The Darkside
I’m a big, well, a huge Star Wars fan. Now, I don’t collect all the “action figures.” What I have done through the years is watched all the movies many times. I remember when “A New Hope” came out in the theatres in the ‘70’s. I went to see it several times and actually took several of my dates to see it. I was intrigued with space travel. The struggle between the Empire and Rebellion.
Through the years, one of the things that has jumped off the screen at me is the struggle of “good and evil,” “light and dark.” On the one side you have Darth Vader and the Empire, on the other you have Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion. The “force” was with both sides, it was just which side of the force you walked with. Did you walk with the “dark” side, or did you walk with the “light?” As each new movie was released, we learned more and more about the “light” side of the force. The good that it could do. The power that it had. The way that it could overcome the dark side, as you learned to let it go and trust it. That was what Luke’s training was all about in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Yoda was training Luke to let go his anger and to trust the force.
One of the realizations that we have to have in our world is that we’re in a battle. Scripture says that we’re not in a battle with each other, although many times we think we are. Many times we like to fight against each other. We look at each other’s faults. We react to offenses. We take up the “fight” against others. But what are we really fighting? You see, we’re really in a spiritual battle between the dark forces of Satan and the good of God. As Paul states here in Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents), but against the despotisms, against the powers, against (the master spirits who are) the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.” That was taken from the Amplified version.
If this is true, which I believe that it is, then how are we to fight this battle? Well, I’m glad you asked. Before we get too far into this discussion there is one major step that has to be taken to ensure victory. You must have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You must be a believer. You must be walking in the “Light.” You have to have the “force” of the Spirit working in you in order to ensure victory in this battle. According to 1 John 1:9, “God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, He forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong.” Think about that for a moment. Think about everything that you’ve ever done in your life. Everything that would be consider to fall into the “dark” realm of the force. All those things that at times you sit and say, “May I regret some of those decisions that I made. If I could go back and relive those, I’d definitely do them differently.” Maybe that’s not you, but I sure know it’s me.
Here’s the great news, Jesus already died for those decisions. They’re already forgiven. God’s just waiting for us to confess them. He’s just waiting for us to turn them over to Him. He’s just waiting for us to turn to Him and say, “Father, I’m sorry. I did them. I know I did them.” He’ll then turn and say, “Okay, they’re gone.” Not only are they gone, but according to Scripture, He doesn’t even remember them. They’re tossed into the Sea of Forgetfulness.
Now, the enemy, well that’s a different story. He loves to bring them up again. He loves to remind you of all that you have done. He loves to remind you of all the wrong that you’ve committed in your life. Of all the “dark” things that you did in your life. “There’s no way you can ever walk in the ‘Light.’” Kind of reminds me of the last Star Wars movie in the first three series, “Return of the Jedi.” The inner battle of Luke between his decision of following the “good” in him and the “anger” that was welling up in him. There was the Emperor egging him on to kill his own father. The Rebellion had been led into a trap and was being destroyed. The Emperor was taunting Luke, “Yes, I can feel your anger. Obi One taught you well, but let go of your anger. Give into your anger. With you by my side, together we can rule the galaxy.”
The inner battle was raging, much like we have today as believers. We have a battle that rages in us between our “old” life and our “new” one. The enemy loves to remind us who we were. How we were liars, cheats, thieves, and so on. How can we be forgiven of all of that? How can we know that we’ve been forgiven? How can we know that God has forgiven us? After all didn’t you just lose your temper? Didn’t you just lie? Didn’t you just cheat? Didn’t you just gossip? See, you can’t be a Christian, you can’t even read your Bible, you can’t pray, you can’t even make it to worship.
Well, I want you to know that you have a power that’s living in you that comes from the One who defeated the enemy. As a believer you have a power living in you that conquered death and hell. You have a power that lives in you that sets captives free. You have a power in you that will give you all that weapons you need to defeat the enemy in your life and send him packing. It’s found here in the Word of God and together in this weekly blog we’re going to discover these weapons. We’re going to uncover this power. Together we’ll be driving back the enemy and start living as the free, overcoming, believers that we are. Together we’ll start relying on the “force” that will guide us to our Heavenly Father and the good side of life. So, let’s start this journey together.
Until next time, “May the Force of God be with you,”
Pastor Rob
