Down Goes Dagon!

I Samuel 5:4 "But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained."

Once in awhile we need to remind ourselves that we are not to be living in a defensive posture. God is the most powerful Force in all of creation. There is nothing that can stand before His presence and survive unless He allows it.

When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple with the rest of their 'gods.' This is something we like to do with God - mix Him in with everything else in our life - but His mere presence simply won't allow for it. When they came in the next morning, Dagon, their chief god, was on his face before the Ark. So they set him back up again. That's what we always do - we reset our gods into place when they get knocked down. But the next morning, as we read in I Samuel 5:4, not only was Dagon down, but his head and hands were knocked off. It was as if God was saying: "He has no wisdom (head) or power (hands) in my presence," and broke them off to make that statement as clear as possible.

You are the Temple of the Living God - God Himself dwells within you - do not live today in a defensive position. Do not play to 'not lose.' Play to win. Too many teams I've coached or played on have made this mistake. They just play to not lose, to keep the score respectable, to survive until the final buzzer or the last out. We often live this way as Christians, curled up and hoping to make it to the end, huddled in our churches until it's all over, whatever that even means.

But God is advancing His kingdom - through you and me. Let's be bold and confident as we head out into the darkness. Let's pray with greater expectations. Let's expect the kingdoms of darkness to fall in the face of the Lord of all Creation, it's head and hands smashed on the threshold, as if desperately trying to get out of His presence, but not able to make it, because He doesn't just defeat the enemy, He destroys him. "Where O Death is your victory?" It doesn't exist. Satan has no grip on the child of God. The Cross has destroyed any last vestiges of power that Satan had over you.

I get chills just thinking about it. The gates of hell cannot stand in the presence of God. But through the precious blood of Christ, I can.