"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Last night and this morning the news is trumpeted like so much fanfare: Osama bin Laden is dead! "We are the champions ... we are the champions!" Amidst the cheering, my very being is unsettled. Why are we celebrating the death of one man? Do not get me wrong, I am not minimizing the awful wretchedness and grief that was wrought in our nation on September 11, 2001 and beyond .. but from where does this evil flow? From one man? Or from principalities, powers, rulers of darkness in and of this world, and from spiritual wickedness in high places?
I believe the Bible is clear. Ephesians 6:12 highlights our true enemy and the evil that is constantly working behind the scenes. When we cheer and act like we are the victors ... the champions even .. are we acknowledging the Almighty God as the source of all that is real and eternal ... are we humbly bowing our head to Him and asking Him to have mercy on each of us as individuals and on our nation? The days are evil and the wheel of time is rapidly spinning at breakneck speed: we can ill afford to be spiritually proud in this nation. Man is the not the measure of all things. God is desperately knocking on the door of my heart, your heart, saying "please, please, let me in; only I can fill you, only I can heal you, only I can save you." Humanism is causing root rot of the worst sort in our nation, in our churches, and in our individual walks with the Lord. May I go so far as to name it idolatry .. worship of anything or anyone that is not the Lord Most High is certainly idolatry. Idolatry has always been and will always be serious "spiritual wickedness in high places."
Interestingly, the day after I settled in my heart that I would establish this blog -- and after crying out to God to seal this blog and to Himself ensure that no words be posted here except for those He wishes to be posted -- my husband brought to my attention some writings of the recently deceased David Wilkerson, which I feel impressed within my heart to share. Therefore, I am providing a link to his writings in this blog and I beseech anyone who finds themselves reading my blog post to read his writings and prayerfully ask the Lord to show you what He would have you do with what David Wilkerson felt led to write. Maybe you will read it and it will not stir you in the slightest, but would you please agree with me to read with an open heart what he wrote so many years ago?
Written by David Wilkerson just after September 11, 2001, the timeliness of his writings cannot be denied within my own heart. I personally believe the Lord is still speaking through his humble servant David Wilkerson ... beseeching us TODAY to humble ourselves, acknowledge our own sin of spiritual pride and self-reliant humanism, and turn our hearts back to Him, the only one who can save us, the only one who can robe us in righteousness, the only one who can open our eyes to Truth and give to us an eternal destiny of riches that will last forever.
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.
8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
for we are all your people.
10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland;
even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire,
and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
12 After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back?
Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
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