Throughout the Bible we are urged to fight the enemy, do battle, and wage war. We’ve not been placed in a spiritual Disneyworld and told to “have fun.” By birth we’ve entered a battlefield. By rebirth we’ve enlisted in God’s army as warriors of light.
Abraham’s nephew Lot learned this lesson on the evening two angels appeared in his presence and told him to gather his family and get out of Sodom. Why? Because God intended to destroy the city. The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush and commanded him to tell Pharaoh to release the Hebrew slaves. Gideon lacked spiritual vision until the angel of the Lord interrupted his life and sent him to battle the Midianites, idolatrous oppressors of God’s people. Each of these men, and others, fought in the power of God against Satan’s demonic army.
Today the conflict is spiritual and the war is for your heart–the core of your being that serves as the center of your intellect, emotion, and will. The enemy wants to capture your affection and direct your plans. He seeks to destroy you and your family. If you lose this war, not only is strategic ground lost, but even worse, you align yourself with the enemy.
No weapon of the enemy has worked better than the barrage of propaganda that hammers away at our thinking and convinces us we’re not warriors. It urges us to kick back and watch the world pass by like a parade. Such passivity reeks of danger. It’s a vampire that sinks its fangs into our neck and redirects our loyalty to the dark side. It sucks out our spiritual lifeblood so we’re drained of God’s power.
We must wake up. We can no longer deny the reality of the angelic conflict in which we’re combatants. We have an enemy who hates us and seeks our destruction. As God’s warriors we must live as though nothing else matters compared with knowing him and fighting at his side. We must discover the secret of spiritual strength rooted in Christ.
The life of our families, communities and country are at stake. But the biggest battle is within. As we align ourselves with Christ, he will direct our thoughts, feelings and actions so they are strategically effective to destroy enemy strongholds.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:10-13).
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