Unleash Heaven


"At my signal, unleash hell."--Maximus (Russell Crowe in the movie “Gladiator”) to his troops.

The last week and half, I have been very mindful that we are a spiritual war. Whenever a Christ-follower does anything for his Lord and Master, Satan tries to stop him/her. It is so predictable. I knew when the Elders of Common Ground made the decision to do more to reach our community, to unleash Heaven, Satan would try and stop us. When a church goes or tries to go to the next level of reach the lost, Satan unleashes his troops to try and stop it; he unleashes hell.

The other day, Teresa asked me why we had been barking at each other more than before. At first I told her that I felt that it was the lack of sleep due to having a newborn baby and then I realized we had stopped praying together. We had been praying at night but had stopped. Satan was trying to cause strife in our home. He is very smooth about trying to destroy his enemy; the Christian. I have stopped looking for his attacks so I had lowered my shield. We should be ready for an attack because Satan never sleeps. He’s like a shark; always moving, always scheming.

God knew that these battles will be fought even though the war was won on Calvary’s tree (the cross) by Jesus’ sacrifice. In Ephesians 6 (verses 10-24), we are told of the armor God has made for each of His children to wear and the importance of wearing it. The most important pieces of armor we have is the shield of faith (verse 16 “. . . taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”) and sword of the Spirit (verse 17 “. . . sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”). We are protected by God from Satan; he needs permission to touch us but he can try and stop what we are doing for our Lord. Keep the shield raised high and keep in God’s Word (the Bible).

Satan knows what can cause us to stable and fall. He has spies following us and he knows us and our weaknesses. Peter warns the Christian to be watchful for Satan’s attacks. When thoughts of importance creep in when you are one of a group of leaders, it could be Satan trying to us your battle with pride to derail a church from going forward. When a co-worker shows you more attention than he/she should; it could be Satan trying to destroy a marriage. Be mindful and hold your shield high.

In the Great Commission, Jesus has commanded His people to go, to charge the world with the good news of His salvation; to unleash Heaven. Satan does not want this to happen so he is trying to stop as many Christians and churches from unleashing Heaven in this world. It’s his world; we live in enemy territory. Always be ready for an attack. The best weapon Satan has is causing the church and/or Christian to have a sense of claim and then hell is released. Keep up your shield.

The war has been won; the battles belong to the Lord. Keep your courage and stay with other warriors. Trust in God, and He will use you to do great things. We have power in Him and Satan has no power over us. Rejoice!