2 Cor. 10:4 (NIV) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Steven Ambrose’s non-fiction history book Band of Brothers tells the story of a group of paratroopers who land inside the enemy lines just prior to the D-day invasion of WWII. These men were trained together and they stay together all the way through the winning of the war. One man, Lieutenant Richard Winters, gives a powerful picture of a true leader who understands his calling—not unlike how a Christian should view his or her calling in this world. The video that was made of the book shows Winters charging with his troops into battle, then proudly saluting an officer he’s just promoted, and commenting to a fellow soldier, “I don’t like to retreat.”
One of the scenes in the series shows Winters leading his troops into their most celebrated feat of the war, holding the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. A soldier leaving the front line pulls Winters aside and says ominously, “Looks like you guys are going to be surrounded.”
Without hesitation Winters replies, “We’re paratroopers, Lieutenant. We’re supposed to be surrounded.”
What a picture of a Christian in this world! We live surrounded by a world at war with the God we serve. You would have to be blind not to see there is a spiritual war going on against families. The lives of men, women, teenagers and children are being destroyed. Drugs, abuse, divorce, bitterness, infidelity, hatred; they all are instruments in the hands of our enemy to destroy lives. That enemy uses deceit and lies to stay in operation.
That enemy is like the woman who said to a computer dating service that she didn’t care about looks, income or background. All she wanted was a man of upright character. Then a man came in and said the only thing he was seeking in a woman was intelligence. The service matched them together at once because they had one thing in common – they were both compulsive liars!
Acting as though there is no enemy and no war produces devastated families. They are the collateral damage of this unseen war. We are in a war with unseen forces. The war is real.
Ephes. 6:12 (NIV) For 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.
Living for Christ means you live contrary to this culture. It is as though we are a walking, talking contradiction to this world’s standards. The enemy of our souls and our families is not inactive. He and his crowd of “spiritual forces of evil” are not static. They are at work. But so is our God, and He is stronger and smarter and is able to make us the winners in this war. He has given us great and powerful weapons with which we can win this war.
God has to tell us, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world” because left to ourselves, we will respond like our culture. So we must learn what those weapons are and use what we learn.
Ephes. 6:14-18 (NIV) Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And 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 saints.