Warfare

I started watching the Walking Dead series. I was bored one evening and for entertainment purposes I watched it. Im hooked. Im on season 6. It completely fascinates me and I love the characters. It is extremely violent and bloody though. During some scenes I close my eyes, open them a minute later and its still happening! Its a movie about warfare and how to survive. Also about loyalty, integrity, and fearlessness in the midst of incredible opposition and evil. The odds are against them yet they continue, they fight and they suffer loss and destruction. They learn to recognize the enemy and through grit, starvation, pure pain and with an amazing skill set they overcome the evil around them. You know what I like about this series? They fight together and they fight for one another.

As Christians we fight a different kind of battle- a spiritual one. One that we can't see. Currently I am reading the book The Bondage Breaker. Our culture has bought into the idea that most physical ailments are caused by disease without considering the spiritual aspect of physical symptoms. Then he points out how the woman in Luke 13: 11-12 was a victim of a "sickness caused by a spirit." (18 years) The enemy attacks our mind (mental illness) our body (physical) and the environment around us. (not exclusively though) There are medical reasons for illness and disease, its just that in the scientific world we are living in, the spiritual world is minimized. You see the enemy is deceptive and as Christians sometimes the last person we turn to is Jesus. We go to get help elsewhere. One of the kings in the bible (Asa) had a disease in his feet but didn't call on the Lord.

"And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians." 2 Chronicles 16:12

Yet he is the God who heals,

"Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,.." Psalm 103:2-4

Why does God allow this suffering, this oppression? Different reasons, sin, idolatry, complacency, the time that we are living in. Sometimes we don't know why. As a culture we have changed and I see the enemy gaining ground which is predicted in the Bible. In the last days the hearts of people will grow cold. In the days of the OT, God allowed oppression because peoples hearts always went astray. At this time in history as Christians we are being pressed, squeezed, oppressed. Only when we turn, repent, and call on his name will He hear from heaven and answer and rescue his people. 

We need to fight with spiritual weapons. I read the book Chasing God by Roger Huang. This  book changed the way that I thought about fasting and prayer. This man started a ministry in San Francisco in one of the worst neighborhoods in America. He changed the landscape there. He prayed and fasted for God to open doors, grow the work, the ministry, and God did all that and more. After reading this book I thought wow thats incredible all that God did for that man. Then I thought I could never fast that long. (he fasted for days, weeks, and a month) Then God showed me a passage in the Bible about standing in the gap for others- who will do it? So I ended up doing a 3 and 1/2 day fast. Water and coffee in the morning. It was tough! The first day was a warm up, the second day I started earnestly praying, the third day I was crying. On the forth day I couldn't stop thinking about food! This is what it did; brought me near to Him, had a clearer mind, clearer ideas of what God was saying to me, humbled me, strengthened my faith in him, brought me to a different level, saw God move and act on behalf of my prayers. Roger fasted until he saw God move. This kind of fasting is different from the Daniel plan, from just doing a meal fast, its way more difficult and much more effective it seems. We take God more serious when were not eating for days. It really takes discipline, because there is always a birthday, holiday, there is always a reason to eat! 

My point? Well I think that we need to step it up, we need to sacrifice for others, we need to be prepared for battle. We have so much power, but we don't use it because we are distracted, deceived, and lazy. The walking dead are all around us and we have the cure, but we need to fight in the place that God has us, with the responsibilities that God has given us. God Bless