Weapons Of A Spiritual War

WEAPONS FOR A SPIRITUAL WAR

A minister died and went to heaven and ahead of him at the Pearly Gate was a guy in sunglasses and a leather jacket and the guy said to St. Peter. "I'm Joe Renko, cabdriver from Las Vegas." Saint Peter gave him a golden robe and golden staff and then it was the minister's turn. "I am Elmer Lundberg, pastor for forty-five years." Saint Peter gave him a cotton robe and wooden staff. "But that man was a taxi driver, and he gets a golden robe and golden staff?" And St. Peter said, "Up here, we go by results. Elmer, while you preached, people slept; while Joe drove, people prayed."

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

2 Corinthians 10:4; “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”

Men are men. Women are women. A man cannot become a woman. A woman cannot become a man. Men are better at some things than women. Women are better at some things than men. Marriage is between a man and a woman. We should not kill babies. Children should not be exploited or abused. Men should protect and provide for the family. Women should nurture and care for the family. These statements were self-evident truths for thousands of years, only in the past few decades did they become “hateful” or “bigoted.” Satan is attempting to turn God’s creation upside down. Up is down, left is right, right is wrong, evil is good, good is evil. These are the lies of the enemy. This is the post-truth trash world. But the “truth” is relative and whatever you believe it to be.

We may live in a post-truth world, but that doesn’t mean that the objective Truth that has been revealed to us through God’s Word will not stand the tests of a world gone mad. Going against the Truth of God’s design for men, women, children, and families is like going against gravity: eventually, you’re going to fall back to earth.

Part of the problem is that we are trying to fight the enemy on their terms and in their battlefields. We are all guilty of this. We enter the adversary’s battleground–social media for example–and expect to gain land from the enemy who can just wipe us out with the click of a button. Too many of the posts that we read affect our lives in negative ways. When you read a post and sometimes you think it’s about you because you see yourself in it, but it probably isn’t. But don’t get upset with the mirror, fix the reflection.

We also consume news and media that is carefully crafted by the enemy and expect things to change by lending them our time and attention. We immerse ourselves in the culture of the enemy and are surprised when that culture turns on us. One of the biggest problems is that most people who reject Jesus do so because it interferes with the way they want to live. But if we are going to win a spiritual war, we must dare to stand for God’s Truth in this post-truth world, but how do we do that? Here are a few examples.

Boldly defend the sanctity of life in a world that praises child sacrifice.

Boldly defend the holiness of marriage between one man and one woman as God designed.

Boldly defend God’s creation and the unique roles and gifts God has given men and women.

Boldly rebuke the Den of Vipers and their wicked ways. Boldly share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a spiritual battle and therefore we must use spiritual weapons to expose and fight the enemies of Truth, including when those enemies of Truth happen to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must lovingly and boldly rebuke Christians who reject Truth in favor of political allegiances and narratives and let God handle the rest. Jesus Christ and God’s Word are the ultimate sword and shield in this war.

Let me remind you of something important: we have the power of the one and only Holy Creator God inside of us. Whom then shall we fear? Jesus didn’t die on the cross for you to “feel good” about yourself or to live in apathetic complacency as His enemy’s mock, attack, and destroy truth. Hebrews 10:13 says, “From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.” So, pick up your spiritual weapons, we are in the footstool making business.

The first weapon that we have is the name of the Lord. Proverbs 18:10 states that, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” The devil hates the name of God and the name of Jesus. The disciples were rejoicing that they had power over the devil through the name of Jesus. When Jesus would show up, the demons would say, “we know you Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to torment us before the time?” The devil cannot penetrate past the name of Jesus.