A long time ago a pastor in Ohio told Todd and I that we had a warring spirit. Now at first I thought that just meant that we would fight a lot, but over the years I have learned that we are in constant spiritual battle over something.
Do you ever feel that as the church body all we do is hide behind a shield, cowering in fear of the enemy?
Well I will tell you, fellow followers of Christ, no more for me. I am taking the offensive, I am charging full force toward the enemy with my sword in my hand and the war cry on my lips. I am tired of feeling beat up and heavy with situations and circumstances that are hard to bear. I am sick of waiting for the bottom to fall out. How many of us say, “what else could go wrong?”
Well the first thing we have to do is stop talking that way. Warriors do not sit back and wait for the enemy to find them, they go out and fight. They don’t sit back and cry in their barracks about how defeated they feel. Heb. 10:39 says “But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul” . Soldiers work out, they muscle up, they practice, they train. We have allowed our faith muscles to become flabby, sitting around filling our heads with negative thinking. We have got to build our faith by the hearing and studying of the Word of God. It is too late to train when the battle comes, you must be ready, fully armed and very dangerous. 2 Timothy 4:2 says to be ready in season and out of season.
The Bible tells us to put on the full armor for a reason, we are warriors. The Bible does not say take the shield of faith and hold it up in front of your face and run, run, run man. NO! It says put on the FULL armor of God. ( Eph. 6:13-17 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[a] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ) Have you ever noticed that the armor that covers us is for frontal attacks? The breastplate, the shield, the shoes, the helmet; God doesn’t instruct us to cover our backs--we are never meant to retreat! We are to go forth, God didn’t instruct us to leave the battle, He has empowered us to fight the good fight of faith. We do not go in alone, Jesus covers our backs.
We cannot be passive, meek and mild Christians when it comes to spiritual matters. We Stand Firm, we cannot waver, we have to know and understand the authority we have in Christ.
We have spiritual authority, Christ took it from satan and gave it back to us. We do not have to be subject to fear, we need to take back dominion, dominion that was given to us by Jesus himself. Col. 2:13-15 “13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” and Heb. 2:14-15 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
Even if you have a “Warring Spirit” remember who you are warring against and don’t take out innocent civilians. “We battle not against flesh and blood but against powers, principalities”
We cannot make the battle about those who God loves. We are not fighting those individuals who disagree with us, oppose us, or cause our walk to be more difficult. We fight the one who is using them as his puppet. We have to remember to separate the puppet from the puppet master. Even fellow believers can be used if they do not have their mind it the right place. Understand that they are not the enemy they need love, understanding, and lots and lots of prayer.
I used to sing a song called “The warrior is a child” and in this song it talks about how we go running home when we fall down, that God picks us up when no one is around. We do stumble but Heb. 12:3 says “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Christ has paid the price so that we do not have to even grow weary. We need to continually take time to read the Word and spend time in Prayer. This is our training ground, this is how we become strong and able to fight the fight before us. We need to watch what we say, even our words can make us tired of fighting. Continually stir yourself up in your time with the Lord; praying, reading, and seeking His voice to become the Fully trained, Fully armed warriors of God.
