...And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11
The Holy Spirit has been speaking and making it clear to me about the last of these three phrases ~
"...and they did not love their lives to the death."
I have heard this verse quoted so often the last many years in the church. It's great, it's a powerful verse. But always the last phrase is left off when quoted.
In times when the we are to be stepping into more power, more authority in the earth, one of the ways we overcome our adversary is by not having a grip on our own lives. That includes our possessions, our positions, our agenda, wanting things done our way, and our very life. The early church lived this way, they knew that Jesus had laid down His life and they were willing to do the same in the face of power-hungry political leaders. We have little precedence for this in our American society. But we have to look at Jesus, who is our Master. He spoke in Matthew chapter 10, the whole chapter, about this mindset. Notice verse 24
"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. "
Paul wrote about this in Phillipians 2:5-8
5 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
It's called being a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1) It is a way of life, to be ready to die, but being alive and empowered by the ways of the Spirit in us. The whole New Testament is full of these kinds of passages. Humility, serving, giving, martyrdom, loving. It's LOVE. This is true LOVE, to lay down our own life for another. God has shown us this and it is our calling. God is love.
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3 comments:
Maybe we do have a little precedence for this in America. They weren't fighting for spiritual goals but I think the parallel can be drawn. Our founding fathers believed in something so much that they were willing to commit high treason, the consequences of which were extremely brutal and grotesque. They took a stand against the political authority over them in order to fight for something they believed was bigger than themselves and higher than the authority over them. In World War One, young men who had their whole lives in front of them with everything to lose laid their lives down to fight. African Americans who had been severely mistreated and discriminated against also answered the call to arms. Celebrities and movie stars abandoned their comfortable homes and lifestyles to defend our country. They did not love their lives to the death. Again, they were not fighting for spiritual or religious things but I think the parallel is there.
Thanks for the comment !
Yes, I agree, America has in the past been able to stand for right to the point of death. (I didn't make it very clear) - but I was referring to our society today, the last couple of decades. We are very comfortable. We have so many "things". It is not cool to fight the status quo or even be politially incorrect. These things condition us as do TV producers who carefully feed us a diet of fear, lust, homosexual agenda, murder and the like.
The family unit of America is in trouble... therefore America is in trouble...
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