Bible Conference In Ephesus — Day Five: STAND

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”   Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV)

And so Watchman Nee To-sheng continued on with this statement, “Christian experience begins with sitting and leads to walking, but it does not end with these. Every Christian must learn to stand.” It seems like forever and a day that mankind has done nothing but do battle with the other side that he is on. I believe (by way of example) that the Philadelphia Eagles are on the side of good and that the Dallas Cowboys are on the side of evil. And twice a year, on a gridiron, these two opponents do battle with the intent of beating each other, by way of touchdowns and field goals, over an item known as the football.

When it comes to this world around us, there are also two teams, or better said, two thrones at war with each other. And (yeah I’m gonna say it) we are the football they are fighting over. We have God on His throne claiming the earth and the fullness thereof for His dominion and you got Satan on his throne looking to undermine the absolute authority of God. Nee To-sheng poses this situation to us, “The Church is called to displace Satan from his present realm and to make Christ Head over all. What are we doing about it?” Time to get a little personal…

This becomes of matter of “spiritual warfare” doesn’t it? And to clear up the confusion, yes we do have those times where, like Job, we get direct assaults from Satan but we can’t give him all the credit when things go bad. Remember his primary job is not to get us to sin but to get you stray away from the level ground of Calvary. It’s his hope that when you do this he can go to God and accuse then go to you and say, “Told you weren’t good enough.” When this moment of battle comes up we need to stand, in full armor, covered by the blood of Christ, and say, “I don’t need to fight to get the victory, Jesus already won!! The LORD rebuke you!!” (Or something like that, you get my drift)

Keep in mind Christian that if YOU choose to fight this battle ALONE to get victory you have already lost. The word is “stand” not “pick up thy sword and smite thine enemy into little itty-bitty pieces.” In football the defense makes a stand against the offensive so that they don’t score…that’s YOU Christian. If you do get an interception and score a touchdown (maybe like leading someone to Christ) well “Amen” but remember Jesus Christ is the offense. It’s through The Cross we get victory anything else is futility to say the least.

Nee To-sheng wraps up this day by saying, “Only those who sit can stand. Our power for standing, as for walking, lies in our having first been made to sit together with Christ.” And so it is about being able to rest in Him and finding peace there to be able to stand against the wiles of our adversary. But the more I listen to words of Watchman Nee the more I find this battle within myself, that battle is why do I NOT go to Jesus each and every time a fiery dart hits it mark? Pride? Shame? Stubbornness? Stupidity? All of the above? Well there is one more day to this conference better get some rest. Think I’ll have a seat, wanna join me? Maybe Jesus will…amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Leviticus 14-15

Think About This: : “We must know how to sit with Christ in heavenly places and we must know to how to walk worthy of Him down here, but we must also know how to stand before the foe.”—Watchman Nee

Verse to Memorize: For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! Romans 8:15 Amplified Bible