CHAPTER 2
WAR FOR OUR LIFE
It would be absolutely superfluous to write extensively about this subject knowing that there are other more excellent and experienced authors who wrote extensively on this very important subject in our lives. I myself was highly blessed by their writings and will whole-heartedly give the necessary references to those of you who would desire to know about the war for our life in more details.
I have an impression within me to write my personal experiences and understanding of this war thus giving a more practical view on it. This should add to the existing excellent books and writings rather than repeat the facts already written. My impression also tells me that in certain nations and areas of the world, there is a desperate lack of this particular knowledge and understanding despite its vital importance.
It was many years ago when for the first time in our meetings, I was prompted by the Spirit to clearly declare: “We are in a war.” The Lord then progressively introduced us into this fact showing us the realities of this Cosmic conflict and our important role in it. We tried to absorb all the interesting information about the war and began to recognize it in our minds. So we embarked on the war in our minds trying to “bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”. (2Cor. 10:5) IT DID NOT WORK!
We had to wait on the Lord patiently to begin to see, realize and accept the following simple fact:
THE STATE OF OUR MIND IS JUST A REFLECTION AND SYMPTOM OF THE SPIRITUAL STATE OF OUR HEART!
If you have ever tried to control or renew your mind without first opening and renewing your heart, you must have experienced a total failure! YOUR MIND CANNOT RENEW ITSELF WITHOUT YOUR HEART BEING RENEWED FIRST. Equally, your mind cannot open your heart or force it to act no matter how logical such a step might appear. The heart may still be closed and ruled by the powers of darkness though not necessarily as a whole (as it is before our Redemption), but in some of its areas, in some of its “issues of life”! (page B3[7])
Let us not forget that our SOUL – heart, will and mind – has been the territory occupied by Satan all our life – and it may still be so even after our Redemption! It remains his territory UNTIL the LORD, as Our Captain with HIS SWORD (Word) drawn, gets into our HEART and starts to lead us into a war against our enemy! (Ex. 15:3// Josh. 5:13-15// Mt. 10:34// Heb. 4:12) Not because the Lord needs to fight, not at all. On His Cross, Christ had defeated the enemy completely and totally. IN Him this war is over and victory full and final both for Himself and also for us. But he leads us to OUR WAR because IN US THIS WAR IS NOT FINISHED UNTIL WE DEFEAT OUR ENEMY ON OUR OWN CROSS AND IN OUR OWN EXPERIENCE using His Sword (Word). (Mt. 10:38,39; 16:24,25) Why is that so?
The victorious and indestructible Life of Christ has so far been just a theory for multitudes of believers. But every believer is expected to live that Life and prove It in his own earthly walk by faith and by following Its ways and deeds. The moment you start searching for that Life within yourself and putting It into practice, you will start experiencing opposition, problems and conflicts you never thought were possible or necessary in Christianity. But this is exactly the way, the only way, where you will prove that “Christ lives today”! Because He lives not only “somewhere in you”, but should live “through you”. He should be visible in your countenance, walk, talk, decisions and all your deeds.
No amount of doctrinal statements or proclamations of your most true and accurate faith will prove the Life of Christ! Even in quoting the Bible, you are proving nothing. The letter kills, the Spirit gives Life to live by. (2Cor. 3:6) But you just cannot detect that Life in multitudes of born-again believers. Too many Christians are preoccupied with many earthly problems; health problems, economic problems, family problems or many other kinds of problems in their lives. Though they may not live in earthly pleasures, many “live while they are dead”… they only exist. (1Tim. 5:6// Rev. 3:1)
If this “death” reigns in our life, we also become consenting, lethargic, lazy or passive, accepting things as they are and not forging ahead with the Spirit of Life. Can you discern yourselves in this area? You SHOULD BE ABLE to discern death from the Life of Christ. As we keep maturing – growing up into Christ (Eph. 4:15) and coming to Him (Jn. 5:40) – we keep receiving and living the Life, which is in Him and is available to us. What is amazing is that in physical life, if we live, we can recognize a dead man from a living one easily. Why can’t we do the same in the spiritual life? Do you know?
