Sleeping In Battle

The christian lifestyle can be likened to a battle. A battle against the evil in the world, both the spiritual world and the physical world. There is this need for alertness, watchfulness, vigilance and agility. In the physical world, evil is conquered with good through actions of justice and love. However, in the spiritual world, the battle is against a hierarchy comprising of ranks of authorities embodied in evil.

Ephesians 6:12 – “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.”

This means that we are fighting a battle in two ways, physically and spiritually. Whatever we do in this physical world reverberates into the spiritual world and everything that manifests in the physical realm, has already occurred in the spiritual realm. If we are active christians, truly devoted to God, in the spiritual realm, we will be agile soldiers ready for war or already fighting. If we are deep in sin, unfaithful to God, faithless, prayerless and not having any love in us, in the spiritual realm, we might not even be wearing any armor. We might have lost our swords or misplaced them. We will not be spiritually strong or ready for battle. It is either one piece of armor is missing, not well fitted or not well worn. This is why the Bible admonishes us to:

Ephesians 6: 13-17: “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 after you have 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.”

Everything being talked about here is spiritual. All these exist in the spiritual realm and we connect through the things we do in physical with our heart and mind. The belt of truth is worn tight in the spiritual realm by us when we resolve to stop lying and always say the truth in the physical realm. Every virtue that we imbibe, practise or become in the physical realm is a spiritual superpower. The vices of these virtues are the very things that make us weak. Vice, sin, atrocities, iniquities and every other thing that stands against the will /word of God are energy suckers in the spiritual realm. They drain strength from us, put fear in us and make us easy targets for the enemy. They also empower the enemy by helping them to leverage on our weaknesses and backsliding.

It is important that we are active soldiers and not sleeping soldiers. That we are always ready for God and His work. That we are faithful in our devotion to God and in our service to humanity.

The next part of Ephesians 6 shows us how to be alert and watchful in the physical realm. By doing these things and many other things related to them, we will be able to be alert, dedicated and watchful in our christian walk. When we do this, it reflects and reverberates with how we will be in the spiritual realm.

Ephesians 6:18 – “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 the Lord’s people.”

So, you see.. nothing is carnal about being a Christian. You cannot connect to the real deal in Christianity with your natural self. You have to key in through your spirit and connect with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that will hold your hand and guide you into all these supernatural truths and experiences.

There is something called ‘spiritual sensitivity’. It simply means the ability to be spiritually sensitive. It also means having spiritual senses and being able to use them. Just like we have five senses in the physical body, we also have five senses in the spiritual body. We are able to experience our physical world through our senses of sight, smell, touch, sound and taste. We can also be able to experience the spiritual world through the spiritual form of these five senses. Our spiritual self can only be awakened when we feed and train our beings with the things of God who is spirit. If we deny the flesh its cravings, it gets weaker and gives way for the spirit to take over. When we feed the spirit with everything it likes, it will grow stronger and control our entire being. This way, we will be able to yield more to the promptings of the Holy Spirit because we have trained ourselves to be so. Our being will also get used to living in the Spirit of God.