Every true believer in Christ has a deep desire to please God. It comes from within and is very passionate. It’s inexplicable why we are driven to follow God’s will and obey His commands, but it’s out of a desire … to please Him. It’s incomprehensible why we have such a craving to love and minister to those who hurt and malign others or who viciously attack us, but it’s out of a deep desire to please God. It’s even more incredible that we love and speak the truth to Muslims who are an affront to God, but it’s because of our desire to please Him. It’s unfathomable that we love and proclaim the truth to the overbearing homosexual and the antagonistic pagan, but it’s because of our desire to please God. Although the true Christian attempts to do all this and more he is often times kept from really pleasing God by the malicious agenda of Satan.
Satan’s agenda is twofold: first, silence gospel preaching and the testimony of the saints; and, secondly to stunt the spiritual growth of every believer in Christ. Clearly we cannot really please God apart from our testimony, gospel preaching, and spiritual growth. As we fast approach the end of days the world governments have almost single handily silenced the Christian testimony in the public domain. With dwindling numbers of believers in the local church due to schisms, false teaching, and a lack of spiritual growth among many Christians, the day of gospel preaching is nearly over. Couple this with the decrease in revival meetings and crusades; gospel preaching becomes less relevant. But what troubles me most, is the deep decline in spiritual growth among many of those claiming to know Christ. I attribute this almost entirely to Satan’s malicious agenda to keep God’s children from pleasing Him. And to please Him is to know Him, and to know Him is only accomplished through spiritual growth in Him. We must allow Christ to be formed in us as we grow from one degree of glory to another. (See Ga. 4:19; II Co. 3:18)
But before we can fix the problem we need to know more about Satan’s malicious agenda. How does he accomplish the decline in spiritual growth among confessing Christians? Simply put, Satan must destroy the foundation which was originally laid by Christ Jesus. The Bible says that the foundation is built upon the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus Christ as the Chief Cornerstone. (See Eph. 2:20) And then it continues by saying that we are the living stones built upon that foundation. (See l Peter 2:4-6) So if we are the living stones built on top of the foundation already laid then it’s absolutely essential for our spiritual growth to continue on that foundation. Why is that so important? Well, first of all, the foundation is made up of the apostles or the apostolic doctrine with Jesus Christ as being the Chief Cornerstone, the One who holds the entire structure together. And it’s this doctrine that has been handed down to us in the Holy Bible, which explains the need for prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the edification of the saints so each would grow up in Christ and not be easily blown about by every wind of doctrine. (See Eph. 4:11-16) Now here is the problem in a nut shell, with people leaving the church by the groves and no longer sitting under the authority of their prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, then Satan has made sure that every wind of malicious doctrine keeps blowing through the Christian community with gale force winds tossing everyone about so they can no longer grow up in Christ Jesus.
To worsen the problem Satan is causing God’s children to only connect with one another via social media sites, the internet, and the cell phone instead of in person. One wonders what will happen when this medium is no longer accessible. The whole dynamic of personal one on one relationship for the mutual edification of believers has been essentially destroyed. The dynamic of verbal communication which includes body language, eye contact, and tone of voice has been exchanged for the post. The dynamic of mutual accountability and encouragement to bear fruit has been exchanged for the cold and callous arguments that beat one another down rather than building up one another in Christ Jesus. As we fast approach the end of days I implore you not to forsake the assembling of the Saints for mutual edification and accountability. (See Hebrew 10:25) It is also essential that we develop Christian cell groups of like minded believers to help us stand firm in the coming days.
Copyright © 2012 Rev. Daniel W. Blair – All content (blog articles) have been published in my new book: “Revelation Truth” available in our bookstore or at a bookstore near you.