the (hidden) battle

from "Wild At Heart" chapter nine:

(begin quote.)

. . . During  a recent church staff meeting, a friend of mine raised the suggestion that some of the difficulties they were facing might be the work of the Enemy. "What do you think?" he asked.  "Well, I suppose that sort of thing does happen,"  one of the other pastors replied.  "In the Third World, perhaps, or maybe to thwart a major crusade.  You know . . . places where cutting-edge ministry is going on."

Incredible.  What a self-indictment.  "Nothing dangerous is happening here."  Those men have already been taken out because they've swallowed the Enemy's first line of attack.  "I'm not here - this is just all you."  You can't fight a battle you don't think exists.  This is right out of The Screwtape Letters, where Lewis has the old devil instruct his apprentice in this very matter:

My dear Wormwood, I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance of your own existence.  That question, at least for the present phase of the struggle, has been answered for us by the High Command.  Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves.

As for those who want to be dangerous (cutting-edge), take a close look at 1 Peter 5:8-9: "Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like  a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. "  What is the Holy Spirit, through Peter, assuming about your life?  That you are under spiritual attack.  This is not a passage about nonbelievers, he's talking about "your brethren."  Peter takes it for granted that every believer is under some sort of unseen assault.  And what does he insist you do?  Resist the devil.  Fight back, take a stand.

. . . Most of all the Enemy will try to jam communications with Headquarters .   Commit yourself to prayer every morning for two weeks and just watch what'll happen.  You won't want to get up, an important meeting will be called that interferes, you'll catch a cold, or if you do get to your prayers, your mind will wander to what you'll have for breakfast and how much you should pay for that heater repair and what color socks would look best with our gray suit . . . Oswald Chambers warns us, "Sometimes there is nothing to obey, the only thing to do is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus Christ, to see that nothing interferes with that."  

. . .  In any hand-to-hand combat, there's a constant back-and-forth of blows, dodges, blocks, counterattacks, and so forth.  That's exactly what is going on in the unseen around us.  Only it takes place, initially, at the level of our thoughts.  When we are under attack, we've got to hang on to the TRUTH.  Dodge the blow, block it with a stubborn refusal, slash back with WHAT IS TRUE.  This is how Christ answered Satan - he didn't get into an argument with him, try to reason his way out.  He simply stood on the truth.  This will not be easy, especially when all hell is breaking loose around you.  It will feel like holding on to a rope while you're being dragged behind a truck, like keeping your balance in a hurricane.  Satan doesn't just throw a thought at us, he throws feelings too.  Walk into a dark house late at night and suddenly fear sweeps over you, or just stand in a grocery line with all these tabloids shouting sex at you and suddenly a sense of corruption is yours.

(end of quote.)

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."  Let's not be fooled, ladies.  Don't underestimate the battle we are fighting and the war we are waging.  Those little things that sneak up on you - the whisper that says you aren't good enough, the frustration that feels justified, the temptation to say something you shouldn't, the judgement calls you feel you are qualified to make - that's not just your flesh (and I'm writing this to myself !).  It's a poisoned arrow from the enemy, flying right at your heart.  "Guard your heart, for from it flows the well-spring of life."  We have to constantly be on guard against attack, and our best weapon is the Truth.  I just felt particularly convicted by the excerpts I quoted above.  It's so easy to just go with the flow, and not think that the roadblocks and temptations I daily encounter, no matter how small they may seem, are an opportunity to stand firm in the Truth.  Don't just brush it off as a part of life.  Whew - I love what Oswald says, "let nothing interfere with that vital relationship with Jesus Christ."  

I pray that we all are able to wield our swords of Truth when the enemy attacks next, and that we won't be blinded by ignorance.