Battle of the Soul

Battle of the soul

There is a battle raging for the soul of every individual on earth. There is a battle raging for every church, for every city, and every nation. Victories are being won in many places across the earth, but the greatest are yet to come. Multitudes of new spiritual warriors are now being mobilized, trained, and will soon be sent forth. They will be entrusted with divinely powerful weapons and they will use them. They will tear down the enemy’s strongholds over the minds of men. A force is about to be released like the world has never seen. 

Choose Your Weapon

One of the most powerful spiritual weapons that has been given to God’s people is peace. We may think that peace is not a weapon. But in fact, it is such a weapon that Paul did not write it was the Lord of hosts, or the Lord of armies, who would crush the enemy, but said “...the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). When we abide in the peace of God it is both a fortress and a weapon that the enemy has no power against.

If we abide in the peace of God in a situation it unravels the enemy’s power over that situation. That is why most of the attacks of the enemy upon believers are intended to first rob them of their peace. The peace of God is the linchpin fruit of the Spirit that must be in place to hold all of the others in their place. When we lose the peace of God we will quickly lose our patience, love, self-control, etc. This causes us to fall from our position of abiding in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit will always demonstrate our abiding in Him. It is the peacemakers who are called the sons of God (see Matthew 5:9) and because we represent the Prince of Peace, it is the church that the world should be turning to for solutions to its conflicts. Our victory over evil is accomplished by overcoming it with good. We destroy the enemy’s power of destruction by standing in and imparting peace.

When we abide in the peace of God regardless of what the circumstances are, it crushes Satan’s attempts to use those circumstances, and it also allows us to see God’s purpose in them. The Lord is not in heaven wringing His hands over a single problem on earth. He knows the end from the beginning, and He already knows what He is going to do to make things right. If we are abiding in Him, seated with Him in heavenly places as we are called to do, we too will dwell in perfect peace. As we are promised in Isaiah 26:3, “The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee.” That is why Paul uttered the great prayer recorded in Ephesians 1:18-23. According to the verse. The “eyes of our hearts” are our spiritual eyes. When they are open, we will see Jesus where He sits, “far above” all authority and power and dominion on the earth. As we begin to see Him there, and walk in this truth, living our lives in the unfathomable peace that this brings, it crushes the influence of Satan in our life. This is what King David understood when he wrote Psalm 46:10-11, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” 

When we really know that He is God, we will cease striving. When His people come to this knowledge and walk in it He will be “exalted among the nations,” because the peace of God will be in profound contrast to the fears that are coming upon the world. These fears will cause people’s hearts to fail, but His peace will be one of the greatest witnesses of the Lord in the midst of His people.

Today, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Lion of Judah, the First and the Last, our Savior—He has won the battle!

Our Victory is in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord. We do not fight for victory but we fight from a place of victoy. 

Accordingly the fight of faith today is fought in the arenas of truth, holiness, and the maintenance of assurance, but not in the battle for souls. May I say it again, that viewed in the light of our forebears reformed Christians today are a strangely lopsided entity. We are not like our forebears. We do not have the fervour or the urgency. We do not have the soulwinning priority. If only we would recognise this, we could begin to move forward once again. But the final word must be: what about ourselves as individuals? Do we see ourselves as those saved to serve? A true spirituality, a genuine personal spiritual life, means wholehearted commitment or dedication to the Lord’s service, and to the souls of lost men, women and children. The supreme task of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on earth, was to secure salvation. Ours is to make it known. This is our calling, our purpose, our joy, and our reward.

Shalom...