Today’s guest blogger is Laura Motola.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Laura will be sharing her reflections on spiritual warfare.

In 2 Kings 6:15-17, we read,

“When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. ‘Oh, my lord, what shall we do?’ the servant asked.  ‘Don’t be afraid,’ the prophet answered.  ‘Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’  And Elisha prayed, ’O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.”

If only our eyes could be opened and we could see the spiritual battle going on around us!  We are at war!  The enemy of our souls wants to destroy us.  He wants our Christian lives to be ineffective and unproductive.  He wants us to feel unworthy and unloved.  He wants us to hold on to bitterness and resentment, and to feel anxious and afraid.  “But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.15:37).  One of the ways we can have victory is to put on the armor of God.
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Today’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since August, after moving up from New Jersey, and is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Trinity College.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Jim will share the second part of what he wrote, “Preparing for battle.”

“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, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  (Ephesians 6:10-17)

How often do you see a football player in a game without his pads and helmet on?  Or a marathon runner without sneakers on?  If you were a betting man, would you put your money on the team that didn’t use baseball gloves or the one that was fully equipped?  Sure, you could run a marathon without sneakers and you could play football without pads.  But the risk of injury greatly increases and you could very well be sidelined for the rest of your career.  A team has a better chance of being victorious and avoiding injury if they are using the proper gear.  While this may sound obvious, far too often we see Christians marching out to battle stark naked as it were, with nothing to protect them.  And far too often they get hurt badly.  But God has provided us with armor to wear for the spiritual battles that we face.  But again, we tend to dismiss its importance, neglect it all together, or think that we can just suit up when we need to.  But the spiritual battles we face are constant and the enemy is not going to wait for us to get our armor on.  We need to be ready every day to engage in spiritual warfare and that means we need to be geared up and game ready at all times. 
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Today’s guest blogger is Jim Quigley.  Jim has been a part of NewLife since August, after moving up from New Jersey. He is an engineer who also works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.  As we focus on spiritual warfare with our memory verses for February, Jim will share on “knowing your enemy.”

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

 It is a week before the big championship game.  What do you think each team is doing in preparation for the big match?  Do you think they are just goofing around and have no set game plan?  Absolutely not!  They are watching video of their opponents, studying their tactics and strategies, and figuring out how their offense and defense works.  If the team knows what their opponent will do and how they play, then they will certainly be more prepared and have a greater advantage in the game to come. 

 In the same way, do you think that the military just goes on raids without strategic planning first?  Of course not!  Generals and analysts are studying the enemy, how they attack, where they hide, and the tactics and tricks that the enemy has used in the past.  In both scenarios, each squad is fully prepared for what the opponent or enemy has in store for them.  They know who their enemy is and what to expect when they encounter their opponent.  So, as a warrior for Christ, do you know who your enemy is in the spiritual battle that we all face every day?  Do you know the tactics that the enemy uses to attack you?  Are you aware of the constant battle raging all around you?  The enemy is not some dumb, red creature with pointy ears, a mustache, and pitchfork as depicted in many Halloween costumes – far from it.  He is a formidable adversary.  And if we want to be successful in battling him and fighting in the spiritual realm, then we had better know exactly who our enemy is as well as his malicious tactics.  The enemy that we face can be broken down into three main parts: the world, the flesh, and the devil. 
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(Today’s Pulse is written by one of our elders, Duane Mackey.  As I preach through Proverbs this summer on the subject of wisdom, I am trying to use this space to give voice to some of the more experienced members of our congregation, so that they might share what they have learned from their journey with the Lord)

Fighting the Battle

One of my favorite movies is Mary Poppins.   This movie showcases a dysfunctional family set in 1910, in the city of London.  George Banks and his wife Winifred are completely self-absorbed, he with his banking job and excessive punctuality and she with her women’s rights movement.  Neither care for the needs of their marriage or their two lovely but lonely children, Jane and Michael.  They have abdicated all family responsibility to house servants and a series of nannies.  In the beginning minutes of the movie, Admiral Boom warns Bert of the storm brewing at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, the Banks’ home.  George proudly struts into his house oblivious of the latest crisis with the children and launches into a song that paints a vivid picture of his world view.  All around him is a battle with warning signs of the impending disaster but he blindly marches toward the cliff.  Toward the end of the movie, following a few rather bizarre influences of Mary Poppins, George’s perfect ordered life had crashed and burned but in the wake of this chaos he gains a new perspective toward life.  George had been in a long battle; his heart had been taken out by an enemy he was unaware of.  An enemy that had kept his heart engaged in the things this world values at the expense of what the Kingdom of God values. 
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For my money, Job 1:13-19 has to be the most ridiculously awful passage in the whole Bible.  If you know the story at all, Satan has contended before God that the only reason Job serves God is because He has made Job prosperous.  “Strike everything he has,” Satan says, “and he will surely curse you to your face.”  God proceeds to allow Satan to test out that theory, and what follows is the Job 1:13-19 nightmare:
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“When a man is revengeful, it is amazing how cunning he is to find opportunities to strike out.  When enmity thoroughly possesses his soul and pours its venom into his very blood, he will become exceedingly crafty in the means he uses to provoke and injure his adversary” [Charles Spurgeon (19th century British preacher), Spiritual Warfare in a Believer’s Life].

Ahhh, vengeance.  How true are Spurgeon’s words, that we are never more cunning and crafty as when we wish to inflict pain on someone.  We can come up with the most biting lines and the sneakiest ways to damage someone’s reputation.  We can damage them with ice-cold snubs and stares or red-hot words of anger and violence. 

Is it any wonder, in light of this, that Satan is first introduced in the Bible in this way:  Read more »

If you’ve never actually read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four accounts of the life of Jesus – or even if you’ve never read them carefully – it can be easy to believe in a one-dimensional Jesus who fails to resemble the complex individual found in the gospels.  Some believe in the “just love and accept everybody” Jesus, others in the “fight for justice and speak against ungodly authority” Jesus, and still others for a human Jesus who never claimed to be divine.  But the truth is way more complex, and, rest assured, will offend everyone (including you) at some point.  One person will find Jesus too forgiving, seemingly letting people off the hook who deserve punishment.  Others will find him too narrow, demanding that people come to God through Him and treat His words as truth instead of allowing people to believe whatever they want.  In short, Jesus just isn’t like us, and often does not behave the way we wish He would.

One of the best examples comes in Matthew 16:13-23.  Read more »