Man in thrust between two kingdoms, the Kingdom of GOD and the kingdom of satan. These kingdoms’ armies are waring in the never battles for souls. However, GOD had other plans for us, His children. Jesus paid the price for our souls with His own blood, He bought our souls for GOD’s kingdom, He disarmed satan and his armies, and then made a public spectacle of satanic rulers, authorities and forces in His victory lap procession [Colossians 2:15]. GOD took away all the weapons from satan and, as a result, satan and his demons have no power over us except for the power that we give over to him. We give satan power over us through—(i) ignorance; (ii) ill-discipline; (iii) not taking care of/according to the Word of GOD; (iv) not being prudent in faith and in prayer (prayerlessness); and (v) disobedience and insubordination. Each kingdom seeks to enlist souls (and thereby claim souls) to fight in its armies. And which kingdom gets to claim us, all depends on how disciplined we are in our faith. The 5 tools listed, work against us when we hand them over to the devil.
Ignorance is the lack of knowledge, not knowing as we should/ought. When we go through things in life, do we know what the Word of GOD says about what we are going through? Do we think to enquire what the Word says, to consult the Word? Do we act according to the prescripts of the Word? There are one too many of us who don’t, because as believers we are ignorant, we lack knowledge, we do not take the Word of GOD seriously enough, and we take the Word of GOD for granted. Ill-discipline is living recklessly in a dangerous world where the devil and his minions run amuck. We cannot afford spiritual recklessness or to live recklessly in these bodies, because the world around us is a perilous place that lies under the sway, power and influence of satan [1 John 5:19]. If we flirt with spiritual recklessness, we do so at our own peril because satan is lying in wait for our slightest misstep. Satan lives among us, knowingly and strainingly working against a ticking clock, and he is enraged.—Revelation 12:12.
The Word of GOD is the sword of the Spirit, it is the sword that the Spirit uses and wields on our behalf. We cannot afford to live a life that is not established and entrenched in the Word. The Spirit gives us victory to the extent that we know and we use the Word. Faith is lifesaving armour that we can never be found without. We cannot afford to be ignorant about faith, careless with our faith, or imprudent about our prayer life. If we are not founded and grounded in the faith, we will not do anything against satan in The War We Are In, and we will be left wide open to all manner of things that satan may derive pleasure from inflicting upon us. Disobedience and insubordination are tantamount to committing spiritual suicide. The bottom line is that we are become disobedient every time we are rebellious, and we become insubordinate every time our stubbornness flares up. And in that state of rebellion and stubbornness, disobedience and insubordination, the natural progression that follows is rejection of the Word, the authority and the commands of the LORD.
In the War We Are In, satan is always on the prowl, constantly looking about, hunting us down, scheming, planning, looking for ways to destroy or devour us. This is satan’s occupation, pre-occupation and obsession. This means, we do not have the luxury of ignorance, ill-discipline, convenient faith, disobedience and insubordination. Scripture instructs us to be level-headed and self-disciplined, to resist and stand firm against the devil in our faith [1 Peter 5:8-9a]. We are in constant battles with invisible spiritual enemies that inflict real pain and suffering that manifest in the physical. At some point and for some time, these same afflictions, pains and sufferings, that are so real to you and me, are also experienced the world over by all who are in the body of Christ [1 Peter 5:9b-10]. Sometimes in our situations and sufferings, it may feel like GOD has forgotten about us and that He does not care, but the Word says that GOD will make it up to us. In 1 Peter 5:10, we see GOD’s promise, He gives us His Word that He will do right by us and make up for it, but only after we have suffered.
GOD promises to take us through the situations and the sufferings. HE says, ‘when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned or scorched’ [Isaiah 43:2b], ‘when you pass through the waters I will be with you’ [Isaiah 43:2a], when you ‘walk through the valley of the shadow of death’, I will be with you [Psalms 23:4]. GOD did not promise us immunity or exception from these things. So brace yourselves, because go through it we must. It is unavoidable. But be rest assured, the afflictions, hard times and sufferings are very much a part of our blessed victorious life as Christian soldiers. And if you lack knowledge of these prescripts written in the Word, you will not know to trust that GOD has your back and will eventually make everything right for you. And this is when the devil swoops in to take advantage of your lack of knowledge. Ignorance of the Word of GOD can and will make the Word ineffective in our lives. The Word of GOD is the sword of the Spirit and this sword only works for us when we use or wield it. We cannot afford to live a life that is not established, built, rooted, grounded and entrenched in the Word.
In addition to this, the Word of GOD goes hand-in-hand with our faith. How submitted and obedient we are to the prescripts of the Word, ultimately determines the maturity, strength and stability of our faith. In the War We Are In, it is faith that ‘quenches the fiery darts’, intercepts, and defuses the enemy’s missiles aimed at us. We can resist satan, subdue his kingdom, walk in total absolute victory and inherit GOD’s promises through faith. It is through faith and by faith that all things are possible, and without faith nothing works.—Hebrews 11:33-34. Satan is always firing, always bombing, always sending attacks at us all the time, even while we sleep, when we are at our most vulnerable. But we are not at the mercy of satan and we never were. Scripture reminds us to—(i) ‘submit yourself to GOD, resist the devil, and he will flee from you’ [James 4:7 NIV]; and (ii) ‘become strong in battle and put whole armies to flight (through/by faith)’ [Hebrews 11:34]. When we step into our new nature in faith, with full confidence in this Word, and we square off with satan, we drill terror into his armies and attain enduring victory.
