Too many Christians today have learned to adapt to the demands of all that opposes the will and way of God. Far too often as we watch the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil steal our inheritance and take control of our lives, our finances, our families, our health, our emotions, and our futures, we have the attitude of helplessness and we find a cave in which to hide and hope to survive. We go to church week after week and do all of our religious works, but the principalities and powers of darkness continue to ravage our land and impose their agenda on individuals, cities, and nations.

After several years of death and destruction at the hands of the Midianites, finally the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. They began to pour out their hearts to God and let him know that they were not satisfied with the status quo. They began knocking on the door of heaven and did not stop knocking until God responded. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that the door is opened to the one who knocks and keeps on knocking. Those who are not desperate will continue to live in a state of slow decline.

In Judges 6:12 the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon and told him, the Lord is with thee. I love Gideon’s response–it was bold and honest. If the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us, and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of? Much as his forefather Jacob had wrestled with the angel, Gideon poured out his complaint to the Lord. He seized this opportunity to represent his entire generation before the Lord by voicing his dissatisfaction with the status quo. Basically he was saying, God, we need your power. We cannot continue as we are. We want to see your miracles and your reality as did the generations of old. You did it for them; now do it for us! We must have more!

While many people today are satisfied to live in their cave and adapt to the changes that the powers of darkness are imposing on our society, there is a new generation that God is beginning to visit and to provoke their hearts to want something more. There is a new generation that is beginning to burn with a holy dissatisfaction. This generation is beginning to cry our for the power and reality of God to be manifested today. This generation will be the one that sees their enemies defeated and God’s kingdom order established in their lives, their cities, and their nations as it is in heaven. You can be part of that generation. Tell the Lord you want to see his miracles in your world today and you will be surprised at how quickly he will begin to answer your cry.

In referring to the enemies of God, the Psalmist rhetorically asked: “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies” (Psalm 139:21-22, KJV). And we also hear this sentiment expressed in a couple other Psalms as well: “I abhor the assembly of evildoers” (26:5), and “I hate those who cling to worthless idols” (31:6).

Now we should know that the paradigm conveyed by the Psalmist in these (and other) verses completely shifted with the advent of Christ and the New Covenant. Jesus was absolutely unambiguous when He said to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Whenever James and John saw a Samaritan village disrespect their Righteous Leader, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” Jesus then rebuked them in no uncertain terms (Luke 9:54-55).

But there is a very important principle to be gleaned here nonetheless.

We should, indeed, possess hatred in our hearts, but the only hatred we should ever possess is that hatred which is directed solely at sin and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). This is the hatred that must be perfect if we are ever to know consistent and unmitigated victory in our lives.

Paul admonished the Romans to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (12:9), and the Psalmist also wrote, “let those who love the Lord hate evil” (97:10).

How “perfect” is our hatred for evil? Are we angered whenever we hear our Lord’s name carelessly and nonchalantly used in vain? Do we become indignant when we see someone assailed by a spirit of infirmity? Does it infuriate us to witness the exploitation of women and girls in our modern media?

By way of analogy, the Israelites came to be “okay with” allowing remnants of indigenous Canaanite tribes to remain in the land despite God’s unequivocal warning that they would be a snare to them if they were not ruthlessly and totally dealt with (i.e. destroyed).

In very much the same way, if we fail to deal ruthlessly with sin and compromise in our lives (and therefore effectively tolerate and coddle it), it will for sure become a snare to us as well.

In the post-modern, relativistic world in which we live, such an attitude of “intolerance” is certainly not very popular, but it is the standard we must uphold if we really desire to walk in power and be “salt and light” to those around us.

Lord, perfect our hatred. Give us a visceral distain for everything that would seek to compromise Your standard of righteousness. Cause us to feel the way that You feel about wickedness and injustice in the earth. Make us an intolerant people.

