The certainty that he who went through death, who restored the connection between nature and the spiritual world, changes death to win a triumph, a triumph that is; awaiting us like the warrior who is going toward a certain victory. Although I want to live and labor as long as God lets me, I consider the moment of my death as the most precious of my life.
~Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (1775-1854)
Even though an enemy be camped upon my chest, still I will fear no evil.
~ Shawn McDonald
There is, beloved, a clarity that comes from the fight. We do indeed not battle against flesh and blood. Even if the fight is pitched on the physical plane, the drivers are not physics or any other thing physical.
No, there are forces of darkness that array themselves against and scream their accusations against our pitiful weakness set against their profound strength and darkness and wickedness. And even in screaming their lies, they unwittingly speak a truth that spells their certain doom.
We are weak.
He is strong.
He leads.
He restores.
He prepares.
He anoints.
He is our dwelling place.
And so, as we are thrust into the theatres of operation He has prepared for us, we come to see an utterly consistent theme begin to establish itself against the powers of darkness arrayed against us. G_d wins. Always.
And we, when living consecrated to Him alone, seek only to follow the orderly orders He has for us. And when we do, eternity gets different. This is simply true.
So, in a warrior stance, we speak the good news of His Gospel to people, and they change their minds about themselves (and about Him). It is not that they are impressed with us. No, rather, they are hammered with the distinct impression that they are in the presence of Greatness (read His Presence), and the scent of joy and Love and Peace and goodness becomes simply irresistible in the room.
And as He begins to actually, really, truly and functionally make His appeal through us, people respond. For a warrior has been trained to make no moves but those fully informed by a Higher Authority. Further, this Higher Authority knows how to accomplish the mission He has already planned out, and is already dwelling in the victory that will bring Him greater glory and His warriors greater good.
And finally, as a warrior begins to live and move and have his being in the space of the Victory bought at the cross, fear becomes a simply goofy option. We are beginning to believe and understand and walk with the confidence that can only come from abandoning confidence in ourselves – and casting it firmly on the One we are now convinced will win the fight.
Oh beloved. Stand and fight the fight He has placed before you. He has already won the victory. We are but to play it out in Love and strength that others might latch on to the conquest, and themselves be saved from the pit of despair around us.
Fight.
