Wetzel's Blog

The Unseen Battle

Having just returned from a 3^rd world country (Uganda), I have become more aware then ever of the unseen battle that rages around us.  In a country where people struggle each day to find food, water, and shelter, I could see the battle.  In a country where death was rampant among the poor and sick who could not afford medicine or medical care, I could see the battle.  In a country where people are so easily led astray by false teachers and empty religion, I could see the battle.  All of these things you can see with your eyes.  But when you unplug long enough from the American society and submerge your mind in the bible (as I had the opportunity to), you can begin to see a battle that goes deeper than the obvious.

Ephesians 6:10-13: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground,”

In this life, it is the obvious pressures that we struggle with each day.  Financial pressure, relational stress, rejection, job loss, abuse, neglect, pain, death, confusion, and hopelessness are just a few that we can see with our eyes and feel with our spirit.  These are real and genuine struggles that should not be ignored or minimized.  But what they truly are goes much deeper than what the eye can see.

The battle that is being waged is for the control of our mind, heart, and soul. This is The Unseen Battle.  When pressure and tension rise over the struggles of life, we must plan for and remember the essence of this conflict prior to its inception.  The essence is a spiritual one.  The bible has so much to say about person vs. person and situation vs. situation struggles.  It says that our enemy, the devil, has command over the unseen rulers of darkness, wickedness, and evil that are in this world.  And he will use every ounce of control and power that he has been given to draw us away from Jesus.  His goal is to distract us with these seen struggles, so that we will move from a life of dependence on Jesus to a life of reliance upon self.  He knows that it is through dependence on self, that we will lose the battle ten times out of ten.

 To win the battle we must:  First, give Jesus control.  Our life is one of control.  Either we will fight in the power of self or we will let God do the fighting for us.  Jesus is the only one who can defeat the devil’s schemes/attacks.  It is through the power and name of Jesus that we will have victory. We must first give Jesus control of our entire life, before we can even begin to take a stand.  Second, be prepared.  Submerge your mind with the Word of God.  A victory cannot happen if we do not know the battle plan.  The bible not only gives us the battle plan, but it also exposes the attacks of the enemy.  By reading and meditating on the bible, we will know how to fight and defend ourselves against every struggle.  Third, move forward.  The plan of attack is spelled out in Ephesians 6.  It is a multifaceted plan that is clearly spelled out.  To move forward, we must pray for Jesus to equip us with the armor and lead the charge for us.  To conquer todays struggles, we must allow Jesus (not ourselves) to be the one who helps us overcome The Unseen Battle behind the one that we can see.

Repentance requires a response

It is true that because of Jesus, God forgives any and all sin.  Our forgiveness is not dependant on a person, on a good deed, or on a kind word, but rather on an appropriate response.

 

Leviticus 5:3-6 “So it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that in which he has sinned. He shall also bring his guilt offering to the LORD for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin.”

 

Our sin creates separation between us and a holy God.  Holiness is necessary if we are to know God, be blessed by Him, and be heard when we pray.  God is so loving to us that despite our sin, He offers us a way back to Him.  And when we are with Him nothing in this world can overcome us.  Neither the troubles of fear, shame, hurt, or doubt can overcome the one who is connected to God.  So why do so many live a life enslaved to these troubles.  I would say it’s all because of our response, or lack there of.

 

To overcome, we must realize, repent, and have our sin atoned for, so that we can have the indwelling of a holy God.  That’s right.  The God of this universe desires to live in us through the person of the Holy Spirit.  And it is by that Spirit that we have victory.  Victory must come through the path of realizing our guilt in the form of sin, turning from that sin in the form of repentance, and receiving atonement through the blood of Jesus.  It is only Jesus who can offer atonement.  And it is only us who can respond.

 

Repentance requires us to humble our self, confess the guilt we have due to sin, and take active steps towards God.  Forgiveness is not based on the steps we take, but on the grace and mercy of God.  But…it is in those steps of “humility in action” that God sees us as truly repentant.  Actions speak louder then words.  Do you believe that God forgives regardless of our response?  God clearly told Israel that a response to the guilt of sin must be followed by the active response of repentance.  And after the active response of repentance, atonement will follow.  Atonement is by grace through Jesus…our High Priest. Hebrews 4:14-16.

Recounting God’s Lovingkindness

In a westernized world, how difficult is it to pause for 15 minutes and recount the goodness of God in our life?  I’m not talking about multi-tasking and thanking God as one of those tasks.  But to do nothing else except get in a quiet place, clear your mind, sit in silence, and begin to thank God for every blessing He has given you now and has given you throughout your life.

 

The children of Israel were implored to do this regularly.  Ps. 107:1-2 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary.”

