War

from Laura

"Life is war.  That’s not all it is.  But it is always that." 

-John Piper in Let The Nations Be Glad!

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been feeling attacked.  Always in a fight with myself- my temper or my lack of discipline; ambushed by paperwork or management issues or the politics of school; stalked by discouragement or negativity or gossip.

At breakfast, I’ve been working my way through John Piper’s book, quoted above, and last week I got to a chapter on WAR and prayer.  God is very timely...  John Piper’s message is that we do not live in a peacetime world.  God’s kingdom is at war with Satan’s.  We are caught up in this war, all of us.

There are LOTS of implications of this.  But what I needed this weekend was to remember Ephesians 6:10-20.  This is Paul’s "armor of God" passage- very familiar to many who were raised going to Sunday School.  The first key in it for me was this: I’m right!  I am being attacked.  It’s not just my imagination.  I’m in a war against evil spiritual forces; and they would love to destroy my effectiveness for God.

Key #2: I can fight back!  I know the Truth, I am God’s child, I rest in His peace and trust in His power, I have formed habits of righteousness, and I have the Word of God- both in my hand and in my heart.  I have all the armor and weapons that Paul discusses.  By myself, there are problems with all of those tools.  There are habits I haven’t formed, truths I don’t know, and much that I forget.  However, there is one weapon that mends all the holes, and that is prayer.  My takeaway for this week has been verse 18: "Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.  Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere."  This is how God’s power arrives so that the armor stays on and the weapons work.

So this week I’ve been trying  to take a more active role in this fight.  Staying alert, being persistent, rather than walking along in a cloud and then finding myself flailing around in desperate self-defense.  This week, I have not felt any less attacked.  Quite the opposite, if anything.  But being aware of the fight and being ready with my armor and with prayer- this has made an enormous difference in the outcome of the attacks!  I definitely need to keep this up!