The War is On

It's not the way any of us want to start off the new year, but we all need to be aware of the situation. There's a war going on. Shots are being fired. Barricades are being built up and broken down. Do you hear the shots? The explosions? Don't turn on CNN or FoxNews. They won't be covering it. They can't film it or manipulate it, so they won't be reporting it. It's invisible. And while unseen, it's massive. Kingdoms at war with one another. Angels and demons. Hearts and minds. And there are no bystanders; no spectators. We're ALL in! The ignorant, the oblivious, the wounded, the proud and certain, and the humbly grateful. Welcome to the war.



The Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdom of this world.
The Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdom of you.

Welcome to the war. I know...it's not how any of us would choose to ring in a new year, but it's on. But here's the thing you should know about those living in the Kingdom of God - the ONCE ignorant and oblivious, the wounded, the proud and certain, and NOW humble and grateful: you are NO LONGER PEASANTS! That's right. The King has made us princes. We are now "sons and daughters"! When we surrendered our "kingdom" (a facade, a mirage, a worthless imitation of the prize of life, a dead rotting grave) we were brought into the Kingdom of LIFE. In surrendering to the King we were actually given the very thing we thought we had to begin with; life! Yet, every day our flesh and corpse tries to lure us back to the cemetery. The war is still on.

And what's even more perplexing about this war is that those who think we're fighting AGAINST them don't realize that we are actually fighting FOR them. We aren't here to curse them, judge them, or condemn them; we're here to rescue them. To tell them that we once walked where they walk - that we wore those grave clothes disguised as a uniform - and that we carried those chains around our necks, burdened and hopeless - but now we walk with hope and joy and peace and confidence, not because of anything we've done, but because we know the King. And we've been given keys to the Kingdom. HIS Kingdom! 

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul." 1 Peter 2:9-11

The war is still on.
The Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdom of this world.

Are we fighting for the ones who are still "not a people"?
Are we fighting for the ones still desperate to be "called out of darkness into his marvelous light"?

Remember that war is messy. There are wounded and angered and battered and weary and misunderstood and blinded soldiers. Some have even forgotten who, what, or why they're fighting. But they've been at war so long - the burden has been so great - that they just keep on fighting. They may have stopped asking, "Why", if they ever did in the first place. But we know why they bear the burden and they'll never get free on their own.

Remember why you were called. Remember why He brought you into this Kingdom and made you "sons and daughters" and granted us to be a "royal priesthood" and a "holy nation": "that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 

What war are you fighting? What battle are you engaged in?
Is it the one being fought for the sake of those who need to hear the Gospel?
Is it the war being waged for the sake of those who need Jesus Christ?

There's one resolution to made; one decision that leaves all others hanging in the balance: 
WHICH KINGDOM ARE YOU LIVING FOR?

The war is still on.