Seeking The Gospel of The Kingdom
Seeking God….To Rescue People From Darkness.
Have you ever fumbled through a dark room when the power has gone out? What is normally a pretty non-eventful trip through the living room can turn into an interesting and oftentimes a painful adventure. I can't imagine taking this journey of life without the Light of the world.
Life apart from God can be characterized by blindness because without God you have completely no direction in life. You mostly just follow your desires for attention, praise, pleasure, lust, power, etc., which leads you on a path of self-destruction. Following your desires is a horrible way to make choices in life, and will leave you really disoriented and empty. Since you don’t know God, you don’t know the author of life. Therefore, without God, you go through life like a blind person, not knowing the path that He has set before you.
When I pray for unbelievers, I frequently remind myself what He said about His own mission. He came to undo what Satan had done. He came to free what Satan had bound. When people live without God, they are walking spiritual mummies. Physically they are alive, but their spiritual life and vitality has been snuffed out by sin and Satan. They are his captives, and only Jesus has the spiritual authority to set them free.
Isaiah 49 offers an encouraging promise to those who pray for spiritual captives:
This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you... to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'”
That's exactly what Jesus did at Lazarus's grave. He looked at a man held captive in the darkness of his own tomb and simply said, “Come out!” That's what we want Jesus to do for our unbelieving friends and loved ones – to speak into the darkness of their spiritual coffins. We want them to rebuke the lies, addictions, selfish motives, pride, fears, materialism, empty religion, false belief systems, and spiritual baggage that make up their grave clothes. And when the dead man comes to life and is standing at his tomb's door, be ready to help him shed his grave clothes.
Brent Schulte
Antioch Christian
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