Retroblog - 2007

We are physically at war here, but because you are not a participant your brain erases that fact from short term memory. You do your job, go shopping, make friends, get married and are given in marriage. The war seems to be somewhere else, beyond the mountains, or on the other side of the TV tube. Occasionally, there will be an explosion in town – the natural tendency is to try to not let that impact your day, even though there are extra detours and traffic jams. When there is a military convoy on the road, keep a good distance – so that anyone after them doesn’t get you and so that they don’t get nervous and shoot you themselves.

In the realm of spiritual warfare, there is a natural tendency to try to live your life out as a non-participant. No one in their right mind wants to be involved in real war, physical or spiritual. But if you follow the Spirit’s leading, you will find yourself in the middle of some confused battle, and the incoming shots will be all too real, aimed right at your soul. Then, you can refuse to believe that it is really spiritual. You can refuse to believe that it’s really warfare. You can duck and hide. You can blame the people around you, or yourself, or God. Or you can listen again to the Holy Spirit, who in wisdom positioned you in the battle, and shoot back, for pathetic that your capabilities might seem. None of us fights individually as isolated foot soldiers. There are always legions willing to follow your lead. And your advances always affect people on another part of the front you will never meet, your little victories are turning points in stories we will never hear, until after the enemy gates fall once and for all.

The gates of hell can never go on the offensive – gates are fixed positions. The issue at hand is how long they can prevail under our attack. Retreat is not an option for us – ducking and hiding is sufficient short-term coverage, though fatal in the long term (if you persist in it you will die of old age). Angels will follow your lead, but there is no glory in ducking, nor in hiding. Power and glory abound when the church, united with Him, is revealed (not hidden), especially when she has taken new positions right up near the gates.