Welcome To The Battlefield

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to travel through Europe many times. I have seen battlefields and castles that were ground zero for some of the fiercest clashes in world history. One of my personal favorites is found just outside the small Scottish town of Stirling. Near a large marshy area is a battlefield known as Bannock burn. It was on this marshy plain that King Robert the Bruce defeated King Edward II and gained Scottish independence from England. It is a moving experience to walk the land where kilted warriors laid their life on the line to gain their freedom. Yet, despite the solemnity of that experience, there is another battlefield that captures my attention even more and this one is much closer to home. The battlefield that is even greater than all the others combined is the battlefield of the heart.

When you were born, even though you were too young to know it then, you were born into a world at war. This war has been raging ever since the greatest prince of angels decided that serving the most high God was not enough. Satan is real, spiritual warfare is real, the battle for the hearts of men and women is real, its more real than the chair you are sitting in right now. Yet for all of its reality and carnage, most believer’s walk ignorantly through this battlefield never giving a thought about the enemy or the war that he is waging to ensnare their hearts.

The Scriptures speak of Lucifer in very specific terms. One of the most famous passages about him is found in I Peter 5:8

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (NASB)

Satan is fixed on keeping believers from recognizing what God has done in our lives. He doesn’t want us to realize that our flesh may still be bad, but our hearts are redeemed and are therefore good. He doesn’t want us to be fully alive in Christ just as St. Irenaeus has said,

"The Glory of God is man, fully alive!"

God has given us a new heart, and Satan is terrified that we will realize this and start living up to the potential that we have afforded us in Christ. We are no longer bound by the law of sin and death, but we are freed by the spirit that brings life.

So how do we live this life, this abundant life that Christ refers to in John 10:10? Let me give you a few suggestions…

1. Recognize that God has given you a new heart that is good. – II Corinthians 4:6-7, 5:17

2. Recognize that Satan, the world, your own flesh, and even sometimes other believers can and are used by Satan to keep your from walking with God from your good heart. – Matt 16:23, James 4:3-5, Romans 7:18

3. Prepare yourself daily for spiritual warfare – Ephesians 6:10-18


I hope that this wake-up call will encourage you and disturb you at the same time. Don’t give Satan another day. Break any agreements that you may have made with him and begin to live the life that God has called you to today. When you begin to walk with God from the good heart that He has re-created within you, then you will know the glory that Jesus was talking about when he said,

"But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”

- Luke 8:15 (NASB)