Hey Friends,
I know that this post will cause some uneasy feelings in some of you because the nature of this post is not simply about the physical world we live in. Rather, this is a brief glance into something much deeper. Yes, we wage war against our flesh daily, but there is a war that is happening all around us, everyday that we do not see. It is a war between God and Satan. I could spend the rest of this blog detailing out the specifics of what I am talking about but I want to share with you an email my mother received from a dear pastor friend of my parents. Several things to remember when reading this. 1. Jesus is greater than the enemy so please guard your heart in giving too much attention to Satan. 2. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, we do not walk in fear over the schemes of the enemy. You belong to the King.
I pray that you will be encouraged, as I was encouraged, as you read it.
Here are his thoughts:
“Martha, I always do my best trying to avoid clichéd statements or “preacher phrases”, especially in a time like this, so I apologize in advance if I fail in that effort. What I can say with certainty and integrity is that Kim is one of the greatest men of God I have ever known, and the greatest pastor I have ever seen. He truly lived an anointed and visionary life and was gifted by the Holy Spirit with amazing skills of preaching, teaching and leadership. Moreover, I have never met a pastor with a greater passion for reaching the lost, nor one with such a love for any – and all – people groups. Beyond this, Kim always put his love into action – he did something about it.
I want to stop well short of suggesting, or even sounding like, I have some sort of profound insight into the events that led to Kim’s death. I certainly do not. However, what I am confident about is that Kim was, and still is, a very high ranking “officer” – a general – in the Commander’s forces. With this in mind, one of the things that made him so special is that he did not use his Christ-appointed authority and position to try to build a name or kingdom for himself. He was always about glorifying the name of Jesus Christ and about advancing His Kingdom on earth. Additionally, another character strength is that Kim was a general who refused to command from the rear – he led from the front. In other words, Kim was a general who fought as a foot soldier on the front lines of spiritual battle and he was not afraid to move into new spiritual territories to take ground for the Kingdom – and this is precisely what he did.
Now, it was precisely because of his “position” in the King’s army, and because he courageously took much new ground in the Holy Spirit and set many captives free in Christ that he was very much a major target of the enemy – which is something Kim fully realized and was sober about. The Scriptures give us insight into the “network” of Satan and that the forces of darkness do, indeed, pay close attention to God’s leaders and the dark forces communicate about them. Acts 19:15 records the response of an evil spirit that the seven sons of Sceva were trying to cast out, “One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’” (NIV). In this we can see that evil spirits are keenly aware of who God’s leaders are, as well as those who are not empowered by Christ. I have absolutely no doubt that Kim was extremely well known among the forces of darkness, and that they feared his anointing from Christ and they hated him for it. They also hated that they were losing territory and former captives to the Kingdom of Light. Therefore, they were always looking for an “opportune time” to try to ambush Kim. Luke speaks of this tactic of Satan in 4:13, “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time” (NIV).
Make no mistake about it, Kim will always be counted among the very best of Christ’s leaders and soldiers. The fact that the enemy forces were finally successful in taking his physical life does not diminish, in any way, that was an awesome and mighty soldier of the Lord. Frankly, it is because Kim voluntarily led from the front lines that he had put himself in harm’s way where the spiritual warfare is at its heaviest. Kim knew this was the danger zone, but was willing to risk himself for the sake of others. The thing is that, in the midst of battle when the fighting is most intense, we can become emotionally and physically fatigued, and the constant barrage of weapons from the enemy coupled with the “noise” and “smoke” of battle can cause a warrior to become momentarily confused and blinded, and he can unintentionally take a step in the wrong direction and then find himself separated from his troop. When this happens he can become completely surrounded and overwhelmed by the tactics of enemy forces around him. In this “opportune time” they attack with everything they have at their disposal trying to take the soldier out. I fully believe that this is what happened to Kim. Again, it was because Kim was (and still is) a great leader and spiritual warrior in Christ that they attacked him – it was not because he was a weak or unimportant one.
In response to this attack against my brother I was compelled in the Holy Spirit to pray warfare prayers against the darkness, and other pastors joined me. As I mentioned, it was specifically on my heart and mind to pray that God would enlist and empower the Forces of Light to identify, hunt down, capture and single out the dark spirits that were assigned to Kim by Satan. My prayer is that the Commander would make an example of them before all the forces of darkness and that their punishment for this attack would be so great that fear and dread would spread throughout the kingdom of darkness – that they would regret the day they ever set their sights on harming Kim. Again, this is not just “soulish” desire on my part, but is based on Scripture. Moses sang, “The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name” (Exodus 15:3 ESV). Moses went on to sing, “In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble” (v. 7). My prayer is that God would send out His fury against these dark soldiers and officers that came against Kim. (I want to encourage you to read the entire song of Moses [15:1-18] with this in mind, as I believe it will strengthen you.) In the New Testament we can see that demons are terrified by the power and judgments of God as the demon speaking for the legion begged Jesus not to torture him (Mark 5:7). Additionally, we can see that demons do have “spiritual territories” and assignments and they dread failing in them and being sent from them (Mark 5:10). Thus, I pray that what these demons fear and dread the most would exacted against them by the Lord. Moreover, I pray that Kim’s life will serve as a constant marker to the kingdom of darkness regarding the glory Kim’s faith and obedience have brought to Christ on earth, and that his death will serve to mark the dreadful penalty exacted by God against dark spirits for coming against one of Christ’s most anointed.
As Paul wrote, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32 NIV). Martha, as I mentioned the other day, besides these biblical beliefs on my part, I certainly don’t fully understand all of God’s reasons for allowing that last attack against Kim to succeed. However, I do fully believe that God would not have allowed this if He did not have a MASSIVE counter attack and response ready to be released as a result of this. Moreover, I do fully believe that Kim had given, not only his spiritual life, but also his physical life to the Commander long ago. This means that I fully believe that Kim was willing to lay down his life for the sake of others if it would bring more glory to God and reach more lives for Christ. God took Kim’s pledge seriously, so He did allow Kim’s physical life to be taken in battle. Because of this, however, I also FULLY BELIEVE that this is what is going to happen as a result – that God has set something up that will overwhelm kingdom of evil and will He will shake Satan’s forces by storm. The Kingdom of Light is going to advance from this like never before, God’s people will come together, lives will be changed for the good, and new spiritual territory will be taken. Most of all, CHRIST WILL BE GLORIFIED and Kim, your love and husband, my spiritual brother and friend, and one of the greatest leaders in the Kingdom of Light in our time, will be honored – both on earth and in heaven. Always.”
Blessings,
Hunter
