“Pastor, now that I’m born again, can I travel to my village to destroy all the evil altars my fathers created?”
Not yet! It’s one thing to be redeemed by the Blood of Jesus and another thing to be redeemed by the Word of God. Although the Blood has power enough to redeem man from sin and Satan at all levels, Satan would always take advantage of man’s ignorance to constrain the effect of Jesus’s redemptive Blood.
It’s the same Bible that says “he who the son of man has set free is free indeed” that said “My people are gone into captivity for the lack of knowledge”. While the Blood sets you free from sin, only the knowledge of the Word of God can set you free from Satan.
For instance, 2 Cor 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. Old things should pass away after you receive Christ, including your association with evil altars and covenant. However, a lack of understanding of your authority as a new creature may hinder you from walking in that truth.
I heard of a Christian who went to destroy a shrine in his village. He felt he had the right to do so. Unfortunately for him, as at when I heard this, he could no longer use his hands. Don’t get me wrong; as a Christian, he is seated far above the authorities that backed up that shrine, but instead of operating from his seat which is above, he came down to destroy the shrine from an earthly position.
Anytime you operate from your emotions or outside the leading of the Spirit of God, you’re simply operating from an earthly position. And of that’s the case, getting into trouble is inevitable.
Perhaps Ephesians 6:12 will make more sense to you now. It says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”.
Just look at that! Destroying the physical shrine doesn’t mean you’ve destroyed the shrine itself. A shrine is a spiritual platform that has a physical meeting place. So just because you broke the calabash where they wrote your name within the shrine doesn’t mean you’ve broken the covenant that was entered into by whoever entered into it on your behalf. You may destroy the shrine, but it will still be there in the spirit.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood, it’s against spiritual wickedness in high places, so going to destroy a physical place without being led by the Spirit of God may land you in more trouble. Don’t engage a carnal weapon to fight a spiritual battle.
So the right thing to do is to fight that battle from your seat in heavenly places. And this is where prayer and the understanding of your rights and authority in Christ comes handy. I’ve heard loads of testimonies of people who broke repeated patterns of death and barrenness through prayer and expression of faith in God’s word. They didn’t have to travel to any physical altar, they probably finished that battle in their room.
Lets learn from the disciples of Jesus, finish your spiritual battles in the upper room, and don’t stop until you are endued with power. Enough of all these emotional moves that we make, just because you watched someone destroy an altar on social media doesn’t mean you should do the same. Social media won’t tell you what happened next.
As I conclude, don’t forget those 2 scriptures; you’re seated in heavenly places, so don’t come down to fight an earthly battle that should be fought from your heavenly seat. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against spirits; so stop blaming physical beings for your predicaments, wage spiritual war against that situation.
Remember that if you have to destroy a phsycial shrine, let it be as led by the Spirit of God.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
#EmekaAnslem
