More than a conqueror…

The enemy hit yesterday and with force to the point that I took a Covid test. This was an attack against my health, not fully realized until I prayed, until there was only one red line on the test, until the feelings of dying went away. This happens after acts of obedience and makes me feel like a gazelle being chased by a big cat.

Today’s devotional was a familiar topic: “you must die to self” but the reading from “Born for Battle” was more helpful. It talked about winning the battles, not because I am able but because of what Christ has done to enable me. It refers to instructions for war that begin with:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For 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. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Ephesians 6:10–13)

Yet this is not the beginning of this battle plan. The entire book of Ephesians speaks to what Christ has already done. As yesterday’s devotions pointed out, I am already seated in heavenly places with Christ. This book on spiritual warfare says, “The true order of faith is not that we have to live an earthly life with a view to heaven, but that we are called to a heavenly life with a view to earth… So we go into battle not from the perspective of our circumstances here on earth, but from our position above in Christ.”

I am already at the top of this mountain, placed there in Christ that His will might be done here. I do not have to fight for victory, because He says I am more than a conqueror through Him that loved me. From this exalted position secured in Christ, and by being clothed with the armor of God, the powers of evil must back off as I resist the enemy. I will not win if I try this from a human perspective as in getting in a panic when trials come and not looking at them from God’s perspective. This puts me below the powers of darkness instead of abiding above them in Christ.

While this may sound more philosophical than reality, the events of yesterday and what happened before this attack came is my evidence. God asked me to do something, and when I did, I invaded enemy territory and brought to it the love of Christ. The enemy was not happy with that. However, God gave me words to say and the attack on my body stopped. No other explanation.

Born for Battle points out that concentration on the first part of Ephesians is vital to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. It is filled with powerful descriptions of what Christ has done. I must think about those truths rather than falling into fear or having a ‘poor me’ attitude. While Christians get messages about prayer, too often they are “fix my problem” messages rather than “yield to God and resist the devil” messages. No wonder he does not flee when our concerns are for personal comfort rather than Spirit-filled resistance based on the fact that he is already a loser.

PRAY: Jesus, You have done it all. Fear of death is conquered, as are Satan’s schemes to take Your people out of Your hands and into His. We are seated in heavenly places and this enemy can never undo what You have done. I am Your child — now and forever, and as I pray Your will, You give me confidence that You not only hear but will answer. The enemy cannot stop You; You have totally defeated him.
 

When faith is attacked…

 

Faith follows facts and emotions are the caboose. If emotions pull the train of my spiritual life, then God often feels so far away that He cannot possibly know or understand my needs and pays no attention to my pleas. I say ‘often’ because His presence and actions and answers to prayer can often be so spectacular that I wonder why I even doubted Him. Of course it is better to let facts pull the train of life.

This is why the illustration of the train says faith fuels the facts. It is not merely the presence of facts, or that I read and know what God says about Himself. This is about believing them, knowing that God exists, hears my cries and is who He says He is. What if faith falters? What do I do when my assurance is attacked? How do I keep faith focused and trusting rather than letting emotions or anything else distract me and start thinking, ‘Is this really true’?

The answer is always Jesus. While some say He never existed, even the most skeptic of historians have ceased to do that and no longer question that He was an historical person. A figment of someone’s imagination does not change lives for thousand of people over thousands of years. A book of fiction claiming to be the true Word of God does not last on the best seller list if the author and central character is a fraud.

Even those who do not agree or commit themselves to Jesus Christ acknowledge that His message and life have power. Someone recently told us of a podcaster who is not a Christian hosted a professing atheist on his podcast. Both agreed that all countries in the world were far better off when their population was mostly Christian. This speaks to the power of the gospel and the reality of the One that died and rose again. Facts pulling faith.

When my feelings waver and God seems to be fiction, I think about Jesus. He said things so contrary to how we humans think and did things that startled, challenged, and changed the religious ideas of even the most religious. His ability to control the weather, illness, even to change water into wine, makes Him unique. He is human yet He is God? There is no other explanation for Jesus.

My emotions cannot turn God into a puppet pulled by the strings of what I think and feel. He is not controlled by me — and if He was, then I would be God. That thought is so absurd, but I’m not laughing. I know who and what I would be like if that were true. The world would look like my desk does most of the time — total chaos. And if that isn’t enough, this generation has largely said NO to God and Jesus Christ and many are doing whatever humans want to do — and we have total chaos. It seems God is saying, “You want to live without facts pulling your train, then this is what happens.”

My emotions and the selfish desires of many are capable of making a mess of things, but that does not negate the existence and sovereignty of God. Only He has the audacity to claim this:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:28–29)

All things? Even chaos? He is doing exactly that — using the chaos to draw millions to trust Him, right down to my own life being changed by the stuff that makes me feel helpless. Even the results of trusting myself show me how little I know about being my own god. This God and His facts are worthy to be at the front of my life.

PRAY: Jesus, trusting You and the truth about You is the best way to live, and keeping feelings in their place means that instead of fear, hatred, and other emotions influencing how I live, You give me a deep joy that continually rises to the surface and lovingly pushes faith to follow those facts along with an overwhelming joy that overcomes my selfish ideas and feelings and gives me a deep desire to live as Your facts tell me to live…

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)