Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Victory

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Tonight is the first night of Hannukah, the eight night long Feast of Dedication! As we celebrate the victory that the small band of Maccabees gained over the Greeks, it's a good time to ask what victory means for us today ...

Victory

While the Scriptures do celebrate the victory of the armies of Heaven over Satan and the forces of darkness and invite us to do our part in fighting that battle at the Spirit's command, the victory that we should seek is not military.

Rav Sha'ul reminds us that "our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the world powers of darkness, the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Eph 6:12). Our desire for people is not to defeat or conquor them, but to help them share the blessings we have in Messiah Yeshua.

As we work to "bring every thought captive to Messiah" (2 Cor 10:5), at a personal level we long to see people come into the freedom that we have, to be able to know, worship and acknowledge Yeshua as Saviour and Lord, to experience His love, provision and care for their lives.

We must carefully govern our attitude when sharing Messiah, particularly with those who are initially negative or resistant, that we don't become combative, but instead seek only to bless and encourage people to receive and share G-d's blessings!