Obedience Fulfilled

David spoke of God giving him skill for war, ability to leap over a wall and defeat his enemies.  The battles he fought were physical as well as an inner war that raged against fear, worry and despair.  While most will never experience warfare in muddy trenches or run across a beach with bullets flying, we each face real conflict where triumph can only be experienced by faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul provides insight concerning one of the primary locations where spiritual battles take place, and it might surprise you:  it takes place within our own hearts and minds.  Paul recognised we live in a body of flesh yet we are not to fight according to the flesh.  There are established strongholds and fortifications of lies, attitudes and habits in our own minds and hearts revealed with the word of God.  To the church Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled."  God's word helps us to identify strongholds, arguments and proud thoughts that oppose Jesus in our own minds and He enables us to boldly pull them down by repentance and faith in Him.

When a person suspected of criminal activity is arrested, he is bound and taken into custody.  We are called to wage this war on our own thought life, bringing every thought and vain imagination into captivity to Christ.  Having arrested these sinful thoughts according to God's wisdom, we can put our feet on their necks on what God has condemned and end their reign of terror so we might walk in obedience to Christ.  One purpose of Paul writing to the church in Corinth was to urge and exhort them to return to obedience to Christ, and they needed to ready themselves to embrace church discipline should there be any among them who refused to walk in obedience to Jesus.  Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers that primarily wield their influence inside us.  We cannot do anything about changing the minds and hearts of others, and know God desires ours to be changed more like His.

I am convinced by the truth of the scripture and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in glory the primary battleground in our hearts and minds can be won and held by God's grace.  To ignore this critical battle will mean our ruin, and we will be severely hampered in our Christian witness and fruitfulness.  Despite books annually churned out concerning spiritual warfare this personal continent of conflict can be overlooked and the result is confusion, formulas and even fear.  We miss the mark to more focus on the strength of the foe and what we need to do to win (or obtain our desire) rather than looking to Jesus who has already vanquished the enemy.  Some are so busy fighting an invisible enemy out there somewhere they can drift from abiding in Christ.  We can be so taken with rebuking the devil we neglect the state of our own thoughts, hearts and actions.  Praise the LORD the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, arguments and imaginations within us so our obedience is fulfilled.