Imagine living every second of your life in a war zone. The reality is we do.
This is a fallen world with sin and evil everywhere. The truth regardless of anyone’s beliefs. April and I recently spent time in Albuquerque with family. In traveling around the city, we were shocked at the sheer number of homeless we saw on the streets. We visited a homeless shelter where broken lives abounded. The reality of a sinful, evil world overwhelmed us.
It wasn’t the people we saw as sinful or evil. It was what the world had done to their lives.
We hold Satan responsible. His greatest desire is to destroy as many people as he possibly can, to fill Hell with millions of destroyed souls. He possesses a myriad of weapons used to cause destruction.
Furthermore, the battlefield belongs to him. Jesus calls him the ‘prince of this world’ in John 14:30. So we have a sinful, evil world that Satan controls at the moment. How is anyone able to successfully survive in a war zone stacked against us?
It gets worse. Suppose you’re in a fox hole with another person, and the person turns against you. Suppose you’re marching against the enemy, and the people marching beside you suddenly lay down their weapons and walk away. Even worse, suppose they join the other side?
In short, what hope do we have? Obviously, we will lose against such odds.
Unless we grasp the weapons available to us: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)
We do this for ourselves, but we also do this for others. Once we become believers, we embark on a crucial rescue mission. Eternal lives are at stake. Those who desert us for the other side still need us. Even when they despise us, we must continue fighting for them.
Ephesians 6:13-17 describes how: “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Full armor. Girded loins of truth. Breastplate of righteousness. Shod feet of the gospel of peace. Shield of faith. Helmet of salvation. These are indestructible weapons. Let those of us who believe wear them with unfailing confidence followed by unrelenting action.
Our first action is found in verse 18: “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”
Returning from Albuquerque, April and I felt grateful for the life we’ve built in Henderson County. It’s a peaceful place to live. Hardly any traffic at all, anything we want or need in easy reach, fresh air, almost nonexistent crime rate. What more could we want?
Honestly, nothing. However, as much as we appreciate our lives here, Henderson County is as much a part of the worldwide war zone as anywhere else. Lives are in grave danger of being eternally destroyed here just as they are in Albuquerque.
Every believer in Henderson County needs to possess a stalwart prayer life. We must be diligent in finding those who are losing in the war zone and helping them every way we can. Almost always, these struggles are difficult. We must be steadfastly patient and devoted to the rescue. Eternal futures are at stake.