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!

Consider the Source

Sometimes when I share with others, I remember things I knew but had forgotten. Yesterday that happened. I’ve had problems with my devotional book when the writer talks about the importance of human volition when it comes to faith. Every time it was mentioned, my mind went to my fleshy I-wants. I’d think of the words of Jesus when He said, “Not my will but thine be done.” If Jesus rejected His perfect will, why should I engage my sinful will?

However, in our ladies prayer group, two people asked how to tell the difference between God’s will and their own. I drew Watchman Nee’s explanation, something like this diagram. 

As sinners, our inner spirit is dead to God and ruled by outward circumstances including our soulish intellect, emotions, and will.

When Christ gives new life to the spirit, the rule is reversed as the soul yields to Him and our outer person follows the leading of his Spirit through our new way of thinking, feeling, and making choices. To walk in the flesh is the first diagram; to walk in the Spirit is the second.

This explains how our will needs to match the will of God and I can now choose that because my spirit is alive to God’s Spirit. The choice is: am I willing to put my faith in what God says, or do I trust my old nature that will always resist the Spirit of God?

Today’s reading is about putting my will into my believing. It is not passive but made alive by the Spirit of God and giving me the option to listen to the input of the flesh or the input of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23) and the NT also speaks of those “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)

I cannot put faith on any measurement scale and say I don’t have enough. Jesus makes it a choice, not a measurement:

Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)

There are times when outward events, trials and temptations seem to hammer my faith into the ground, but God says:

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:6–7)

A tough situation does not affect the promises of God. I can choose to trust Him in both sunshine and darkness. As today’s devotional says, the sun has not ceased shining when I travel through a tunnel and cannot see its light. The Sun of Righteousness still shines even if His light is hidden at times. I need to choose to remember that and can choose if I listen to His Spirit and trust His Word rather than moan about the darkness. This is only a trial, and not the end of my walk with Him.

PRAY: today, Jesus, the sun is shining — at least in my heart. (It is snowing outside but very bright and white.) Forgive my forgetfulness. You use my hands and sometimes my words to do Your will so of course You can use my will, intellect, even my emotions — as long as the motivation comes from You and not the world, the flesh, or the enemy. May Your will be done today.