War Strategies no matter what your battle is...

As you know I am a TC graduate and proud of it. It was the first thing I had ever really accomplished at that point in my life and I succeeded in it so the place is very dear to me.

If you have ever been there you will know that the driveway is gravel and has become corrugated. It is also lined with very tall gumtrees overlooking large paddocks and it is a very enjoyable 3km round trip.

At first tried running it as my exercise, then jogging, then riding and eventually I decided a leisurely walk was the best way to enjoy it.

I used to look at those trees and imagine they were Angels all standing there on guard taking care of anything evil that tried to come near us. Like they were soldiers who were there without fail protecting us and watching over us.

The corrugated gravel driveway used to be so hard to walk as you would easily roll your ankle an trying to ride a bike down there (for the 1000km training) it was a miracle if you made it without the bike sliding out from under you!

Right at the very end was a gate. It was a solid wooden gate, painted white  with a sign. The sign was double sided and on the entry side of it was "Welcome to Teen Challenge" and on the departing side (and the side I would see each time I walked the driveway) was "You are about to enter the Battle Field".

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This time I was walking down to the gate, happened to be the last time I would walk down to the end and back and I was thinking about what this sign said and was starting to worry.

This was the day that I was leaving and the last bit of advice Teen Challenge had to offer me was "Good luck in the WAR you are walking into!"

I was wondering if there was anything I could do to stay. For God to decide that I in fact needed much more rehabilitation - or even better - that TC needed me to stay and work there forever. I was scrambling for ideas and I began to feel the pressure in my head and just wanted this all to end.

I could not see my future outside of TC. My vision was limited to that moment in time because from October 2001 I had done my sums and figured out that the program for me would finish by end of 2002 and that I would then have another 6 months traineeship and that THEN I would PROBABLY be when I would think about leaving.

I had always envisaged myself finishing the program and working there a bit... and then I had no plan from there.

And that is what I had done. Completed my goal or fulfilled the VISION I had at the start but now... I had neglected to think much about the future away from the BUBBLE.

So anyway, I stood there at the gate staring at the sign and the only thing going through my mind is, "I know God says He will never leave me but what about me? Am I really capable of maintaining a relationship with God... FOREVER?"

What am I going to do when I get on with life in the real world? Will I start to forget about Him? Will I slowly start leaving Him out until one day I realise it's been a year since I last thought about Him?

How could I have just spent the last 2 years with Him and I still can't be sure I will be faithful to Him when I have free reign to choose what I will do? Go to church or not?

It is all entirely up to me when I walk out the gates and not only that, I will be having to decide while living in the middle of a war zone. Great.

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As the days and months went on after my departure I settled into it and made very conscious decisions to include God in everything, so I was wrong about my capability of hanging on to God...

But unfortunately I cannot say the same about the sign -  it was not wrong.

The Battlefield is certainly what I had walked into.

Obviously I didn't literally walk into an actual war but into a spiritual war.

TURN TO EPHESIANS 6:10-12 The Armour of God SLIDE

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Now at first I thought that the war I was about to engage in was with the DEVIL and his DEMONS. And my experience on the outside was very much in tune with this enemy. I knew him and I was well acquainted with his ways.

So in my head I was pulling on my stompin' boots and shovin' a knife down my back pocket! Don't laugh. A knife was one of my nicer weapons I used to carry.

I knew we had an enemy in the Devil and his demons and still know we do. But I was less acquainted with the other enemies I was about to encounter. MYSELF.

TURN TO ROMANS 7 The Law and Sin

21So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul is talking about the "flesh" that has somewhat a mind or a desire of its own. He is saying what we want to do is the thing we don't do and what we don't want to do is the very thing we do. Saying that it is sin that resides in his body, he despairs and wants deliverance from himself!

This scripture is not talking about Paul having a demon inside him or being possessed but about the sin we are born into still affecting him even as he serves Jesus - doing miracles in His name and glorifying God with his life.

So after a while I realised I had 2 enemies. The Devil and Myself. I thought it couldn't get any worse. Then I found out we had another enemy! But who??

TURN TO GALATIANS 5: Paul addressing Christians in Galatia SLIDE

⁷ You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? ⁸ This persuasion is not from him who calls you. ⁹ A little leaven leavens the whole lump. ¹⁰ I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. ¹¹ But if I, brothers,^[b] still preach^[c] circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. ¹² I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” ¹⁵ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. ¹⁶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 

Other people who were living by the flesh can also be an "enemy" to our walk in Christ. So the Devil is against me, myself is against me and maybe you are against me....

Ok. I took my knife out and my boots off and sat down defeated. I thought there is no way I can overcome 3 enemies even with GOD. He would have to come down here and take me home coz I was done. I had no strategy.

Of course we can get a clue from the Word and it would be the last part of Ephesians 6.

13Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

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I knew of the Armour of God  and had endeavoured to PUT IT ON regularly. However that is supposed to look... but half the time I wasn't sure if I was swinging my sword at the devil or myself or at you!

Yes we are in a war. Yes there are many things going against us. So what is our resolve in the midst of all these things?

Do we despair and get bogged down in the miry clay again? Do we let our carnal minds take our bodies over seen as it seems much easier to listen to how we FEEL?!

If I had have known then as I was standing at that gate at the end of the driveway I would have made a different choice with regarding the war I was walking into.

I tell you what that choice would have been. PEACE. I would have chosen to rest in the PEACE that he has given me in the promises that I trust that He has said in His word.

I would not have been looking for combat around every corner. I would not focus negative things I still had to overcome in Christ. I would not focus on every negative thing you had to overcome in Christ. I would not see the devil around every corner.

I would have put on my armour and engaged the war like this...

1.    Belt of Truth: Tell the truth and believe the truth.

2.    Breastplate of Righteousness: Accept my righteousness as the free gift it is.

3.    Feet fitted with the Gospel: Be prepared to share the gospel in an opportunity.

4.    Shield of Faith: Exercise my Faith by believing His promises.

5.    Sword of the Spirit: Learn the WORD and apply it to my life.

6.    Helmet of Salvation: Have an eternal perspective on this life.

7.    Pray in the Spirit and then... just rest or stand.

When you have done everything you are supposed to do then you: REST.

REST IN GOD. He is the one who fights on our behalf. He is our shepherd who leads us. If He is for us, who can be against us?

Let's look at:

ROMANS 8 The Future Glory

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.

²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,^[j] including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved.

²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers^[l] in harmony with God’s own will. 

²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together^[m] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ²⁹ For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn^[n] among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^[o]) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[p] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Listen, we are in a war, but in the best kind of war. It's already been won!

We can't screw this up no matter how hard we try. God is fully able to bring you through to the place He wants you to be. The top of the mountain.

He just develops our character on the way.

Don't despair. When you have been beat up by yourself, the devil or someone else take a second to think about the fact that the war is already won. Rest in Gods arms tonight in peace.