If I could express the truth in the above paragraphs in few simple words, I could say this:
It is not sufficient to read, study, remember, reason, preach, teach and believe the Word of God – WE MUST LIVE IT. That means, WE MUST BECOME THE WORD! THEN YOU ARE TRANSFORMED INTO CHRIST’S IMAGE BECAUSE HE IS THE WORD. (JN. 1:1+14) YOU ARE WHAT YOU SPEAK, TEACH AND PREACH. And if you are not what you speak, teach and preach, then you are hypocrites and walking libraries with a lot of maybe interesting, but dead information.
The same applies to our faith. We may have a lot of it but it may all be dead… if we do not live it in our daily life and deeds. I could compare our faith to an electric bulb. If our faith is living, our “bulb” shines because there is power flowing through it. If our “bulb” is dark, our faith is dead, there is no power. Again, in physical life, we can easily recognize a shining bulb from a dark one. Why can’t we do the same in the spiritual life? Do you know? For physical bulbs we need physical eyes, for faith we need spiritual eyes.
Let us return to “our war” and let us realize that the Promised Land of Israel in the Old Testament represents the Kingdom of Heaven of the Church in the New Testament. Spiritually, this Promised Land, this Kingdom of Heaven, is WITHIN US! (Lk. 17:21) It is first in our spirit and from there it must be ENFORCED INTO OUR SOUL!
Israel did not inherit a Paradise of peace, love and prosperity but a territory full of their enemies being at war with them! They had to fight for every inch of their land! So, outwardly, they were in a war, but if they fought according to God’s judgments, righteousness and guidance, I believe, He granted them peace of mind and joy in their hearts. When they refused to carry out God’s judgments, fear and discontent returned to their souls.
The same goes for the Church and every Christian. The Kingdom of Heaven is not any Paradise of peace, love and prosperity but a territory in our soul full of our enemies being at war with us! Even the physical Kingdom of Heaven on Earth will not be a place of peace, love and heavenly bliss as some might imagine, but a place of ENFORCED discipline and righteousness where the nations will be ruled with a rod of iron and the disobedient will be broken to shivers. (Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15) This is not exactly a picture of love, joy and peace. The Kingdom OF Heaven means a kingdom on Earth ruled BY Heaven, it is not a Kingdom IN Heaven. But this is an outward picture. Inwardly, if we carry out the Lord’s Will, Judgments and Righteousness, we shall enjoy peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.
Are you getting some picture? Are you truly shocked? Apostle Paul talked about warfare very vividly. (Eph. 6:10-18) This is not a popular subject to talk about. It somehow does not fit into our picture of Christianity – full of love and peace. The truth is that we are in a war and we are called to battle the spiritual forces of evil, darkness, wickedness and death. They are in the high places in the world, in the air and in our souls just as the forces of God are, and we can not neglect either of them. We will have plenty of rest, love and peace in the New Jerusalem, but not here.
We are in this war whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, whether we are aware of it or not! And it is not straightforward to persuade believers about this war, show its character, necessity and reality. Satan has not only deceived the world that he does not even exist, he also deceived most of the Church that he is “finished, has no power and no influence on us – because we are saved!” This is, perhaps, the greatest deception that he managed to concoct and it works for him just fine.
I know that some of you might argue that “greater is He who is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1Jn. 4:4) True. But He who is greater in you (Christ) has permitted him that is in the world (devil) to tempt you, pressure you, make you sick, deceive you, keep you from your cross, from the Lord and thus from your Full Salvation! He has not permitted him to overcome you while you trust the Lord and remain in Him. (Mt. 16:18// Jn. 15:6) Is THIS FACT also true?
THE LORD IN HIS WISDOM USES SATAN AND HIS POWERS OF EVIL AS TOOLS FOR OUR FULL SALVATION!
