Spiritual War

 

Last night I dreamed about a huge gathering of people to honor soldiers. These were not ordinary military but those in the song, “Onward Christian soldiers, marching on to war…” the members of God’s family who had been actively resisting sin and the enemy of our souls. In the dream I was aged enough to be an observer who prayed rather than being part of the army whose fight involved more than prayer. Today I’m thinking how apt for the NT writers to liken Christian life to that of a soldier.

First we are enlisted by the Holy Spirit to join up. Some think we volunteer and offer ourselves, but if that is so, it is only because the Spirit has been calling and the ability to respond was His doing.

Once in His army, we may have stereotypes about how to live as a soldier, but mainly no clue how a genuine soldier is supposed to behave. Status wise, we are soldiers, but in experience we need to be trained, put through bootcamp before we really know much about it. Not only that, learning comes at different rates and with different ‘lessons’ depending on each person’s background and former habits. Unlike a military army, our Commanding Officer takes this into consideration. He does not insist that everyone looks and acts the same. We progress according to individual mentoring as He knows best.

Yet we do progress. Each one IS a soldier, no matter if one marches out of step or another salutes with the wrong hand. Our identity in the army of God is the same — we belong to Jesus no matter how much we know about how to act or even how to go to battle. One thing is certain:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

Sometimes a military person goes AWOL or drops out, or gets put out, but this is not true of God’s army. OT and NT believers are spoken of as God’s people who endure in faith and persist in obedience. Some “who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” (Hebrews 11:33–34) And “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2 Timothy 2:4)

As I read books like “Born for Battle” and “Praying the Bible” God impresses on me the hard work of being in His army is not physical service (as hard as it can be) but prayer. After times of fervent prayer, I can feel as exhausted as if I had spent the day tending to the needs of those who have nothing. The “foreign armies” are not other belief systems or anti-God people but:

“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.” (Ephesians 6:12)

It is little wonder that the rest of Ephesians tells of the armor needed to fight this fight. If my head and heart are not protected by true thoughts, or if I’m not clothed in truth or using the Word of God which is my sword, I will experience no words to say, no perseverance in saying them in prayer or to others, and even no prayer at all. The enemy knows how to distract and disarm me, how to discourage and sidetrack me, even how to make me feel so tired that I’d rather sleep than do anything else, including battle him in prayer.

PRAY: Jesus, after years of civilian pursuits and trying to please myself or other people, You are putting my focus on my duties as Your soldier. Actually that dream was not quite the same as reality in Your army. Those who pray on the sidelines are warriors too, perhaps even in a greater sense than those more visible in ministry that involve physical effort in all sorts of serving. Right now, all I want is to be faithful in whatever You give me to do, not only in marching on to war, but making certain that Your cross and Your words go before to lead me, and that I am praising You and causing hell’s foundations to quiver. In this battle, the devil flees, and Your people are victorious and totally effective in defeating his lies and making You known. Amen!

More Spiritual Battles

 

This week has been filled with spiritual battles. Certain prayers of faith brought both deep assurance and attacks from the enemy who does not want me to pray with such confidence. Add to that, hubby and I have considered a move to something away from where we are, leading us to a near offer and an actual offer on two places, but our hearts were unsettled and distracted from almost everything else. My biggest struggle was not knowing what was an I-want vs. what God wants. I was filled with positive and negatives from both sides, or so it seemed. We did agree that we wanted the will of God, but went to bed last night very uncertain what His will might be.

This morning, my hubby told of his wrestling during the night and that God gave him the clear answer to withdraw the offer, to not buy that house. It has some hidden and dangerous flaws, and we noticed three of them when doing a walk-through to figure out what needed to go where. God made His will clear. Besides, His will is not that we be distressed like we had been. (Matthew 11:30)

Today’s reading says this: “God is love, and His will can be nothing but love. He is full of wisdom, and His will must always be wise. He is omnipotent, and His will is baffled by nothing that can oppose…. The idea that our Father who loves us can want anything but our truest happiness is inconceivable. His will for us must be all that is best and most satisfying. Surely we can trust ourselves to it without a single shrinking or fearing thought….”

