The Battle Is The Lord's

We are engaged in a mop-up effort to fight our vanquished foe, the devil, and despite his defeat, the battle has just begun for us as believers living on his turf.  We must not remain ignorant of his deceitful schemes lest we are caught in his web.  Note, nevertheless, our victory is assured, and we are fighting from the victory at the cross, not for victory--Satan's already in a no-win situation.

The tools of his trade are psychological warfare, mind-games, lies, propaganda, drugs, "education," and ignorance, et al.  Satan knows our vulnerabilities and weaknesses and strikes at the most opportune time, often when we are on a spiritual high or in special need.  He's always at work "seeking whom he may devour."

Our threefold enemy is the world-system, the carnal nature or flesh, and the devil and his legions.  Note that our worst enemy is ourselves:  "We have met the enemy, and he is us!" (This is quoted from the Pogo character by Walt Kelly.)  We are also on Satan's hit list and are targets of his animosity and cruelty. What does Satan foster, but division, divisiveness, contention, and polarization?  Remind you of someone?  His main strategy is to divide and conquer, the opposite of the Spirit that unites us in Christ as one body.

The best strategy in warfare is to "know your enemy" according to Sun Tzu, in The Art of War.  In warfare, the troops do not need to wonder why, but to do and die (from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade). There are casualties in every war, and that is why it's imperative to arm ourselves with the full armor of God--to fight a spiritual war with natural weapons is sure to defeat.  The Word of God is our only offensive weapon and that is why it's important to stay in the Word and not to become negligent in the discipline.  Job One is holding down the fort and taking back the turf that Satan has stolen as the god of this age, the prince of this world.  Note that we are not to give the devil an opportunity or beachhead, and never to compromise with him.  Our SOP (standard operating procedure) is to "watch and pray" that we enter not into temptation and to stay alert to his dirty tricks--remember, Jesus said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak [we're human and can fail in the flesh]."

One of the tactics he uses is to accuse us before the Father, but "there is, therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (cf. Romans 8:1).  The only way to silence the devil is to fight with the Word just as Jesus did, saying, "It is written."  Satan has no answer to it and must surrender or flee.  We can rest assured that we are "more than conquerors" in Christ and our battle strategy is to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." We are never to forget that we are on the winning side and our victory is assured because "greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world" (cf. 1 John 4:4).

However, we have two natures, and the one we feed or cater to is the one that wins over and dominates--therefore sow to the Spirit, not the flesh!  In the final analysis, we are to "rejoice that our names are written in heaven" and not to get a big head or sense of insecurity or inferiority, as we fight the devil with God on our side--we're in a win-win situation in the end, and there's no losing proposition at all in Christ!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You Free?

 "Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin,.." (Acts 13:39, NIV). 

As Christians, sin needs no longer lord it over us ("For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace," per Rom. 6:14).  The psalmist proclaims:  "Let no sin have dominion over me" (Psalm 119:133).  When we sin we do not demonstrate our freedom but prove our slavery.  We are free to live in the Spirit and have new power to overcome sin by faith, not bondage to the old sin nature.  We do not have the right to live as we see fit or do what is right in our own eyes as libertines or Antinomians.

Only Christians can defeat sin and live above it because the unbeliever is a slave to sin and his sin nature.  To state the Augustinian formulae:  The believer has the ability to sin, and the ability not to sin; the unbeliever only has the inability not to sin; while Adam had the power to sin and the power not to sin, Christ has the inability to sin.  Sinners are "voluntary slaves" and are "free" to choose their own poison, so to speak.

 What is the victory that overcomes the world?  Our faith!   If we walk in the Spirit we shall overcome the flesh and not fulfill its desires and cravings.  How do we walk in the Spirit?  Keeping short accounts with God of our sins, shortcomings, and failures.  As Christians, we are "dead to sin" and "alive to righteousness!"  When one is dead to something he is no longer under its power or authority.

Some believers sincerely that they have and need a "free will" (this doctrine is not mentioned in Scripture and neither is the terminology--some deduce it from the fact that we have the ability to make choices).  Martin Luther said in his treatise, The Bondage of the Will, that we don't need a free will, but wills made free!  He saw a so-called "Babylonian captivity" of the church and deplored how Erasmus of Rotterdam, who wrote In Praise of Folly, said that man has a free will--too "grandiose" a word to describe our will.   This doctrine was debated in the 1500s and the doctrine of the freedom of the will was a hot item among theologians. Augustine said that we are free, but not freed (no play on words, but that we are not coerced). That is, that we have the power of choice, but God has not given us "liberty."

We are in slavery to our old sin nature and in bondage until Christ sets us free:  "If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed."  I was set free in Christ--I didn't become a believer solely of my own free will--some people become Christians against their will, but God changes them or convicts them.  They say that if you came to Christ on your own, you probably left Him on your own too. God is always at work within the believer's heart to make him willing:  "For God is at work within you both to do, and to will of His good pleasure," (Phil. 2:13).  He can make the most stubborn and stony heart into flesh and make the unwilling, willing.

Real freedom is knowing Christ and the victory He can give over sins ("You shall call His name Jesus because He shall save His people from their sins," Matt. 1:21). "Submit yourselves, therefore, unto God, resist the devil and he will flee from you," James 4:7.   As believers we don't have to be pushed around by the world, the flesh, and the devil;  we can have victory in Christ.  Soli Deo Gloria!