Let us repeat again that the Word of God has been for many of us a THEORY, a pure theory where we only had the experience of being born-again and (maybe) baptized and we became a “member of a church”. We lived only those two parts of the Word of God, or only one. We may have experienced some healing, prophecies, tongues, miracles whether ministering them or receiving them. Now, how about the rest of the Bible that touches us personally? We only talk about it – if we talk about it! Do you need some examples? You may find many of them, I will give you only this one: “But I say unto you, that ye RESIST NOT EVIL; but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Mt. 5:39)
For very many believers, this Word is also a theory that they never lived, never experienced. And if the Lord had brought them into this Word – they always failed. Do you remember your own Christian life? Have you ever lived the above Word of God? Your cheek could have been smitten many times (and not necessarily physically) but have you ever offered your other one? Or do you believe that this Word is not for you? Then for whom is It? I believe It is for every believer especially for all those that “go on unto perfection.” (Heb. 6:1) I live this Word in my earthly life, my cheek was slapped by words, unrighteous decisions and judgments several times. There is a world of difference between Its theory and practice! Believe me.
And how many believers resist evil with all their might and “faith”? It might be all of us! We either “propagate evil” without being aware of it or resist evil without being aware that we are breaking the Word of God! We ought to hinder evil (by our presence) but not actively resist it or fight it. (2Thess. 2:7) There is a great difference. But every time the Lord brings us to LIVE some part of His Word, we always end up in pain, troubles, failures and battles with the enemy who is opposing our every step in that direction.
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I am constrained by the Spirit of the Living Christ at this point to say to His Church this important Word from the Lord concerning evil.
GOD PERMITTED SATAN TO CORRUPT VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS, INSTITUTIONS, POLITICS, ECONOMICS, CULTURE, RELIGION, JUSTICE AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS WORLD!
GOD PERMITTED SATAN TO SET UP HIS AGENCIES, WHICH OPPOSE AND FORBID THE WORD OF GOD AND ANYTHING RELATED TO THE WORD, WHICH YOUR SOUL MAY DESIRE TO KEEP AND CHERISH!
GOD PERMITTED SATAN TO MAKE LUNATICS, FOOLS OR EVEN IDIOTS OUT OF MANY MEN WHETHER THEY BE PAGANS OR THOSE BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS WHO LOVE THEMSELVES, THE WORLD AND THEIR FLESH RATHER THAN GOD!
If you, therefore, resist and fight these types of evil, you resist and fight GOD!
Did the Lord Jesus ever fight any of His enemies? Did He resist them? Show me one such instance in the Scripture and I will burn this book. Is it not then our religious flesh, which fights our enemies?
Is it not a lack of wisdom and of His Spirit when we resist a block of dead stone to be removed from a building (in Alabama, USA) just because the Ten Commandments were written on it? Don’t you know that the Lord had written His Commandments into your hearts… if you gave Him access to it? And that no man can remove THOSE? But too many hearts have been closed and God couldn’t write anything into them! (Jer. 31:33// Rom. 2:15) One fruit of such a foolish act is that the people of Alabama lost a great living judge… never mind a dead block of stone.
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In addition to Eph. 6:10-18, there are some other passages in the Scripture that I want to bring forth at this point and show their deeper meaning as applicable to our war.
This world is not a holy place but an evil place. It is sometimes called the “vestibule of hell”. We were left in this vestibule of hell by the Will of Our Father and of Our Lord, Who prayed quite clearly saying to the Father:
“I pray not that Thou should take them out of the (evil) world, but that Thou should (leave them in this evil world and) keep them from the evil (thereof).” (Jn.17:15)
We are thus left in the midst of evil in this world. Why? We must taste the evil for ourselves! Yet we are kept from it in terms of not being overrun and destroyed by it, but WE ARE NOT KEPT FROM its presence, deception, pressure, bruises, influence and myriad of temptations! When Peter testified about Jesus that He was indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Lord declared:
“…upon this rock I will build My Church; and THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST it.” (Mt. 16:18)
The “gates” mean the government, counsels, plans, plots, decisions of hell. “Prevail” means that these gates are allowed by God to press against us, affect us, influence us, tempt us, fight us – but they shall not prevail against us, overwhelm us who are His true Church (except during the Tribulation – Rev. 13:7). And if the forces of hell are in these days prevailing against some believers including ministers, then these believers should start questioning their Salvation and membership in His true Church.
