Some people believe that passivity is the route to peace. For too many years, I was one of those people. I thought that if I remained on neutral ground, I would be out of the range of fire. If I kept the status quo, things would work out in the end – or so I thought. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. Passivity did nothing to carry me forward. It brought about slow decay instead. I played right into the enemy’s hand.
I fell for one of the major deceptions the enemy uses in an attempt to keep the Church stagnant. So many Christians have fallen for the following lie that is often preached from the pulpit. “If you step out to do the works of God, you had better be ready for a devastating backlash that will happen shortly after.” or “Greater levels, greater devils”. Think about that for a moment. Any earthly army does everything in its power to protect its generals and commanders. Why would it be any different in the spiritual realms? God’s protection is there for us no matter what role we play in His Kingdom. This might be a bit sobering to hear, but the enemy hates all of us simply because we are made in God’s image.
When we allow the enemy to bully us into accepting his fetters of passivity, we are rendered ineffective both in Heaven and on Earth.
The enemy loves to intimidate God’s people, hoping they accept his chains of passivity. He then lulls them into a false sense of security, telling them that he will leave them alone as long as they remain bound by his chains. There’s a glitch in Satan plan. We serve a MUCH greater God who promises us a hope and a future. Who are you going to believe? God or a defeated bully?
If you want real peace, you’re going to have to fight for it. You might need to get up in the middle of the night to spend time with the Lord instead of tossing and turning with anxiety. You might need to walk away from conversations where are you would be tempted to strike back in angry retort. You might need to set boundaries and learn to say no when it would be easier – but wrong – to say yes.
“What’s the opposite of stepping up? Standing still … lying down … becoming a couch potato. …passivity is a disease that robs a man of his purpose while destroying marriages, ruins families, and spoils legacies. A passive man doesn’t engage; he retreats. He neglects personal responsibility. At its core, passivity is cowardice.” Dennis Rainey
Learn to pray with the authority Christ gave you. Train your ear to listen to the voice of peace. Allow God’s word to be the white noise that drowns out the voice of anxiety. The following passage is a great reminder of where our warfare lies.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (MSG) -“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”
All Bible Verses, unless otherwise noted, are attributed to the NASB 1995 version
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