The threat that we are facing in the twenty-first century is even greater than the threat of fascism in the twentieth century. Sociey in the Americas and Europe is being overrun by a rabid antichrist spirit that opposes God’s Word and God’s ways. Immorality, perversion, divorce, dishonesty, and licentiousness are the order of the day not only in society but in the church as well. The kingdom of darkness seems to be advancing almost unchecked by the contemporary church. If there is not a radical transformation, then all of Western Civilization will soon sink into a new dark age.

The good news is that God knows very well what is going on and has a plan. The darkest of days always provides the setting for God’s finest hour. Throughout the world the prophetic word is resounding that God is about to raise up another generation that has a rendezvous with a divine destiny. Its destiny is to establish the kingdom rule and reign of God that will destroy the kingdoms of darkness that have held individuals, cities, and nations in bondage, thus establishing a new world order of life and liberty in Jesus Christ. The agenda of this new generation will be to establish a kingdom world order. It is a generation whose destiny is to alter world history. It is a generation of history makers.

In Judges 6 we see the people of God and their nation living under the domination of the Midianites. Because of sin in the nation “the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel.” Through sin the doors are still opened today for the Midianites (the devil and his demons) to invade a life, a family, a church, a city, or a nation. In Judges 6:4-6 the forces of darkness not only invaded the land but they “destroyed the increase of the earth. . . and left no sustenance for Israel. . . . And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites.”

The good news in this story is that when we come to its end in chapter eight, we find that everything in Israel had totally and radically changed. Judges 8:28 says that “Midian was subdued before the children of Israel. . . . And the country was in quietness forty years.”

Wow! What a radical transformation! Israel went from being under the domination of the kingdom of darkness to defeating and reigning over its enemies. How did this happen?
The answer according to Judges 6:6 is that “the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.” In the midst of their darkness and oppression, the people of God built an altar in their hearts and invoked the name of the Lord.

The greatest need in the Western world today is not money or balanced budgets or new politicians. The greatest need is for the church to build altars of prayer and communion with the Lord–seeking him and pleading for him to invade our land.

When Israel began to build altars of prayer and intercession, God raised up a new generation–the generation of Gideon–and that generation laid hold of its destiny to throw off the rule of darkness and to establish the order of God’s kingdom rule in the land.

Saints, the time has come to build altars and cry out to God. As we do, he will raise up the generation that has a rendezvous with destiny–the generation that will see the kingdoms of darkness defeated and God’s kingdom coming to earth.

In verses 14-16 we see some people who are apparently out of sync with what is happening in the world around them. In the larger context of the chapter, destruction, disintegration, despair, and hopelessness are filling the earth. Yet in these verses the people of God lift their voices in praise and celebration, seemingly out of sync with their earthly surroundings.

Why is that? They are out of sync with the world because they are in sync with heaven. They are focused on heaven’s reality not earth’s reality. Yes, we must recognize and live in the reality of the world around us. The life of the saint is not one of denial or escapism. But as we walk in the midst of what is going on around us and as we face it full on, we draw from heaven’s treasures. We live in this world, but we are governed by heaven. We are to be in sync with heaven’s reality.

In verse 18 the prophet said: For the windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the earth are shaken. When shaking and disintegration are taking place in the earth, it is because heaven is opening up and preparing to invade the earth. Saints, in these days of confused situations, lift up your heads because your redeemer is drawing nigh. No, I don’t mean he is coming to rapture us out of the problems. I mean he is coming to bring heaven to us. Heaven is opening and his kingdom, power, and glory are being squeezed into earth and the kingdoms and systems of this world are shaking under the weight of the coming kingdom. Heaven’s reality will crush all other realities.

As the shaking continues, the hearts of many will be filled with fear. Others will be filled with increasing anger over their inability to stop the bleeding. Still others will hunker down and go into survival mode with weapons and stashes of food. Believers in Jesus Christ, however, must be in sync with heaven. Live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, not by the words that proceed out of the mouths of the news commentators and political pundits and fear mongers. God’s throne and God’s kingdom are not being shaken. While others are anguished, we will be praising and singing it is well with my soul! We are citizens of an unshakeable kingdom. Let’s live in that reality and take heaven’s atmosphere into a hopeless world.

