Tag: Evan Hopkins

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The Battle for the Souls of Men

Spiritual Warfare

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Eph. 6:12

Spiritual warfare is the battle between God and Satan for the souls of men and women. Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31) and desires to devour humankind (1 Peter 5:8) in order to bring hurt and pain to the heart of God. Christ has entered this world as God incarnate in human flesh to destroy the works of the Devil (1 John 3:8) and rescue us from the oppression and imprisonment of Satan (Luke 4:18). The weapons of our warfare are intercessory prayer, dedicated fasting, spiritual gifts, obedience to God, intimacy with Christ, sacraments of the church, physical healing, and demonic deliverance.

Ultimately, Christ won the warfare on the Cross, but the full realization of his victory will not be manifested to the world until his second advent. Until then, we fight like the Allies in World War Two: they knew that victory was assured in 1944, yet they needed to take back the ground that the Nazis and Japanese imperial forces had conquered in ’40 and ’41.

In the mean time, Christ has extricated Satan from his advantaged position. Satan can no longer bring charges against us, expose our debt of sin, or keep us living in shame and doubt. Because of Christ’s triumph on the cross, we stand in a position of victory for we hold the spiritual high ground. We hold that ground by faith for we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We simply “stand” knowing that we fight from a position of victory (Eph. 2:6, 6:11, 13-14).

What is the enemy seeking to do? To dislodge you. Now Christ puts us into the victorious position, the impregnable position, and He gives us an armour that we might be enclosed in Him, and we must take it by faith, and hold it by faith, and fight by faith from that victorious position. It is the fight of faith. We begin in victory.

Evan H. Hopkins, “Standing Fast,” Daily Thoughts from Keswick: A Year’s Daily Readings, ed. Herbert F. Stevenson (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), 212.

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The Glorious Fact

The Glorious Fact: Christ as Divine Love Fills Your Soul

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

Eph. 3:15-19 (NLT)

My last few blog posts have focused on the theme of the Indwelling Christ; my favorite subject to teach and preach. The truth of Christ living in you is understood by illumination, grasped by faith, enjoyed by abiding, and experienced by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ manifesting in and through is intimacy with God, freedom over sin, and joy in tumultuous times. The Holy Spirit makes real in us all that Christ has done for us on the Cross. Thus, we can find strength in weakness, victory over temptations, and grace to respond like Jesus in every life situation. The Indwelling Christ is grace being in us the desire, ability and power to live the life of Christ.

Seek to grasp the glorious fact that you may have Christ as Divine love filling your soul. Just as the alabaster box was in the house, and its presence may not have been known, so Christ has been a long time with many of His disciples, and they have not known Him ; that is, they have been comparatively ignorant of His glorious fulness. But no sooner was the box broken, and the ointment shed abroad, than the odour filled the house (Luke 7:36-50).

So, when the love of God is poured forth by the Holy Ghost when the infinite treasures of Divine love stored up in Christ are disclosed, revealed in us, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost their subduing, liberating, and transforming influences begin at once to be seen and felt. Their cleansing and purifying effect on our thoughts and desires are realized. We begin to learn then what our blessed Lord meant when He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8).

Evan Hopkins, The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life (Philadelphia: Sunday School Times, 1952), 60.

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Sin is Paralysis

Sin’s Disabling Power

Sin has precisely the same effect (i.e., paralysis) on our souls. Though there is spiritual life, there may be lack of spiritual vigor. The effects of sin may be traced in the impairment of voluntary power, and in the enfeebling of all moral energy, as well as in the hardening and deadening of the spiritual sense. And the result is the whole tone of the spiritual life is lowered. Sin thus robs us of the power by which alone we are able to perform the functions that belong to our renewed being. And it not only undermines our strength, it hinders our growth. The child may have all the parts of its body complete, every organ, every faculty, and yet it will fail to grow if struck down with paralysis. So with the soul. The new birth may have taken place, the great change of conversion to God may have been clear and unmistakable, and yet sin may have been allowed to come in and produce its paralyzing effects. It not only robs us of all spiritual energy, it retards our progress, it hinders our growth.

Evan Hopkins, The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life (Philadelphia: Sunday School Times, 1952), 20.