There is a fact that is always never fully grasped by many children of God and that fact is that we have an enemy to fight, and that war is a lifestyle of a true child of God.
We should understand that even when there seems to be a presence of peace there may just be a lurking war and there will be the need to defend our peace.
Many Christians face repeated defeat because they are lured into a false sense of peace and security just before the enemy strikes hard.
Jesus alluded to this false sense of security saying, ‘If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into’ Luke 12:39.
Who is the thief? The Bible calls Satan the thief. In John 10:10 we read, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..’.
Now one may ask, why do I need to wage war when Jesus has already won the peace? We must understand that peace is not the absence of conflict, and secondly, as long as there is sin there will be war.
Yes, Jesus won the peace through his death and resurrection but that only gave us the authority to fight a successful warfare against sin, Satan and the pervasive influence of the fallen world.
The accomplished work of Christ on the cross did not actually eliminate sin automatically, not until His perfect Kingdom will sin be totally exterminated and perfect peace established on earth.
His accomplished work however gave us a divine mandate and power which is the name of Jesus.
In John 14:13 we read, ‘And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son’. In Psalm 2:8 we also see a mandate that guarantees an inheritance, saying ‘Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession’.
The instruction on the need to wage war using our God given authority isn’t new. In Deut. 2:24 God had already won the battle for the children of Israel through a mandate, but they needed to exercise that divine mandate to claim their divine inheritance.
Giving them the mandate God charged them saying: “Rise up, take your journey, and pass over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; begin to possess it and contend with him in battle”.
Beloved, the call and to answer the call to battle is the way of a secured peace.
Another may ask, why is Satan an unrelenting enemy? One simple answer is that Satan is an adversary. Who is an adversary? An adversary is described as one’s opponent in a contest, conflict, or dispute.
Beyond knowing who Satan is, we will do better to know that we are in a mortal spiritual combat with an enemy whose goal is to deny, delay, discourage and ultimately defeat us by taking from us our peace, and ultimately stealing our eternal destiny in God.
In fact, we can safely say that before a divine inheritance there will be need for a warfare, and some have also said that where our ‘Where Your Warfare Is, There Will Be Your Inheritance’.
However, we cannot wage a successful campaign against the enemy when we are enmeshed in sin and walking by the standard of the fallen world. In James 4:4 we are told that friendship with the fallen world makes us an enemy of God.
Before David inherited his divine mandate he fought wars. He was only defeated when he had a false sense of peace and security which led to the sin with Bathsheba.
Let us take heed and be vigilant as we take the following advise seriously, ‘Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8).
Admonition
1 Peter 6:6-16