In Colossians 2:16-17 Paul the apostle made reference to issues of food, drink, and special holy days. He insisted that these things are simply a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. In other words, Paul was saying that all the Old Testament feasts, holy days, food regulations, and other laws were the shadow of a substance that casts the shadow. Jesus, the high king of heaven, is the substance. All of those things in the Old Testament point us to the substance which is Jesus.

If you see the shadow of an automobile, you can get an idea as to what that automobile is like. You can tell if it is large or small. You may be able to tell from the shadow if it is a sports car or a luxury car. You may even be able to tell if it is a Volkswagen Beetle or perhaps something like a Ferrari. Then when your Father tells you this automobile is yours, you begin to imagine what it will be like. You look at the shadow and anticipate the day when the substance will come. You even stand on that shadow and rejoice in the blessing. But when the day comes that your Father says, “Turn around, here are the keys, get into the car and drive it,” you really rejoice. But let me ask you, after driving that automobile around for a while, will you park it and go back to standing in the shadow and pretending that you have a car? Absolutely not. Once the substance comes you will never go back to the shadow.

Then why, I ask, do so many Christians live in the shadows? Why are we so focused on the things that make us religious but don’t really bring us deeper into Christ and into the reality of heaven? The result is that we end up with outward trappings that conform to the world’s idea of a kingdom and yet we are far from God’s kingdom–heaven invading earth.

The Old Testament saints were not satisfied with the shadow. Hebrews 11 tells us that the Patriarchs lived in the promise land as strangers. God had given them the land of Canaan, but they knew that it was not the real prize. The land they were looking for and desired was a better country, that is, a heavenly one. The Patriarchs had no choice but to live in the shadow, but they were not satisfied with it. They longed for the substance to which the shadow was pointing–heaven invading earth in the presence of the King.

God’s agenda is not centered in the land of Israel, or the city of Jerusalem, or what day you gather with the saints to worship, or what you eat and drink, or in any number of other things that make us appear spiritual. Jesus is the substance. Jesus is the focus of the Father’s plan. Come out of the shadows and step into the freedom that is Jesus Christ.

Wow! Could this be right? No, not at all. Such a statement and such a view of God the Father is absolute heresy. It cannot possibly be found in the Bible. Jesus said, I and my Father are one. He also said, He that has seen me has seen my Father. A man who would prefer to be in the presence of the devil rather in the presence of the Father is a man who doesn’t know the Father and he doesn’t know the Father because he obviously doesn’t know the Son.

While the Bible teaches us that God is holy and that he is all powerful and that he is to be feared and respected, it also teaches us that our Father in heaven is a loving Father who is for us and not against us. That’s why the Father sent his Son to this earth. He loved us while we were sinners and paid the ultimate sacrifice to rescue us from the slavery and penalty of sin.

1 John 3:1 says Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God. The high King of heaven loves us and wants us to be part of his family–he wants us to be his sons and daughters and sit at his table daily.

I love the story of King David and Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel 9. Mephibosheth was the orphaned grandson of King Saul. He was crippled and living in a place of barrenness. He was living as a disgraced failure in life. But because of the loving father’s heart of King David, Mephibosheth’s life was was transformed. David summoned Mephibosheth to the throne room. Because he did not know David, he came in fear. He was certain he would be punished or killed. David, however, had summoned Mephibosheth not to judge him but to show him kindness and love. The story ends with Mephibosheth being adopted into David’s family and living as one of the King’s sons–eating daily at the King’s table. Now this is the true biblical picture of the Father in heaven.

You may have failed and be living in disgrace. Perhaps you’ve been crippled by the circumstances of life. The good news is that you do not have to keep living that way. The Father in heaven is summoning you to his presence. And he is calling you, earnestly seeking you, because he wants to show you kindness and love.

The Father may not like everything you do. He, in fact, might even hate some of things you are doing because he knows those things are destroying you. But he loves you. Come running to the high King of heaven. He’s your Father and he has a place reserved at his table for you.

