No Combat Presence

No Combat Presence

6/22/21

Why is it vital to make sure we know how to fight properly when it comes time to defend what is correct?  More importantly, why is it that we have such a fear of being in battle, do we think that we will win this eternal fight through our names alone?  God has stated many times in His Word that what we face each day is a battle and that we need to make sure we understand our enemy well enough to outmaneuver his attacks; but, we cannot do this if we do not fight the enemy face to face and gain experience while these battles occur.  We cannot be defenseless or any type of pacifist for what we face each day is a war for our lives and if we do not listen to God and understand His Words of victory we shall eternally die.  Combat experience on the battlefield means the difference between life and death and God has provided us with the battle plan for eternal living, not eternal death.

There are not too many people in the world that actually prepare themselves for war every day, not even the active-duty military personnel do this on a continual basis.  Not many people admire taking aim at another human being in anger or as a means to defend themselves from an attacker or combatant enemy.  However, when the person aiming at another has proper training it should be too difficult to make sure that the situation is handled quickly and accurately without any large foul-ups.  Sometimes, however, even though nothing is done incorrectly, human armies realize that they are outnumbered or have been tactically outmaneuvered and must surrender.  It is at this time that many continue to hold their heads high and silently say that one day they will fight again, somewhere and somehow.

Some of you may remember the series "Band Of Brothers" and how towards the end of the final episode a scene took place where a German General gave a final speech to his troops.  In this scene, he commends them for a good fight and how proud he was of them due to their bravery for such a long time.  He also stated that they should be proud of their accomplishments and how they also should be proud of their fellow brothers that they lived with day and night.  They formed a bond with each other that even though in defeat would continue to hold true and firm for as long as they live.  This scene was one of the more somber and sobering settings of the series but was necessary in order to ensure that all aspects of the series were properly covered.

The experiences that each one of the soldiers took back with them to their families would remain in their hearts and minds until the day they drew their last breath.  It changed their lives in a certain way that is hard to explain to those who have not been in combat, sometimes one that can never be properly told.  When people who experience combat and continually are on the losing end of battles and skirmishes, they tend to become bewildered and even approach the suicidal point of aggression to the extreme where they turn on each other and take their frustrations out on their own comrades.  Soldiers should be trained well enough and have enough battle experience to recognize such conditions and avert such problems through recognition before it arrives and takes over the front lines.  The same type of atmosphere can occur when the fight is heated and the majority of the troops involved have little or no combat experience, a sad sight to watch unfold but occurs more often than one thinks.  

It is the lack of experience of combat that God wants us to talk about here, for even though we are supposedly tired of fighting these days, the true battle has not hit our lives just yet.  The reason that the battle has not reached us yet is that we have been sitting around in our pews playing video games instead of being out in the streets (spiritual) conducting war against our enemy, and it is this lack of experience that is going to cost many people's eternities when the battle is brought to us.  God has made His battle plan quite clear to those who have been in His places of worship and just as Job experienced it shall be God who allows such things to occur in our lives very soon.  Unless we figure out that a devastating attack is imminent, the future for many will end soon.  This fact is a huge issue here and it is being portrayed in the Church as something that will not occur at all; a false sense of security.

It is difficult for me to believe that any church member (body of Christ, The Church) does not have any spiritual combat experience.  I mean, look around and it does not take very long to notice all of the attacks that the Church is undergoing, yes, even in this nation.  But the question remains is: how come not many are talking about their experiences, strengthening others through these times of combat?  The answer is quite clear, we walk around such opportunities or turn our heads the other way when they approach which nullifies any time of the spiritual head-to-head battle that should be taken.  Also, this lack of spiritual battle positioning is not being addressed in the church buildings either, which means that this assessment about no battle experience is correct.  Talk about a divided state when considering the mission of the Church, no wonder our time is spent more in front of the television or computer screens than in the Word of God.  We should be ashamed of ourselves and rightfully embarrassed to call ourselves Christians or followers of Christ.

