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A People Under Orders

As I continued diving deeper into my investigation of the reality of the spiritual battle around us, I discovered that God has made us a people under orders. Perhaps the simplest expression of those orders is found in Acts 26, in which Jesus gives Paul this mandate:

“… I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (v. 17-18).

Jesus made clear to Paul that his orders from that day forward were to move people from the power and dominion of Satan to the power and dominion of God.

And that is our purpose today.

We are in a cosmic war. And Satan, being the master deceiver, will do all he can to put you on the sidelines and render you impotent in this battle. That’s where money comes into play, because Satan wants you and me to replace God as our source of security with the false security of money.

As Jesus warned, wherever our treasure is, that is where our heart will be. If our priority is in the stuff of the here-and-now, then that is where our heart will be. It will not be on kingdom matters – which means Satan has succeeded in undermining our impact as followers of Christ.

You just cannot worship God AND Money. It is one or the other.

That is why the whole issue of money and giving is such a crucial battlefront in the spiritual struggle of our day – which is why a true biblical understanding of it is so critical. It took me 20 years to come to that realization, which you’ll read about tomorrow.