Battle Cry

Whether you realize it or not, we are in the midst of a great battle. Some call it spiritual warfare others chalk these battles up to a part of life. And a normal part of life is experiencing hardships. Absolutely. But I think for those of us who over look these hardships for what they truly are, a spiritual battle, Satan has us right where he wants us: ignorant. I believe I am in the midst of such a battle now. I could share all the details, but my personal struggle won’t do you any good. Instead what I believe will help is sharing what I’m learning through this time.

This season of great heartache and turmoil has made me take notice of scriptures that I haven’t held in my hands for quite some time. One that is especially dear to me is the conversation between the Lord and Simon (Peter) left for our benefit in Luke 22. To recap: The Lord tells Simon that Satan has asked permission to sift him as wheat and He has given him permission to do so. Then the Lord tells him that when he turns back to Him that he is to strengthen his brothers. Remember this one? A few thoughts come to mind as I have studied this passage:

Satan asked for permission.
That means that our trials are not without God’s knowing and beyond a certain point, not without His permission. He has not abandoned you or forgotten you. Is this fact hard to believe? Are you asking yourself why God would allow such an attack? Questions I’ve asked myself as well. I’ll address these thoughts in a second. For now, let me point out what else I find so valuable about this conversation between Simon Peter and the Lord.

God warns Simon that this is going to happen.
He has left for us 66 books filled with warnings. I believe many of us view them as Brennan Manning so perfect describes as, “just another trinket in the dusty pawn shop of doctrinal beliefs.” I love this quote because many Christians view much of what has been left for us as not relative to today and yet we say we value this “trinket”. Dust off that “trinket” and see it for the priceless heirloom left for you by our Father. It’s our Sword for fighting this battle for crying out loud!

Many of us don’t take these warnings seriously. We look at the Old Testament as the war zone…not today. Oh Beloved, I must point out that the whole backdrop of the Bible (old and new testaments) as well as present day is war! We are in the midst of a great battle, a very real battle.

So the question remains: Why does God allow Satan to sift us?

God uses Satan to bring Himself glory.
I’m certain Satan believes He will be the victor when he is given a time to run with our lives. However, God has something else in mind. He will be glorified and He’s going to use Satan to do it! (Isn’t that just rich?!). He will be the victor and bring you through this season of fire to refine you, to sift from you whatever it is that needs to be sifted. This makes me think of that verse in Genesis that says what Satan intended for evil, God intended for good. (Paraphrased)

We all might not need sifting. But we all need refining. We can count on entering the fire repeatedly throughout our lives. “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify.” Malachi 3:3 We will be tested. The hardness, bitterness, jealousy…every bit of imperfection will be skimmed from our hearts by the Master Refiner. He does this to redeems us, to purify us to Himself. He won’t stop, He won’t give up hope for you, until He can see His reflection. Be prepared, Beloved, that won’t happen this side of heaven.

In short, be prepared. He has warned us that we are fighting for our lives. How do we fight?
Arm ourselves with the Sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:10-20): His Word. Know it from the inside out.
Allow God to refine us (Malachi 3:3). It will hurt. I know, because I am in the midst of this season as I sit here and write. Many nights all I can say is, “Lord, fight for me. Don’t let go of me.” He won’t let go of me, I am assured constantly but that doesn’t mean I won’t have to fight.
Surround ourselves with a great cloud of witnesses. (Hebrews 12:1) We certainly need each other. We need to overcome the spirit of isolation. (This is where I tend to end up. It’s sure easier than getting hurt again.) It’s not easy. We have to operate out of what we know as truth rather than what we feel. Satan knows this is how we tend to operate and uses it to his advantage to keep us isolated, untrusting, feeling unworthy… And I shouldn't have to say that going to church is a significant part of surrounding ourselves with a great cloud of witness but I know many Christians who don;t view this as important. To be completely honest, I struggle with organized religion. I’ve shared these feelings before. But I understand the importance and why God told us to do it. It helps me to look at it as calling in the troops, learning, studying God’s Word, and for lack of a better analogy: strategizing our game plan in this battle.

Beloved, fight. And fight with everything you've got.