The Daily Battle

"From behind the shadow of the still small voice – more awful than tempest or earthquake – more sure and persistent than day and night – is always sounding full of hope and strength to the weariest of us all, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”" -Thomas Hughes

Have you ever thought about the fact that you are in a war as a Christian? Literally, everyday we wake up we are going into the battlefield, in fact even when we are sleeping we are in the battlefield; until we enter into the kingdom of heaven one day we are going to face the harsh reality that we are not of this world and the attack is on. As I was thinking about the sins that I struggle with regularly recently I was discouraged by the fact that I so regularly fail. Although I know that Christ has victory over sin and has enabled me to be an overcomer the weakness of my flesh and the temptation and lures of the enemy and the world constantly wage war in my soul...and does it ever get tiring! Praying MARANATHA, Lord come quickly is definitely the ever present desire in my heart, but I know that God has left me here, He has numbered my days as the Psalmist said and has a specific plan and purpose for my life as well as yours if you are one of His (Eph 2:10); and that means that I need to prepare for battle everday until He comes and takes me home.

Any soldier will tell you that before they go into battle they prepare, rarely will a soldier go into battle unprepared. We need to do the same! We need to prepare our minds as 1 Peter 1:13 says, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." So what are we preparing our minds for? What on earth is the believer's warfare? I did a little bit of examining what Scripture had to say about this battle:

First this battle is internal: Galatians 5:17 "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." Isn't this the truth, how often have we wanted so desparately to not sin and yet we give in. We must realize that the battle begins within, it begins within the depravity of our flesh and we must be on guard.

Next the battle is with the world: Galatians 3:22 says, "But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe." The world is bombarding us with sinful temptations day in and day out, but take heart Jesus says in John 16:33, ""I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.""

And lastly the battle is with the enemy himself, Satan: Ephesians 6:11-12 says, "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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." This is intense, our struggle is an ongoing battle by a force that has a lot of God given granted power and is a master mind schemer.

So how do we fight it? We put on the armor of the Lord of course! In Ephesians 6:13-18 we read, "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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. "

Practically speaking what does this mean....
1. Belt of Truth- THINK TRUTH, BE BIBLICAL, PURSUE HIM
2. Breastplate of Righteousness- PUT OFF THE SINFUL WAYS AND PUT ON RIGHTEOUS/GODLY HABITS THEY WILL GUARD YOUR HEART
3. Feet with readiness to share the Gospel- THAT IS OUR MISSION
4. Shield of Faith- OUR CONFIDENCE IN HIM AND TRUST IN WHAT HE DID AND WILL DO WILL PROTECT US FROM THE LIES THAT ARE THROWN OUR WAY
5. Helmet of salvation- A HELMET PROTECTS YOUR HEAD, THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR BODY AND YOUR SALVATION IS WHAT PROTECTS YOU FROM DEATH AND GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO LIVE ETERNALLY
6. Sword of the Spirit- THE WORD OF GOD, THE SWORD LETS YOU FIGHT SUCCESSFULLY
And lastly it says PRAY! That is crucial in this all out battle. John Piper called prayer a "wartime walkie talkie".

We can hope in knowing that He has already overcome the world and that each day as we embark on this journey and go head on into battle we have a commander in chief who has already won!