Steve Camp wrote a song many years ago called "Run To The Battle". It was a call of duty song in which it gave us specific instructions of what to do as Christians.  When we became Christians we automatically receive our orders and it is our responsibility to run to those who need help.  We should believe in what we profess to be true and when we believe in such eternal Truth we cannot help but have the boldness and the spiritual enthusiasm to tell others about Christ.  The passage for this article explains just exactly what God wants us to share with others, but cannot if we are battle-tested.

James 2:19

"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."

Greek

"You believe that God is one. Good for you!  Even the demons believe [that] and shudder."

This verse gives results of what the results that the Church should have, but once again we continually see that this is not the way it is at all.  I was in the military but was never involved in any of the actual fightings but was ready at any moment to leave my comfort zone and enter the said battleground.  This placement in my life created a bond between many people that otherwise I would have no opportunity to know and to build trust.  Even though I have been out of the military for almost thirty years now, I still feel a tug of bonding when I see or read military stories about those who have served or who are currently serving.  We in the Church cannot get past which denomination (division) is best, or which one is bigger, or who carries more truth and sanctity.  Really?  No wonder we are weak and feeble at best, we have no spiritual teeth to use against the world.

James tells us that the demons believe that God is one, and they should because at one point in history they shared the same living space as God.  They know, and you know what else they know?  God has not changed from the day He created them and He shall not change ever, for any reason.  This is the reason He is one and it is for this reason that the demons shudder to think about such eternal Truth.  And we do not have the guts enough to go and explain this to those who are being tormented by such evil creatures?  This means that we do not believe the first half of this verse, thus limiting our capabilities of effectively combating the spiritual entities that have their grip on so many wonderful people.  If a defeated enemy believes that God is one why can't we agree on the same thing?  This should be a no-brainer, folks.

This also gives us a very disturbing detail about the battle scenes that have been fought, are being fought today, and those that will be fought in the future.  These destructive and evil spirits know that God is one, which means that not only have they been in the presence of God they have also fought against His people as well.  If these evil spirits can come to an agreement about God, it means that they have had the decency to follow their ruler even though it is for a lost cause they have their mission to fulfill.  Um, why are we not doing the same?  How do we know this fact about demons and their activity?  Look around you, so many people are influenced by demonic activity simply because they are following the orders of their ruler, yet they are defeated.  Here lies the key, if a defeated enemy is leading successful charges against others what does this tell us about the effectiveness of the other side, you know the one that is not fighting back?

Demons are combat tough and have adequate responses that should quickly be pushed back, but are not on almost every level.  It is fact, that proves the Church has no combat experience whatsoever and unless something changes God is going to have to clean our clocks with His righteousness and holiness so that we may once again complete spiritual combat missions against the enemy.  A shuddering enemy should never be allowed to claim ANY victory over any person, period!  Church, we are sick and in need of help immediately.  It is obvious that we have lost our vision and it needs to be restored.  We cannot afford to sit back and allow such wimpy losers to take over the world and destroy people's lives.  Remember, it is okay to witness to people before they have fallen to pieces, just as it is acceptable to witness to those who have fallen to pieces, BOTH are precious in the eyes of God.

Many Christians voluntarily forget that the Bible is a sword, and this sword divides the kingdom of the world's strongholds.  It does not in any way have the authority to divide people themselves, but we have sure done a pretty good job of mowing down people over the centuries, even our own.  The standard of God has been given to the Church and we have dropped that standard to make it more "appealing" to the world.  We have done a fabulous job of lowing this standard, but we have in no way lowered the Standard of God.  As I read a quote the other day and this sums up this point, it goes like this: "The Bible does not work like Facebook, where your likes or opinions matter. God's Word is true regardless, whether you agree with it or not."  So, this verse tells us that unless we are running to the battle and taking our spiritual combat experiences with us, those shuddering, defeated demons are winning.

DLB