Warfare, enemies, battles, weapons, none of those sets our heart to singing; but everyone is a necessary part of the Christian vocabulary.  As Christians we do not live in a lovely rose garden, we live in the middle of a battleground.  In this world we have tribulation.

The next time you read the NT Epistles of Paul and James and Peter and others, notice the words mixed in with love and compassion and joy that speak of our warfare in this life, words like persevere, fight, resist, weapons, strongholds, captive, deceive, weary.  On and on they go, charting a course through life that is full of the love and joy and comfort found in Christ, amidst the trials, temptations, suffering and battles.

We would be foolish indeed if we did not recognize that we are surrounded by enemies on all sides that want to see us fall, want to see us bring shame on the name of Christ. And how silly we look to non-believers when we get in the middle of a battle and don’t know who we are fighting or what weapons we should be carrying.  More than that, how must we break the heart of our Savior when we fall into the trap of battling our fellow Christians.

One of the saddest things about the Church of Jesus Christ in this world is how we fight among ourselves and how we end up killing our wounded. Paul wrote, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.”  [2 Cor 10:3-4 NIV]

Our brothers and sisters are not our enemies – even when they act like they are.  Our enemies are the devil, the world, and our very own flesh.  Let’s recognize what we are fighting and learn about our weaponry.