The Battle

One of the ways God describes our Christian walk is that it is a battle. It is not a battle against humans, and so our weapons are not human but spiritual. We are to pray for those we consider our enemy. We are to share with them God's desire to transfer them from the camp of His enemies and into the camp of His friends--to even become His children forever through faith in Christ. And no matter what they've done, repentance brings full forgiveness. It is the condition of their souls that should grief us more deeply than their behavior. And remember Jesus didn't come to save the righteous but to seek out sinners that He might save them. So we who are His know who we are--undeserving recipients of His grace and loving mercy. In tenderness He sought us. We must be those who wield the weapon of tenderness as well.
And though we know with Paul that God has given us the victory that does not mean that the battle is not difficult. We can grow weary. And when we do, we know it is time to cast our cares on Him. We can be wounded. And then we know that it is time to surrender to the sorrows that will make us more like our Captain--a man of sorrows. And we can now embrace the call to the service of comforters. We can lack an understanding of the purpose of the circumstances His love and wisdom have taken us through. And then we must trust in who we know Him to be--Our Father, the eternal Lover of our souls, the One who is touched in His heart by the sorrows in ours; yet, lovingly committed to molding us into His image that we might be Christ-in-the-room wherever He sends us--full of graciousness, mercy, truth, compassion, forgiveness, humility. We must ask for wisdom to understand while living a life of faithful love in His lovingkindness toward us. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."
We are the battlefield. We must wield the Sword of the Spirit with love and tenderness and compassion. We must rely on the strength He promises if we will be content in all circumstances. We must cast our weaknesses on Him who has promised to bear them for us. We must pray for those in the flesh that we think are the enemy. They should know how much we love them--as much as He loved them when He sent His Son into the world to die for them. And yet, as a good soldier we must not become entangled in the things of this world. And in those times when we think that we are not holding up our end of the spiritual warfare, we must rest in the promise that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. The battle is not won by our strength, but by His love being seen in us more and more each day.