The reading adds that when we submit to His will we find “… this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)

While that house had some features that were extremely attractive, knowing His answer to our struggle was NO brought instant relief and rest, not burdensome at all, and for both of us. Our deposit is still on our desk and while our realtor may wonder about our sanity, we are at peace with not pursuing this change in our lives at this time.

All we do know for certain, besides not buying that house, is that we are supposed to keep purging this one, getting rid of all that we do not need or use, and keep simplifying our lives. These next verses are not about our home, yet the principle applies to simplicity and focus:

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Therefore, if someone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21)

This house search had become a huge distraction from what we do know is God’s will: to know and love Jesus, to walk with Him, and to share Him with others.

PRAY: Lord, the burden to pray for others almost got swept away by the burden to find ‘just the right place’ to live. But leaving that up to You erased our concerns and refocused us on the matters at hand, the things we know that You want from us. Praying in Your will is so powerful that our enemy stacked us with such huge distractions that praying became difficult. Thank You for Your saving power that has brought us to see what has been happening and be able to say YES to You with clarity.

From selfishness to submission

 

One preacher described spiritual growth in seven stages, first like a honeymoon, then eventually a realization of having much sin to deal with finally being formed into the image of Christ and becoming consistent in worship and obedience. Another says there are five stages. MacArthur describes three stages using Jacob’s life as an example. He calls those stages: a stolen blessing, a conditional commitment, and a sincere supplication.

God intended to bless Jacob however his name describes the first part of his life. Jacob means “trickster,” “supplanter,” or “usurper.” In his younger years he lived up to that name, tricking his father into blessing him instead of his older brother, Esau. (See Genesis 27). Then he fled from his angry brother and spent fourteen years taking care of sheep for his Uncle Laban.

Even as he traveled towards Laban’s house, God appeared to him in a dream and giving him the covenant promises made earlier to his grandfather, Abraham, and then to his father, Isaac. Jacob’s response is revealing:

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. (Genesis 28:20–21)

I can remember in my early Christian life trying to bargain with God and praying words like, “If You will do . . .  then I will do . . .” and finally realizing God will bless me without me trying to bribe Him, but like Jacob, I had to be humbled and realize that His blessings are not about my performance, but they also are not something I can dictate. He knows best. How good to be able to say what Jacob finally said:

I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. (Genesis 32:10)

As he left Laban with his two wives, family and servants plus livestock, the Lord appeared in the form of a man and wrestled with Jacob all night (v. 24). Jacob refused to let Him go until he received a blessing. That was not a selfish request. Jacob finally had a heart devoted to being all God wanted him to be. At that, the Lord changed Jacob’s name to “Israel,” which means “he fights or persists with God.”

At the end of his life, the NT says, “By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.” (Hebrews 11:21)

He never saw the fulfillment of God’s covenant promises just as Abraham and Isaac before died without seeing that end, yet on his spiritual journey from Jacob to Israel, from selfishness to submission, he learned to trust God and in faith wait for Him to keep His promise.

PRAY: Jesus, I can see all sorts of parallels in my own life and even now am waiting for You to answer certain prayers knowing that I might die before You answer them. However, like Jacob, I am certain that You hear my requests and that You are at work in the lives of the people that I pray for, just like You worked in Jacob’s life. You can bring the most stubborn and selfish people into a yielded relationship with You. Your Word gives much evidence of Your power to change lives. My experience also tells me this is true and I rejoice that nothing is impossible with You. For that, I am deeply grateful.

PONDER: Last night, a dream threatened, another one of those “stop praying” attempts to keep me from trusting God by making my emotions feel as if I’d been in a war zone. God enables me to focus on Him, realizing that my enemy is not flesh and blood, nor is it my imagination, nor vivid and horrible dreams. My enemy is “the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) and my weapons are “not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. I can destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, and be ready to punish every disobedience, when my obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:4–6) all because of Jesus Christ and His power.