“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” 2 Cor. 10:4-5……………
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” Eph. 6:10-18………….
When a dear friend shared with me one day about an indescribably fiery trial in which she was all of a sudden out of the clear blue ensconced, my heart broke for her to the point I was in tears. Not only was I heartbroken about what she was going through from the standpoint of the trial she faced coupled with the spiritual battle in which she was awfully immersed with the devil coming at her with ferocious intensity, but I could relate to the details of what she was going through from my own past experience. She was clearly in the thick of a fiery spiritual war, and she had not seen the war coming her way in the least from what I understood anyway. I figured she wouldn’t be able to come up for air for a long time to come given the bloody spiritual war in which she was engaged. So I was shocked that within 24 hours she was sounding shockingly okay, all things considered anyway, and that within 48 hours she was already sharing with me some rock solid victory in the thick of the spiritual war that waged on. But how could this possibly be? And how does this apply to you?
The same dear friend who in past heinous battles had been rendered so intimidated and immobile and paralyzed by the enemy’s fiery darts and horrendous tactics, and then on top of it virtually unable to pass the tests the Lord in the midst of it all was sending her way, WAS SO FILLED UP WITH GOD’S SPIRIT, WAS SO FILLED UP WITH GOD’S WORD, AND WAS SO FILLED UP WITH SPENDING DAILY INTENTIONAL TOTALLY COMMITTED TIME AT THE FEET OF JESUS, that she had her weapons prepared, and she was ready instead of being paralyzed by fear and the intensity of the battle this time TO FIGHT. And ultimately, IN THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD, to WIN.
What do YOU do when war comes your way? When you find yourself facing intense spiritual warfare? When the devil is coming exceedingly hard at you? When in the midst of it all the Lord is testing you as far as your relationship with Him is concerned, as far as what He is testing you in regard to, what He has been teaching you, what He wants to show you, what He wants to refine in you and so forth? Here’s how my friend’s situation applies to you and me.
Just as my friend found herself this time around, WE NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR SPIRITUAL WAR, AND FOR GOD’S TESTING, AHEAD OF TIME! Any good soldier DOES NOT wait for a war to begin to prepare himself. HE IS PREPARED IN ADVANCE! He is STRONG and HAS HIS WEAPONS READY and KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT and has a RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS COMMANDER IN CHIEF and WITH HIS FELLOW SOLDIERS, BEFORE THE WAR STARTS!
Friend, we need to not just repent of our sins and believe in Christ as Lord, and follow Him daily, but WE NEED TO SPEND TIME WITH HIM CONTINUALLY, to ASK FOR AND RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, to SEEK AND BE EVER RE-FILLED WITH MORE OF HIS SPIRIT, TO STUDY AND LIVE BY HIS WORD DAILY, and TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR FELLOW SOLDIERS, OTHER CHRIST FOLLOWERS.
Then, dear friend, when war comes our way, no matter how hard and intense it may be, even if we have some falls and defeats along the way, we are PREPARED FOR WAR and ABLE TO FIGHT knowing the ULTIMATE VICTORY is NOT in ourselves but IN CHRIST JESUS WHO IS LORD! And to God then be ALL THE GLORY! Hallelujah!