 

We, the bride of Christ – the church, are the children of God.  The promises to the children of Israel and the commands they received are for the church today.  As you read through the Old Testament (Ps. 107), it recounts over and over the things that God’s children have to be thankful for…He redeems; He delivers; He loves; He satisfies; He is good; He humbles; He saves from trouble and in distress; He sends His word; He heals; He speaks; He brings us out of distress; He guides; He quiets the storm; He provides; He blesses; He protects the needy; He punishes oppressors…

 

We are urged again and again through out the book of Psalm, to recount the lovingkindness of the Lord.  I realize it’s tough in a busy world with much to do and much to think about, but this is exactly the plan of our adversary the devil.  He knows that the more we are consumed by other things and other thoughts, the less likely we will be to thank the Lord for all He has done and is continuing to do for us.  When we allow this, he wins and we lose out on the joy of the Lord.

 

It is in recounting God’s lovingkindness that we receive joy and inner strength.  We get so wrapped up in the day to day duties that we forget that the Lord is for us and continually loves us.  As we pause to thank Him, we will receive perspective and power from the Holy Spirit to go through another day in victory.  We receive strength to stand against or adversary the devil.  And we bring glory to the One who is our Sustainer and our sovereign and providential Guide.  Push the pause button!

Humility is where royalty is born

Royalty typically comes from a place of honor, prestige, wealth, and supremacy.  So why was it that the Son of the God came to earth through a teenager girl, in a lowly town, the son of a common carpenter, and in a stable with animals?  Why not in Jerusalem with the Priests?  Why not in Egypt with Pharaoh? Why not in Rome with Caesar?  One conclusion is that God the Father wanted to send us a message about humility.

 

Humility is one of the trademarks of Jesus, from his birth till his death.  It is a value that God chose not only to “tell” us, but to “show” us.  Humility does not come natural for a human.  Our natural tendency is to want prestige, wealth and honor.  We see those things as what is ultimately to be attained in this life.  We would rarely say “By the end of my life, I want to become the most humble person on earth”.  Our hopes and dreams are commonly the exact opposite of that.  Success for us in this life is being the greatest and getting to the top of our ladder (whatever that ladder may be).  Our enemy, the devil, wants us to desire this because he knows that when honor is desired, humility is eliminated.  Our thoughts, opinions, and reactions are formed in those desires.  This is why Nathanael’s reaction in John 1 was so enlightening.

 

John 1:45-46 speak of what our natural response typically is: “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ And Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’  Philip said to him, ‘Come and See’.”

 

Nathanael was in shock and in disbelief that the Messiah would come from a carpenter in Nazareth (a lowly person and in lowly place), and not from a place of royalty and supreme spirituality.  His reaction is indicative of ours.  We too get sucked into a world belief system which teaches that the ultimate place of happiness is found in having a lot of really nice stuff, or in the most acknowledged position, or in the easy and happy life.  But through the example of Jesus, we see that the ultimate seat of honor is found in the least and in the lowest.  It is found in humility.  How are pride, position and possessions keeping you from the best?  Humility is what we are to desire.  Jesus said in Luke 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, is the one who will save it”.  Embrace humility today, because in lowliness of position and possessions is where honor is found.

Unconfessed Sin

Sin takes a major toll on us physically and emotionally.  And we all sin: Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.  But I think we tend to underestimate the impact of unconfessed sin.  We have been tricked by our enemy, the devil, to believe that even small unconfessed sins are: not a big deal and if we ignore it…it will fix itself over time…or it will eventually be forgotten…or its initial impact will dissipate.  But unconfessed sin will take a life long toll on our body as long as it remains silent before an all knowing God.  There are many implications of unconfessed sin, but let’s take a look at two.

 

Ps 31:10 & 32:3-5 “For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity” & “For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.  I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

 

Unconfessed sin takes a toll on our physical body.  These verses in Psalm talk about David’s physical anguish because of his sin.  He says that his strength fails and his bones waste away.  Keeping our iniquities unspoken to God, will initially and continually wear us down.  In our day to day life we will be weak, tired and feel unrest.  We like to attribute our physical fatigue to many things, but how often do we consider unconfessed sin as a factor?

 

Unconfessed sin takes a toll on our spirit.  There is an internal impact of sin that is embedded deep down inside of us.  It robs us of experiencing joy and rest in our souls.  We have all experienced unrest in our soul, and we can feel its literal impact.  But do we ever consider the root of soulful fatigue to be an unrepentant heart?

 

Take time now to look into your life, actions, and heart.  Do you have sins that you know are there, but you hide them from God?  Because of pride and shame, do you refuse to humble yourself and confess your sin before a loving and forgiving God?  Jesus rose from the dead to defeat that which causes us so much pain, fatigue and sorrow.  He’s waiting at the door of our hearts with arms open wide.  He longs for us to surrender our unrighteousness, humble ourselves, and confess to Him our need of forgiveness from the sins that plague us.  Will you allow God to free you today?