Our Warfare

“And you shall take possession of the land* and settle in it,
for I have given the land to you to possess it”
Numbers 33:53
(*see note below)

Our growth in understanding God’s Word is by degrees; its sphere of influence grows as we yield to its dominion.

“To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”
Isaiah 28:9-10  (ESV)

Our ability to impact the lives of others will be determined by the degree to which our own hearts have been impacted. The work of truth starts within our own hearts. Its power must be felt within before we can effectively minister its wonder to the lives around us. God’s purpose is that by His Spirit, His Truth, and the Life of the Son, we begin to take possession of our own hearts.

“In your patience possess ye your souls”
Luke 21:19

There is a warfare; our warfare, a battle of extreme proportions within our own being. The enemies are real and they are more powerful than we. It is in the crucible of our own victories whereby we minister grace and power into the lives of others. The land within must be taken; the enemies of self-will, self-determination and self-seeking must be conquered by the operation of His Spirit within. The lessons learned from these battles equip us to understand the struggles of those around us. We discover endurance, mercy and wisdom from our own frailties.

King David fought his own battles, some hidden far and away from the sight of others. These personal victories were the preparation for Israel’s Goliath. It was David’s victories over the lion and the bear. The confidence of faith must be experiential for it to be true in us.

“The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion
and from the paw of the bear
will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:37 (ESV)

His personal battles prepared him for Israel’s foes. It is no different today. The land of our hearts must be conquered if we would be vessels of honor unto Him. The battle must be fought with the spiritual weapons given to us in Christ.

The strategies and wisdom of this world will not prevail nor prepare us for the Battles of the Lord. It is something we can only learn by experience often in the secret places of our own hearts.

“Blessed be the Lord my strength,
which teaches my hands to war,
and my fingers to fight”
Psalm 144:1

There will be no true comprehension of these victories apart from our discovery that the “Lord is our strength.” Just like Peter, it will not take long to discover the unreliability of our own resolve. Let us take courage even in our defeats for, as Peter, we have a “High Priest” who is ever interceding on our behalf. His mercies and faithfulness are sufficient to teach us the art of His warfare.

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die:
but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live”
Romans 8:13

The Life of Christ is found and experienced on the battlegrounds of our own hearts! His Life must be individually apprehended by the personal pursuit of every believer. The Apostle beckons us to

“…work out your OWN salvation
with fear and trembling”
Philippians 2:12

No one else can work this out for us. Just as Jesus must be our personal Saviour, so also is our ongoing relationship with Him. The “hidden manna” is attained individually, as is the reward. The battles that rage in one individual are often quite different from another, yet the victory is ours as we discover “the Lord is my strength”!

“To the one who is victorious, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him (individually) a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it”
Revelation 2:17

It is in these things that we become partakers of His Victory. We are to overcome even as He overcame.

“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne”
Revelation 3:21

The validity of His Life working in us is expressed in victory over the enemies of our hearts.

“Who is he that overcomes the world,
but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
1 John 5:5

There can be no victory without the struggle; there can be no Crown without the Victory.

It takes fortitude, grace, hope, holy determination and the Lord as our strength. Let us not grow weary or faint-hearted for greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!

Related Post: Psalm 23 – The Place of Feasting (Excerpt from the Book; Paths of the Shepherd)

*Note: Within the New Testament understanding the Promised Land represents a life that can be entered into here in this life. It is not a representation of Heaven but a life which is to be “entered into” in the here and now.

“As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
Hebrews 3:15–4:2

The above declaration by the Holy Spirit defines a people who, by faith, came out of Egypt (salvation from the world) but failed to enter into the land of promise because of unbelief (disobedience); the good news of their day was not apprehended. So, too, in the New Testament understanding, we are to enter in on the basis of a living faith (obedience).

The exhortation to those who know of His salvation is to GO ON into the fullness of His life within. By faith, we drive out the enemies of deceit, lying, lust, envy, jealousy and all the other works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).

“For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”
Hebrews 4:2 (ESV)

There is within this exhortation a word to God’s people to fellowship and unite ourselves together in the common faith that we may be faithful to encourage one another in this epic day.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…”
Hebrews 10:25-27 (ESV)

To deliberately neglect the stirring up of one another unto “love and good works” is the great sin of our day.

Brian Troxel