“WE THE PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER”

By Temeka Atkinson

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 NKJV)

“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NIV)

Hello fellow servants of Christ. I want to discuss the current state of the world and what God has called and equipped us to do in the earth.

As believers, we are aware of the current state of the world in the natural sense. Most of us have access to ‘news’ of current events in some form or another. We hear and see all of the terrible things that are happening and may potentially happen. First, we must take our own ‘spiritual’ pulse, as it were and calm ourselves. Our five senses allow us to experience our surroundings, but according to God, we must not lean to our own understanding of what is happening. We need to rely especially in today’s time on our spiritual senses. God is still speaking to His people with personal instructions on what we individually should be doing. Collectively, at the very least…

We are called to represent God in the earth regardless of our circumstances. Our God tells us in Psalm 34 that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but He will deliver us from them all. There are so many places in the Bible where we read that God’s people have found themselves in the midst of troubling times. There was war, famine, destruction, poverty, lawlessness, wickedness, and the people of God themselves have often been persecuted.

Our God always sent His people instruction, comfort, peace, protection, and provision during these times. He went before them in battle and delivered them from their oppressors. He has in previous times sent His prophets, His angels, and His Son to meet the needs. He encouraged them to not only endure but to affect change in any dire circumstances that they faced. Such as then, so is now. God is still calling on His children, His people, to stand up in the earth and use the power that He has seeded in us.

We as modern day believers are now currently living in the midst of Biblical prophesy as described in the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 24:6-8, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

While we cannot stop the things that God has ordained to happen since the foundation of the world, we should take solace in the fact that our God is still with us and for us. The fact that we are still here confirms that there is still a work for us to do and responsibilities that we have. Our lives can still bring glory to God even during these uncertain times. We as God’s children are not helpless and neither should we feel hopeless.

We can find peace, comfort, and inspiration in the truths and promises of God found in our life instruction manual, the Holy Bible. It gives us information regarding our spiritual pedigree and inheritance that we received once we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Membership in the family of God does come with privileges. In the Gospel of John 1:11-13, our spiritual birthright is explained, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, …who were born, not of blood,…but of God.” In the Book of Deuteronomy 28:1-14, God makes many promises to His children based on our obedience to His commandments. Many times we quote certain ones such as, “He will make us the head and not the tail; above only and not beneath. He will make us a lender and not a borrower,” among many other precious promises.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is described in First Corinthians 15 as having risen from the dead and having become a ‘firstfruit’ of those who have fallen asleep. He defeated death, hell and the grave. HE ROSE WITH ALL POWER. He has promised that any person that dies in Him, through relationship will also rise again in glory. We as believers have assurance from God that we will be with Him for eternity once we trade our ‘earthly’ home for our Heavenly one; BUT there is still a current work for us to do in the earth while we are here.

In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5, there is a mandate on the believer to be Light & Salt. Jesus calls us to illuminate this dark, fallen world with His light. He is the Light of the world. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to help us to live a life that reflects God’s precepts, commandments, and laws. When we openly walk in our holiness and righteousness, people can’t help but notice and become curious about how we have peace and consistently treat others with kindness and encouragement, especially in the midst of everything that is going on. We then have the honor of introducing them to our Father in Heaven who has changed us, which in turn is evidence that He can do the same for them.

Jesus said that we are to come out from among them (worldly people) and be separate. The separation is not in proximity, but in thoughts, actions, and deeds. We are called to salt the earth with a spiritual ‘flavor’ that seasons this world. Our lives should bear witness of God’s attributes such as love, kindness, holiness, peace, righteousness, longsuffering and forgiveness for the purpose of drawing souls to Christ.

In the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 28, the Lord Jesus met with His disciples before He ascended back to Heaven after His resurrection. He gave them instructions on what He wanted them to do in the earth since He was returning to Heaven. This mandate is known as ‘The Great Commission’. We as His current disciples are also in covenant and expected to follow these same instructions. God sent the Holy Spirit into the earth, and He now guides us and reminds us of the teachings and instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been entrusted with the power and wisdom of the Spirit to minister to the needs in the earth.

In human conversation amongst believers, God is often described as a “Gentleman.” Meaning, He will not force His will on us because we have free will to make our own choices. If we desire to be available for use by Him, we must ‘enthrone’ Him in our hearts again. He must be the main thing. Consistently. This must be a daily choice. There is so much distraction, hate, division, deception and wickedness in the earth right now. Our Father needs us to be ‘locked in’ and ready for duty because the times we are living in are very serious. We must make it our priority to uproot anything that has taken God’s rightful place in our hearts.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE. We are God’s people who are described in First Peter 2:9 as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and His own special people who were once not a people but are now the people of God.

Seriously, ponder this question…, if not us (God’s people), then who? This assignment is ours. We are the ones God has illuminated and activated in the earth for such a time as this.

Scriptures for Reflection

Genesis 3:15

Esther 4:14

Proverbs 14:34

John 3:16

Dear Reader—

I pray this blog has been encouraging. Please know that the intention of this blog is to encourage you as we walk out our Christian faith together. It is not intended to replace God’s Holy Word, neither could it ever do so. The Bible is the inspired Word of God lovingly given to us to teach, convict, correct, and instruct us in righteousness. God’s Word is living, active, and powerful. It will never pass away.

As your sister in Christ, I pray God’s continued blessings and covering over you and your family. May He strengthen you and give you peace as you journey.

Always His,

Temeka