SPIRITUAL -VS- PHYSICAL WARFARE

Yesterday we looked at the similarities between spiritual and physical warfare. However, there is ONE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE between the two! In physical warfare we see the results of active warfare instantly. In Spiritual Warfare, though, it generally takes time before we see results with our natural eyes. And that's where many people get discouraged and give up the battle.

Most of us have a lifetime of faulty habit patterns that often that disagree with God's pattern. When that happens, guess who's going to have to change! It sure isn't God. So that means it's you and me who have to make some changes in our lives -- and change is never easy! That also takes time! When we find ourselves in that situation, we need the help of the Holy Spirit daily to apply God's Word (our weapon) CONSISTENTLY to whatever the problem may be.

In physical wafare, when you shoot a rifle, you see the results immediately. But not so in Spiritual Warfare! In Spiritual Warfare we must depend entirely upon what the Manufacturer's Handbook (the Bible) says will happen when we shoot our spiritual weapon. That's what we call Faith!

A good example is James 4:7. "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Since you can't physically see the devil fleeing, you have to believe with complete faith and confidence that when you resist the enemy in the spiritual realm, that is EXACTLY what he does!

You may not FEEL as though he is fleeing, the problem may still exist (and even be worse), but this is where we must BELIEVE GOD'S WORD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE! This is where Romans 4:17b comes into the picture: "calleth those things which are not, as though they were." (Read the entire story of Abraham's faith as given in Romans 4:13-21.)

Note that the Scripture in James 4:7 doesn't say you have to FEEL good, better, or different to prove that your rifle worked and that the devil is running away from you. No. The only requirement it demands is that you "submit yourselves, therefore, to God." You MUST meet that condition before you can expect the devil to flee.

Take inventory of your life. Is it free from sin? Is Jesus Lord of your life? Are you under the control of the Holy Spirit? Are you living according to God's will? Are you praying? Reading the Word of God?

If you are submitted to God, if your heart doesn't condemn you, you can have total confidence that your rifle hit the target where you aimed it and that the devil is fleeing from you. I John 3:21, 22 says, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight."

Satan will come to you with all kinds of suggestions to make you doubt God's Word. But this is the time to doubt your doubts and believe the Word of God.

More tomorrow!

Preacher's Kid