14/11/2013 - MESSAGE TO THOSE WHO WERE FREED FROM CAPTIVITY

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In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak.

Zephaniah 3:16

We are living the days in which the Lord’s people are free from captivity and there is not the slightest chance for the devil to rise up and prey on the Son of God again. As a matter of fact, this can only happen if we let ourselves be influenced by the lies of the evil one, which, by the way, in most cases, are well concocted. I say this because of the counsel the Lord Jesus gave us, teaching us to watch and pray lest we enter into temptation. The enemy is highly dangerous, but we should never fear him!

The message to the saved is different from that intended to those who do not submit to God’s will, who have walked with great strides towards perdition. Because they are overtaken by the spirit of error, they do not think, not even remotely, about what will happen to them after death, given that what interests them is to satisfy their immediate needs. For this reason, we must strive for these people to open their eyes and be freed from eternal damnation.

The saved have nothing to fear but the Lord (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7); therefore, the threats of the enemy must be neutralized by the prayer of faith. To simply ignore such tricks can be another devil’s trap to hold you captive, so the right thing to do is to use the name of Jesus and undo whatever the evil one might have done or is intending to do to your life or to your family. So, it does not matter whether the temptation seems to be innocuous or fraught with harm: always use the authority in Christ to undo this work.

Boldness and daring must be the marks of a Christian (Acts 4:31). Besides, he who does God’s work deceitfully might be cursed, after all it is everyone’s duty to do it with diligence (Proverbs 18:9; I Timothy 4:14). Our appearance and posture, as well as our actions and words, can convey a message of good or evil. Therefore, examine how you have conducted yourself. Those who are led by the lusts of the flesh and end up sinning must confess their error to receive forgiveness.

Do not let your hands weaken because God made them strong so that you fulfill the plan he outlined for your life. I am not referring to the physical hands, but the ability to operate on the material and the spiritual plan. Therefore, use faith in order to win the good fight (II Timothy 4:7); you were saved to be an instrument of the divine will. Regardless of what you do for a living, your mission is nobler than any other activity.

Our “power hand” was restored as whole as the other. That’s how we understand the healing of the man who had a withered hand (Matthew 12:10-13), which, in my view, represented mankind. Because of Adam’s sin we lost the ability to act in the spiritual world, but with Christ it was restored to us. Now our “withered hand” was healed so we can confront the enemy and undo all his evil deeds by using the name of Jesus.

In Christ with Love,

R. R. Soares