En Garde!

“How did your fight go today? Did you win? Are you injured? Did you get your butt kicked or did you smash some heads?”

You know, I don’t know many Christians who greet each other that way, but dang, we ought to. Here’s the deal: You didn’t just wake up in your bed today. You woke up in a back alley with no street lights, surrounded by hostile thugs who want to take you out. The Bible is clear that we are in a spiritual battle all the time. There are invisible, malicious beings who are coming after you and will array themselves against you and attack you, lying about who you are, who God is and what life is all about. They want you discouraged, bitter, filled with guilt and shame, angry, insecure and completely focussed on yourself and your own wants. They want you depressed. They want you to give up.

If you were in the army and you were stationed in a war zone, you would wake up mindful of your duty. You would wake up everyday knowing that you were going to fight for your life. I think most Christians that become casualties in the spiritual battle are people who have simply forgotten that they’re in a fight.

This morning I was taking my daily run, and as I came around a bend in the road I saw a big, powerful dog milling around the stop sign at the end of the street. I wondered for a second about whether or not he would just run off and leave me alone, or else kindly let me pass. I thought, “Maybe this won’t be a big deal and I’ll just keep trotting along.” Well, I was wrong. When I got within 25 yards, the dog bared his teeth as the hair on his back stood up. He started running towards me and barking like mad. It only took a second for me to decide what to do. I started sprinting towards the dog and bared my teeth. I raised my hands up like I was about to punch and scratch and whatever else I had to do and then when I got really close I stomped the ground and yelled at the dog. 

All of a sudden, that dog turned and ran, yelping like he had just been whipped! Things is, I didn’t even have to fight! I just had to decide to fight. the spiritual battle is like that. Paul says in Ephesians 6 to put on the armor of God. That’s pretty much it. Just get dressed, God will do the rest. The main thing in the fight is deciding to fight.

Get used to it, friends. We woke up in a war zone today. You opened your eyes on an ambush. Don’t be afraid though. The One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. Jesus said that all authority was given to Him, and that hasn’t changed one bit since He said it. Don’t forget, you’re in a fight. Simply decide to fight back, and you win.