We, Christians, sing songs about doing spiritual warfare, but do we ACTIVELY WAGE WAR? Or are we just SINGING songs ABOUT victory? It would be no different than singing ABOUT Christ, but never truly CONNECTING to THE CHRIST. When we say the words, “Lord, I put on the armor of God! I put on the shield of faith. I put on the helmet of salvation! etc…”, ARE WE ACTUALLY PUTTING ON THE ARMOR? It is one thing to say ‘I REBUKE YOU SATAN’ and quite another thing to say ‘SATAN GET THEE BEHIND ME!!’. It is one thing to say ‘I BELIEVE IN CHRIST’ and quite another say ‘IN THE NAME OF JESUS BE GONE!!’
Worshipping ABOUT Christ, War, Victory and biblical truths FEELS GOOD; but actively interacting between The Spirit and the spirits requires EFFORT — and effort does NOT feel good. Effort feels tiring, boring, repetitive, toilsome, and often troublesome. IT IS THE FRUIT OF OUR LABOR tastes good! The Bible says to LABOR to enter the rest (which is the peace that follows victory). It also says to WORK OUT your salvation.
I wonder if we are not building whited sepulchers of adoration while simultaneously sealing up the REAL FAITH (which gives us victory) inside! Have we murdered our faith; just like the religious leaders did the prophets in times past? If God speaks IN YOU during the week do you chose to ignore that and then on the weekend go and ‘praise Him’? If the answer to that is YES then you are no different than those of the Old Testament that God said, ‘they praise me with their lips but their heart is far from me’. Praise is nice, but confession in faith is THE POWER OF SALVATION. The Bible says, “This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”
Paul told us to not war as those who beat the air; shadow boxing doesn’t count. On the other hand, attacking the PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR (and all his minions) is of ETERNAL worth. In the book of Revelation Jesus is seen as a being with a SWORD coming out of His mouth. What is really coming out of your mouth? Is it a rubber sword that goes limp in the heat of battle? Or is it the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT whereby you can hack your spiritual Agags to pieces?! You must overcome your adversary by THE BLOOD of the Lord, and the WORD of your TESTIMONY
Original Copyright: © Anthony J. Massotti Th.M., Th.M. 8/29/1999