I’m what’s called a front line educator – I go out into the
community all over the five boroughs of NYC teaching health and wellness and
nutrition education to people of all ages and backgrounds. When they call us
front line, they’re not talking about a chorus line – they’re talking about a
battle field. And the calling and the anointing that the Lord has put over my
life is to work in the toughest areas with the most difficult to reach people.
It wasn’t my choice – and I still argue with Him all the time about it – I was
arguing on the way home yesterday. But because it was His choice, He’s given me the
ability, white girl from the suburbs of Massachusetts that I am, to go into a
harm reduction center in the Bronx and be received with love by the people
there.
It’s a strange thing when the Lord gives His anointing,
because the people you are anointed to work with will accept you with open arms
while the people who should be supporting you at your office or in your church
or your family or friends or wherever you would usually go for support are
usually not. Those people will sometimes seem like they’re doing everything in
their power to keep you from doing what the Lord has called and anointed you to
do. Strangely enough the battle isn’t on the front lines, it’s behind the
scenes. It’s when you go back to your office and check your emails and there’s
too much to do and no one seems to understand that it’s not humanly possible
and there are even more demands for things for you to do, or you talk to a
friend and they tell you that you should just leave that job because they don’t
pay you enough and they don’t appreciate all the hard work you’re doing. It’s
when you get home and you’re exhausted and the promises of God don’t seem real
to you any more. When even though things are so much better than they were before
you were born again, you don’t see it that way because there’s so much more
that you want.
Joyce Meyer is a writer whose work I admire so much. She
wrote a book called Battlefield of the Mind that the Pastors of my first church
gave to me as a gift and that I gave to a friend last year because it had meant
so much to me. There is so much to her writing that helps us in our Christian
walk, and that can help us even if we are not born again to understand how to
unlock the mysteries of faith and scripture and bring them in a very real way
into our lives. The basic premise of Battlefield of the Mind is that the real
battle is fought in our minds. Ephesians 6:12 tells us, “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.” That is from the New International Version, but
some translations use the words wrestle or fight or battle, and the Weymouth
New Testament describes it in even more powerful terms, “For ours is not a
conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the
forces that control and govern this dark world – the spiritual hosts of evil
arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.” If we know that the battle is against
dark spiritual forces, and we know that Jesus already won the battle when He
went to the Cross out of His great love for us and that He died and rose on the third day,
overcoming sin and death, then there is no reason to think anything else except
that the battle is already won. Except for the fact that the enemy we face is
not a weak or stupid one, the enemy knows our weaknesses and is very
intelligent, and knows how to make an unseen and already won battle seem like
it’s very physically real and very much lost.
When I was on my way home last night, I was just telling the
Lord that I’d had it. I was exhausted, it’s been in the 90’s the past few days
and seems even hotter when you’re in places like the Bronx. I carry all kinds
of supplies with me when I teach and my bags are very heavy and bulky, and even though the people I work with at the
sites appreciate me so much, there’s so little in any other part of my life
that is giving me any support. It’s been like this from the beginning of my
being born again. Some people talk about having a kind of honeymoon period with
the Lord right after they are saved, a time of peace and tranquility before all
hell starts breaking loose. But I haven’t had that time except for small
patches here and there. I have to admit that last year was a good one for many
months at a stretch, but then when hell broke loose again it came with a
vengeance and on days like yesterday I really want to say I’ve had it.
I use different references when I want to look up texts, and
one of them is www.biblehub.com. When you
look up a scripture in a search engine, it will come up in biblehub.com with
many different translation versions and with commentaries at the end. When I
looked up “we are not at war against flesh and blood,” and found the scripture on
biblehub.com, I read the commentary by Matthew Henry at the bottom of the page.
There are always great commentaries there, and this one had something really important
for me to read in it – they always do, and this was what I needed to hear right
now – “If we distrust either our cause, or our Leader, or our armour, we give
him (satan or the enemy) advantage.” I have added the parentheses because
Matthew Henry is talking about a battle against satan, but sometimes I prefer
to just call him the enemy. When Matthew Henry writes about armor, he is
referring to Ephesians 6:10-18, the text around verse 12, where the full armor
of God is listed, “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.” Then we have verse 12, and then this, “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 having 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. And pray in the Spirit
on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be
alert, and always keep on praying for all of the Lord’s people.”
I’ve heard sermons on that passage and a Pastor friend once
gave me a ring that had been his that has the full armor of God etched on it.
But every time I read it or hear it preached or read about it, no matter how
familiar it is, there is always something new to be learned and something more
to help strengthen me. In Matthew Henry’s commentary, there were many things
that I needed to hear and be reminded of.
I have put one above, and here is another, “A good hope of salvation, a
Scriptural expectation of victory, will purify the soul, and keep it from being
defiled by satan. To the Christian armed for defense in battle, the apostle
recommends only one weapon of attack; but it is enough, the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. It subdues and mortifies evil desire and
blasphemous thoughts as they rise within, and answers unbelief and error as
they assault from without. A single text, well understood, and rightly applied,
at once destroys a temptation or an objection, and subdues the most formidable
adversary.” I think what Matthew Henry wrote is right on, but I would add
something even simpler – if you know your Bible through and through, when those
thoughts rise up, when the battle is raging, when doubt and fear and
exhaustion, and just plain wanting to give up and give in set in, God will
speak to you through His word by the Spirit that lives in you, and will give
you that word that you need to get enough strength to not only keep on going,
but to walk in victory even as the battle rages all around you.
At the end of Matthew Henry’s commentary, he says something
that gave me another little ouch moment – but a good one, and one that was very
much needed. When he writes about the importance of praying, he adds this, “We
must persevere in particular requests, notwithstanding discouragements. We must
pray, not for ourselves only, but for all saints. Our enemies are mighty and we
are without strength, but our Redeemer is almighty, and in the power of His
might, we may overcome. Wherefore we must stir up ourselves. Have not we, when
God has called, often neglected to answer? Let us think upon these things, and
continue our prayers with patience.”
I know full well that there have been many times that God
has called that I have not only neglected to answer but I have refused. If He
has been so patient with me, and I know that He has been, then the least I can
do is be patient with Him because now that I know Him I know that His timing is
perfect. There was an old joke we used to make back in the day, when we’d say, “I’m
not looking for Mr. Right, I’m looking for Mr. Right Now.” It’s a very childish
thing to want something right now instead of being able to wait. The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I
spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away
childish things.” As we grow in the Lord and He brings us to new levels of
faith, we can know at each step that whatever He is doing is good, and that if
we can continue walking as we trust in His goodness, we will receive all that
we need all along the way. The battles we face have already been won, and all we need to do is just keep right on walking into the answer to our prayers that He has prepared for us.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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