Standing Defiant

I’ve been MIA from blogging and most social media the last two weeks because of some intense things going on in my life and the lives of those in my church community. All I can say is that it is a costly and expensive opportunity for myself and others to respond in obedience, faith, love, and hope.

Satan is attacking with his evil schemes to cause division and doubt and fear, but I am standing defiant. I stand in defiance against the devil’s schemes. I stand defiant against the sin in my life. I stand in defiance against the pride and the selfishness and the lies that the enemy is throwing my way. I stand defiant against the doubt and the shame that creeps into the cracks and crevices of our broken hearts. I stand defiant against that which causes division within the Church. I stand defiant against untruth because I believe firmly on the Gospel of Jesus Christ that proclaims light victorious over darkness, wholeness victorious over brokenness, life victorious over death, and hope victorious over despair.

I stand defiant.

I’ve never been more dependent upon God than I am right now and I’ve never been convinced more of my own inadequacies and His all-sufficiency. That which evil intends for harm, God uses for good. I know this because the most ruthless and intense suffering ever to happen in the history of the world (Jesus on the cross) was used for the most glorious and amazing good ever.

And therefore, I stand defiant.

There are some major train-wrecked lives out there, but standing firm on the Gospel means that wholeness and resurrection have the last word, not brokenness and death. God knows what you are going through, he knows you by name, he knows every hair on your head, he knitted you in your mother’s womb, he knows you. He is the God who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go out and find the one lost sheep and carry them home. He is the God who runs out to his prodigal sons and greets them with a kiss, a ring, a robe, sandals, and a party. He is a God of restoration and healing. He is the God who breathes life into the dead and dry bones. He is the God who is the only one qualified to cast the first stone, and yet he chooses not to. He is the God who is perfectly holy and perfectly loving. And he knows you.

We have no reason to doubt, no reason to run and hide, no reason to be afraid. We can stand defiant against the forces of evil because our God is victorious and reigning over our sin and train-wrecked lives. God is good and faithful and he never changes. The Kingdom of God that Jesus brings and embodies cannot be scuttled by human failure, no matter what it is. Man may be shaken and failing, but that which is unshakable and unfailing remains.

Stand defiant with me.

Stand up. Stand firm. Be defiant.