I am seeing some very encouraging spiritual signs at the moment that are alerting me to the fact that the Kingdom of God is advancing significantly; signs that may not be visible yet in the human circumstances around us, but signs which nevertheless signify a change in the spiritual reality across our nations. In particular, I see and hear things happening in the ‘corridors of power’ which demonstrate a degree of spiritual awakening, and point to fresh opportunities for Christians to influence Healthcare and other key sectors of society.
The Bible is full of stories of God taking divine action to defeat enemies, but it sometimes took time for His actions to become apparent in human experience. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is probably the greatest example of this. There is also the process of the Israelites’ release from captivity in Egypt, together with Peter’s escape from prison (although on this particular occasion God’s intervention became clear more quickly).
In 1 Kings 18:43-45 we read about Elijah: after 3 years of drought in the land which he had prophesied, and having defeated the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah went to the top of the mountain with his servant. “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked. “There is nothing there,” he said. Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.” The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’” Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling. A number of years ago God told me that this passage of Scripture was an important picture for Heaven in Healthcare: that from small beginnings would come, eventually, a significant impact just as initially a very small cloud appeared, but in time, a massive rainstorm impacted the nation.
This brings me to the great excitement I have about our HiH annual conference which will take place at Eastgate on 3-4 November. We will be hearing from great speakers from different nations, including a senior UK politician and we have called the event ‘Fresh Awakening’ in anticipation of significant breakthrough. We are offering a special reduced rate of £10 for anyone who is a student in a healthcare subject. Please spread the word! Full details can be found here
In response to such positive spiritual momentum, it’s not a surprise that we often encounter spiritual opposition. We need not be afraid of this, but we do need to be aware and to understand that when we are gaining spiritual ground, the devil is scared of us. Remember, we are far more powerful than our enemies because of the Holy Spirit who lives inside us and works through us.
So what does this spiritual warfare that we face every day actually mean? The Bible tells us that the devil has schemes, and teaches us how to overcome those schemes – but are we aware of these schemes in the first place? I believe that having an awareness of the Devil’s tactics is absolutely vital for us. I also believe that having an awareness of the promises of God in this regard are even more fundamental for us:
James 4:7-8: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will come near to you.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.“
We have weapons that carry divine power to demolish the strongholds of our enemy. If we resist the devil he will flee from us. He will continue to look for further opportunities to attack us, so we need to be able to resist him time and again. The Devil’s weapons are thoughts and temptations that he tries to insert into our minds in order to reduce and nullify our experience and true understanding of God. Unchecked, these temptations can lead us to develop negative strongholds of thinking which will result in negative outcomes (James 1:13-15). So how do we resist this? By taking every thought captive.
I recently noticed that many Christians are not sufficiently experiencing or enjoying the fruit of the peace of God in their lives. This peace of God is one of our most powerful spiritual weapons, promising to guard our hearts and minds. It is available to us no matter what our circumstances, enabling us to produce an atmosphere of peace from which others can benefit. This is especially important in the world of Healthcare. On this note, you might find the sermon (below) helpful which I preached at Eastgate recently.
Pete Carter