“Because
you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of
trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the
earth. “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may
take your crown. Revelation 3:10-11 NKJV
I
don’t believe there is any passage in the Bible more applicable to believers
right now than this verse from Jesus to the Church at Philadelphia. It describes perfectly the situation the
Church finds itself in with regards to how the world views it, especially as
they attempt to change God’s laws and punish those who choose to not to conform
to their agenda.
Woe to
those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light
for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah
5:20 NKJV
“Woe to
those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have
prescribed Isaiah
10:1 NKJV
I
would be less than honest if I did not confess that I am surprised that at this
time, especially in this country, believers are beginning to come under attack
for their faith and be vilified and persecuted for choosing to acknowledge
God’s laws as the standard for our beliefs and actions. Never in my memory can I recall such a time
as we as believers face right now, where the world considers us to be an
intolerant, prejudiced people. Almost everywhere you look right now, you can
find commentaries from Christian leaders in this country imploring believers to
stand and fight for our faith.
Fortunately for us, this is a subject God had much to say about.
Watch,
stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with
love. 1
Corinthians 16:13-14 NKJV
For
those who follow sports, an ongoing argument which many participate in
surrounds the debate “do great teams win with offense or defense"? I'm
sure most would say both, but it is a question that many fans enjoy arguing
about, simply because there are those who love watching a great offense and
others who would rather watch a great defense. In the fight against Satan which
all Christians participate in, we really don't have the option to choose
because God tells us exactly how we can win and that is with a good defense.
Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up
the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Ephesians
6:10-13 NKJV
One
of the most important points Paul makes here is in verse 11 where he tells us
that what is expected of us as believers is simply to "stand". He
repeats this in verse 13 where he tells us that after doing "everything",
we stand firm. In his way, God is telling us through Paul that all He expects
from us is to play defense, not to play offense. We next see in verse 14 that
we are told we can stand firm if we remember those parts of God's armor we have
already put on when we made the decision to follow Christ. Those parts were
reminding us of the truth of Christ in which we believe, remembering our
position before God thanks to the righteousness of Christ, and resting in the
peace that is ours from the knowledge of the first two which was promised to us
in the gospel of Christ.
Stand
therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate
of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel
of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Ephesians 6:14-17 NKJV
In
verse 16 Paul introduces us to the most practical piece of our armor, the one
that we will need to use the most, and that is the shield of faith. Now
personally I like this picture because to me, it realistically illustrates what
Satan is trying to do to us as believers, and the way he tries to attack. An
arrow is not all that large, and if one is coming straight at you I expect it
is pretty hard to see. Also, arrows fly at an extremely fast speed and are
pretty quiet. You can look at an arrow as the first of the stealth weapons,
because the first time you hear them is when they hit you, and obviously by
then it's too late to do anything about it. Most important, though, is the kind
of arrow Satan uses. It's not your everyday arrow, but a flaming arrow which
not only wounds you, but starts a fire that will continue to burn until put
out.
As
a result, God tells us that we need to take up the shield of faith. Have you
had the opportunity to watch a movie that illustrates the use of a shield to
defend against an attack by arrows? I
know I have seen a few that have done a great job showing what it must have
been like to be in a battle like that. You have an army marching forward,
carrying their shields which are almost as big as they are tall, and the
opposing army launching their arrows. As soon as they fire, the opponent kneels
down and hides behind their shields as thousands of arrows fall from the sky.
As the attacking army continues to fire their arrows, the defending army simply
waits behind their shields until the advancing army is out of arrows, and then
they begin their attack. God tells us something in verse 16 that I think is
very critical for us to remember. He says that if we take up the shield of
faith we “will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one”. Not some, ALL. This is what most of us would
consider to be a winning defense!
Since
we know we can win with God's help, it is also important to understand what
these arrows will look like so we can recognize the "stealth" attack
by Satan. I think the clue is in how God describes them when He says they are
"flaming". Obviously a flaming arrow will start a fire, which then
burns until put out. How does Satan "burn" us inside? I think these
arrows will have two characteristics no matter what form they may come in.
Remember they are coming from Satan, and we already know his method of attack.
Satan wants us to doubt the truth from God in which we have believed, so first
of all these flaming arrows will come out of our own thoughts. It's a sneak
attack that seems to come from nowhere when we begin to doubt what we believe
in.
Also,
they will attack our position in Christ, the faith in Him that we have, which
has already been described in the first pieces of armor we put on. You see, the
key to overcoming a good defense is to first create doubt in the mind of your
opponent that he is capable of defending himself. That works in any sport you
can think of, as well as our fight against Satan. The trouble with doubt is
that if you allow it to have its way with your mind, the effect will be to make
you turn away from the conflict.
Unfortunately though, running only makes you a better target!
What
is important to us to understand is the difference between what we believe, and
the shield of "faith" which we are instructed to take up. What is
faith? The best answer I can give you is faith is "acting" on your
belief. You see, belief is one thing, but making decisions, taking action,
making the decision to stand fast, all demonstrate your faith. Faith is always
action. The fact that you may have doubts proves that you have faith. So apply
your belief to everything, every situation you find yourself in, and you will
be demonstrating faith and defeating Satan and his arrows. We need to be
"active" believers, Christians DOING not just believing, and we can
best do this by standing firm in our belief in God and His commands.
Most
of what I have read in the past few weeks agrees with the idea that this fight
is only going to get worse. I truly
believe God is orchestrating the events we see as the world fast approaches His
return for His Church. Fortunately, we
have Jesus’ promise that He is “coming quickly” to take us away
before the judgment of the world. The question for us all is will we stand and
fight? God’s command to us as believers
is to “hold fast”!
Keep
watching.
