When you hear the word “war,” what’s the first thing that crosses your mind? Do you think of the army tanks and toy soldiers that used to fill your bedroom shelves as a child? Do you think of cowboys and indians? Or maybe you think of battleships and fighter planes, gunshots and camouflage? Are you suddenly overwhelmed with the random facts that your favorite history teach taught you in the seventh grade about World War I? Or does your mind gravitate towards the article in the newspaper you read this morning about the current war on terrorism? Perhaps, it’s personal, and the very thought of the word “war” brings chills down your spine because through experience, you know all too well the heart shattering ramifications of that complex, three letter word. Maybe you are filled with pride as you reflect on the courage and bravery of a loved one who had died for a cause worth dying for.
Patriotism. Sacrifice. Battles won. Battles lost.
War.
When I think of the word “war,” the first thing that comes to mind is the Revolutionary War. I imagine battlegrounds engulfed in clouds of billowing smoke and soldiers marching through countrysides, waving their flags and playing their drums with pride. I see red, white, and blue, and I hear gunshots and cannon fire, but off in the distance, I every so quietly hear shouts of celebration from the men who have fought for a grand and glorious freedom. That’s the running scene that comes to mind when I think about “war.”
However, no matter what you thought of when you heard that word, I bet I could venture to guess that the unspoken war we, as Christians, are up against was not the first thing that came to you. If you’re like me, you didn’t think of the spiritual strongholds that tie this world down. The heaviness associated with fighting this war most likely did not overwhelm you, and your chest probably didn’t sink down to pit of your stomach when you thought about this word “war”. Satan most likely wasn’t the main perpetrator in the war you imagined in your head, and when you thought of the victors in battle, the King of Kings, surrounded by a whole host of angels and sons and daughters, wasn’t who you immediately thought of when you pictured an army of champions.
All of this goes to say: when we think of war, we too often forget to acknowledge the war being fought around us every second of every day, the spiritual war that just so happens to be the most important one of all.
Upon arriving in Cambodia, no testimony, Bible lesson, spiritual “how to” book, or in depth theological study could have prepared me for what I was getting myself into when I walked across the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh or the Buddhist temples in Kampong Cham. As I walked through Phnom Penh, I could feel it. The weight of darkness pulled me down. The presence of the enemy had never been more apparent to me, and all of a sudden, I became so keenly aware of what it meant to actually be at war, and it was sickeningly terrifying. As I sat in the middle of a Buddhist temple, surrounded by burning incense and statues made only to fill voids that could never be filled, I could not stomach the thought of the enemy prowling around like a lion in the night, stalking around the temples and the killing fields, believing that he had one upped us in this unspoken war. The realization of the life we lead as Christians has hit me like a freight train, and the fight that everyone has always talked about became all too personal.
So, what do you do about it? How do you put up a good fight for an ongoing war that is already won? These questions have plagued my mind since I stepped foot in this place, and through my weakness, through my faults, doubts, and fears, the Lord has revealed a great deal to me about what being a victor in Him looks like. I’ve learned that it looks a lot like prayer, and it looks a lot like a blinded journey full of leaps of faith towards the soft whispers of His voice. To fight means to put on the full armor of God, and it means to lean into Him with every fiber and ounce of your being, even when it’s tough. When you walk, you must believe in the trail of light you leave behind by being a child of God, and most importantly, you remember who you are and whose you are because when you know those things, you know that we are more than conquerors through Him. These are the truths the Lord has so blatantly spoken into my life this week, keeping me afloat amidst this crazy storm we like to call spiritual warfare.
It might not be full of toy soldiers, gunshots, or victory flags waving over countrysides; however, it’s the most important war we get to fight. We have the privilege of representing a King and Father that is oh so very good to us, and I don’t know about you, but that’s something I’ve learned to take pride in. It’s a battle I wasn’t ready to face, but throughout these three weeks, I’ve slowly began to understand what Kingdom pride looks like, and man does it feels good.
So, friends, I’d like to invite you to fight the good fight with me as I do life in Cambodia, and you all do life in the States. We’re a group of champions who follow the greatest leader around. Let’s not forget about the battle we’re up against, let’s not become complacent, and let’s continue to fight the good fight till the end because this is war.
