The world will not change quietly

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

I find it hard to know what to do with some of these details about end times. I think God may have provided some of them as signposts that show this is not simply a revelation about dealing with change in general. People will be able to recognise from history that God has been involved in world events and changes of leadership, some of which opposes him.

God has a plan to deal with evil, bringing rebellious humanity back into loving relationship with him, free from corruption through the power of Jesus. But it involves a huge fight.

Newsflash: this is not so much a scrap between us and God, but there is a powerful spiritual opposition to God's plan to redeem the world. This takes some strange physical shapes in the Revelation vision, but its title "the accuser of our brothers and sisters" feels familiar - it wants to undermine our relationship with God and our confidence in him, and we know that this is an active force today. The warning from Revelation is that this is not just a sense we have, but something real and damaging, causing war on earth and in heaven, powerful enough to gain influence over God's people and make life difficult.

So one purpose of this prophecy is to warn us to expect opposition, and resolve to be patient, enduring and faithful against it. This means that faith can't just be an idea for us, but we have to put it into practice, growing a relationship with God, and making choices which show where our hearts are.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God sees much more happening around us than we are aware of, and he is fully engaged in the battle against evil. He fights the spiritual root causes of suffering in our world.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I need to recognise spiritual opposition to God more readily, the way God does, and take it more seriously without feeling overwhelmed by it.

Sometimes it pops up in little ways which feel almost shamefully trivial to share here. As I’ve been writing this, we’ve had constant niggling battles with technical difficulties at home which have frayed my temper and tested every resolution I’ve made to trust God more. I’m not going to moan the devil was messing with my wi-fi or worrying me as freakish rain pours above my head (and computer). It’s more important that I have needed to learn to deal with anger and fear temporarily blocking the expression of spiritual fruit like joy and peace.

This is a spiritual battle I feel personally – which will define me? I choose to recognise this battle and reject a feeling of accusation that I’m not qualified to share about God’s good things because I’m still learning to live by them. Let me declare here that it’s God’s power growing love, patience, kindness and self-control as his fruit in me, not my own making.

Who am I going to share this with?

I’ll discuss spiritual battles, spiritual fruit and why we need it in our open house group.