We Are Soldiers In The Army Of Christ

Humanity wanted a world without God. That is the fall. And this is the fall. Here it is. This is the world without God. But in fact even now God still intervenes, refusing to allow our fatal destructions to be final, He still continues to hold out his hand to us and pull us from the muck and mire. He breaks our chains of sin. He pours out His love to us, and wipes the tears from our eyes as He sets us in a spacious golden valley, suits us up with his armor, his uniform, the blue, the red, and the shield, and the sword, and breastplate of Christ's righteousness, girded up in His truth, and ready for battle.

He's lit a candle in us you see, the candle is Christ, and this Spirit he places inside us, and we glow with His power. And nothing is impossible for us in Christ. Nothing is impossible.

It may not seem that way when your pressed on every side, doing battle with a dozen demons, fighting and fighting everyday, exhausted, frustrated, half-sick, and sleepy. But it's at those moments when we so desperately need Him that He guides us through. In fact those are just the moments that point us to the reality that we are in need of His (total) sustenance. That's humbling isn't it? Indeed it is. To think that we can't go a single day without God's power and sustaining presence with us? But it is quite true. It's how we were designed. So we need Christ in us, and we have a great Christ for our need. This much is quite certain!

The battle is terrible and difficult. I won't sugar-coat it for you. I cannot. I've fought and fought. And it seemed as if I was in a barren clearing in the deep wood, and monsters were crushing in from all sides. And my eyes watered with exhaustion as I fought them with sword and spirit, buckler and faith, day and night cutting down the foul beasts with my sword. And I'm dropped, and nearly dashed, bruised, beaten, cuts and gashes, spiritual wounds and scars as I fight the enemy's kingdom day and night.

But I always seem to emerge alive, and strong, if not victorious. But so often victorious as well, standing over the corpses of demons and monsters aplenty. I'm sure you've had the same experiences metaphorically, as I have. We fight each day in this spiritual battle. We don't fight with steel and wood but with spiritual weapons: dedicated prayer, determined faith, dogged resistance to the darkness, love for biblical truth, and hatred for evil. We don't fight men or women, we don't fight governments or societies, no, we fight the spiritual forces of darkness in the high places. And as they work out their plans for evil, we work out the Spirit's plans for good; for holiness, redemption, hope, freedom, and transformation, for the least likely saints one could ever imagine.

These are the most unlikely saints and soldiers, you and I, the most unlikely saints and soldiers indeed! We're former drug addicts, alcoholics, abusers and abused, poor uneducated wretches, depressive suicidal street urchins, bipolar, mentally unchained, outcasts, physically disabled, angry, demented, sinful, evil, and terrible people bought from darkness with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and turned from sin and hell and to light, love, hope, faith, and freedom. Oh such sweet freedom we've been given, and He's made us all new!