Hey, are those bullets real?!

Watching this little clip from the movie, "Steamboy" is one of the ways God spoke to me about how we really are born into a battle that most of us are sadly unaware of.  It strikes me that there really are only two options when the reality of warfare shatters one's dream world like it did for the young lady in this clip. 

1: Fold up like a lawn chair and hide in the closet till it is safe to come out (some would call this the Ostrich Approach).

or

2: Take in your surroundings and figure out a way to emerge as the victor. (I call this the Conan Approach)

The differences are stark and easily definable.  One is focused on survival and maintaining a sense of our former world view.  It is just as tenacious as the other and requires just as much strength, but produces nothing worth while.  The second is focused on overcoming and changing the recognized reality into one that is more suitable to one's liking.  Arguably more stressful and requiring of more strategy, this Conan Approach is the more biblical one.

Show me, if you can, where the Word tells us to run and hide from the war.  I would argue that it is not there.  The psalms are full of scriptures that speak of taking refuge in God and even making Him your hiding place.  However, taken in their context, I have not found one single instance where the eventual purpose was not to be strengthened in order to win the battle in the end. 

There is a sense in which the Lord is the One who is supposed to fight our battles and we are told point blank that the battle "belongs" to Him.  But I assert that He has chosen to fight these battles of ours through us and with us.  He has chosen to pour His strength into us and dwell in our hearts and to overcome the world system through His presence in our hearts. 

As believers, we have been given the responsibility to fight and to be "more than conquerors" in Jesus Christ.  We don't have the right to ignore the battle around us.

So, if we choose to fight, we can go about it in a couple different ways.  More choices?  Yes, this is sort of a big part of being human.  We are always going to have a choice in the matter of how we go about things and it will almost always come down to a difference between good and best.  Fighting the enemy who is trying to steal from us, kill us and utterly destroy us is good.  Fighting the enemy by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts and in the full armor of God is best. 

It is not enough to get all Rambo on the devil and storm the castle.  There is a great deal of combat training, strategic planning, and coordination with the others who are fighting alongside you to be done first.  Admittedly, much of this is done in the battlefield, but it is still necessary.

So let me sum up today's post in as few words as possible;

"Wake up, get your boots on, grab hands and charge!"

Wake up: It is completely futile to pretend that everything is fine because that helps you sleep at night and you don't want to face reality.  Open eyes are preferred when fighting a war.

Get your boots on: Preparedness is only for those who wish to win.  Practice, Planning, Pruning, Praying and a bunch of other "P" words apply here.  Don't rush in where angels fear to tread.  Note that it did not say "Don't go", but "Don't rush in."

Grab hands:  Don't go alone.  The fellowship around you is the greatest source of encouragement and strength.  They are the ones who will remind you of your true strength in Christ.  They are the ones who will share in the victories and in the losses as you fight.  They are the ones who will increase your ability to send the enemy fleeing.  "They" is an important word.

Charge:  We are not those who shrink back or retreat or surrender.  We are the overcomers, the conquerors, the victors.  The enemy is not just going to give up and go home because we won't get out of our foxholes.  Rather, they prefer we stay in them and they will walk all over the battlefield abusing those we have been sent to defend and rescue from darkness.

Let me close with a few questions;

If the bullets flying through the air are real and they are being shot at me, what should I do?  What can I do?  What will I do?  I think you find the answers to these questions in the statement emboldened above.