Relentless Battles for The Believer

I shall not fear the battle
If thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If thou wilt be my guide.
~John E. Bode

The Lord your God Himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
~ from Deuteronomy 31

Oh beloved, it is true. When we make the decision to step the first foot into the Jordan, it is here that two things happen: The war is won, and the battles begin. As enigmatic as this thought is, post-victory action is common in almost any theatre of operations. In truth, cleanup and restoration of the peace are often the most difficult and protracted portions of any violent engagement.

This is especially true with truly evil enemies. For usually, the vilest of foes had no truth to stand on in the first place – and so fights simply for the sake of evil and violence. And an enemy who sought only to do malice and take what was not rightfully theirs, will often continue to taunt and threaten and attempt maneuvers on the victor, even though their own defeat is assured. Even as senseless as this is, it is true. And a hard truth at that. 

Evil continues to hammer away at the believer…. There is a relentless buffeting that occurs as the fiery darts of the evil one crash off the full-armour of a consecrated believer…. There are the thoughts, masquerading as our own, that get through when we drop the shield of faith…. There are the screams of accusation from the accuser of the brethren, about mistakes we have made in our attempts to obey our King…. There are the temptations to fear, and to doubt and to self-medicate in response to the distress we feel.

And it is here that we win.

Can we see it? Often, we begin to think that the thoughts and fears and temptations we feel are reasonable responses to external circumstances, or our own internal turmoil. And yet, as we turn to His Word and listen to His Spirit within us, we hear absolutely nothing that aligns with the feelings churning up within our soul and flesh.

No, deeper within we hear His voice, communing with our spirit, telling us the Truth. And if we will listen, the most amazing proof of spiritual warfare will emerge. As we submit to God and His Peace and His Promises and His Person – we begin to resist this defeated foe who has been taunting us. And he flees. Instantly.

Will he be back? Yeah, the devil will try again. The skirmishes are relentless. But as G_d keeps winning victories, the True purpose of these skirmishes become evident. G_d is both showing Himself faithful, and we are growing enormously strong in His strength. And we begin to see that this spiritual “house-to-house” after-fighting is a powerful incentive for us to drop (and let lie) any illusion that we could do any of this on our own.

So, are you under attack beloved? Good. Looks like you are in just about the right place to watch G_d show up and show off in your life!