Pastor Caspar’s commentaries - Slaving Away

One of my heroes of the faith back in U.K. was William Wilberforce who stood against all of the powers of England with only a few good friends trying to abolish the injustice of slavery. Sometimes as a minister of the Gospel I also find it is not so easy trying to abolish the places in peoples life's where the devil has made them slaves to sin. As we have all fallen short of the Glory of the Lord. Seeing how people become slaves to the spirit of fear and addictions, and programmed with all manner of ungodly and religious thinking. Interestingly enough the Lord shows us in 2 Timothy 2:24 "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will". Because clearly, we can see from these Bible verses that the enemy of our souls has taken captive believers in certain areas of their lives. Maybe they have been deeply hurt and wounded by others and so they entertain a spirit of bitterness and so defile those around them now. The enemy has programmed them through lies and deceptions coming through vain imagination of unclean spirits in their thought life and in their generations that try to pull them away from the truth of God's Holy Word. We pray the Lord to be merciful to those who oppose the truth and themselves for that matter. May I remind you that the Lord tells us in places like Hebrews 12:14 "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;" Let me also encourage you with this account of the life of the young William Wilberforce who was very discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again: "Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practise of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might." Good morning and keep fighting the good fight of faith. 1 Timothy 6:12 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." Blessings PASTOR CASPAR