“Way! Way! Way!” came the voice. “Way for the White Barbarian King, the guest of the Tisroc (may he live forever)! Way for the Narnian lords.”. . . It was quite unlike any other party they had seen that day. The crier who went before it shouting, “Way, way!” was the only Calormene in it. And there was no litter; everyone was on foot. There were about half a dozen men and Shasta had never seen anyone like them before. For one thing, they were all as fair-skinned as himself, and most of them had fair hair. And they were not dressed like men of Calormen. Most of them had legs bare to the knee. Their tunics were of fine, bright, hardy colors— woodland green, or gay yellow, or fresh blue. Instead of turbans they wore steel or silver caps, some of them set with jewels, and one with little wings on each side. A few were bare-headed. The swords at their sides were long and straight, not curved like Calormene scimitars. And instead of being grave and mysterious like most Calormenes, they walked with a swing and let their arms and shoulders go free, and chatted and laughed. One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly, and didn’t give a fig for anyone who wasn’t. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in his life.
~ CS Lewis, The Horse and His Boy
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Ephesians 6
Oh beloved, it is true. There is within us, a part that is quite willing to be frightened at the prospect of going into a spiritual battle. And not only are we afraid of the spiritual battle, the thing we must realize is that those arrayed against us in the heavenly places are afraid of us.
Oh no. They have no fear of the man who might think that he could stand against or outwit a demon. But the Christ within a yielded servant terrifies the entire host of Heaven, and well He should. For This King is King indeed.
The problem is not the clear fear the evil one has of the King of The Universe. The problem is that we do not fear Him the way that we should, and instead choose to fear things that should not scare us a bit. And it is here that the evil one can make headway against us.
We can get so easily frightened by:
How we are perceived
Wondering whether people like us
People disagreeing with our methods
Students thinking we aren’t cool
Any number of situations in our lives and work
The Satan loves to promulgate schemes like these because intimidation is a cheap budget item. And further, the schemes can be hidden behind things and people and situations that look reasonable even when they are not. We can quickly get pulled into wondering whether we ourselves are getting something right when to do so misses the point entirely.
Can we see it? Caring what anyone else thinks about us – other than G_d – is a completely losing enterprise. We know the devil hates us, and we know that others will simply have various and sundry opinions of us from time to time. And no matter what we do, the opinions of others will change regardless of our actions.
What to do? Do what He says. Stand in Him. Stand in His full-armour. Present the good news in Love. And if others don’t like it, that is none of your (or this fool of a writer’s) business. And for sure, don’t back off from boldly pronouncing the good news simply because someone doesn’t think the Truth is good news.
So, are you feeling intimidated lately? Time to let your arms and shoulders swing free in the power and Love of The Spirit. Time to give up caring what anyone thinks about what you do. Time to share the good news into the present darkness of this world.
