The news is dominated by all that has taken place in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda soldiers have swooped in and for their religion and love for their country they have gained control of Afghanistan. What they are doing to their own country, men, and women is hideous, disgusting, and Satanic. They have been out all night, forsaking their jobs, families, committed to risk their lives to institute the beliefs of their religion. Let me be clear, NOTHING about serving God, and evangelizing the world requires us to function as they have, NOTHING. Their dedication, however, to their cause is unending, and if we had the same dedication, like the disciples had, we would change the world and protect it from being destroyed by Satan.
If we were in the days of Paul and heard him say “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain;” (Philippians 1:21) or “………. that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:9-11), we’d probably call it cultic, and unnecessary. We would probably look at this as extreme.
The problem is Satan is going to heaven day and night seeking to destroy us (Revelation 12:10). Like a roaring lion he seeks to devour us (1 Peter 5:6-8). So, whether we are surrendered to the Lord or dedicated to His agenda or not, the enemy is on the move. He is vicious; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy….” (John 10:10; NASU) As long as he can create in us complacency or apathy, he can have more time and space to ravage the earth, especially since he has the power to create tornadoes as the prince of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2) and give disease as we can see with Job. He uses savage wolves (false teachers; 2 Corinthians 11:12-21; 1 Timothy 4:1-4), and he has many gates (Matthew 16:18) to establish death (gates of Hades – Hades represent death) throughout the earth if the church remains asleep (1 Peter 4:17). Like Al-Qaeda he is on the move.
Progress was made in the time of the disciples, because of their mindset, even after watching Christ die for doing God’s will. The key word that drove them was “Go……” (Acts 1:8). In the entire book of Acts, all you see them do is “GO”. Paul was so focused on this “GO” that he counted everything that was attributed to his past accomplishments “loss” since it interfered with his ability to go (Philippians 3:2-6). It is this mindset that has blessed us to be saved and have half the New Testament written as Paul went to all the world. (Philippians 3:7-17; NASU) We can do the same because “we are more than conquerors through Christ” and “nothing separates us from His love” (Romans 8:31, 37-39). This mindset is important because this can only be accomplished through the church (Ephesians 1:22-23).
It is this dedication that is needed today. The more complacent we become the more lawlessness increases (1 Peter 4:17). It does not take speaking to large crowds to make a difference. One person touching one more person. One person serving as described by Christ in Matthew 25:31-46 can make a difference for the glory of God. The difference we can make begins with you. What is missing is the dedication Christ modeled; “I must be about My Father’s business.”