The War We Are In is spirit. Faith is spirit. The kingdom of satan is spirit. The Kingdom of GOD is spirit. And when we walk in faith and by faith, we meet the devil spirit to spirit. And it is for this reason that the weapons of warfare are not (and cannot be) carnal. Faith gives us the stamina to persist until the end, to engage in warfare without running out of steam. Faith does not weaken, doubt or waver in disbelief; It fully convinces you and makes you absolutely sure that GOD has the power to do what He has promised you [Romans 4:20-21]. Faith says, and I believe that, ‘all the promises of GOD in Christ, they are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’’ [2 Corinthians 1:20 KJV]. Faith says, and I believe that, there is nothing left for GOD to consider, nothing for GOD to apply His mind to concerning our prayers. GOD has completed His work. Most of us are waiting on GOD, when it is GOD who is waiting on us to walk in faith and by faith like Abraham did [Romans 4:18-19]. Every time we say we are waiting on GOD, we could be waiting amiss, waiting in ignorance of what the prescripts of the Word say about faith and about GOD’s promises.
Satan comes at us guns blazing, ready to take advantage, whenever he sees no change in our circumstances. He will sell you the lie that everything about your very existence says you should just give up the good fight. Whereas the truth which the devil does not want us to realise, see and know for ourselves, is that Scriptures tell a different story about who we are in Christ. My story, as told by Scriptures, says that I know that GOD is with me, even when I cannot see, hear, smell, taste or touch any evidence of it, because ‘I walk by faith and not by sight!’ [2 Corinthians 5:7]. In the absence of any tactile sensory proof, faith is the substance that proves everything that GOD promised us. The promises of GOD are in what GOD speaks in the Word, and His Word comes from inside of Him. And being born of GOD in faith, believers get to have the living Spirit of the Word of GOD inside of them. This should make all believers invincible because the living Word of GOD is powerful. However, the sad reality is that our ignorance of the Word and of our faith is making the Word of GOD ineffective in our lives.
In spirit, faith is a shield and the Word is a sword [Ephesians 6:16-17]. And the two make up part of the lifesaving armour that all believers must use to ward off and cast aside all thoughts and suggestions from the enemy that seek to make us doubt and disbelieve GOD and His Word. Our responsibility as believers is to ‘bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ [2 Corinthians 10:5]. We are not here to merely entertain every thought and suggestion because such rogue unguarded thoughts destroy lives. 1 Samuel 15:18-20 hints at the subtlety of the spirit of rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience and insubordination in this context. This sinful spirit has veiled hidden pride embedded in it. This sinful spirit can and will cruise undetected by the radar because discernment will not kick in when you are ignorant, ill-disciplined, careless with the Word and careless with your faith. Any soldier with the slightest inkling of spiritual good sense, knows that you cannot square off with satan and expect to win when you have wondered onto his territory, wielding his tools in hand.
The sinful spirit does not manifest itself overtly and full blown, but it comes across as partial obedience, partial subjection, partial submission and compromise. And in this way, your compromise is the rebellion, stubbornness, disobedience, insubordination, arrogance and pride that are as bad as witchcraft and idol worship. Saul went on a mission that GOD sent him on, he partially obeyed GOD’s command, and he lived to pay the price for his rebellion [1 Samuel 15:23b]. Some of us are on missions that GOD never sent us on—you went out into the world, created the wrong opportunities to receive the wrong kind of blessings, and it is only a matter of time before it all comes back to bite you. The only remedy to rebellion and insubordination, is humility and repentance. Do not argue. Do not defend or justify your actions. When the disobedience and insubordination are blatant, know that satan is already within; And there is you, trying to ward off assaults from satan who has already infiltrated you, fighting a losing battle.
GOD will elevate, exalt and lift you up when you humble yourself and truly repent when you are wrong [James 4:10]. GOD gives support, favour and grace to the humble, and He elevates and blesses the humble according to His divine timeline, ‘in due time’ [1 Peter 5:5-6]. And as we await for His divine timing, while living in a state of war and a state of emergency, our survival and victory depend on us: (i) humbling ourselves and repenting when we miss the mark; (ii) obedience to the Word of the LORD and not compromise it or justify our wrongdoing (this means we cannot and should not compromise the Word and the grace that GOD gives us because, given the slightest chance, the subtle spirit of disobedience will convince us that being under grace is an excuse to bend and even break the Word and GOD’s commands); (iii) disabusing ourselves of spiritual ignorance, ill-discipline and irresponsibility (we cannot afford to sleep on our faith because GOD cannot do anything with and for a believer who is passive in their faith); and (iv) being intentional about living a life of faith. This is how we survive and win The War We Are In.
The War We Are In is spirit. It is for this reason that the weapons of warfare are not and cannot be carnal. In spirit, the Word goes hand-in-hand with our faith. In spirit, faith is a shield and the Word is a sword—The two make up part of the lifesaving armour that all believers must have and must use.
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