Choosing to Believe.

For most of this New Year, a significant portion of the first quarter anyway, our little Community of well-worn Saints has been embracing what it means to live with a Warrior-Heart— both men and women alike.  And using the infamous Ephesians 6 section {vv. 10-20} and its itemized Armor as a springboard to do it.  So, the week prior to Easter and our Celebration of Jesus’ Resurrection, we posed this question.  How do we wield the “shield of faith” against the attacks of our enemy?  How do we “take up the shield of faith” so as to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”?  The initial answer is one of those ‘says easy, does hard’ deals.  By faith in the power of Jesus’ promises.

That simple and trite answer also has the benefit of being true.  But I couldn’t get this idea of the enemy’s attacks necessitating our wielding the “shield of faith” out of my mind.  Because, let’s be honest, he does attack, doesn’t he... through servants both human and demonic?  He comes unlooked for and unexpected with the fury of a heart filled with malice and hate, the onslaught surprising us {though we’re told by Peter not to “be surprised by the fiery ordeal” we’re undergoing}, shocking in its intensity.  This is Satan’s version of the ‘shock and awe’ America unleashed on Baghdad in Gulf War II {also known as the ‘Neo-con Oil War’}.  He loves this type of tactic, this overwhelming attack intended to shatter our souls.

Then I thought about what a horrific slap in the face of a kind and compassionate Creator it is when the enemy is able to use the Children of God to do his dirty work for him— especially against other Children of God, those bought and bound by the blood of the Lamb!  Is there any greater disgrace in the Life of the Body of Christ, any deeper disappointment anywhere in Abba’s Kingdom?  I doubt it.  The “sons of God” at war with one another.  Over what?  An obscure passage of Scripture, a different theological paradigm, balanced political opinions?  How ‘bout just ...their own personality, maybe freer and fuller than yours, more willing to risk, more willing to trust, more willing to give generously and love graciously?  How ‘bout those believers who don’t dance to the tune of your dysfunctional drum, who don’t live by your Pharisaical standards, who won’t allow themselves to be manipulated by your subtle condescension and not so subtle condemnation?  “Well, we’ve got to wage war on them... uhhmm, for their own good, for the sake of the Gospel!  To rescue their souls from perdition; to teach them a lesson; to bring them back into line, bring them into conformity!”  Aaaahhhh yes, now we’re getting somewhere.  Now we’re getting to the heart of the real issue: control.  Arrogance and control, once again.

Isn’t this exactly what the Jesus whose promises we so faithfully claim battled, incessantly, as He sought to fulfill the Mission of His Messiahship?  Human nature, inundated by the ‘sin within,’ doesn’t seem to have changed too much in the ‘evolution’ of the last two millennia.  No surprise there ...since it can’t change apart from intimacy with the Messiah Himself, a relationship which can only be gained and subsequently grown through “faith.”  And so we’re back, once again, to the only “shield” worth wielding, the only protection offered us from a fierce and cunning antagonist, the only thing which can draw us into the Arms of Grace.  Faith, trust, belief.  It’s our willingness to trust that the strength of our God is greater, the heart of our God is wiser, and the love of our God is deeper than any circumstance surrounding me.  I choose to believe.


Ric Webb

Shepherd
Heart's Journey Community

www.hjcommunity.org