The weapons of our warfare

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world~ 1 Cor 10:3-4

It seems to me (and I include myself in this) that Spiritual warfare seems only to appear in the life of the church (and of the Christian) at certain seasons and for a limited time. I can only comment with authenticity on this, in relation to my own experience of church here in the UK. What we seem to seek most of the time is peace; peace in our lives, equilibrium and happiness in the lives of our children and material comfort to buffer us against those unexpected events. Who wants to be at war? Thrill seekers and psychopaths, that's who! (this description could possibly apply to those who live for Spiritual warfare too). Many of us have come to this Christian life with the very notion of attaining peace at the heart of our faith. In our search for contentment we have come to find deep meaning and fulfilment in relation to the Father of creation through the love expressed to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. And of course, we discover that this God, who so loved us, is also WITH us; he speaks to us, encourages us, corrects and challenges us.

And so we settle down for this perfect life that will be so much more content now that it has this meaning and new depth, happy to discover new joys of faith and love as we journey on through life with open eyes.

And if we think for ONE moment that this is going to be a happy ever after story, and we are going to sail off into the horizon, all experienced Christians know that (if we get that far without a major storm) on that horizon is a waterfall!

 I am not saying that the Christian life is not full of many, many happiness's and that those happiness's are not deeper than anything we had previously thought possible. I am saying that it is a journey through this world....and Jesus, in and amongst all the lovely promises he gave us, gave us this promise "In this world you shall have troubles".  (John 16:33) Of course all human beings have troubles and most of our troubles are common to all, a part of living in an imperfect fallen world. But also we are selected out for specific troubles too. The day we spring to life spiritually we become a threat to the enemy of our souls. We are at war whether we like it or not, we changed sides....like Liverpool fans in the stands at Anfield suddenly taking off their tops and switching to Manchester Utd shirts. We are in danger. We can not simply stand there thinking everything can carry on as normal.

There's a good picture of this in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, whenever Frodo puts on the ring he can see an alternative world all around him and his enemies can see him. I feel this is a little of what it is like when we awaken spiritually. We have alerted their attention.

What use is a civilian in wartime? They are liabilities, commodities and hostages. As soon as we become alive in Christ we need to get ourselves to boot camp. To "train our hands to war", to get to grips with our weaponry, to learn all the intelligence we can on our enemy and their tactics, to toughen up and lose some flab, (I speak metaphorically) in short to become soldiers.

I wanted to depart from this idea that spiritual warfare is only for the elite, charismatic, chosen few. Strong, loud people who have special insights and gifts which you and I can never hope to attain to. These people exist. Their gifts exist. But the thing is sometimes their presence makes us feel like we have no part in this warfare, nothing to offer. Rubbish! We are all soldiers. We are not all special forces, we are not all pilots or gunners, but we are ALL in this battle.

I also wanted to demystify the idea that "the enemy" is  demons hiding behind lamp posts or in biscuit tins. Its quite simple really. We are here to bring the Kingdom of God. The enemy is anything that opposes Gods rule, be that institutions, laws, people, injustices, lies, hollow and deceptive philosophies. We are duty bound to come against these things were ever we can.

The battle is a spiritual one. Not a physical one. Sometimes it has physical manifestations but essentially it is fought and won in spiritual realms and out worked in the physical world. This is why it is perfectly possible to be content and at peace whilst in the middle of this holy war. To be at peace is actually an act of spiritual warfare! Jesus promised us troubles, sure, but he also promised in the same breath that he had overcome the world. How peaceful can we be, who know him who knows the beginning from the end and has promised to be with us until the end of the age.

In the next few blogs I am going to be looking at these weapons, what they are and how do we use them. 

Little Lion Men

Okay, having finished on the subject of exposing lies (for now) I'd like to give a little consideration to one of our main weapons of spiritual warfare. The Lord Jesus has many titles that reflect his nature and one of my favourites is "The Lion of the tribe of Judah". Now the meaning of the name "Judah" is praise. Praise is one of our most awesome weapons.

Isaiah 61~ He has sent me...to bestow on them...a Garment of Praise instead of a spirit of despair


Seems to me that if I am in a place of despair the last thing I want to do is praise. The very notion of praising seems false, seems to lack integrity. And surely God wants me to be honest, and surely he sees how I feel and I can't pretend with him.

You see the trap we come into when we are in despair, we can descend into a tailspin of prayerlessness . Despair is a prison. The walls of the prison are built with bricks that are made of our belief that our feelings and circumstances are the true indicator of what is going on. But what has really changed? Is God no longer on the throne because one of our family has got sick? Have the laws of physics, held together and underpinned by his very word, ceased to operate because your partner has left you? Has the God who gives you every breath and marks the hairs on your head ceased to care for his children because you have been underpaid? The answer is a resounding NO!!

