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.
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.
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