Where is the War?

            We live in an obedient Universe.  It is so big our imaginations  cannot comprehend the distances, yet the movements of every star and planet are steady and true.  God set their orbits and interactions in the beginning, and their obedience has been so perfect ever since, that we set our clocks and calendars by them!    

     Despite the perfect symmetry and precision of literally everything; there is a rebellion here on earth.   God set apart the earth from all of the creation, and He gave authority over this one planet to man, (Genesis 1:26-28). Can you imagine what a shock it is in heaven to see the way the inhabitants of our world today disobey, challenge, and even mock the truth of God!  What a relief that He confines our influence to the earth!  

     Where is this war in the heavens?  ‘Heavenly’ in the Bible, is often used to describe a SPIRITUAL truth, 

• “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will  you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” – Jesus, John 3:12
• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…        Ephesians 1:3

     What I am getting at is that the spiritual battle we often talk about is not in a place out there somewhere.  It is all around us and within also.  It is in our hearts and minds.  Many of our neighbors and friends are prisoners of war, but they can be set free with words of truth and love.  Forward progress in our March through life is much determined by our adherence to God’s truth.  The keys of truth that unlock these spiritual prison doors, shackles, and handcuffs, are the words of the Bible.  

          Our world has no answers to this problem.  It rarely even asks the right questions, and scoffs at those who turn to the Truth.       Alexander Solzhenitsyn was familiar with prisons, yet kept his soul free.  

“The simple step of a courageous individual is not to partake in the lie.  One word of truth outweighs the whole world.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

• “The weapons of our warfare are not ‘physical’ but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  2Corinthians 10:4-5

     So if I gird my waist with the Truth of Christ, and walk with Him, the warfare will show itself quickly.  There will be immediate challenges to my peace, and obedience; … but without a battle, is there a victory?