He is still on the throne, his purpose for you has not changed, his love for you has remained constant, his faithfulness to you has never wavered, not for one second. Did He bring us out here into the desert to die or is his intention that we get to the promised land?  Did he give his only son for you, only to turn his back on you? No, we of all people can be hopeful in the dark times. We have tasted and seen that God is good. Take heart, stir your hope and stretch out your hand.

Remember Paul and Silas in prison (in Acts 16). Now they would have had good reason to despair, in natural terms. One could say they could feel quite justified in having a bit of a sulk. "We're out in the world preaching your message God and where does that get us...we end up in prison...is that how much you care?" But what are they doing in the middle of the night? They are praying and singing hymns to God. They are not perturbed by their circumstances because they know who's really in control. Your body may be trapped but if you are free in your soul, free in your mind, you are never a prisoner!
This has two amazing effects. Firstly the other prisoners are listening to them. What a contrast between them! All in the same boat together but yet Paul and Silas are full of joy. What a testimony.
Secondly Their physical prison is reduced to rubble by an earthquake. What a fantastic story. What a metaphor.

The devil wants you to be bedazzled by what you see and cause you to give up, to not trouble him. This is why scripture, time and time again, says "what do you see?". I love the line the 24/7 prayer movement used when they first started, developed from Ezekiel "You see bones....I see an army!" When we praise, our despair lifts, we catch a greater vision and we receive hope.

That is why we are to be little lion men, little lions of Judah. To carry praise into every desert we enter and every oasis too. What are we looking at? We have to learn, like David, to take courage in the lord and give our souls a good talking to. When we praise we are doing what human beings were created to do. There is no greater purpose. We sing a song in my fellowship that never fails to remind me that I need never lose hope

We lift up our eyes, lift up our eyes You're the giver of life.~Matt Redman,You alone can rescue.

Lets lift up our eyes and give him praise whatever our circumstances, praise him for the good and praise him through the bad. Try it, you might just rekindle your hope and that'll really hack Satan off!

(Here's a link if you want to have a little listen) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YONQ7W6Qpi8&feature=related

One hell of a lie

The next (and last for now) of these blogs on the lies that make us ineffective in our warfare addresses (quite possibly) the most damaging lie, the most insidious untruth, the most life sapping of fibs I can think of. It is also the most pervasive and one of the easiest to absorb, simply by being in the world.

3. My circumstances are the main indicator of Gods love for me


Much has been made on the issue of suffering, many better theologians and moralists have made far better expositions on this subject than I am ever likely to be able to do the slightest bit of justice to. If I'm honest, as soon as I think about this subject I think of all the cliches, I think of "footprints" and I think of the old metaphor of the tapestry. If you look at the side that's being worked on,  it's a mess of nonsensical tangles and threads but when you turn it over you see a beautiful picture.

I think of how you can look at some of these characters in the bible and, if we see just a snapshot,  we can easily see evidence of the abandonment of God. I think of Isaac on the altar, of Joseph down the well, of Job scraping his sores with broken pottery, of Peter in the courtyard and of Jesus on the cross. When I think of any of these situations I could not blame any of them for questioning Gods love for them in those exact moments. I wonder if anyone had approached Job with the tapestry metaphor, whether he wouldn't have finally lost it and given them a punch on the nose! Strangely it's the least comforting thing when you're going through it to be told "it's probably for a reason"...we see God as some kind of divine torturer or vivisectionist, hurting us for the greater good.

But the truth is that the tapestry metaphor holds true. God's love is complete. From everlasting to everlasting. He knows all that we cannot see. That is why we walk by faith and not by sight. This prayer is the first building block for the rest of my life, and I pray that God will give me the ability to pray it with integrity. It is this; "God help me to trust you in the darkness". He did not spare his only son in his great love for us...can we not trust him to freely give us all things, to work for our good in all things.

So let us flip the tapestry over for a second. Isaac was saved (as God provided the sacrifice himself) and God prospered him all his life. Joseph got out of the well but that was just the beginning of his trouble! However, God placed him there that he might prosper him and saved his own would-be murderers through him. Job was restored and vindicated. Peter was forgiven and restored and went on to lead the church.

You see Satan wants you to have the spirit of abandonment, for you to think of yourself as orphans rather than much loved children. Why? Because then you'll give up in despair, defeated before you start.

And of course what about Jesus, what happened to his tapestry picture. Did God abandon him? The answer is heartbreaking and heart warming. Yes he did. God abandoned Jesus so that you and I need never be abandoned. And yet Jesus tapestry is not finished there. God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name.

