“Whatever you accomplish in your life, you accomplish it on your knees.” Charles Stanley said in one of his sermons that the Lord spoke these words to him when he was in his war room.
What are the battles you are fighting inside your war room? Where’s your war room? Do you have one?
In the Scripture, war is one of the signs that Jesus told His disciples when they asked Him the signs of His coming in Matthew 24:3-8, NKJV.
“Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Conflicts and war are not new to us as believers after the Fall of Man in Genesis 3. As human beings, we failed to our God-given vocation. The evil, the serpent, tempted Adam and Eve into believing that they could be “like God” by their own will and effort. And they were tempted and sinned against God. Eventually, the consequence of sin is death (Romans 3:23) and brought about repercussions for all of humanity. So, when Adam and Eve sin, they became enslaved to sin and all their children (including our generation) brought into the bondage of sin.
However, our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross to redeem us from our sins (John 3:16). This, the counterpart of the fall of man, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet we are still living in a sinful world, and temptations are not even far from our doorstep. It is within our own thoughts and heart. We are surely fighting our own battle that only few can discern it. Whether or not we like it, the spiritual battle is real. Satan is real. God is real. And Satan cannot touch God, but he knows how to hurt Him through His children. The devil is like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). And if we are not sober enough to know we are so vulnerable to temptation and drag us to the pit of destruction, if we are not very careful.
Be Honest with Jesus
Honesty is the essence of an intimate relationship with Jesus. We cannot hide anything from Jesus. We can keep secrets from our loved ones, friends, and flaunting our good side on social media as much as we can. But we cannot conceal even the tiniest thing about us in Jesus’ eyes.
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” Psalm 139:13-17, NKJV.
Then, what is the reason why we hide anything from Jesus? He takes pleasure in hearing your anxiousness, disappointments, anger, happiness, and everything that you have. The very best thing I’d love with my relationship with Jesus is honesty. I know I cannot hide anything from Him, but I still love to tell Him everything that I do and feel. When I get angry or upset with someone, I vent it to Jesus with an open and real heart. And He loves that. It shows your authenticity of your intentional relationship to Him. Our honesty opens up our heart to Jesus. It displays our humility before Him. And that humility brings us to the throne of His grace. It will be the start of developing that relationship stronger than you’ll ever thought.
“Our honesty opens up our heart to Jesus. It displays our humility before Him. And that humility brings us to the throne of His grace.” @irishgambito Tweet
The Inevitable Warfare
I grew up hearing many times the Scripture on Ephesians 6:12 that we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. But I did not really grasp it until the Lord open my heart and thought of understanding it clearly by living what does it really means. It is so tempting to hate someone when they are picking you at some point and push your button frequently. Sometimes, we react and respond ungraciously because we are prone to yield towards what we feel. We naturally react by our emotions. And exactly the reason why we were told to put up the full armour of God in Ephesians 6:10-20, NKJV.
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
As Christians, we are in a spiritual battle of some sort on a daily basis. Spiritual battle is real, even though we cannot see our enemy physically. We often see it through the person of our family and other people. If we don’t have the wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit, we quickly judge that the enemy is our neighbour, co-worker, our boss, and even our own family. But we can learn on how the battles are fought and how it affects our daily lives. To understand this battle of spiritual warfare, we need to begin with acknowledging that we are in war. We don’t have to go far to our neighbour, just look at ourselves and spiritual battle is at stake. Ourselves is the most difficult enemy to defeat with, namely our pride, arrogance and other such things that hinder us from winning the war. We are blinded to the truth and we merely sees our humanness that equals to self-serving and self-regard nature. And essentially we need the Holy Spirit to open our thought and heart to the truth ~ the truth of Jesus’ teachings and His Words.
Victory in War Room
Jesus has come and conquered. The war is already won in the heavens.
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4, NKJV.
Every day victory is attained by knowing, believing, and understanding the battles that we are enduring daily, regardless if we are passive or active in the battle. As Pastor Craig Groeschel said, “We cannot defeat what we cannot define.” We must know who are our enemies and whom we take shelter and our defender.
Many times I am exhausted and done like a weary and wounded soldier in my war room. Sometimes I could merely utter these words, “Jesus I am tired.” And tears were falling, heart is breaking. But I am beyond grateful because I have a Commander in-chief who fights the battle with me and for me. It is in my war room where I can confess my weaknesses and shortcomings. My war room is a place where I lay all of my burdens down to God. Where I develop a stronger and an intimate relationship with God. I acquainted myself in my war room and God revealed who I was and am, and by the grace of God raised me to be a mighty warrior of His. God speaks to those who are willing to listen. He speaks to us straight to our heart.
“God speaks to those who are willing to listen. He speaks to us straight to our heart.” @irishgambito Tweet
It is in my war room that I shared my silent pain, and wounded heart. But this is a place also where I shout and celebrate my victory with my Commander in-chief. Sometimes it is a place of silence but I always say, “I know You are here.”