Words by our Priest-in-Charge:

Church in Victory

“….and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18

The Church in Victory is not merely a cliché but it was declared by the Lord Jesus Himself. Very often we find the Church, the local church, at least, are plagued with many struggles that could hardly qualify her as “victorious”. God in His graciousness, “manifest His strength in our weaknesses”.

The Church being the Body of Christ, carrying out and continuing in the mission of Christ on earth is inadvertently a target of the enemy (I Peter 5:8). My wife and I recently learnt that after the Fall of man, when God pronounced the curse of sin, man is to return to dust as we come from dust (Gen 3:19). The serpent, the devil was also cursed that he will eat dust. When man was created, what set him apart as a spiritual being is the breath of God in him. When man has been disconnected from that life of God, he no longer could live according to the Spirit of God, thus living by the flesh. Dust, represents that flesh life. Whenever we live by the flesh, we are in danger of becoming food for the devil, being chewed by him because he would have legal access to our lives.

For the Church to be victorious, we need not be looking for the devil under every piece of carpet! But it does mean that we need to be humble before the Lord and subject ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus, who is the Head of the Church. We must not fall into living life according to the flesh. We cannot afford to allow the flesh to dictate the way we think, we react, we make decision, we plan, we carry out the ministry of the church, etc., less we give the devil legal access and become his food!

The Church above all, must be united in love and purpose. Any form of disunity is but the work of the flesh. The flesh must be crucified to the Cross of Jesus, for that is the only way to deal with it.