:37-40.) In a world of the one and the many, love is how life is best lived. And it is God’s love that positions us to be blessed as both individuals and nations.
WHO IS FOR US
God’s intention was complete blessing for Adam as me, and with Eve as they became we. This was God’s original plan at creation. Then, an adversary came. Satan deceived Adam and Eve to disobey God. His intention was to steal, kill and destroy all that God had given them.
God’s gift of His Son was to restore back to the one and the many that complete blessing – or abundant life (John 10:10) We see this in Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well. Jesus blessed her personally, then told her to go and tell her people the Good News of the Messiah. Setting captives free is part of the promise of the Good News. (Is. 61:1-3)
WHO IS AGAINST US
The very fact that Jesus came “to set the captives free” means there are people on earth in bondage. The same spiritual captivity experienced by Adam and Eve in the Garden continues today with me and we. Satan seeks to bring into bondage both individuals and groups. Through sin, abuse, toxic behaviors and relational patterns passed down through the generations (familiar spirits), Satan and his demons seek to keep people enslaved, in bondage.
A Gadarene man was found alone and chained in the graveyard because of his bondages. Jesus came and set him free. Then, He told the man to go back and tell his family and friends of his newfound freedom. This freedom was also meant for all those in that man’s family system and community back home who were trapped mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically by those same familiar spirits.
PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGH
Lord, give us sensitive hearts and eyes to see both the individual and the groups to whom You are coming to set free. Bring healing, deliverance, and salvation to the least, the last, and the lost through us. May we follow Jesus’ command to love You and to love others as ourselves. In Jesus’ name, Amen!