I was reading in my Bible this morning and started with some verses that our song leader read to us last Sunday in church. 2Corinthians 10:3-5.
"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
When I read the passage this morning I began to thinking of the wars I wage every day. These are inner wars, soul conflicts, personality issues. I wage war against my selfishness, my laziness, my gluttony, my anger. Then I began to think of the wars my children will have to wage, against bullies or childhood cruelty, against discrimination, against their faith. Then I read my sister's blog, http://www.nilphamaripath.blogspot.com, and realized that there are wars even greater than all these. Our society and world is beginning to build strongholds of tolerance, of equality, of universalism, of entitlement. All these things sound good but when aligned with the Bible they are faulty. True religious freedom is under attack. The governments of the world are "protecting" us from ourselves when really there are imprisoning us. I don't want to be misunderstood as an extremist but I will fight to teach my children, and anyone else willing to listen, Biblical truth.
I could go on with all of the issues out there that scare me. However, that is not my point here. The point for me is to become, and to raise, mighty warriors for God. I am well aware that in more than any other time in modern history, my children will face great persecutions and lies. They will need to be able to wage and win wars everyday of their lives. But what weapons will I give them? Hatred, harsh judgement, bigotry, fear, apathy. No! I will seek to empower them with the weapons Paul is talking about above. We have access to a weapon far greater than anything man will produce. We have the Holy Spirit. You see, the battle is really between satan and God, it is a battle for the souls of men. Satan uses humans to fight for him. But he doesn't understand that God in me, in my children, alive and active can throw down the powers of hell and death. We must fight with great amounts of prayer, with compassion for the lost, with a firm knowledge of the truth and a ready testimony of God's grace and power in our lives. Whether it's resisting a second piece of cake, or defending my right to homeschool my children, or standing up for real religious freedom, I must let God fight through me and I must be ready at all times.
My only fear is this, satan is winning on earth right now, and it is because of apathy. Christ-followers, be ready, don't be caught asleep, the battle belongs to the Lord-be sure whose side you are on.
The Lord says:
"I know your deeds, that you were neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm (apathetic, not willing to stand for the truth-if I might add)-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Rev. 3:15-16
