Over the years, I’ve had conversations with believers that sounded more like a conversation with an unbeliever than someone who claims to know the Lord. The same doubts and deceptions were present in those conversations as a conversation taking place in the larger unredeemed population. Dangling from the spiritual mouths were pacifiers that allowed them to remain immature and vulnerable, unavailable to move deeper in their relationship with God, pacified, but not persuaded of the greater truths that reveal the never-failing faithfulness of God.

A major contributing factor to this problem is a lack of biblical understanding. That understanding reveals more than just facts and information about God. It is a study that reveals the heart of God. 

Becoming pacified and doing what seems right in their estimation without the counsel of Scripture has put many in a vulnerable spiritual place. The hard truths of God’s word have been explained away and replaced with pacifying half-truths and lies regarding things the Bible tells us clearly are not the will of God but appeal to an underdeveloped and immature faith.

When Asaph wrote Psalm 74, he was frustrated at what he saw taking place in the people of God. He saw the enemy destroying the city and burning down the sanctuary of God. God’s name was being defiled in the worst ways. The invading hordes shouted “Let’s destroy everything! So, they burned down all the places where God was worshipped” (Psalm 74:8). Asaph was at the end of his rope and frustrated, “Will you let them dishonor your name forever?” (vs. 10).

Asaph was referring to the destruction of a physical sanctuary erected during the Old Covenant as a place of worship. We are the new sanctuary in a New Covenant representing a mobile people found in all nations and in all walks of life. While our lives may not be in jeopardy of an invading horde, we can place ourselves in jeopardy of having our faith assaulted and its impact burned to the ground if we are not grounded in the word of God. 

The goal of invading hordes in Asaph’s day is the same goal as the unseen demonic influencers invading our lives today. Their goal is the destruction of everything representing God. The real prize of these demonic missions is to “burn down all the places where God was worshipped.” 

Only God’s word can hold off an assault against our faith. Jesus demonstrated this to us in His wilderness temptation when He used the word to disempower the devil’s appeal. The word of God spoken in faith is the only thing that can extinguish the flames of hell that are trying to burn our faith to the ground leaving our testimony in a heap of ashes. What we need most at this moment in history are believers who can wield the sword of truth in love and who will stand at the gate of the city and say, “You can’t have this place. It belongs to the Lord.”

“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).