"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the
demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven . I have given you authority to trample
on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing
will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to
you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke
10:17-20
You know how you can hear something over and over again and
nothing really pops out at you? And then one day, BAM! You read it or hear it
in a way you never had before? That is how this scripture hit me… It has been a
year or two since this happened but I have been chewing on this for a long
time... Not quite sure what to do with it. I usually like to share my
revelations right away but this one was so big and complex, I haven’t quite
known how to approach it! And honestly, I still don’t really know how this will
unfold but I am feeling like it is time to share so I am trusting the Lord to
guide me.
Satan has fallen!
The first part of the Luke scripture that hit me was "I saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” There are a few times that Jesus says things to the disciples
that seem random and out of context and this was one of those scriptures for
me. The disciples are so excited and reporting back to Jesus all the amazing
things that happened and the first thing He says is "I saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven”!? I am thinking, Okay…?? But then, after repeating it to myself over and over again, it HIT me, hard!
Some of you are probably thinking, “Yeah, and? What is the big deal?" But that
is just it! It IS a big deal!! Satan has FALLEN… like lightning! Which, if you have seen lightning hit,
it is pretty damn hard!! So, to put it in a nutshell, Satan is defeated. Caput.
Zippo. NO LONGER IN POWER! Here is the scripture that supports Jesus’s words:
"And there was war in
heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and
his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place
in heaven. The great dragon was
hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the
whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has
been hurled down." Revelation 12:7-10
While I bolded and underlined the part about Satan’s fall, which
was my point, I don’t want THE most important part of this scripture to get
buried, and it is this part: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our
God, and the authority of his Christ”. To put it simply,
Satan is out, NO LONGER IN AUTHORITY, and NOW all the authority belongs to
Jesus!! He took the authority back and Jesus is now LORD OF LORDS, and KING OF
KINGS! And Satan is thrown down and DEFEATED.
Where is our focus?
So,
if Satan has fallen, and Jesus is in complete authority, why are we
giving Satan so much credit, attention and focus for things that happen to us
and others? We rebuke him, and blame him, we stand against him, bind and loose
him and cast him out? Where is our focus when we are doing all of that rebuking, blaming and casting out? Isn’t it on Satan? Who has been defeated? And NOT on
Jesus who is the victor? Where is my focus, on God or on Satan?
Speaking of where my focus is, we can
also get caught up in focusing on the “miracles” aspect of things. When Jesus
says “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice
that your names are written in heaven." He is saying
again, where is your focus? Do not focus on the miracles, or that the demons
flee from you, BUT FOCUS ON ME, My relationship with you and the salvation that
I have purchased for you! Here are a couple excerpts from Oswald that speak
about this as well:
October 27th
Oswald: "... When the disciples returned from their first mission, they
were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But
Jesus said, in effect, "Don't rejoice in successful service --- the great
secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me" (Luk_10:17-20).
January 7th Oswald: "...Before Pentecost
the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them power to conquer demons and
to bring about a revival (Luke_10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but
there was a much closer intimacy to come: ". . . I have called you friends .
. ." (John 15:15). True friendship is rare on earth. It means
identifying with someone in thought, heart, and spirit. The whole experience
of life is designed to enable us to enter into this closest relationship with
Jesus Christ. We receive His blessings and know His Word, but do we
really know Him?”
Another one of my favorite Oswaldisms
is “Are we looking for the blessings of
God, or are we looking for GOD who has the blessings?” The first time I
heard this, it was a huge forehead slap for me! Of course I tend to focus
mostly on the BLESSINGS of God and not on Him! Major conviction! But in these
excerpts Oswald hits the importance of a “right
relationship” with God, the
intimacy of being called “friends” and pursuing HIM and not His blessings... and not on the miracles or other "shiny" things that grab our attention.
Pride…
There is something very alluring and
inviting about the power and ability to cast out demons and doing many
wonderful miracles isn’t there? It seems so much more powerful, impactful and
important than just hanging out with Jesus and pursuing intimacy with Him… like
Mary sitting at his feet. That just seems so… boring. But, miracles and
healings and seeing demons flee is intoxicating and amazing! When these gifts
are being passed out, we all want to get in the front of the line and say, YES!
Pick me, pick me!! I want to be able to do all those things!! But again, Jesus
said, However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice
that your names are written in heaven.”
Talk about “counter
intuitive”!! Our flesh and humanness is all about the BIG, the BOLD, the
EXCITING and “look at ME God, didn’t I do good?!” While I would love to be used
by God to do all these amazing miracles, I also know that my pride would be
very quick to step in and, while it may not happen at first, it will gradually
take over and eventually, it would be ALL about ME! These thoughts are not
always in the forefront of my mind but I often find them lurking very subtlety
yet pervasively, sneaky and persistent in my own heart and mind.
So after I got this revelation on
this scripture I started to hear other interesting scriptures that popped out
at me that related to what Jesus said, regarding not focusing on the miracles,
but on HIM. Here is one of them:
"Not everyone who says
to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the
will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform
many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me,
you evildoers!' Matthew 7:21-23
Have you ever wondered about this
scripture? How can we do miracles and drive out demons in HIS name and then
have Him say “Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from
me, you evildoers!” This is a VERY strong statement! He is NOT a happy camper here… This
isn’t a “loving rebuke” but instead He would call us “EVILDOERS” (or ‘workers
of iniquity’ in another translation)!! Yikes! So, let’s look at what He begins
with “….but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” [will enter the
Kingdom of heaven]. But… isn’t it the will of the Father that we should do these things?? Hmmmm…. Let’s look at this scripture again. It says “did we not prophesy in your name…?” Again, where is our
focus?? They didn’t say “Did YOU not prophesy through us…” it said did "WE"... And here
again is pride! What was Satan’s biggest sin? PRIDE. “I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven” Pride is what caused Satan to “fall
like lightning”… and the same will happen to US, 'I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers!”, if our focus is NOT on HIM and
rejoicing that our names are written in heaven!
Let’s look at this scripture
again:
"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the
demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan
fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample
on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing
will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to
you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke
10:17-20
Do you see this any differently now??
I do! This was not a random, out of context comment, it is a warning to us!
Telling us to keep our focus on HIM, working on our intimacy with Him, and all
that HE has done for us and NOT to make the same mistake Satan made… Not to allow
our pride to cast us down.
Remember at the beginning I mentioned
that there was so much to this scripture and I didn’t know how to approach it?
Well, Satan’s fall, our focus and our pride were just a few of the
things I got out of this, and I am thankful that He did guide me in this blog thus
far, but I have gone too long and will need to do a “part two” to finish up.
Father, wow. Thank you for showing me
your heart and desire for us. I know I struggle everyday with pride and I hate
it… I don’t like seeing it in me and I know it doesn’t please you either. Help
me Lord to throw this down every day!! Reveal to me where it lurks, hiding in
the recesses of my heart and mind. And help me to be more like Mary, sitting at
your feet and embracing intimacy with you more than anything else! In your
mighty and precious name, Amen! 