Devo Week 33 - 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

Relational Power - The Word Made Flesh

Maybe like me, you are happy to participate in sports but are more of a trepid spectator when it comes to body building. It’s one thing to exercise the body, another thing to sculpt it. When it comes to the Body of Christ, however, there is no place for spectators, only participants. We are all Bodybuilders. Throughout our whole lives we are being sculpted into the image of Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit. (I Cor. 3:11-12) We are meant to display God’s glory and make His image visible – tangible – in the earth. We do this in relationship with God and others, and great spiritual warfare surrounds this purpose.   

WHO IS FOR US

God is the master sculptor, the One who turns us into living stones and forms us by His own hands. (I Peter 2:4-5) The Gospel, as in the parable of the yeast (Matt. 13:33), transforms us into His likeness from the inside-out. (Matt. 13:33) God is relational and knows us well. He, too, became human, through Christ’s incarnation, and now lives in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We are God’s handiwork and His witnesses in the earth. (Eph. 2:10) We have relational power to be shared among the nations! 

WHO IS AGAINST US

While God incarnates, Satan excarnates. Satan seeks to block and hinder the image of God among the nations. He works against our spiritual transformation by trying to keep us in the intellectual realm, disengaged or external only. The ‘digital world’ today is an added layer of excarnation. Social media says we have many ‘followers’ and ‘friends,’ though there is little depth of relationship.

While God knows every hair on our heads (Luke 12:7), Satan attempts to convince us that God is impersonal and distant, that we are not unique but generic, just a number, an object, and unknown. He targets our relationship with God and others. Though we fight not against flesh and blood (meaning physical only), our spiritual battles are mainly relational in nature.

PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL BREAKTHROUGH

Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be made flesh and dwell among us.  Thank you, Jesus, for sending to us Holy Spirit to live in us and conform us to Your image. Protect us from the evil one and help us discern when he targets our relationships and attempts to maneuver through them. We desire to join You in Your mission of spreading Your glory among all nations. In Jesus’ name, Amen!