Powers - 23 April 2008

For I am convinced that … neither angels nor demons… nor any powers… will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38 NIV

These words concerning angels, demons and powers have been translated in different ways and in Greek the words used definitely have a sense of being supernatural.

Some years ago it became quite fashionable to preach about these terms in order to convince people that we were engaged in spiritual warfare against these powers. Existing in the world around us and influencing everything we do, these powers, principalities and ruling spirits could only be held at bay by massive amounts of prayer, fasting and prophetic knowledge.

I have to admit I found it a bit scary to imagine that every time I walk out of the door there are a dozen demons waiting to pounce on me and evil powers infiltrating every situation. Maybe that is how it is, but this verse makes it very clear that those powers do not have the power to interfere with our relationship with the Lord. And if they cannot separate us from His love then they cannot separate us from His care and protection either.

God is love and His love is literally so powerful that no other power can stand against it.
As the Message puts it;

‘So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Romans 8:31

What can these powers do to us? They can tempt us to sin, big deal, sin can be forgiven. They can tempt others to hurt us, also big deal because we just forgive them and pray for them and then they begin to experience God’s love in their lives. Whatever these powers do they cannot defeat the love of God and if we are aware of them we can just resist them and they will flee.

What are the spiritual influences you feel in your life today? How does it feel to know that they have no real power over you because of your relationship with the Lord?

The seventy-two returned with joy and said ‘Lord even the demons submit to us in your name’ Luke 10:17 NIV