Supernatural Skirmishes

Ephesians 6:12 does well to outline the battleground in which we are to do battle in on a daily basis. Yes, it's a relentless fight.

Some twenty or so years ago, my classmates who joined the Armed Forces used to gather together after a prolonged assignment in the field and many a story would be told of their "encounters", wherein "firefights" and "running gunbattles" would result in "scores" or getting "walloped" - though these were told with such youthful exuberance and a sense of elation of being able to gain a victory over a treacherous enemy, forgetting the fact that the alternative consequences would be quite grim. And we weren't spared from instances when we would hear of a classmate that fell in less fortunate circumstances. These days, we remember them in moments of silence during our infrequent reunion gatherings.

However, we as believers in the King and His Kingdom, have yet to realize that we have been targeted for ambuscades and spiritual harrassment, and if we allow it, destruction, by the more treacherous, and invisible forces of a parallel universe that seek to delude humanity from attaining knowledge of the Almighty God and His Kingdom as proclaimed by our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth.

This is why Paul details this supernatural battle as well in his second letter to the Corinthians, in the tenth chapter.

It is not the power of the Lord God that these dark forces can fight against, it is the knowledge of God that they can dissuade humans from attaining.

And this is why I continue to remain befuddled as to why the large majority of the Christian body chooses to believe ineptly, marginalizing the power that the Lord Jesus Himself had said that His followers would be able to use, and in a greater way.

However, the reality is, a large majority chooses NOT to follow through in that respect as some in the body - people with a high Christology yet - insist on a worldview that is reduced to that of a code of conduct for believers to follow and the unsuspecting majority of us in the body, have been deluded into thinking that this is all there is to the Kingdom, and all we can do is wait for His Coming.

Frankly, I feel that He will be sorely disappointed as He may truly not find faith as He wondered aloud as attested by the gospel narratives.

Happily, there is a growing group of believers in the body that is digging out the truths of the Kingdom and practicing the use of the power that the Holy Spirit imparts in healing the sick, among the many things that the Lord Jesus would want His followers to do.

In coming through a recent test wherein all our mettle and resolve to believe was put through a crucible, I had a sneaking suspicion that my recent quest to add to my knowledge of the Lord God and the Kingdom was being challenged and severely.

I would love to say that we passed that test, though I would have to admit that we were bordering on failing that one, and that there were many moments where our character flaws reared their ugly heads more than once. These storms are not easy to go through.

However, I realized that this also compelled me to pray more, and more intensively. And surprisingly, I have been praying for more people and more intentions as well.

We are in a continuous "running gunbattle" with an enemy that does not run out of ammunition, strength or resolve.

We have no other choice but to fight and fight back with just as much resolve, and though we are guaranteed trouble in this life, He has also assured that He has overcome the evil that has been cornered in what seems to be the last stand.

Yet, how many are aware of this need to bear arms and do battle constantly? And worse, there are those that are convinced (and continue to convince others) that there is no need to fight back.

Studying the gospel narratives, it was when the Lord Jesus was subject to attacks that He fought back in a different manner. Upon learning of John the Baptists beheading, He healed, exorcised, and fed the multitudes. How was that for effective strategy?

Our struggle is definitely not against flesh and blood, "but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.". We would do well to choose the right weapons and revise our strategy and tactics. The war continues. Happily, we already know how it ends.