Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you for a share of the allotted portion of the saints in the light; who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Col. 1:12-13
Dear saints, let us pray that the saints would learn to preach the gospel as the apostle Paul did, turning people from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God that they might be transferred into the kingdom of God (Acts 26:18; Col. 1:12-13).
Since warfare exists between the kingdoms of God and Satan, all the spiritual work that we are doing for God, whatever form it may take, as long as it touches the things of the spiritual realm, is in nature a warfare. For example, preaching the gospel, according to Acts 26:18, is “to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God.” This shows us that preaching the gospel is not only to open men’s eyes and turn them from darkness to light but also to deliver them from the authority of Satan. Again, Colossians 1:13 says, “Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” To be delivered from the authority of darkness is to be delivered from the power of Satan or the kingdom of Satan. And to be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love is to be transferred into the kingdom of God. A person who does not believe in the Lord obviously rejects the name of God, does not have God’s reign in him, and has nothing to do with the will of God. Instead, he is fully under the power of Satan, and his whole being is in the dark kingdom of Satan. When a person is saved, he first believes in the name of the Lord; second, he calls on the Lord’s name; and third, he is in the name of the Lord; he belongs to the Lord’s name. Hence, he is delivered from the power of Satan and belongs to the name of the Lord. Once the name of the Lord is upon him, the authority of the Lord follows. Once the authority of the Lord comes upon him, Satan’s authority is removed. Therefore, strictly speaking, preaching the gospel, bringing salvation to men, and leading them to the Lord is a kind of spiritual warfare. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” ch. 18, pp. 522-523)
More details via Beseeching.org, day 378.
