The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. – Psalm 14:1

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Now that the issue with authority has been established, we are about to move into the issue of power. Since the fool disregards the presence of God, naturally he disregards His authority. The fool does not respect authority, neither do those who follow him. All they are after is power, so they can fight the will of God. The will of God for a person (or a soul), for a family, for a community, and for a nation. This is why in countries with high level of corruption is very difficult to break with the message of the gospel. Corruption shows lack of respect for the authority, e.g. the government, the institutions, and so on. This is a sign of ungodliness.

How do you fight the will of God? Well, we are all well aware that there are three dimensions – spirit, soul, and body. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” So the first dimension involves the body. Men can kill men. Animals can kill men. Weather can kill men. Diseases can kill men. Gadgets and devices can kill men. Sin kills men. Foolishness can kill men. The list goes on and on. Our human bodies are fragile and there are probably infinite ways to kill the body, and there are probably men and women who can come up with a list as to how to kill the human body in their own imaginations; yet there is him, or there is only one who can destroy both the body and the soul.

The thief comes only to kill, to steal, and to destroy (John 10:10), so there is the one and only who destroys that which the Lord has planted, and that is satan himself. He can, in other words, he has the ability to destroy the body and the soul in hell. Hell is the place where souls are destroyed. So the only power that satan has is that of killing, of stealing, and of destruction. It’s the essence of his power. He has it, he uses it, and he will continue to use it until the Lord allows it, but his authority is limited to the realm of the soul; or the soulish realm. All those who go to his seat for power, so that they too may receive the power to rule and to reign, are empowered to kill, to steal, and to destroy.

The soul is our human will, mind and emotion. When a person submits to the devil, as opposed to God (submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee – James 4:7), the soul enters a state of destruction. The devil is the power of satan to tempt, it’s the power of temptation. I have encounter temptation many times. It’s not easy to resist him in our human nature, because of how fragile is. Often it’s the job of the intercessors and the power of prayer that prevents his plans from coming to past. As the soul gets destroyed, the only thing that’s left is the human spirit. And we all know that the unbelievers have death spirits. So only those who are saved, or have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, will be able to continue with the Holy Spirit.

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Prayer: Father, as we continue our journey in eternity with you, we ask that you awaken our understanding and activate our spiritual gifts, making your presence more evident to those around us. In Jesus Christ’s name, amen.

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