“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we
do wrestle. It's my tongue in cheek “translation” of Ephesians
6:12. In the midst of our struggles it is easy to forget (if we ever
really knew it), that as Christians we are the forefront of the
battle between the unseen forces of good and evil, of light and
darkness. The NIV translates verse 12 as “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
And we get into trouble when we forget these things, living in this
world as if the visible and here and now is all there is. In
particular, if all we see is the visible, then there are going to be
times that we simply do not understand, and we are likely going to be
offended!
But when we are conscious of this war to the death
with the enemy of our souls, we will understand that the when people
hurt us and when bad things happen outside our control, then it is
the enemy who is at work, seeking to distract us. When this happens,
we inevitably respond in worldly ways. We hate, we get angry, we seek
revenge, we blame God for our problems etc., etc. We need to realize,
that when we do this, we are actually working for the enemy. Now as
Christians we are enrolled in the Lord’s army, and He has provided
weapons. And dear brothers and sisters, these weapons are not the
weapons of the sinful nature, but they are “mighty before God for
the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, for demolishing
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the
knowledge of God, and taking captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
We need to study these weapons, but this morning I
want us to think about the need to keep this perspective of the
unseen war in mind. Now nobody is saying this is easy, but is was
Paul, who likely suffered more than all of us (see 2 Corinthians
11:23-28), who told us that God is actively at work for good in all
things for those who love God and are called according to His purpose
(Romans 8:28). And it was Paul who said that our
present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with the glory which
shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). So the question needs
to be asked if we, as good and faithful soldiers, will choose over
and over to respond in faith to the things that God allows. We do
need His help, and we need to appropriate His weapons. And it needs
to start in the mind, bringing every thought captive to Christ. You
see if we don't guard out thoughts, what will come our of our mouths
will not be the language of heaven. I mean “The tongue has the
power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21).
Father, Your Word tells us that You have already
provided everything we need to live a life of godliness (2 Peter
1:3). We do need to know what thing have been provided, and how to
appropriate them. But help us this morning Lord not to forget the
perspective of heaven, and help us to practice bringing our thoughts
captive, and to replace our negativity with things that are true and
noble and of good report (Philippians 4:8) in Jesus Name Amen
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