Each Christian must be prepared for conflict.  Paul calls this wrestling with wicked spirits (Eph 6:10-20).   No Christian can hope to enter the warfare of the ages without first learning to sit with Christ and rest in what He has done, and then, thru the power of the Holy Spirit within, to follow Him in a practical , holy life here on earth.  If the Christian is deficient in either of these, he will find that all the talk about spiritual warfare remains only talk; he will never know its reality. We sat and rested with Christ and are learning how to walk with Him before the world but how are we to conduct ourselves in the presence of God's adversary (and ours)?  

God's word is STAND.  Put on the whole armor of God that may be able to STAND against the schemes of the devil.  The Greek verb STAND with its following preposition AGAINST really means HOLD YOUR GROUND.

This is a truth found in God's Word.  It is not a command to invade a foreign territory.  Warfare would imply a command to march.  Armies march into other countries to occupy and to subdue.  However, God has not told us to do this.  

We are not to march but STAND.  

The word STAND implies that the ground disputed by the enemy is really God's and therefore ours.  We need not struggle to gain a foothold of it.  Jesus' victory on the cross was offensive.  He won us back from satan.  That mean's our warfare is, in essence, defensive.  We war against satan only to maintain and consolidate the victory which Jesus has already gained. 

In Christ, we are more than conquerors.  

In Jesus, we STAND.  Thus, we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory.

We must not ask the LORD to enable us to overcome the enemy, nor even look to Him to overcome, but praise Him because He has already done so.  


He is Victor.  

It is all a matter of faith in Him.  If we believe the LORD, we shall not pray so much but rather we shall praise Him more.  The simpler and clearer our faith in Him, the less we shall pray in such situations and the more we shall praise.  In Christ, we are already conquerors.

Do you see what it means to STAND?  We do not try to gain ground; we merely stand on the ground which the Lord Jesus has gained for us, and resolutely refuse to be moved from it.  

The Christian life then, consists of sitting with Christ, walking by Him and standing in Him.  We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus.  That rest is the source of our strength for a consistent and unfaltering walk in this world.  And at the end of a grueling warfare with the hosts of darkness we are found standing with Him at last in triumphant possession of the field.

This post is adapted from the book, SIT, WALK, STAND by Watchman Nee.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

I was out riding my motorcycle after having just received terrific news.  Karyn just told me that I was going to be a father for the first time.  So, I was taking one last spin on my motorcycle around Lake Whatcom.  The plan was to sell the motorcycle to help with the new baby expenses.   Being so exuberant, I was probably traveling a bit faster than I should have been, so as I took this one curve the bike laid on its side.  There was some gravel on the road that I hadn’t seen so the next thing I know, I am laying on the road with my bent up bike.  As I lifted my bike and walked it to the edge of the road, I noticed that my one knee was bleeding badly and I thought I could see my patella thru my jeans. 

This part of Lake Whatcom was not very populated.  I started to walk to a busier road.  On my way a man in a white van pulled up and said, “Hey, do you need a ride to emergency?  I saw your bike back a ways.”  I told him, “yes, I need to get some help.”  I slowly got into the passenger seat and noticed that the man was dressed completely in white, looking like something that a professional painter would wear.  As we talked, I tried to look at his face as I leaned forward and he turned his face to the left.  He said, “I have a hard time looking at blood.”  

I don’t think that I was completely aware because I was in pain and in shock so I think I passed out because he shook me and woke me up once (I don’t remember him touching me).  We were approaching one hospital and he said, “Is this emergency room OK?”  I said, “it’s OK but if you don’t mind, would you take me to the other hospital?  This one does abortions and I don’t think that’s right.”  He promptly said, “yeah, I agree.  Let’s go to the other hospital.”  The other hospital was just another five minute drive.  As we were going to the other hospital, I said, “do you have a business card so that I can write you a thank you?”  He said, “nope.  I don’t use business cards.”  I said, “what’s your name then?”  He said, “you don’t need to know my name.”  He stopped at the emergency room and I slowly got out of his van.  I hobbled a few feet and turned to wave and the van was nowhere to be seen.  

Second story

We (Karyn & I and both of our sons) had been missionaries in Ecuador and returned back to our former church and in less than a year moved to another community.  We purchased a house that was near an elementary school and our boys liked to ride their bikes around the playground in the summer.  

One son  was not happy about the move and was feeling a bit down about life and was riding his bike alone at the playground one afternoon.   Suddenly, he came running back to the house, cheerful, and said, “hey Dad, I made a new friend!  There’s a boy up at the playground who said he was with me in Ecuador!”  I said, “that’s cool, someone we know from Ecuador!”  We rushed back up to the playground to find this boy and he was gone.  My son described him as a boy his own age and size and was very friendly.  I said, “if you see him again, have him come over to our house so that we can meet him.”  My son went up to the playground several times over the next few days and he never saw that boy again.

We have talked about these encounters with family and friends and most come to the same conclusion that I have.  Most believe that they were encounters with angels.

Whaddyathink?

BE HOLY.
BE AMAN.

Do you want power?  Consider the power that Jesus had available to Him:  "Don't you think that I could call on my Father to send more than twelve legions of angels to help me now?"  What does that mean?  Let's put this in mathematical terms for all you geeks out there.

It is generally considered that in the Roman Empire, a legion was 6,000 soldiers. In Isaiah 37:36, a single angel obliterated 185,000 men.  

I think you know where I am going, but let me do the math for you...  

If a single angel can take care of 185,000 men, then the combined strength of one legion would be enough to destroy 1, 110, 000,000 (one billion, one hundred ten million) men.  That is just ONE legion!

Now Jesus said that he had more than 12 legions of angels at his disposal.  That is at least 72,000 angels.  So the combined strength at Jesus' command was the ability to annihilate 13,320,000,000 (thirteen billion, three hundred twenty million) men.  BTW - The current earth population is a little over seven billion

That is the kind of physical strength that Jesus has available to him.  No wonder he told Peter to put away his sword.  Jesus did not need Peter's little sword that night.  That means that Jesus willingly gave Himself to be crucified.

Let's learn a lesson from Peter and Jesus here.

As you face your own challenges in life, always keep in mind that Jesus has the power to fix any problem you'll ever come across.  Before you jump in and make things worse by taking matters into your own hands, remember Peter.  

The next time you're tempted to "grab a sword and start swinging,"  take a few minutes to remind yourself that Jesus can handle the problem without your intervention.  Before you do anything else, pray and ask the Lord what you are supposed to do.  Then after you receive your answer and follow His instructions, just watch His supernatural power swing into action to solve the dilemma you are facing!!

Taken from Sparkling Gems from the Greek