What makes warfare difficult?

What makes war difficult? Or, better worded, what makes spiritual warfare hard? It is difficult because those who are our enemies, who hurt and wound us, are the same people we are supposed to love. Jesus said that a man’s enemies would be the members of his own household (Mt 10:36), and that the wounds He suffered were received in the “house of (His) friends.” (Zech13:6). In the face of emotional pain and suffering the command to love our enemies (Mt 5:44) can be paralyzing. When we put aside our offense and anger, and every negative emotion that rises up in us, it seems that love would be passive and let the one wronging us have his way.

October 30th I related 2 dreams. The one dream, from 12/24/08/ depicted a war scene in which good Christian men stood their ground ineffectively. They had on helmets but no other protection. In reading this dream over it is clear to see that the enemy was wounding and killing the faithful Christians by using already wounded or (spiritually) dead Christians against them. In other words, it was as Jesus said, that those who stood on the battle field found themselves pitted against friends from the house of the Lord. I wondered at this picture, how the soldiers seemingly had on the helmet of salvation but no other protection . . . and the Lord began speaking to me about our protection.

First, the Lord said that the church’s concept of loving their enemy wasn’t His concept of love. Love does not give a wrong-doer his way, nor remain silent when injustice is done. This isn’t fitting with God’s character. When we look at the Bible we see that loving our brother should cause us to “snatch others from the fire and save them,” hating the garment spotted by their corrupted flesh (Jude :23). We are asked to admonish, correct and even rebuke those who are straying. Yet when someone errs, wrongs us, and goes astray why is our first reaction that we need to forgive them, and turn the other way. This is where we lose the battles and become ineffective on the battlefield.

I’d like to suggest that forgiveness is an expression of God’s love which we bear inside, and is a very active part of calling a person back into relationship with God. As Christians we are little Christs. We are the expression of Jesus’ life here on the earth and proof that He lives on in the lives of His believers. We should have the wisdom, discernment, and governing ability that was given to the first Christians so that we can preserve the Faith whole and pure. The battlefield is where this is tested. When we cede our position to those who are abusive or in error, we lose the battle. Our protection is the discernment, wisdom, intelligence, and standard of excellence we walk in every day. If we require these things of ourselves, we will notice when our enemy is using others to come against God’s standards.

It takes exercise to remain fit, and it takes being exercised by obedience to God’s word to be fit for spiritual warfare. When we look at the character of God it is plain to see that He both loves us and holds us responsible for our behavior. We also can love a man and hold him responsible for his behavior. God’s wisdom works to preserve our soul, which often includes corrections and “time outs”. We also have the same wisdom and can do more to preserve a man’s soul through correction ministered in love than through smooth words of “it’s all right, we all do the same thing.” God tries us to see if we’re ready for promotion, not treating us all the same but giving to each a reward commensurate with his works (see the parable of the talents). We too should not promote someone just to show we are in support of them and what they are doing, but should have a standard for anyone entering ministry and a mentoring path for them to make sure they meet their goal.

I have mentioned examples of wisdom and of having godly standards, all being expressions of God’s love. Forgiveness is also an expression of God’s love, working actively with the wrong-doer to restore him to Christ. There may be many, many other components of protection that would help us to stand our ground effectively in God’s kingdom. But it is a sure thing that without God’s love being expressed through us in ways that preserve the faith and restore men to God, we will lose the battles appointed to us. Let us all encourage one another today as we see the battles at hand. Amen.