Religion 7, Spiritual Warfare

Spiritual Warfare, Free Will, Types of Christians

I’ve been thinking about spiritual warfare. I’ve been asked what it is and have had a bit of trouble defining it. It’s not like we actually do suit up in armor and go out swinging our Bibles as swords. That’s just allegory. So I thought maybe I’d try more allegory to attempt an explanation. I know this still won’t answer fully, but hopefully it gives some perspective. It will also touch on some other subjects.

God gave us free will. This is a pivotal point for Christianity. I’ve used my free will to choose to serve God. It is my choosing that makes it meaningful. If God made us praise him what value would that praise have? Not everyone will make this same choice. I don’t like that. I don’t think God likes that, either. It is his will that all be saved, that he have an intimate, personal relationship with each and every person ever born. By giving us free will he has allowed that some will walk away from him. These people are headed for hell, a place not made for them. This breaks God’s heart, and should break ours. We should be devastated when we think of people who haven’t accepted God’s gift of grace. That’s everything you need to know to understand spiritual warfare. Of course, I haven’t arranged it and made the right explanations. So here that comes.

Outside is a desolate wasteland. It’s cold and raining all the time. Food is scarce so there is fierce competition for anything that is available. This is just a hostile environment to try to live in. God has provided a place for people, this is his house. It’s warm and dry and comfortable. There’s plenty of food and places to sleep and we’re welcome here. This is the place designed with us in mind. God made this place for us to live in for all eternity. I’m a Christian, and I’ve chosen to live here. But that’s not the case for everyone. Some people have rejected God and live naked out in the cold and rain. Those people huddle under small rock overhangs trying to stay as dry as possible. In order to eat they have to hunt, and that means leaving the overhang and going out into the cold rain. They stumble barefoot across the rocky crags and get soaked through, suffer hypothermia and risk death just to find a rabbit or a turtle or a squirrel to feed themselves and their family. But there are other dangers beside the cold. Other people are also hunting to feed their families. With so little to go around, encounters with other people can turn deadly. Then there are the roaming packs of wolves. They’re hungry and whether they take a rabbit, an elk or a man doesn’t matter to them. These are people in need. In God’s house we find two basic types of Christians. Remember that God designed his house for us to stay in, so some Christians come here and like it so much they never leave. They sit by the fire and tell stories about how nice God’s house is. They eat at the table and talk about how plentiful the food is. They wear the clothes and talk about how good God’s provision is. They sleep in the beds and talk about how God made everything so perfect. I’m of the other sort. I know that God’s heart is breaking for those outside, just as it broke for me when I was out there. I remember what it was like and my heart breaks for them, too. So I, and others like me, go out after them. God won’t let us drag them in, they have to decide that this is where they want to be. We can only tell them about this place, and the one who prepared it for us. We know all the dangers, so we put on the full armor that God provides for us, and we go out armed. Our armor protects our feet from the sharp rocks we walk across, and from the wolves who sometimes attack. We’ve had to wield our weapons on occasion to fight off those devil dogs. We use our shields to block the cold rain, but we don’t stay completely dry. We often slip and fall, and it hurts. When we travel together we have someone to help us back to our feet, but we’re often alone, searching for someone who’ll accept our help. When we come across people who live out here it’s not our armor or shield or sword we use but kindness and love. We always take a little food from the table and we offer it to them. We tell them the same stories I told you about earlier, but we tell them to those who need to hear and not to someone who’s telling the same stories. We invite them back with us, to come inside and meet God. Sometimes they just take our food and want to hear nothing of God’s love. Sometimes they listen to what we have to say but then ask us why, if God loves us so, is it so cold and wet, and they can’t see past their circumstances and shoo us away. But sometimes they want to come home with us. These we lead, and sometimes carry if we have to. Too often we come back alone to eat, sleep and get warm so that we’re ready to go out once more and try. And that’s okay with me. I’ll go out into the discomfort, but I’ll go out warm and rested and fed. I’ll go out into the danger, but I’ll be equipped to handle it. I’ll go out into the need, but I’ll go with provisions. And I’ll keep coming back to rest, eat and recuperate. Because I’ve seen what happens to those who try to do more good by staying out and living among those people. Sometimes I find them, too, huddled in a rocky cave, trying to stay out of the rain, ready to go out on the hunt.

Spiritual warfare is leaving the safety and security of our church culture and braving the nasty, dangerous world outside for the sake of the people Christ died for.