Most Christians believe that as long as they attend their church once or twice a week, listen to an interesting sermon, sing, pray, give offerings, engage in some church activities, etc., they are doing fine. Let us be clear about this matter – there is nothing wrong with any of these activities… BUT they are to be our means, our steps to reach the final goal and Will of Our Father. If His Will is not reached then such Christians are being perpetually deceived through these very same activities and these activities then become SUBSTITUTES FOR GOD’S WILL!
Why and how are they deceived? They would testify that they are ‘fine’, they do not see any war in their life or any need for it. They do not have to fight any battles with the devil, they already enjoy “peace and joy that the Lord granted them”. And their prosperity is growing day by day … all they have to do is “praise the Lord” or just “wait for the Lord”. Right? There is a definite reason why multitudes of believers do not wrestle with the powers of darkness, and why the Word in Eph. 6:10-19 is just an interesting information for them. The reason is: the LORD IS NOT IN THEIR HEART and they have no true fear of the Lord. Because “the fear of the Lord is the fountain of life.” (Pr. 14:27) This proves that they are SPIRITUALLY DEAD! They do not live the Word, have no knowledge of It, and no intentions to have any! And when we do not live the Word of God, we are no witnesses to Our Lord and to Our Father… and there is no war in us! Listen…
Satan does not mind our church organizations, denominations, fellowships, how many believers are gathering in rooms or in auditoria, a dozen, thousand or a million. He does not mind how many are baptized, how many healed or speaking in tongues. He does not mind our sermons even if they bring sound doctrines and are from the Bible. He does not mind how much religious worship is going on in our churches, how many activities are conducted by their members, how many books are written and read, how much money is collected and what is done with it. He does not war against these things! IN FACT…
SATAN SUPPORTS MANY SUCH ACTIVITIES, PROGRAMS AND EXPANSION PROJECTS, WHICH DO NOT ENDANGER BUT RATHER PRESERVE OR EVEN EXPAND HIS KINGDOM OF DARKNESS AND DEATH IN THE CHURCH AND ALSO IN THE SOULS OF BELIEVERS! MUST I TRULY SAY: HELLO? ARE YOU TRULY REGISTERING THIS TRUTH? I PRAISE THE LORD IF YOU ARE TRULY AND GENUINELY SHOCKED OVER SUCH FACTS… YOU SHOULD BE… AS I WAS!
But Satan definitely and furiously wars against one thing – THE LIFE AND RULE OF CHRIST wherever it is poised to replace SATAN’S FALSE LIFE (DEATH) AND HIS RULE, including the soul of believers! The moment the Lord starts destroying darkness and death in our soul, reviving our heart, will and mind – Satan is there with his army! He will immediately start to attack – BUT he will not prevail! It is the Resurrection LIFE OF CHRIST AND HIS LORDSHIP, which Satan is against. Why?
Because the LIFE of Christ destroyed Satan’s kingdom of darkness and DEATH! The devil had the power of death. (Heb. 2:14) Our religion with all its activities, forms and paraphernalia does not do that! Our best wishes, plans, intentions, sermons, excitements, desires or dreams do not do it! Apostle Paul was not stoned because he was educated and agreed with the Word of God, but because he became a living witness of the Word!
UNTIL THE WORD OF GOD LIVES IN AND THROUGH YOU, IT REMAINS A DEAD LETTER AND SATAN IS NOT DISTURBED ONE BIT! HE WILL LET YOU “ENJOY YOUR PEACE”!… HELLO?
To be continued next week in part 2
brother Hanola
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