On the plane home I sat next to a woman with a lap-baby. I tuned her out and watched a movie. But I noticed her talking to the old couple seated in front of us.
It turns out, both were air force families. The old guy had been a B-17 pilot flying out of Italy in WW2. “Our next assignment was the Pacific, then Hiroshima happened and the war was over,” he said.
The lady next to me was married to a B-52 bomber pilot.
The old vet reminisced, “I remember two B-52s at an airbase, loaded with their nuclear warheads, their engines warmed up and ready to fly on a moment’s notice.”
Such were the horrors of WW2 (see
this blog post), that we as a country determined to pay whatever price we needed to in order to protect our freedom.
Today in the office I spoke with a friend whose family member is under attack. And listening to the testimony, you have to wonder if its not demonic in nature. My friend is overwhelmed – he’s in the fight of his life. Freedom is at stake and there don’t appear to be easy answers.
I have been bullied enough in life. I will not back down from a righteous fight. Something in me rose up and expressed my solidarity to my friend, “OK, we’re not going to just sit here and take this. We’re going to do whatever it takes to win this battle.” And I’m committed to walk that out.
Under attack and unaware
Most of us are under attack in some significant way, though we may be unaware. The Bible tells us, “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world.” (
Eph. 6:12)
A personal evil hunts us like a lion hunts game. He attacks us when we are most vulnerable. What do those attacks look like? In the realm of our personal lives, we may feel insecure and unloved. We may live in fear of being discovered for the fraud that we feel ourselves to be. Our enemy attacks with fear.
In the realm of our family, someone close to us is likely experiencing significant pain and possibly trauma right now. It may be that they are under attack. Yet we may be too busy with our own issues to really help them.
In the realm of our community or church, all we have to do is look at the nightly news to understand the pain those around us are experiencing.
It can seem so overwhelming that we may feel like we have no emotional reserves to help those outside our sphere of influence. What are we to do?
How do we respond?
Just to survive, many of us deny the reality of or the severity of the attack. Like the black knight in Monty Python & the Holy Grail, we declare, “It’s only a flesh wound,” when in fact we are gravely wounded.
Or maybe we ourselves are OK – what then is our responsibility to our family or neighbor?
Over and over God encourages us to love one another in tangible ways. In Isaiah 58 he tells us to “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” Jesus’ ministry was organized around doing that.
To me, that implies a fight. We know we have an enemy who wants to keep us oppressed in dark places. God calls us to freedom. And he calls us to be freedom fighters. When we disciple, we turn people into freedom fighters.
Your enemy wants to rob you of your inheritance. He wants to steal what is rightfully yours. You must fight him or he’ll execute on his plan to do so.
Have you decided to fight? That’s the first step in living the life God has planned for you. Your passivity does not serve you well. We’re told, “resist the devil, and
he will flee.” (
James 4:7)
If you are under attack or care about someone who is, then deciding to resist evil and to seek God for his strategy is a righteous response.
Thanks for practicing what you preach.
Echoing the Mudd Family comment with a twist; Thanks for preaching what you believe (what you have learned by being aware).
It seems to me the fight is within the church as much as it is in the world. There are often no clear lines as to which is which. If honest this applies to self also.I grow weary
Onward I go…in the midst of this seemingly endless conflict. Some battles lost, but the war will be won! It’s been a good week.
Seth! How you have time to blog, I’ll never know. But I’m so glad you do! This blog is amazing!!! Thanks for the encouragement.
Vanessa, I love the way you fight for others. You have a righteous authority and a sweet heart. The best is yet to come for you.