“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” I Timothy 6:12
There are two core battles every believer faces. We are all drawn into the fight and shot at whether we understand warfare or not; we can even be taken out, while wondering what just happened. The first battle we are called and empowered to fight is to pull down the spiritual strongholds which hold us captive to our old nature. As the process of the Cross works deeper in individuals and in a local fellowship, the Lord begins to entrust the individual and fellowship with a small sphere of authority (influence) in that geographic and spiritual area. The deeper the Cross goes in the members, the more the sphere of authority grows. By this method, the Lord moves through His people to conquer the earth with the Cross.
The second battle is not as glamorous, not even as obvious, but no one can win the first battle if they have not mastered the second. It is the battle to stay in the right fight. Distraction comes in many forms, but anything that draws our attention away from the Lord and His will for our lives individually and corporately is evil. Both battles happen simultaneously and continuously throughout our lives as believers, and both battles must be won!
Born Into War
To understand the first battle, we must first understand that though we exist primarily in the physical realm, the battle takes place primarily on the spiritual plane. Instead of fighting with guns and bombs, we fight with worship and prayer. Paul states clearly in Eph. 6:12, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…” All contention and strife we observe today are at the root spiritual problems. As terrible as some of the world’s problems are, they are actually symptoms of the influence of cancerous principalities bent on destroying everything God loves. If we are to win, we must be like good physicians and treat comprehensively—focusing on the root issue while not neglecting the painful symptoms.
The real war is a difficult concept for us in the Western Church, especially in the U.S., where we have turned God’s blessings into safety blankets. Whether it is money, technology, medicine or even religion, there is always something to hide under and pretend the real problems have vanished. We must accept the truth: we were born into a world at war, and if we do not enter into the fight and address the spiritual powers behind the physical problems, there will be no permanent resolution.
Some reading this are probably thinking, “Yes, I agree. But where do I fit in? I don’t know what I’m called to do.” Eph. 4:11-16 describes how the Lord has designed our many gifts and talents to fit together as we mature and submit ourselves to Godly authority so that as a body we would reflect Christ in the Earth (i.e., do as He did and forcefully advance the kingdom of God). I personally have heard this for years in the church, and yet the Church in this nation is still very divided and nearly powerless. As the influence of our narcissistic society has entered the Church, God’s calling on an individual has become about what that person can get, not what they can offer the rest of the Body. Selfishness in any form is sin, and sin always brings some level of blindness or confusion in our lives. Is it any wonder that so many in the church feel aimless about their purpose in this battle, when they have been taught that their calling is for themselves?
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. James 4:3
But the Devil doesn’t fight fair and he does not hold back because someone is ignorant. This is something we must all understand: in war, knowing your responsibilities and following orders is life and death, and much death has happened because the members of the body of Christ were focused on themselves.
Now there is grace for immaturity. No one has arrived yet. It can be difficult to understand exactly what we are made to do. But the right thinking opens the door to right doing. If we want to know our God-given calling in this battle, we should think this way: knowing what I am made to do is life and death—for the person next to me in this pew. Or better yet, fulfilling our purpose as a church means another church or ministry can be blessed. If we can change our thinking, the heavens will open and so will our eyes.
Staying in the Right Battle
Once we have found our place in the fight, we must understand that the second battle has just begun. The principalities and powers of the second heaven understand better than we do the potential of a united body of Christ in the Earth. They understand that they are completely and utterly defeated in open battle against the Lord acting through His people. Therefore they set up snares of sin and sabotage in interpersonal issues to pull us down into the mire of daily life and out of the real battle.
Now personal issues and strife within human relationships are unavoidable, but we must not fall into the trap of making emotional, mental or physical battles our primary war. When something arises that demands our attention, we do whatever is necessary to bring the kingdom of God into that situation, and if it can’t be resolved, we leave it in the Lord’s hands and get back to what God told us to do. If our lives belong to Him (I Cor. 6:19), then we have no right to get distracted. We must not let even our time be stolen from Him by doing something He has not told us to do. This isn’t an easy task; it is a discipline that is forged in us through many fiery trials. It is by winning the battle against distraction, however, that we gain the character to complete the task assigned to us.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
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