We are born into a sinful world with sin in our physical bodies. The psalmist said in Psalm 51:5(ESV), “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Romans 3:23 also tells us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, from the very beginning of our sojourn on earth, we’ve got a battle on our hands. As we mature and develop into adults, we might be tempted to view life from rose colored glasses. That’s not going to equip us for this spiritual battle that began even before we entered our mother’s wombs. Many of us didn’t find out that a war was waging against our destinies until much later, when we gave our lives to Christ. What matters most isn’t when we wake up to our destinies in Christ, but what we do once our eyes are open. That’s when the battle for our souls heats up, and we can’t afford and don’t have time to be walking around as if we still don’t understand the assignment.
To a great degree, and to the detriment of many believers that are trying to overcome various struggles, the reason some of us have yet to see the victory of Christ in certain areas is because we don’t understand the freedom his sacrifice and resurrection has given us. We’ve failed to know the Word—to put it on in our minds and hearts—so that we can stand strong as the conquerors God has made us.
Our Heavenly Father commands us in Ephesians 6:12-13(NLT), “11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Now most of us know that the devil is up to no good, but we have grossly underestimated just how much ‘no good’ he is up to. Most people have not understood that he is the god of this world, and that this world, the one that you and I live in, is under his dominion. That’s too much truth for most folks to take. Our reality is that we live in an evil and dark world, but we are not of this world. We belong to God’s Kingdom. We are His children on assignment, and this requires us to armor up with His spiritual weaponry.
We can’t get this twisted, even though satan is up to no good, our powerful, supreme, and sovereign God is the owner of everything, and He has no equal. However, He has not destroyed satan yet. Just as Jesus Christ had free-will as he walked the earth, satan, formerly the angel of light, has free-will as well, and so do we. God, in His infinite wisdom and righteousness, has given us all free-will, and He doesn’t strike us dead because we sin against Him. Adam had free-will, and he sinned but did not immediately die. We have it, we sinned and lived long enough to repent from it. From His Word, we learn that satan used the free-will that God had given him to sin abominably against our Heavenly Father, but His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, never sinned. He was and is perfect in every way, and he knew his assignment. He said in John 6:38(NKJV), “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” This must be our mind and heart as well.
God doesn’t prevent us from sinning, and He didn’t prevent Adam from sinning and forking over to satan all the dominion and authority God had given him. God allowed this to happen because He will not violate the laws He’s set up. He will not violate our free-will. Romans 11:29 tells us that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, and He will not withdraw them. No matter how disobedient we become, His grace will always win.
2Corinthians 4:4(NLT) says, “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” After Adam sinned, we all kept sinning. We didn’t stop. As we continued to do whatever we wanted to do, the enemy kept stealing our power, and with it, he enlarged his realm of darkness. We have been blind to the reality of how much satan has stolen from us, but more than this, we have been blind to how much God has empowered us through Jesus Christ to take it all back and then some.
Indeed, many of us have misunderstood the assignment. We came in the world blind and spiritually dead because of Adam’s sin. Through Christ, we have been spiritually born-again and equipped with every spiritual blessing and weapon of God’s armor. It is preposterous to think we can outsmart the devil without putting on what God has provided for our protection and victory.
Our names were written in God’s Books an unfathomably long time ago. He tells us in Ephesians 1:4(NLT), “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” Your assignment to walk in God’s purpose and in the overwhelming victory of Christ was etched by Him even before your great, great, great forefathers and ancestors walked the face of the earth. You are not destined to follow them. You are destined to follow God and to execute His Will and plan in the earth with the authority, boldness, and victory of Christ. If you haven’t understood it before, understand it now. You were created to be a child of the Most High God! You must wake up, rise up, and leave a life of defeat behind. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Did You Understand the Assignment?”, written by Reverend Fran Mack. Edits by Kim Times and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.