Now I’m really not so naïve as to believe that exchange really took place, and I understand full well that mostly what we know about William Wallace is folklore, but come on, you gotta love the depiction of the character’s bravado and passion to right a wrong.

That scene—and Gibson’s memorable line in particular—has been replaying in my mind lately, and I’ve come to realize that whenever this happens the Lord is oftentimes trying to get my attention about something. Pick a Fight? Oh yeah, that’s what He’s been saying to me alright.

First John 3:8 almost immediately came to mind when I eventually slowed down long enough to consider that the Lord might actually be trying to communicate something to me. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (with emphasis added of course). After that several of Paul’s familiar militaristic verses rushed to my mind—“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does…” 2 Corinthians 10; “fight the good fight of faith…” 1 Timothy 6; “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God”…Ephesians 6.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, I remembered one of my favorite A.W. Tozer essays “This World: Playground or Battleground?” Wow, now there’s one that’s sure to make you uneasy in your easy chair! (If you haven’t read Tozer I strongly recommend him to you).

Okay, I’m getting it Lord, get off my heels, stir myself up, stay engaged, aggressive, deal ruthlessly with complacency…pick some fights.

I generally think of myself as someone who gets in the devil’s business and mixes it up a good part of the time, but how often do I pass over opportunities to pick a fight when I come across someone thoroughly beaten down by discouragement or held captive by infirmity or just blinded and on a slippery slope to hell?

Oh how easily we can get lulled into the laissez faire American culture of leisure and pleasure and just cruise. But “from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it”—or, as the old King James renders Jesus’ statement: “the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). I really like that language.

I don’t know about you but I’m determined to keep stirring myself up so that I “keep my spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11). Aw come on; let’s go pick a fight.

John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. 1

The gift of the peace of God is one of the Greatest Commodities available to us right now in the Kingdom of Heaven. Money cannot purchase this gift or any other gift that God has graciously provided for us. The annual cost of prescription tranquilizers in the USA soars to over 600 million dollars annually. This is the cost of legal prescriptions administered! Imagine how much is spent on illegal drugs being used to “self medicate” millions of people annually!

I believe people are looking for some simple peace of mind and the amazing truth is that Jesus has already given what we need most in this day and time. He has given to us His peace and His peace is far greater in value and in practicality than any substance we can put within our bodies that would alter our emotional state of being. Nothing in this world can compare to the peace He has given to each believer!

I am afraid that I have, too many times, endeavored to try to manufacture some form of His priceless peace in my own strength or by my own devices. I have “tried” to believe Him for a certain fulfillment of scripture or some self imposed objective that I thought would somehow please Him and perhaps cause Him to love me more than I was feeling. We have all done this in one way or another. It is akin to the error of working to either obtain or keep his free gift of salvation. I have found that none of my human efforts can improve on the beauty and glory of His Grace. The very idea that we could ever work to obtain or maintain what He has purchased for us with His own life is perhaps one of the greatest acts of arrogance known to mankind! In essence Jesus said, “My peace I give to you – not the peace that the world tries to produce, but the peace which can only be obtained by receiving in humility”.

God has perfectly purchased our entire salvation. He has provided for every one of us exactly what we need both now and forever. His grace is sufficient and within His grace is found that rare commodity called peace. Peace of heart and peace of mind is what the whole world is looking for and what countless millions are endeavoring to produce for themselves daily either through substance abuse or the manipulation of the medical profession. Jesus paid the price with His own blood to procure the right to administer the medicine that will actually heal our souls!

What is it that you are struggling with today? I want to confess to you that I have searched for the same remedy and participated in the same pursuits as you … only to come to this conclusion. Jesus Christ is The Prince of Peace and He is The ONLY One who has the ability and the authority to dispense the medicine that will actually cure our souls! His medicine is administered in our lives through the cleansing of the Blood of Jesus as the Holy Spirit applies His Answer to our lives. When we are cleansed in His blood by actively believing in Jesus by faith, ALL of Heaven’s resources are accessible in every circumstance and every situation that we find ourselves in. Once again, His Grace is sufficient and His Peace which passes understanding will keep our hearts and minds in the genuine stresses everyone of us faces daily. Jesus Christ is The Great Physician; He is the same yesterday, today and forever! He is perfect for every situation and He is more than competent to administer the necessary medicine that will bring genuine peace in each life.

