No longer just a sinner saved by grace
...but a saint who lives by grace.
- If
you are a professing Christian, but you are nevertheless overwhelmed
by spiritual battles there are several possible reasons:
- You've never truly been "born again". Examine your faith. (2 Cor 13:5; 1 John 5:5)
- You have unconfessed sin in your life. Confess it. (Psalm 51; I John 1:9; James 5:16)
- You're trying to live the Christian walk on your own strength. Lean on God. (1 Cor 1:25; 2 Cor 12:9-10)
- You're doing God's will, ready to bear much fruit, and the devil's trying to make you quit. Don't quit. (Gal 6:9; 2 Tim 2:3)
- Often, since none of us are perfect, some combination of items 2 - 4
- When Bomber pilots start getting surface-to-air flak, they know assuredly that they have arrived at the target. Likewise, the harder our enemy resists, the more likely that you've found a "high-value" target.
- Why then do Christians (myself included), once they get into an escalating spiritual battle, run for the hills? Is it a sense of entitlement to live in the land of the big PX (Post Exchange shopping mall)?
- Some
points to remember in the midst of battle:
- You can always ask for help. Fight as a member of a team. Resting one soldier, or team, while another one fights.
- Be aware of the situation. The battle's not about you, but to keep you from doing your small part in accomplishing God's will.
- If you quit... the enemy wins. Faith overcomes the world.
- If you have already quit... stand up, put on the armor of God, re-establish communications with God and your fellow soldiers, sharpen your skills with the sword of the Spirit, ask for forgiveness and new instructions, and finally... get back into the fight!
- We
are called to suffer hardships as good soldiers of Christ:
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. (2 Tim 2:1-4 NKJV)
...what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish... (Phil 3:7-8 NKJV)
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (1 Peter 4:12-13 NKJV)
...so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer... (2 Thess 1:4-6 NKJV)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (1 Peter 5:8-9 NKJV)
...time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. (Heb 11:32-34 NKJV)
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:13-14 NKJV)
- May God bless you and keep you, Robert
