We are at War!

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12

Yesterday, I received a distressed email from my Circle of Care shepherd, Gracey, asking for intercessory prayers for a lot of concerns regarding the grand celebration preparation of our church CCBC:

"We are now at the last stretch of the Grand Celebration preparations. We need your prayers for all the people God had handpicked to serve Him on the July 26 production…There are still so many projects that still need extra hands (AVP editors, tarpaulin designers and additional PAs). Sponsorship committee for food and flowers (in cash) is still looking for able givers who can share to cover all the rehearsal food and the special flower arrangement that will complement the overall design of the stage. Choir, dancers and bands still need more time to polish performances; to memorize songs and the choreography. Song leaders Andrei, Apple, Popol and Terry also need prayers in memorizing their songs and spiels as well. Song leaders Maya and Ptr. Reymac need your intercession for their daughter Meemai who has contracted typhoid fever, ruling out dengue despite a dengue outbreak in Isabela where she is right now. The couple has not rehearsed yet with the choir as Ptr. Reymac is still coming home next week. The band and choir have not rehearsed together yet, so they will need extra time to merge their practices within these remaining 3 weeks. Our script writer Michelle and music arranger Kahlil need extra grace to write/arrange creatively and speedily. Our event director, Ptr. Philip, needs sustained strength and divine creativity to put together the entire program. Our attendance to rehearsals and regular meetings are easier done with good health and favorable circumstances at home, and in our respective workplaces. Kindly ask the Spirit to lead you to better pray for/with us. We have less than a month...Please intercede!"

I immediately prayed… the Spiritual Warfare is indeed leveling up…

I sighed deeply but still praised God for this great privilege to serve Him. Gracey, like me, is also a committee head for the anniversary celebration. She’s in charge of the Culmination Night’s Musical Presentation while I was tasked to do the Commemorative Book. Aside from her prayer request, she’s also had her own challenges in the past months. Whenever she was about to do something for the preparation, her two kids would get hospitalized, and all sorts of domestic trouble would hound her. I’m pretty sure all the other committee heads have experienced similar incidents since signing up. To quote Ptr. Reymac in his e-mail this morning about his family’s own spiritual battle, “The fact is, what we are experiencing now is just part and parcel of many other stories of members going through battles in the process of offering services to God in this celebration. There is purging, purifying, refining and a continuous reminder that we have to do everything by His Spirit (Neither by might nor by our power)”

I’ve already blogged about my so-called “baptism of fire” with the ministry, and told you about the spiritual warfare I naively plunged into, which I was only able to survive by God’s power and grace! If it was just me, victory would have been bleak. Praise God, the book is now with the printer but after reading Gracey’s SOS, this is definitely the call of the Great Commander, our Almighty God, to remain on our guards; the bigger battle is only just beginning. Don the Armor of God – PRAY without ceasing!!!

When I was a new Christian, the term “spiritual warfare” sounded a bit fantastical for me. I foolishly thought that it only meant demonic possessions of the “Exorcist” movie sort. Although spiritual warfare exists in the unseen, supernatural dimension, where God is all-powerful and Satan is in revolt, it has very real, tangible, and tactile manifestations. It took me a while to realize that once you become a Christian the rest of your life here on earth becomes one long spiritual battle. By accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, Satan had lost us… and so he wants us back, by hook or by crook!

Desperate, the only way for him to convince us that Christian life (devoting ourselves to kingdom building) is very inconvenient is by setting up traps and tripwires to annoy and anger us… destroying our gadgets when we need them, using unknowing people to discourage us, giving us trouble with our secular professions to distract us, making our loved-ones sick, drenching our wallets dry, and muddling our minds with negative thoughts, and staining our hearts with greedy and selfish motivations. Simply said – Evil does not want us to succeed in accomplishing God’s work. By making us frustrated and fatigued, it wants us to give up, and ultimately hate, and turn our backs on our “walk” with God; become a backslider and live in abundance, according to earthly pleasures.

When I was doing the commemorative book, I experienced all of the above EXCEPT THAT I was not won to the other side. Praise God! Through fervent intercession by my prayer warriors, the anguish inside me was calmed down. The Holy Spirit took away my blindfold and saw that the pesky circumstances happening in my life when I was hard at work on the book were part of the devil’s plot. The devil knows me because before I received Christ, I was its possession. So it knows how to tick me off… it knows my weaknesses… it knows my dark past… it knows my unconfessed sins therefore it knows how to bribe my soul. I realized now that all my complaints on the people involved and all the circumstances revolving around the commemorative book were all DECEPTIONS by the enemy. So now I am so sorry for unfavorable things said and done. And while humans may not be easy to forgive, the Lord’s pardon is overflowing to the humble and repentant.

Christian Life is a daily spiritual battle. And as a new recruit to God’s platoon, I feel ill-equipped for the war. It’s even daunting to know that we are outnumbered here on earth. But like the very young untrained soldiers hastily sent to the brutal WWII, like the Pevensie siblings stepping up to defend Narnia, and the Fellowship of the Ring vowing to bring back order in Middle Earth, our victory over evil (inside us and around us) is not based on our own strengths, skills, and smarts; but rather on the Power of our Faith. The Scripture is our weapon. And while that sword given to us may be too big for us to wield, knowing and believing that God has faithfully entrusted us with it is the muscle that would make us strong enough to defeat the enemy. Have faith my fellow CCBCer, and all my siblings in Christ who are AT WAR spiritually every second, minute and hour. The Lord is with us! We will WIN!