Circumstances come and go, but Jesus never fails to remain steadfast and utterly reliable in the ebb and flow of daily challenges. You can trust Him, He will not fail you. Regardless of whether you panic or the worst case scenario plays out to tremendous disappointment – Jesus is waiting for you and me to simply turn to Him and surrender our hearts and lives. Whether He changes the circumstances or simply walks us through to the other side – regardless of how long the journey or the process takes – His Grace is sufficient and His Peace is the commodity which enables us to walk through the very valley of the shadow of death and have no fear!

Jesus is Trustworthy – Trust Him – Turn to Him – Surrender your life and you will find the reality of Heaven’s Peace – Jesus paid for the right to give you His Peace – just simply receive Him today!

1. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

The chorus of this old hymn has a beautiful message which, I fear, is understood less and less in this day and time. We can say and sing that we are redeemed, but what does that really mean? The meaning of the Hebrew word for redeemed is “To buy back, to ransom”. The Lord ransomed His people, He purchased them that they might be free to enter into His promises and discover the beautiful reality of what it means to live in the house of The Father.

Isa 43:1 “ …Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”

The central message is simply the phrase, “You are Mine”. This message is very difficult for the western mindset to accept, much less embrace. We have virtually eradicated this message from the pulpit in this day and time. In our independence and pursuit of our own happiness we have a difficult time receiving Jesus as our Redeemer! Oh, we love the idea that he bought our salvation, we love the fallacy that Jesus always sets us free from problems and we love the idea of going to heaven when we die; but what exactly does Jesus set us free from? Could it be possible that Jesus not only sets us free from something, He actually sets us free to something?

1 Peter 1:18-19 “ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ …”

We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ! He gave His life to buy us back, to ransom us from sin, death and the grave. We must realize that if Jesus purchased our salvation, which He did, then He purchased our lives as well. He owns the title deed to our lives – He owns us! We are to live for Him, not ourselves.

1 Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

Why do we even try to make our own way through life? Paul writes to the Corinthian church with an incredulous attitude, “ Don’t you know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit and YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN? ” We do not belong to ourselves and we will not bring glory to the Lord if we live our lives solely for the “American Dream”. God has called us to live, move and have our being in Him, to live the life of The Redeemed in His Kingdom. We are bought with a price for a specific purpose – to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit! He has chosen to dwell in the hearts of His people that He may live His Life in us and through us. When we yield and cooperate with Him, we begin discovering His Presence manifested in our lives in great power. The power of God is revealed through the preaching of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is … to us who are being saved … the power of God.” The preaching of the cross is not merely released through sermons and anointed messages, the preaching of the cross of Christ is also manifested through the lives we live!

So, what are we “preaching” to the world around us? Are they “seeing” the message of The Redeemed people of God? Our lives are destined to illustrate the reality that we do not belong to ourselves, we are purchased by the blood of Christ Jesus and our lives belong to Him. The Lord has called us to draw near to Him and not only sing and preach with our words, but to sing and preach with our lives to release the message of the cross of Christ Jesus in our generation.

We are redeemed by the blood of Christ Jesus. We are set free from sin, death and the grave to live a Kingdom Life. We are, in truth, REDEEMED! We do not belong to ourselves; therefore we have no right to make any decision for our lives without submitting everything to the very One Who has purchased us and Who owns us. Jesus is Our Redeemer! When He gains access through our lives into this world, then the world around us will behold His Power and Glory in the lives of His Sons! As the Redeemed, we can rightly sing the old hymn with different words …

” I’m not my own, I’m not my own, I’m not my own by the Blood of the Lamb. I’m not my own, I’m not my own, His child and forever I am!”

Because we are the Redeemed, we only need to live true to the reality of who and what we are in Christ Jesus – then the world will see the Kingdom displayed through us!