The story of your life is the story of a long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.
~John Eldridge
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God… The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
~ from 1 Peter 4
Oh beloved, it is true. There is a brutal battleground within the confines of our mind. The battle is not mental either, for we know for sure that the brain is prone to failure or disease. No, the battle for the mind is within our soul – and its intellect – for access to the inner man.
And the battle is vicious, urban-terrorist type stuff that often feels like having a firefight in a phone booth. And while the battle is absolutely real, there is an oddity to it all. The conflict we often go through is part of a war that is already over.
There is among us, in the air we breath, a prince of this place – a father of lies. Anything he, or his minions say is – by definition – untrue. And so, even in them attempting to launch an attack on our mind, they are doing it under false pretenses. And the smoke of our past, and the mirrors showing us our own failures (read already paid for by the Blood of Christ Jesus) are the only basis upon which they can lob volleys against us.
However, this dynamic of spiritual battle is actually a wonderful proof of the accuracy of His Word, and its effectiveness as the true sword of the Spirit it is Designed and Spoken to be. Jesus, in dying to His own righteous desire for worship and glorification, obeyed His Dad to the point of death on a cross. This death actually killed the flesh of the G_d of all creation. And in the slaughter of His flesh, He was able to declare the war against sin completely finished.
And deeper it goes, for the death He died included us. We (our old man) was indeed crucified with Him. Our flesh (as we reckon this truth true) has died a death similar to Christ’s. And while His death was the actual payment for our sins, our death was (and is) a profound gift in the new Life we now live in Him. He conquered sin with His death. Our death is the proof that we are free from the same.
Can we see it? The only way that the liar can gain ground in our mind is for us to believe another lie. We are, to put it bluntly, already dead. So we are free. There is no flesh available to corrupt if we do not present it for use in unrighteousness. Our mind is His, our body is His, our soul is His, and our spirit is one with Him. We have but to change our mind about our willingness to be lied to, and simply steward the stunningly powerful weaponry we have already been given for the growth of the Body of Christ and the glory of her Head.
So, the liar may claim and hammer and claw and spit and scream and wretch all he wants. he is just screaming because he knows his head is already crushed and he will soon become the laughingstock of the universe. WHO IS THIS UNCIRCUMCISED DEMON THAT HE WOULD STAND AGAINST THE ARMIES OF THE LIVING G_D?
Be gone liar. Your targets are already dead to themselves and alive in the One who has beaten both sin and death quite soundly. Be gone in the Name of Jesus.
There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.
~C.S. Lewis
