The Heat Of The Battle

It's not just me feeling the heat of the battle these days. I see it in the faces of those around me, I hear it in their voices and in the words they speak. We stand, stunned by the onslaught of the enemy's fiery darts of poison. He knows where to strike us to bring his desired result. He has studied us for generations, he knows our weaknesses. "So, why don't we know his weaknesses?" you may ask. The truth is WE DO!!

His weakness is the Word of God, the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony. Yet, it seems so difficult sometimes to USE the weapons of our warfare. How quickly we forget to raise our Sword of the Word as we duck and run and cry, "Why?"

We desire to be like David standing against the giant, Goliath, with our slingshot. But when the time comes, we are the Israelites hiding in the bushes behind the rocks and shaking in our shoes. All the while our enemy is roaring like a lion and laughing at us as he slings his lying threats. Yes, we read that David placed one stone in his sling and took down the giant, but what came forth first was the Truth. David TOLD his enemy, "I come to you in the Name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel..."  He loosed the Spirit of God that was within him through the spoken word.

We are IN Christ, we have the liberty to use His Name and His Name is THE Name above all names.  Next, David spoke out what his intentions were. He told the enemy what he was about to do, not in his own power, but by God's power. Then he spoke God's Word to the enemy, "The battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." (1 Samuel 17) It is "Not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts." God enables us to do anything by His Holy Spirit.

I have a confession to make. I have been one of those Israelites these past few weeks. I kept trying to "suck up" courage, but then before I knew it, I was quickly deflated by one of those fiery darts and collapsed into a rubbery puddle of uselessness. What the heck happened?

I lost my focus. The enemy had me so focused on me that I lost sight of God. How? Through his threats. And through my own thoughts and emotions. Our thoughts create our emotions. That just came to me, but it's true!! 2 Cor. 10:4 tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh) but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ.

This all concerns the mind. A stronghold is a fortified place which can indicate a way of thinking. It concerns our opinions, prejudices, and viewpoints. The imagination is the part of the mind where ideas, thoughts, and images are formed. A "high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" are from the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and the spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph.6:12) And then, of course, he tells us to take our thoughts captive--to the obedience of Christ. Even our thoughts have to obey Christ. The only way that will happen is to get His Word into our hearts and minds. But, we all know that, right? How soon we forget. (Okay, ME, ME, how soon I forget!!)

I was struggling and fighting and crying out, "God, I can't do this,  if YOU don't do this, it's not gonna happen!!"  Do you know what He told me? He said, "I already did!"

Colossians 2:10--YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, WHICH IS THE HEAD OF ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER... (V15)--AND HAVING SPOILED (DISARMED) PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS, HE MADE A SHOW (A SPECTACLE) OF THEM OPENLY, TRIUMPHING OVER THEM IN IT.

Y'all, there is so much more I want to share so there will be a part 2 (and maybe even more).  I'll let you think on this while I go back and re-read the book of Colossians. I want to challenge you to join me, it's a short book and could have just copied the whole thing here. But hey, it's already written!!