Stay in the Game and Fight!

Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Ephesians 6:10

In soccer, Jody and I tend to cheer for the underdogs and the U.S. was not the favored to win last’s night’s game against Ghana, the team that beat them in the last two World Cups. In the second half the cameras kept focusing on a Ghanaian fan that the announcers assumed was high. But we quickly realized he was a witch doctor in a demonic trance! Suddenly what began for us as a fun sporting match became an acute reminder that we live constantly in a Spiritual battle. The US team kept defending attack after attack and they were growing weary, something that happens with all of us in the Spiritual battle. We too grow weary, we think we are too weak to defend against the Enemy anymore and we feel like giving up. Despite suffering injuries, exhaustion, and dehydration, the U.S. team never gave up, even though their opponents were physically stronger. God really used it to show us how the Enemy often gets us to think that because Satan and his demonic legions are more powerful than us, we don't have what it takes to fight back, but in reality, we have the resurrected blood of Christ in us and covering us! It was so crazy, at one point the camera zeroed in on the witch doctor, deep in a trance...We started praying out loud against the forces of Satan and His legions pleading the blood of Jesus over all the people that were being influenced/attacked by Satan through this witch doctor. Seconds into our prayer, the U.S. made a near impossible goal by two less experienced players who had just come in off the bench, one of whom had barely made the U.S. team. We don’t need better ministry strategies, but total reliance on Christ. We don’t need to be stronger on our own, but rather strong in the power of the Lord. And we need each other. That goal could not have been achieved without both players working together. One of Satan’s strategies is to divide us over arguments and discord. But what God showed us in a mere soccer match was how we joined together in pleading the blood of Jesus for those who were under Satan’s power. Literally, the moment we began to pray and praise God, the power of the Enemy was broken. It was such a visible, powerful display of the Spiritual battle; God revealing to us our importance to never break the chain of prayer for one another and to keep working hard at the unity we have in Christ.

For we are not fighting against flesh- and- blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12