Seven years ago I had to come to terms with my own tapestry in a way I never wanted to. My mother, a believer in Jesus from the age of 12 , was diagnosed with cancer of the liver at the age of 56. She believed that she would be healed. She fervently believed this to the extent that she would not verbally acknowledge the possibility of death. I honestly didn't think to question Gods love at the time but I could have legitimately questioned his presence. Had he abandoned us? She died just 3 months after the diagnosis was given. My world was rocked to its foundation.

3 months after she died I decided I could face reading the bible again. I turned to the reading I would have read on the day after my mother went home. My jaw dropped when I read these words from Paul's 1st letter to the Thessalonians  "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." (4v14)This would have been one heck of a coincidence in any case but more than that.... it was the very text our pastor chose for his address at her funeral. 


At her funeral someone had said to me ""Well, she's healed now!". At that time I think I experienced something a little bit like Job may have done at my hypothetical suggestion that he was presented with the tapestry metaphor. No punch ensued. But do you know what? That very glibly given truth is the deepest, profoundest statement I can think of (and I am sure it was offered in that spirit). We don't all get happy endings in this world but flip the tapestry over and we are all healed and truly home. My Mum had just completed her last act on this earth of trusting him in the darkness.  Satan wants you to fear, fear for your abandonment but perfect love casts out fear and God is love. Never doubt it.


May I leave you with this thought from scripture, that fills me with hope.


Philippians 1:6 ~ He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Salt

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.~ Matthew 5:13

I think I've always struggled a little with this verse. Struggled to understand it. The temptation to want the metaphor to hold out as solid doctrine was always too great. I have even wandered if the last part of the verse wasn't some kind of way of saying that you can lose your salvation. I'd like to say that I don't think this is the case. And what is this "saltiness"...what exactly does that mean? 

This is only a short blog today and so I wont go into this element in any depth. I have heard people say that it is significant that it is salt rather than sugar. I like that. We are not here to sweeten the world, to give them a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down. Salt does 3 things (at least) that spring immediately to mind. 

First its about flavour. It stops, in part, the blandness of some foods and adds a little something. I think as Christians we ought not to be bland, unsure of what we are or what we think. We ought to be characterised as little Jesus's, making life something to savour. Salt also brings out other flavours, providing contrasts. We ought to be people who bring out the best and the natural goodness in others.

Secondly it is a vital nutrient. The world needs the church like a body needs salt. Too much is also a bad thing. We must know when to speak and when not to speak. When to act, and when not to act.

Thirdly it makes you thirsty. We must, by our lives, leave the world wanting more of him. If he is the living water then our job, rather than giving them sodium poisoning, is to leave them with a thirst for Jesus.

But what really impacted me about this verse is that it is not really about the salt. We can take the "saltiness" to really define a property that a substance possesses. This could be defined as the "parable of the salt" and a parable nearly always has one clear message. The message of this parable is "usefulness".

I heard a sermon recently on the early part of Acts, centring around the story of the healing of the lame man at the gate beautiful (Acts 3). Peters amazing Holy Spirit inspired one liner "Silver and gold have I none" comes from this story. In a nutshell (sorry Bernard) the message was saying that if they'd had silver and gold the temptation would have been to give out of that. If they had given him money, the preacher asked, would he still have been begging the next day? So Peter says "what I have I give you, in the name of Jesus..get up". Peter had to give out of what he had. If you haven't got it, you cant give it. The bit of the message that really impacted me was that the disciples ended up in court over this and after an inspiring impassioned speech, the accusers have nothing to say. We need to be acting in such a way that our actions leave the world with nothing to say because of the amazing things we are doing.

In the same thread in Acts (because of this amazing move of the spirit) people bring their possessions to be sold and the money is used to help the poor. I am always impressed by the bit in Acts 2:47 where it says they were "enjoying the favour of all the people". In other words they were loved as a result of all the good they did.

Back to the saltiness now. Its clear what has happened to the church in our nation. I read this verse as I opened a book by Les Isaac, the founder of the "Street Pastor" movement. And the latter part of that verse hit me again "It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled by men". Is that not what has happened to us. Is the church not thrown away by the world in general as irrelevant, are our beliefs not "trampled" intellectually and publicly?

What is it then that can take away their dismissal. We need the Holy Spirit. We need to understand, and live by, the power of the Holy Spirit, so we can take away all their arguments and leave them speechless like Peter and John did at the Sanhedrin. I would argue also that it is our resources, our "Silver and Gold", our time and money and the good we do with it that will restore the message of Gods love for all people expressed in Jesus Christ, restore our saltiness and give us savour.