The kingdom of darkness wants our failures to become trophies in the temple of darkness. These temples are not physical temples, but mindsets of darkness where our failures support the accusations of hell.
The life of Saul was a sad life. In his final battle with the Philistines, he was killed. His death came by his own sword. After suffering a fatal blow, he had to fall on his sword because his armor bearer was afraid to kill the king.
When Saul’s army failed in battle, the Philistines moved in to take possession of the towns the Israelites had previously occupied. The Philistines stripped off Saul’s armor and cut off his head, “They placed his armor in the temple of their gods, and they fastened his head to the temple of Dagon” (I Chronicles 10:10). A concluding statement defined Saul’s life and legacy, “So, Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He failed to obey the Lord’s command, and he even consulted a medium” (vs. 13). It was at this point in Israel’s history that the leadership of the nation was transferred from Saul to David.
While the Lord is faithful to forgive all our sins if we confess them, the damage we do by our unfaithfulness becomes a tool in the hands of the enemy. It will be placed in their temples of deception to be praised, always bringing our failures before the Lord as evidence to support their misunderstanding of God’s love.
Revelations of unfaithfulness to the Lord are increasing, not as a failure of the Church, but as evidence that God is preparing His people for what is to come. Jesus is preparing His bride to move in greater demonstrations of His power. No unconfessed sin will be left uncovered.
While hell has a trophy room filled with our failures, the Lord has a trophy room filled with a great cloud of witnesses who have been redeemed from their failures and transformed into His trophies. Paul referred to this when he was redeemed as a persecutor of the Church, “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life” (I Timothy 1:16).
No matter the depth of sin taking place within the Church and how painful it is to our witness, we need to remain focused on God’s trophy room, not hell’s trophy room of graceless accusations. It is in God’s trophy room where we will see the heart of God displayed as He assembles His trophies of grace. From that understanding, we will be willing to confess any sin no matter how dark and painful it might be, all for the glory of God.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by PDPics from Pixabay
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