What battle are we fighting?

While we chose the topic of Joy for the upcoming kids lessons at the Feast of Tabernacles, we are keeping A soldier in Christ as a close topic for next year. I wish in many ways we could do both at the same time, maybe in some ways we will.

One of the overlooked revelations of the battle we fight day to day against sin is whose battle we are fighting. Many Christians sometimes fall into the belief that we are brought into the faith by God but then left to fight the battles of being a Christian by ourselves. This is actually not the case.

We were called into the body of Christ by God to fight the battle against sin and Satan himself. The battle itself is God’s fight. We were put in this battle when we submitted our lives to Him. It is not a single battle we fight on our own but one where we are part of a greater army of believers who are all waging war with God and Jesus Christ against sin. We are the enlisted who fight along with many others to win this war.

God did not leave us poorly equipped for this battle but gave us many provisions including the biggest one of all, His Holy Spirit. The Spirit that helps us to grasp the truth and push out the untruth in every part of our lives. One that transforms us from a carnal nature to the very nature of God himself.

One of the greatest scriptures about the battle for truth is 1 John 4:4: 

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”

It is a wonderful thing to discern truth from the lies and part of the battle we have to fight every day. Remember we are the enlisted, fighting this with God and with many brethren!

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig