"A day may come when the courage of Men fails... when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship... but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when all hope comes crashing down, but it is NOT this day! This day, we fight! For all that you hold dear, stand, Men of the West! "
- Aragorn in Return of The King
If ever there was a time when need to hear such a call to arms that time is now. It's disturbing and overwhelming how difficult it is to maintain just a semblance of a godly life in the culture in which we live. There is so much competing for our attention and what makes it even more dangerous is that not all of the options are bad. It takes discipline (something that I lack greatly) to be able to pass over the good and the better for the best. The only means for doing this is to renew your mind and the means for doing that is to do daily spiritual warfare.
Before I share some practical Scriptural helps on doing daily spiritual warfare, let me make it clear what exactly it is that satan is trying to do to you. Satan is a master of understanding human nature. If there were a world class chair for the study of human nature at the most prestigious university in the world it would be held by satan. He knows that to remove your ability to do kingdom work he must first defeat you in the realm of your thoughts. His goal is to find your weaknesses and manipulate them and all the circumstances around you to cause you to agree with him about your situation. In essence what he is doing is stealing your heart. That is why God gave us the warning to...
Keep your heart with all vigilance,for from it flow the springs of life.
- Proverbs 4:23(ESV)
Our heart is the core of our being. It is where are thoughts are birthed that result in actions. Before we are saved it is utterly wicked and wretched (Jer. 17:9). Salvation brings with it a "re-creation" as it were of our hearts making our hearts good (Luke 8:15) and making them the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:6). So the battle lines look like this:
Side One (Good)God and all his loyal servants (angels), and believers who have been given a good heart that is inhabited by the Holy Spirit
Side Two: (Evil) satan, the world system that he has temporary dominion over, your flesh, unbelievers, and even some Christian who refuse to obey the Holy Spirit within them and have unwise hearts (Mark 8:33)
How can you survive this war? The solution is easily found but not so easily practiced. You must have a wise heart that is not under the influence of satan or his allies and the only way to have such a transformed heart (Rom. 12:2) is to daily make a spiritual stand for God. This can be done by
1. Pray through Ephesians 6:10-18 daily. Study this passage, memorize it, and commit it to the Lord everyday before you leave home. This should become a sort of mental flossing (I stole that one from Dave Edwards) that removes sinful ideas and negates any subconscious or overt agreements that you have made with satan.
2. Then throughout the day pray scripture and ask the Lord to give you a sensitivity to satans lies and distractions.
This must be done because the consequences of failure are too high. Oh and by the way if your day becomes so hectic that you haven't even given spiritual warfare a thought, chances are you have already been whipped. Don't lose heart though, because God's mercies are renewed everyday and rest assured that the next morning you will get you shot again.
I pray that God will raise up a generation of believers who see the war raging around them and who equip themselves to do battle and keep satan from devouring them, their families and their churches. Let these words of my hero of the faith and namesake Martin Luther be an encouragement to you:
Und wenn die Welt voll Teufel wär’ Und wollt’ uns gar verschlingen, So fürchten wir uns nicht so sehr, Es soll uns doch gelingen. Der Fürst dieser Welt, Wie sau’r er sich stellt, Tut er uns doch nicht, Das macht, er ist gericht’t, Ein Wörtlein kann ihn fällen.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.
- Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God)
Dr. Martin Luther
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