For me, it’s funny to listen to my boys play together (that is, when they’re not arguing)
because they play such different things than I did as a young child. Most
recently, they have converted one of the closets in their shared bedroom into a
“Secret Hideout”. Sure I made “forts” out of blankets and my Nana’s dining room
chairs, but my forts were nothing more than a hangout—not a staging ground for
waging war. C2 like to “fight the bad guys” and they have a gun case filled
with noise-making, dart shooting, light flashing guns (and don’t forget the
light sabers!) and a lock on their hideout. They are staged and ready for full
out battle! Is it because I was a girl, or because their parents are in the Army? God only knows...
Thinking about
Americans in war, what was the most deadly – most costly war in our history?
Deaths War
116,516 World
War I
405,399 World
War II
625,000 Civil
War
Over 33% more
deadly than the next on the list, the Civil War cost the most in American
lives… 2% of the entire population during that time! Why is civil war, in any
country or capacity so costly? Because it’s always lose-lose. The most effective (or
ineffective) campaign by either side inevitably adds to the numbers of
casualties for the whole.
Have you ever
thought of our Spiritual War (meaning Heaven vs Hell) as a civil war? Our Enemy was once a resident of
Heaven, a faithful worker in the Lord’s legion, but there was a rebellion, and
it was extensive. Heaven lost 1/3
of its population of Angels! I think all too often we conveniently (for the Enemy)
forget about this powerful foe. I say “conveniently” because if we don’t think
he is there, or we pretend his power isn’t something to be concerned with, then
we actually fuel the flame with which he burns us.
I see this civil
war most evidently active within ourselves. We want others to see us as
competent, confident, beautiful, successful, capable… you fill in the
adjective, but it’s as though we are engaged in self-sabotage with our negative
thoughts and projections of ourselves. We think thoughts: “I can’t”, “I’m
not”, “they think”, “I’ll never be able…” Believer STOP!!! Stop It! You Can! You Are! You can't know what they think, and you ARE able!
Look here
double agent, infiltrator, mole, spy… it’s time to pick a side! Swear your
allegiance to the side of Victory—and follow the battle plan. Renounce the Devil- our enemy, from any stronghold within your mind. You can say for
certain that you are in enemy territory, but you are never alone—and you’re not
just some “private first class”… you are a part of the plan!
Okay—so here’s
what I know so far:
1. Victory is Guaranteed
with Christ.(1Cor 15:57)
2. Apart from
Christ, victory is Impossible.(John 15:5)
3. The Enemy
is REAL, powerful, and cunning.(Rev 12:9; 2 Cor 11:14)
Reflection
Question: Will you join with me to stop being a self-defeating double agent?
Today choose to affirm the promises of Christ to be victorious, capture Enemy
thoughts and destroy them!
