Battles take time

In the natural, when wars are fought, each battle has a duration of time that it takes before it is over.  

As Christians, we go into each spiritual battle knowing the outcome!  We are in Christ.  Christ is the Victor. Ergo, we are victorious in Christ!

However (clear throat), some battles are "bloodier" than others.  Some battles take longer than others.  And if we are going to live the Christian life, we must be aware of these facts.

We are called by God to be strong and courageous.  We see these commands all throughout Scripture.  Fear not!  Be very strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go!

The Lord knew we would need courage, and lots of it.  He knew the battles each of us would face and the weapons we would need in order to fight them.

I won't go into detail here about how we wage war in the heavenlies, or about the armor of God - you can find plenty of teachings on these online, articles and YouTube.

What I am here to say is this:  Don't give up!

I'm sure millions of soldiers throughout history wanted to give up in the middle of the fight.  They became discouraged, weary, tired, broken, and wounded.  But they were part of an army!  So they were not alone in their battles but had comrades in arms.  They also had a General guiding them.  And they knew they couldn't stop until it was over.  

Our General is the Lord.  And our "army" is the body of Christ.  We are in this together after all!

Though the church has not always been the example we should be - what with church divisions/splits, strife, and the like - we are still God's army!  We are on the same side, whether or not we always agree about the course of action.  That is why we all need to look to our General collectively!  Only He knows the battle plan and can reveal it to us!

The key is, are we listening?  And if we are, are we obeying?

Bottom line, there are private battles and public ones.  And I have found that most are fought daily in the nitty gritty of life - individually, yet never alone.

Will we fight?  Will we give up?  Will we trust Christ for the victory?  Do we really believe that we have already won?  But we still have to do the fighting!  That's just how it is this side of heaven.

Yes, the battle is the Lord's.  But He puts us through it together with Him in order to grow us up and strengthen us - in Him and in ourselves.  

So press on, dear soldiers of Christ!  Jesus won and He wins!  As the battle heats up around us - oh, what this world has become! - and within us, let us be as Joshua and Caleb - not fearing the "giants" in the Promised Land, but going forward knowing that God has promised us the victory!

Oh Lord.  The battles are intense some days.  But we have Your beautiful Presence to cheer and guide us through each and every one of them.  We look to You for wisdom and strength in each one and trust You to overcome and win in and through us!  Thank You for Your winning power, O God!  For we do not fight these battles in our own strength, but in Yours.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.