The Warfare of Love

BTV BEYOND THE VEIL

THE WARFARE TO LOVE

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from our desires for pleasure that war in our members?

We battle three enemies every day.

· Self – I define this as warring against the person I used to be and the person I desire to be.

· Sin – I define this as narcissism. I think it is an insatiable desire to love oneself without regard for others.

· Satan – I define this as an adversarial principle, teaching, and doctrine that places humanity on the throne of the universe, BUT humanity will ultimately bow down to the God of the universe.

These three enemies have one thing in common... FEAR! Fear of people, fear of rejection, and fear of death. The essence of these enemies is to get us to doubt God’s love and cause us to have hearts of stone. Therefore, we must battle to love in a world that teaches us to fear.

We know that God loves us but to maintain that revelation is a battle that we must fight, and it gets wearisome at times. The biggest battle we fight is with ourselves. When we come face to face with a God who loves us unconditionally, the first thing we are faced with is our past failures and our desire to be better. We are faced with our own insatiable desire to love ourselves because we have suffered from the emotional and mental trauma of rejection. This can be described as brokenness. There is nothing wrong with being broken, BUT why stay broken when God loves and accepts us unconditionally? When we stay in a state of brokenness for too long, we may not experience the joy of being loved and accepted. We may fight against and reject God’s love.

We are in a continuous struggle to discover who we are. If we do not know who we are self, sin, and Satan will defeat us every time. We can allow ourselves to fall into a state of defeated thinking even though we are a child of God.

We therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. II Timothy 2:1-3 With the right mindset, we can manifest ourselves as soldiers. Soldiers fight, adapt, and change their environment. I want to highlight four words from the above scripture.

• Endure – To bear or undergo pain, grief, or injury without yielding.

• Engaged – Involved in a contest or conflict.

• Entangled – To make tangled, complicated, and to get involved in difficulties.

• Enlist – To gain the help or interest of a person or his services.

What are we enduring? In the face of pain, grief, and injury we can face it without yielding to bitterness, hatred, or revenge.

What are we engaged in? We are engaged in conflict with our enemies to love as God loves. Sometimes we make things more complicated than they really are and sometimes, we get involved with difficulties that make the conflict more intense.

The moment we come face to face with the God of the Universe, experience brokenness, and accept the truth that we are accepted and loved by God, we are immediately enlisted to do battle, and there is some training required before we are equipped to defeat the enemy.

Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. II Corinthians 10:3-6

I want to highlight some keywords.

• A stronghold is a strongly defended place in our mind.

• Arguments are disagreements, disputes, or quarrels from different perspectives, by which one wants to prove that their perspective is the right way or the only way to see a thing.

• High means strict or formal.

• Thing means an idea, opinion, or notion.

In the training process, life experiences, memories, and current and past imaginations are areas in our minds that must be dealt with. We will be faced with strongly defended emotions, memories, and imaginations. Arguments will generate because of the things that are strongly defended by us and others. Remember the first enemy you encounter are you. You will first have to contend with the person you used to be and the person you are becoming. You will need training when thoughts like, I do not think so. I remember the last time this happened to me, I remember when this person took advantage of me. Thoughts like these lead to arguments and it hinders your training time so you will have to take that training all over again until you get it right.

Knowing and accepting the truth that you are loved by God will be your most effective weapon. Knowing that you are loved and accepted will pull down strongly defended places because you will come to understand that you are loved despite what others may think. Knowing that you are loved and accepted will cast down arguments because you no longer must establish your position with God. Knowing that you are loved and accepted takes our strict and formal ideas and opinions and brings them into perspective with God’s love.

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 heavenly places. Ephesians 6:10-12

Let's look at how the adversarial principle works in the minds and hearts of some people. First, Paul gives a description of an invisible enemy. Oftentimes when we encounter someone who has been captured by this principle, we may forget that we are fighting against a person who we used to be like. We are fighting against:

1. A person who is warring with the person they used to be and the person they want to become.

2. A person who may be a narcissist who is struggling to maintain control by loving themselves more than others.

3. A person who may have convinced themselves that they are on top.

4. A person who has strongly defended places in their mind.

5. A person that will argue their position from their perspective and believe it is the only perspective that is right.

Let's look at principalities, powers, rulers, and hosts.

• Principalities or principles are a rule or codes of conduct.

• Power(s) is the ability to act or produce an effect.

• Ruler(s) is a person or thought that governs thoughts and actions.

• Hosts is a large number.

Let me state that I am aware of how this scripture is interpreted in spiritual warfare circles. I am simply presenting a different perspective, another way to look at it. The society that we live in has principles that we need to follow to survive and succeed. For example, the principle for living in someone’s home is abiding by their rules or code of conduct. This principle is communicated by words, thoughts, and actions. It is non-negotiable. You either do it this way, suffer the consequences, or find somewhere else to go and set up your own principles. Power is the right and ability to enforce principles. A ruler is the influence a person has to enforce the principles, thoughts, and actions of those under their authority. Hosts are the individuals who carry out the principles.

This adversarial principle is the invisible enemy that we fight in ourselves and encounter in others. It is invisible. It is a thought, memory, or emotion that has been deeply rooted in the mind that people will defend with their physical body. When we allow God to conquer the adversarial principle in us and instill the principle of unconditional love, we become a threat to the adversarial principle that rules and influences others to carry out the thoughts and actions of fear. When we live the principle of unconditional love and acceptance, we change from being conquered by the adversarial principle to conquering. We change from being a victim to being victorious. We become liberators.

Paul presented an invisible armor to attack and defend against an invisible enemy. 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 gird yourself 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 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 with all the saints.

Let’s take note of this armor as described by Paul:

• Truth – we are loved and accepted by the God of the Universe.

• Breastplate of righteousness – we need to know and understand that our hearts and emotions are secured in the love of God. The enemy will shoot for the heart. If you get you unsettled in your confidence in God, the foundation of your belief may shift and become unsettled.

• Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Walk in peace and confidence. Ensure that the war that used to go on inside of you is no longer a hindrance to you being a person who can bring peace to the heart and mind of others.

• Shield of faith is our total confidence in the love of God. We should always be ready to display this confidence. Especially in the presence of people under the influence of adversarial principles, who may use words to harm us.

• The helmet of salvation protects against adversarial thoughts. If the enemy cannot pierce your heart, the enemy may go for a head (negative thought or, memory) shot. The practice of renewing our minds should be a daily practice.

• The sword of the Spirit are words, thoughts, and actions that pierce the heart and minds of those who have been taken captive by adversarial principles. The writer of Hebrews describes God’s word as being quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. God’s word cuts through the darkness and lights up the heart and mind of a person who may be captured or a casualty of adversarial principles.

• Prayer – A divine connection with the God of the Universe. It is a constant flow of life, liberty, and love.

In conclusion, we do not need to argue points of perspective. We need to live them so they can be seen. We must be willing to become what we know to be true. We know that we are loved and accepted by God. This knowledge should be communicated and transferred to others. Paul wrote, “A servant of the LORD must not quarrel but be gentle to all. Be able to teach, be patient, and in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so they may know the truth, and come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.