“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3
As Christians, we are constantly engaged in a battle, but it’s a spiritual battle and must be fought spiritually. Many Christians get excited at the language of spiritual warfare, then try to conduct it with the tools and techniques of the world. That’s a trick of the devil! Our battle isn’t one that can be fought with harshness, anger, or violence. It isn’t a battle won by “shock and awe” or overwhelming force. It isn’t won by bending someone else’s will to our own.
We must wage this battle with prayer, meditation, and praise. We must wage this battle inside the church and out with profound Spirit-given self-control of body, mind, and spirit. We must wage this battle with love, truth, and compassion. We battle against the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil that would pull us away from our mission to make disciples of all nations. We battle against the yielding of the church to the ways of the world in a hopeless quest for greater approval and acceptance. We battle against the myriad false teachings flooding our social media, email, and TV channels that distort and undermine the unchanging truth of Scripture.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, then you’re in a battle, make no mistake about that! Are you fighting it? Did you know there was a battle going on? Are you fighting it like Jesus, the Lamb of God, fought with sacrificial love? Or are you fighting in the way of the world, the flesh, and the devil?