Good vs. Evil

When people think of a battle or war, their first thought isn't of spiritual things. It's of a physical battle between people who have disagreed or argued to a point where war is the only rational option. Normally good vs. evil. Unfortunately, the "good guys" don't always win the battles here on earth. Many peoples lives are lost in the wars and sometimes we will lose the battle. It's sad, but very true.

When a soldier goes into battle he doesn't think of himself, his wants or needs. His mind is on the job at hand; winning the battle. As Christians, we are constantly in a battle, one to be fought for the Lord of Lords Himself. We are to keep at the forefront of our mind the goal and we mustn't ever give up hope of winning.

This battle is very different from any other battle because to fight and win, we must first die; die to ourselves and everything we want. Once we have given our life over to the Lord, we automatically signed up for the battle. Our weapon is love, our shield is faith and our clothes are the blood of the Lamb, covering us fully. Protecting us from the evil of the enemy.

Now, just like in any other war situation we will face many hardships. We will lose solders, faith in our abilities and at times even our hope of ever winning. Here's the good part, the one thing that sets this war apart from any other; we know the ending. Yep. It's pretty amazing. We already know what is going to happen in the end. God has told us that He will come again, reign over the whole earth, smite the enemy and have victory over evil for eternity.

In the mean time, we have been given instructions, our orders for service, so to speak.

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." -Mark 16:15

This is very important. The root of every command. Our job is to tell the world about this war, and save their lives by showing them the victory we've been shown. The love we've been given. The faith we have in our King.

"There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the LORD. The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the LORD." -Proverbs 21:30-31

Nothing is greater than the Lord. That is the first thing we must understand. There is no man on the face of this earth that has so much wisdom it outweighs God's, there is not a single soul who has understanding of enough things to even begin to come close to God's. There are those think they are prepared for battling the Lord, those who think their knowledge and "wisdom" are their way to win against Him, but they don't even have a chance. They have no hope. God has the victory; it is as though it has already happened. When God says something will happen, it is not a guess or estimation, it is a fact and as sure as I am sitting here, it will happen no matter what man does to try and stop it.

"As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the LORD is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God, the God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless? He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places. He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great. You enlarge my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and I did not turn back until they were consumed. I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; they fell under my feet. For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me." -Psalm 18:30-39

Again here, it states that God has given us everything we need (including Himself). He has made us strong through His mighty power, all who follow Him. His children are His solders, and He guards them each step of the way, protecting them from the fiery darts of the enemy.

"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. 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 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." -Ephesians 6:10-17

This is our packing list; the things we will need for our battle. If you look closely, though, these things aren't material. They are the kind of protection that is given by the Lord. We don't need a bunch of baggage to carry around with us nor do we need heavy armor. All we need is the Lord and He will provide everything we need.

There are many reasons the weapons and protection we are given are not things that we can necessarily see, but more that we can feel and have faith in. You see, this battle we are all fighting is not one that can be won by physically fighting the enemy. But spiritually fighting. "With all prayer and supplication." We are fighting a very large spiritual battle every night we sleep and every day we wake up.

"For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." -Romans 7:14-26


Our battle daily will be one of the devil fighting us with temptations, sending things our way hoping we will give in to the fleshly desires in our heart to disobey God's law. Every day he will fight and fight. He will brew bitterness, unforgiveness, disloyalty, false words, lies, disgrace, un-loving acts and words and anything else he can get to get to our hearts. He will throw "fiery darts" of lies and filthy words into our head until we give in to his words. We become as the very people we are angry towards. We turn into bitter beings, like cinnamon on our tongues; tasteless, burning, unsweetened. He will tell us lies of our self-worth, that we aren't truly forgiven for our mistakes...he uses anything in our past and hopes we have for the future to tear our walls down and keep us from the faith and strength we have in the Lord.

So many days and nights of my life have been spent dealing with voices in my head, Satan just pounding me with lies. Many times I tried to take things into my own hands to get rid of them, but they were still there, I worked in vain. He would remind me of all my mistakes, all my hurts and scars, all of my unworthiness. Then when he stopped for a minute to take a breath I would hear a small whisper telling me to throw those words out and turn my heart back over to the Lord. Mistakes are some of Satan's biggest weapons. I can't stop making them no matter how hard I try, but I can be forgiven from them and forget about every single one of them because God has told me He will do just that.

The voices will try to overtake your life...they will drag you down lower and lower, deeper and deeper into depression.
But hear me out; the day that we call on the name of the Lord, He will set us free.

If the voices of Satan are constantly floating through your head, taking away your peace and life, all you have to do is call on the name of the Lord. He will smash the enemy beneath His feet and mute the lies. His promise is that we have been forgiven, we are loved, and that our battle is not being fought in vain. We can hope for our future because we have hope in our Lord. We can love those who are un-loveable because we have been loved when we were un-loveable. We can forgive because we have been forgiven.

We are all in this battle together. Our job is to tell other people about Christ, give them the hope we have in us so they can be on the winning side, so they don't have to face an eternity in the lake of fire. In the midst of fighting for other people's lives we will be wrestling with problems of our own; the enemy will try to ruin our hearts. Keep the armor of the Lord around you, the words of the Father on your heart and the forgiveness of the Son of God in your mind.

"Never give up, never give up, never give up."

The victory is already ours! But we can still save the lives of those who are willing to come join us.