A Weapon Against Darkness | Part 1
Many of us spend our entire lives searching for our true calling, never quite realizing that it is already within us.
There are a lot of things that God labels his followers and many callings he has placed on their lives. We are to be peacemakers, mercy givers, beloved children. But, one calling that is often overlooked is that we were also created to be a weapon.
A Weapon Of Light
When God formed you in your mother's womb he formed you with the ability to destroy and push back the darkness.
See the greatest weapon against the darkness is light. Light drives out darkness without even exerting effort. You are called the light of the world. God conquered death, the curse, and the powers of hell by the cross.
What was demonstrated on the cross? Sacrificial love.
What is God? Love.
Who lives in you? God.
Why? So that you too could become love to a hurting world.
Love Is The Most Powerful Weapon
Love is God’s weapon against evil. You are God’s weapon.
You were created to bring God’s kingdom of light peace and love to drive out the darkness in the world. We have each been designed to carry out our specific mission in our family, our community, in our generation, and in the world. We are blessed to be a blessing but make no mistake it is a war.
We cannot be an effective weapon until we fully grasp who we are and the power that is in us.
I want you to take a look at this bullet.
If you didn't know what it was, you’d see it as a piece of metal almost three inches long. Just looking at it with your natural eyes, you wouldn't see it as capable of much.
When you look at yourself from your natural eyes, you see something similar. You can't see how you're good for much.
Let's pretend the shotgun shell could talk.
What if I took this shell in my hand, this tiny piece of metal? And walked up to a sword battle. The shell would see all the other pieces of metal, each several times bigger and sharper. What would it feel like? Ineffective. Inconsequential.
And what would the shell say to me were I to tell him that, “I'm sending you into the battle because you're my most powerful weapon?”
The shell would freak out and say, “How could that be? I'm little. I'm not even sharp. I could never penetrate the skin, and even if I did, I would barely leave a mark.”
Isn’t that how we would react as well? Wouldn’t we too say, “How could you send me into battle, God? I am not a weapon.” or “I'm frail. I'm too young. I'm too old. I'm not that smart. I'm not that successful. I can't do that. I'm nothing special.” Which of us hasn’t felt like that? Which of us hasn’t doubted ourselves/ questioned God?
To the shell, I would say, “You are correct—on your own, you can do nothing. But you were uniquely designed for a purpose. Do you see these groves here? They show that you and only you can fit inside this gun. And when you are together, you create the most powerful weapon.”
Now for those of you who don't know, this is a shotgun shell. Inside it are thousands of little pellets that, upon impact, spread out over a large radius. Since I refuse to think of Bambi being harmed, let's just say I shot a tree. Instead of simply penetrating, the force would spread such that the tree would no longer be standing.
The Holy Spirit Resides In You
You are much like this shell. Alone you can do nothing. But you are not alone.
You were created to be a weapon. Inside you lies the Holy Spirit. And when the Father sends you out, he sends you out with the force and power of His own being so that when you confront the enemy, it is the Holy Spirit that comes out of you. And it is that Holy Spirit that will spread and fight the battle.
When the shell looks at himself, it's not that he misjudges his power. But he misjudged the power that had been placed inside him. He’s misjudged the power of the thing that sends him out. With this picture in your mind, I want you to listen to what God says about you.
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.
Romans 8:11
But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.
John 14:17
For those of us who have heard this many times, I don’t think we grasp what it really means.
The Holy Spirit of God has made his tabernacle, his home, his dwelling place in you! The same holy spirit spoken of in these verses:
A. God created the world and everything in it by his power. Here, the father commanded, and the spirit performed the work. | Gen 1:1
B. The spirit who empowered men to write the holy scriptures | 2 Peter 1:21
C. The spirit who gave Sampson supernatural physical strength | Judges 14:6
D. The spirit who gifted Bezalel to do much of the artwork relating to the temple | Ex. 31:2-5
E. The spirit who came upon kings and judges to help them win battles
F. The spirit that allows our minds to comprehend the scriptures and deep things of God cause he knows all things.
G. The spirit that taught people languages instantly during Pentecost - Hand the spirit that empowered the ministry of Christ “Luke 4:14.”
You Are Never Alone
You are in Christ. He sends you out with his very own power. He places the Holy Spirit inside of you. You are capable of taking down any enemy and winning every battle. With God, ALL things are possible.
You are not weak, powerless, or frail. You are a weapon against darkness. You harbor within you the power and spirit of God himself. And you are called to represent him to this generation.
“As Christ is, so are we in this world.” - 1 John 4:17
These truths are easy to say and fun to think about, but do you really believe them deep in your soul? If you have a hard time grasping this, don't worry. You are not alone.
Many biblical characters were much like my confused shell and much like us.
When God called Moses, what was his response? It was “Please, call someone else.”
Why? Heb 4:10, But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of the tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? …. Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
Biblical characters were making the same excuses that we are today—I'm not able. I’m the wrong age. I'm not talented. And God also said to them, and does so to us, “Don’t you get it? I chose you for this task. Before you were even born, I made you. Don’t you think I knew what I was doing? Don’t you understand your speech impediment is irrelevant because I'm going with you? Not only is it irrelevant, it’s actually purposeful. I put it there for a reason!”
If you believe that God has a call on your life, stop making excuses and listen!
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
Psalm 139:16