Taking Back

                                                                                      ^
My Dan, 2004
(Parris Island, US Marine Corps)

The Lord God said, "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given to you...Be strong and courageous...for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!" (Joshua 1:3,9)

        The book of Joshua is the story of how God, to whom the whole earth belongs, at one stage in the history of redemption reconquered a portion of the earth from the powers of the world that had claimed it for themselves."1 With Moses in the grave, the Lord commissioned Joshua, "Arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them."

         In Acts 26, Jesus Christ commissioned a Pharisee named Saul, "Get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness...to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God!"

         In 2006, while ironing in my prodigal child's bedroom, I heard God's commissioning via Ron Hutchcraft's message on Christian radio: "Take Back What the Enemy Stole!" 

         Ladies and gentlemen, all around us, that great dragon, the old serpent who is called the devil, holds captive that which belongs to God - entire communities, neighborhoods, or perhaps even our own children! It's high time to arise, go forth in Jesus name, and in the power of His love, set the captives free! Amen? Amen!
    

1 Zondervan: NASB Study Bible, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1999), 271.