Blog – Kingdom Lessons #10. By Jim Banks www.jimandpatbanks.com www.traumaprayer.com
We have since created a Facebook Group called “Questions, Answers and Issues” for which both she and I are creating short videos for about 200 questions sent in by her followers. You can get access to them by joining that FB group. I previously wrote on one of those questions a few weeks ago, but I want to touch on it again from a different perspective. The original question raised was, How do we forgive our offenders that are unrepentant? As Kingdom dwellers the personal resolution of this question impinges upon our responses to a closely related issue which each of us is currently facing; How do we respond to the issues facing us in an increasing anti-Christian environment where demonic influence is open for all to see?
I bring before us these two verses,
2 Timothy 2:3-4 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier.” (RSV)
At face value this would lead us to presume that we are to live lives that are ambivalent about the natural affairs going on around us and strictly concentrate on our spirit pursuits in an effort to “please him (Jesus) who enrolled him as a soldier.” That might work well be until we are faced with the decision to take the mark of the beast or not, or being faced with having to renounce our faith in order to keep our job, or face having our children taken from us because we are teaching them values which conflict with established “public policy.” At that point, the war is over – at least in this realm, which for a soldier is essentially saying, I surrender.
So what should our response be, while we still have an opportunity to respond? In Genesis 1:25-27 it is recorded that God made man in “His image and after His likeness.” In John 4:24 Jesus literally (in the Revised Standard Version at least) declares that “God is a spirit.” Later the Apostle Paul comes along in 1st Thessalonians 5:23 and brings a bit more understanding to us with “… and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
So here we are instructed that you and I are primarily spirit beings; spirit beings that have a soul (mind, will and emotions) housed in a body able to ambulate the spirit and soul. Consequently, what’s going on in the spirit realm should be quite apparent to us individually, and yet because we are so focused on what we see, taste and feel the activities of the spirit realm are invisible to us, out of sight- out of mind.
What we are currently seeing this very day is exactly what Ezekiel wrote down for us when the Lord told him what He was witnessing on earth every day;
Ezekiel 22:26-30 “Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes (politicians & government officials) in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey; to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yea, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I (Elohim) sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
Who is this “man” among us that should stand in the gap and that should build up a fence, for the land and its people? It’s you and me, the sons and daughters of God.
John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
Romans 8:19-23 “For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. 23 And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
That man, who should stand in the gap for this land and its inhabitants, is you, to whom has been given the power to become the son or the daughter of God. As a son or a daughter, you have been given some special capabilities, and some very special responsibilities. Here are a couple of them;
1Corinthians 6:2-3 “Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life?”
Yes, I know that this scripture is speaking about Christians taking each other to secular courts when there’s a beef between them, but if that’s the only thing you can stake from this scripture then you need to then you’ve missed everything noted about identity and authority. If you’ve been given identity as a son of God and authority as such, then God expects you to walk in that identity and exercise the authority you’ve been given, because He didn’t give it to you to waste. Remember the sentence pronounced on the “unprofitable servant” in Matthew 25:14-30 who chose to do nothing with the resource he was given? I think it was “cast into outer darkness.”
So … what does it mean to judge “the world” and to judge “angels?”
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
In order to “judge” anything regarding its “rightness” or whether it is righteous or not, we are going to have to be led by the Spirit of God on the matter or we will not act like a son of God. The recent movie “Sound of Freedom” from Angel Studios stirred a lot of anger against sex traffickers and that is as it should be, but that anger and indignation has been totally absent in the case of Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the manner that it’s been handled. One was dead (good riddance) and the other is in prison. Issue resolved. Nope! Because none of the famous, rich and powerful behind them were brought to justice, our anger should have demanded two resolutions. First, that those who to took advantage of Epstein’s ‘service” were never charged for their illegal activities, and further, that the Department of Justice dropped it all like a hot rock, including Epstein’s “suicide.” I don’t know which of these flagrant violations of the law inflame me more?
How do we “judge” that? First of all, we have to call it what it is; crimes were committed against published laws of the land, the punishments for which are also well published. Secondly, failure of the Department of Justice to pursue their sworn duty binds them to the criminal activity as well. That’s simply a fact. None of this could be considered righteous.
Secondly, it is also well known that … “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
So despite the fact that humans are doing these evil deeds, there is something much more malevolent behind them. This is much more than simple influence. Such evil requires someone to agree with and whole-heartedly submit themselves to the demonic entities that drive them to do such things.
“The heavens are the heavens of the LORD; but the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Psalms 115:16)
When we have rightfully identified the culprits behind all this nefarious activity our next responsibility to “stand in the gap” is to determine who has the authority to stop it and see to it that justice is served. According to the above quoted verse there appears to be a dividing line between heaven and earth where the authority falls into one of two courts. The issue is what constitutes “the earth?” Is the line of authority/responsibility at the surface of the earth itself? Or is it the earth, plus its atmosphere, stopping at the outer edge of the Karman Line where the limit of the density of the atmosphere will no longer sustain flight? Ephesians 2:2 refers to satan as “the prince of the power of the air,” which I would presume to be atmosphere. Therefore, the division line we have authority over fall where that which touches earth delegated to us by Jesus Christ. Everything else has to be taken to the Father of Lights, Almighty God, to ask Him to deal with it.
Now, in order for us to properly respond to evil being openly conducted on the earth, we need to ask Holy Spirit how and when to respond. How is obviously a major key: “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” (1st Corinthians 4:20) However, one cannot be responsive to what’s going on without knowing what’s actually going on, which means that you are going to have to have news and information on a continuing basis, or a good friend who does. Either way you will require a reputable source.
Timing is also a big key: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” (1st Corinthians 4:5)
Either way, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. (Leviticus 19:15)
As we yield to the direction of Holy Spirit and enact what He tells us to do, we will see this promise to come to pass … “And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall depart from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” (Isaiah 10:27)
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