April 7: BLOCKADE RUNNER
His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue… 2 Peter 1:3
Our gracious God gave us life through our earthly parents, in our earthly births. This is itself a miracle. We have all been born into a fallen world, yet the God of Creation has provided just what we need to navigate the minefield of snares laid out by that chief deceiver, who barged into our originally perfect world. God has done everything possible to enable us to overcome the barriers and traps that were set to keep us from finding our way back to Him. The Source of all life – even eternal life – asks: “What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? (Isaiah 5:4a)
It is a fact that the Lord does not simply hand to us an overcoming life; but rather He gives us life as we overcome. It is a miraculous step-by-step process that begins with faith. Faith itself is a gift entrusted to us by the Lord, but that initial gift of faith requires nourishment. We are to actively feed our faith in the Lord Jesus daily through earnest prayer, the study of His Word, and through sharing Him with others. Obedience to the Lord is the key ingredient in all of these things. The “war effort” of the enemy is to place blockades in each of these areas for the explicit purpose of starving our faith; but even so, Christ Himself is the ultimate Blockade Runner. There is no falsehood of Satan that the Lord has not foreseen and exposed in His written word, the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). In addition, our attention is directed well ahead of time to the burgeoning religious system that grew up from the Babylon of Daniel’s day: Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily; and he cast truth to the ground. He did all this and prospered (Daniel 8:12).
The counterfeit of obedience is a mindset that concocts one’s own opportunities to show zest and enthusiasm for a noble cause. The spirit behind this is a well-disguised part of Satan’s blockade. It is easier to sacrifice one’s energy for a good cause in the eyes of the world than to test and prove that which is the perfect will of God. Great acts of self-sacrifice gain worldly accolades, but will eventually drain energy and health prematurely. By contrast, allowing the Lord to live His life in you can energize you. To seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) builds the character trait of discernment. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).
That first step of faith brings about spiritual rebirth (John 3:3). The infant faith that is nourished will grow and bear fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8). The end, or goal, of such a faith is salvation (1 Peter 1:9). If our subtle enemy does not succeed in blocking spiritual rebirth, he intensifies his efforts to starve the infant faith. But never forget that our faithful Blockade Runner has already made available to each of us everything that we need to experience the greatest of miracles, overcoming the world. Not only does Jesus readily bypass Satan’s blockade, bringing essential nourishment, He actively carries away the “carcass” of that which the repentant sinner has put to death in himself (Colossians 3:5) as a result of his choice to become a true disciple of Christ.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 (See also Acts 17:11; Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 3:24; 4:1)