When the Church is Under attack
By Colin Stott, Special to ASSIST News Service
MURRIETA, CA (ANS – August 14, 2015) -- “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Tim 1:7 (NKJV)
The
Church of Jesus Christ, despite all of its appalling failures and sins,
is the most potent force on earth for good and the greatest threat to
Satan’s Kingdom. It is the only group of people on the planet feared by
the god of this age. No other religion poses any threat to him. None.
Just the Church. Satan trembles when he hears God’s people praising
their Lord. Even the weakest saint on his or her knees surely strikes
fear in the enemy camp.
No surprise then that the
Church is always under attack. This is especially true today as
persecutions and unspeakable horrors are befalling many of our Christian
brothers and sisters around the world. We see also the abominations of
today’s culture impacting our nations as a flood of evil threatens to
overwhelm and marginalize the Church. Sadly, instead of influencing our
culture for good, the Church finds itself being influenced by it.
How are we to respond? Such
times call for us to confess that we have not been the purified bride
that God intends us to be. Nor have we been the salt and light necessary
to restrain evil in our society. More than ever do we need to humble
ourselves, repent and pray and turn from our sinful ways. (2 Chronicles
7:14.)
Such times call for us to
identify the real enemy. It is not our leaders who disregard God’s laws
or those in the media or the politically correct brigade who mock us for
our faith. Our fight is not against flesh and blood. No, our battle is
with the powers of darkness that goad them to blaspheme the sacred and
celebrate the obscene.
As prayer warriors we must boldly rise up and take the fight to the heavenlies where the real battle is being waged. 
We
have spiritual weapons to demolish strongholds of deception and every
godless philosophy and false belief system that tries to exalt itself
above the knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) The Church,
triumphant in Christ, must confront and destroy these if we are to see
God’s kingdom advance.
We
have spiritual weapons to demolish strongholds of deception and every
godless philosophy and false belief system that tries to exalt itself
above the knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) The Church,
triumphant in Christ, must confront and destroy these if we are to see
God’s kingdom advance.
And so we keep our eyes fixed
on Jesus. As the days get darker may our worship grow ever stronger. The
more the enemy attacks the more praise God will receive! And let us
show God’s love to those who rage against the Church and who want to
silence it. (How they must fear the Truth!) This is no time to retreat
but to step up our intercession for the persecuted church and for God to
be glorified among the nations. His honor matters!
Photo captions: 1) Protest
against the murders of Egyptian Christians. 2) The 21 Christians from
Upper Egypt about to be beheaded by Islamic State killers. 3) Colin
Stott.
About
the writer: Colin Stott is International Prayer Coordinator for Global
Recordings Network (GRN), a mission that provides audio Bible stories in
over six thousand languages and dialects. Colin was born in England. He
and his wife Patti make their home in Murrieta in southern California.
For more information about GRN and using its materials visit www.globalrecordings.net. For more information about reprinting this article and others in this series on prayer, contact Colin at colinstott@globalrecordings.net
** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)
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