like stars in heaven

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” ~ Luke 10:19-20

My conscious battle in spiritual warfare began two years ago. To know about the power I have in Christ, the power He has shared and bestowed me with so that Jesus will always come through whenever I call upon His Name, is life-changing and healing. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can command away the unclean and ungodly. He saves and protects me from such spiritual intrusions and disturbances.

It can be the most frightening of things but it can also be the most enlightening. To know the power of God lies within me, wherever I may go through valleys of death and the darkest of places, they cannot touch me within His will and protection. I have everything indeed when I have God. To know too that God’s heavenly angels are engaged in battle in the spiritual realms makes everything we believe in so startlingly real. Our faith is not a joke. As a believer and warrior, I must be aware of what this battle is that I have come into, what God has armed me with as His servant.

This is not a simple do-good-feel-good religion; we are dealing with the dark forces of all ages, we are in a battle that began before Man and will go on till the very end. We have our faith and salvation set in Christ, and we have our duty to help fight for and save those who do not yet know Him. To remain in the dark of what goes on in the spiritual realms is to remain ignorant, because we can only go so long without knowing the depths of what we believe in and what Christ has done for us in this battle across ages.

And yet, Jesus tells us not to focus solely on the authority He has bestowed upon us. Yes, it is in every sense absolutely essential as we walk this broken and plagued earth, but it isn’t everything. What is worth more is the blood of Jesus that has covered over our sin, thus opening the gates of heaven to let us in for eternity. Without Him, we will remain estranged in the outer courts forever. We can cast out demons in the power of His Name but if our names aren’t written in the Book of Life, what would we be rejoicing for?

The crux of our faith, the reason Jesus Christ came to die for our sins, was to bridge the deep chasm between heaven and hell, so that we would have a fighting chance to be with Him forever. I thank the Lord for those of us whose names are written in heaven, for our sojourn on earth will not be in vain. And when You are ready to take us across life and death, we know where we will be going. We know we will not be lost forever. Like stars in heaven, we will always shine by Your everlasting light.