roadcrew 40|3

Christians, recently while sitting in our regular church service and the Pastor was preaching on a subject and said the word: Neutralize.  He was talking about the enemy and not letting him try and neutralize you in your walk with God.  While the Pastor preached on, I felt God highlighted this word and showed me a few different ideas about what it meant to be Neutralized or in Neutral by the enemy, and also how God want’s us to keep it in DRIVE for His Kingdom and our calling.  

First and foremost, I felt like God was showing me the gear shifter and how it symbolizes the Christian life.  Hopefully no Christians find themselves in reverse, they would be known as backsliders.  I found myself in this position in college.  I was saved, but I was not headed forward, I was going in reverse, away from God’s plan, calling, purpose, and righteousness.  A very dangerous situation to be in, but one that God thankfully got me out of.  In the other direction, we have the forward gears.  In an automatic, you just put it in Drive or “D” on the indicator, and then depending on how you accelerate, you go forward at different speeds.  If you have a manual transmission, it’s slightly more complex as you cognitively have to choose which gear you shift into based on many variables.  For this revelation, I felt it was similar to the automatic transmission.  

The place God showed me that the enemy attacks us as Christians, is between DRIVE and NEUTRAL.  Now, if you are in Reverse, the enemy already has you off course. If you are in DRIVE, the enemy wants to get you into Neutral, because it’s a place of powerlessness.  When you are in drive and you step on the gas, you begin to go forward.  If you press hard on the gas, you can really be moving very fast, very quickly.  However, if you are in neutral, you can step on the gas all you want, the engine will rev, you will burn fuel, you will sound like you are moving, but you will go absolutely nowhere.  The enemy loves to neutralize Christians because they stop advancing the Kingdom of God.  They stop advancing their walk, their family, their children, when you are neutralized you are going nowhere at all.

Another danger of being in Neutral, is slowly rolling backwards.  When you are in drive, even if you are not stepping on the gas, the car is in gear, and depending on the level of the road you are on, you can slowly be moving forward, just from sitting in drive.  When you are in neutral, you will definitely not creep forward at all, because the car is not in gear. When you are not in drive, the enemy could come along and slowly start to push you and you would start to go in reverse, losing ground you have potentially fought long and hard to achieve.  Another post I wrote, Adamantly Pursuing or Slowly Slipping is a revelation that can also help keep you in drive and not slowly slipping into neutral or being pushed in reverse.

Christians, we must be diligent about our pursuit of God, and I know for myself, through testing and trials, hardships, it can be difficult to keep it in drive.  The enemy uses the everyday and seasonal difficulties we face to get us to downshift out of drive. God wants us to keep it in drive all the time, always pushing forward and not getting distracted or distraught, but being overcomers in all that we face.  Let’s all face the challenges with determination to keep it in drive.

Father God, I pray for those weary, I pray that you renew their strength, I pray for the attacked, that they find shelter and safety in your presence.  I pray for the persecuted, that you would stand firm by their side, and I pray against all attacks of the enemy, that try and slip us out of drive.  I pray that we would keep our hearts and minds aligned with your plan, will, and purpose coming to pass, that we would overcome and see victory in Jesus Name, Amen.

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,  but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT)

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. James 4:7-8 (NLT)

Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you. Proverbs 4:25 (AMPC)

But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. Isaiah 40:31 (AMPC)

David was a strong man of God, but there was a time when he shifted to neutral and it starts out in 2 Samuel 11:1-18.  V.1- In the spring, when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab with his servants and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites [country] and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. (emphasis added). A cautionary example of where the enemy gets you when you are neutralized.
written and posted by Daniel Poggensee | 2024