"The Love Motivated War Mode"
by Francis
Frangipane
Web:
www.frangipane.org
Email: comments@frangipane.org
If we will succeed in these difficult days, it will be, in part, because we
have renounced the seductive limitations that accompany a peace-time mentality.
Indeed, we must embrace an aspect of spirituality that is unfamiliar to many
Christians - one that is both militant and vigilant toward evil. We must
appropriate "the war mode" aspect of the mind of Christ.
Over the last few months the Holy Spirit has been calling the church to rise in
intercessory prayer and in the exercise of spiritual authority. With holy
urgency in my heart, I say we do not have time to languish in self-pity about
life's injustices. In a time of war, we must not be distracted by little
inconveniences. We must possess a war mentality.
Hell's Frenzy, Heaven's
Advancement
The good news is that hell would not be in such a frenzy
if heaven was not advancing. God is working to bring revival and spiritual
awakening to our nations. Thus, while I am concerned about the advance of evil,
I am encouraged that evil is being met with resistance by many among the people
of God. The enemies multifaceted attack will be
repulsed, and even reversed, provided we stand and fight.
My immediate appeal is for us to war in prayer with passion and confidence.
Remember, as the
A True Peacemaker
The argument arises, "I am a peacemaker like Jesus. The Lord hasn't called
me to war." I, too, am a peacemaker. At the core of my quest for
Christ-likeness is the ministry of reconciliation and peacemaking. Indeed,
"the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make
peace" (Jam 3:18). Thus, toward people, we must never forget that our
message is the Gospel of Peace. At the same time, it is the "God of
peace" who has chosen to crush Satan beneath our feet (Rom. 16:20). There
is a militant side of true peace, where our peace comes because we have
confronted, battled and overcome our spiritual enemies.
The problem is too many Christians have confused peace with passivity. They
have a hollow "peace," for their lives are prayerless
and they live in perpetual compromise with heaven's enemies. This is not peace;
it is bondage. Jesus was the quintessential peacemaker, yet He boldly
confronted the advance of evil, and He did so with unbending righteousness and
unsheathed spiritual authority. Christ terrified the demonic realm. At His
approach, evil spirits howled in trembling dread: "Have You
come to torment us before the time?" Jesus was operating in the war mode
and they knew it.
Commissioned to
Confrontation
The Lord confronted the demonic realm and commissioned His disciples to do the
same (see Matt 10:1; Mk 3:14-15; 6:13; Mk 16:17;Lk
9:1; 10:17-19). The disciples were trained to function in the war mode: they
learned discernment, understood authority and usually engaged in the fight of
deliverance with perseverance. Not only did Jesus exercise authority over every
demonic hierarchal strata up to Satan himself, but He told the disciples that
the works He did, including those of spiritual warfare, they would also do (Jn 14:12). He specifically gave His disciples authority
"over all the power of the enemy." He then assured them that
"nothing [would] injure" them (see Luke 10:19). Of course, He trained
them to walk in purity and built into their souls certain fundamental
safeguards. Yet, after preparing and commissioning them with His authority, He
ministered faith, not fear to His disciples.
When I read the scriptures, it is plain to me that Jesus was always operating
in a mode of spiritual aggression toward the powers of hell. He was perfectly
God-focused, but His radar was continually sensing the enemies advance into His
world. When Peter sought to dissuade Jesus from accepting the cross, Jesus
discerned in Peter's words the voice of Satan. Speaking directly to the spirit
manipulating Peter, Jesus rebuked the prince of devils, driving him from the
thought-life of the apostle. When Jesus sent out the seventy disciples, they
went forth in a war mode. When they returned from their mission, they marveled
that even demons were subject to them in Christ's name (Lk
10:17-20). Jesus commanded His disciples follow Him into heaven's battles.
Jesus also came to Destroy
I know we picture Jesus eternally kind and unfathomably gentle, and such He was
with the victims of life's injustices. (His compassion was also an act of war
against evil). Yet, the one who wrote that God is love and whose ear listened
to Christ's very heartbeat, also said the Son of God came "that He might
destroy the works of the devil" (1 Jn 3:8).
Do we see this about Christ? Jesus not only came to restore and redeem, He also
came to "destroy the works of the devil." As a follower of Christ,
have you destroyed anything evil lately? Have you toppled any demonic
strongholds this week? Have you rescued anyone imprisoned in sin or fear or
demonic captivity recently? Evil can be destroyed in a hundred different ways,
not merely in a "deliverance" session. The sad truth is,
historically, too many of us have neither a plan nor a prayer to truly see evil
destroyed.
You see, we need an "attitude" toward evil. Imagine if, in addition
to fulfilling our other spiritual disciplines and virtues, every Christian
began to truly pray with the authority of Jesus Christ. Without exaggerating
the role of the devil, consider the heavenly impact praying Christians would
have if we all renounced passivity, unbelief and fear. Remember, Paul said the
weapons of our warfare were mighty. Imagine if we actually used them!
Love Motivated Warfare
Jesus knew this world was a realm under satanic siege. Planet Earth was not a
place of peace, but a realm at war. From the casting out of Lucifer and his
angels from heaven, to the temptation in the Garden of Eden, to
No matter how beautiful the world around us seems, remember there was a serpent
lurking in
Perhaps a few women among us might argue, "This warfare stuff is a macho
thing. I'm just a housewife, a mom. I don't have a war mode." If your
child was seriously sick, wouldn't you fight that illness with everything at
your disposal? You would fast and pray, and do so from your war mode. If your
marriage was under spiritual attack, wouldn't you get before God and war with
fervency? The fact is, you know how to fight. Ask your
husband if he thinks you have a war mode. You just need something to wake it
up, because once you begin to shift into the war gear, in the Holy Spirit you
are dangerous!
You See, the War Mode
is in Us All
It may be attached to our
instinct for survival, but it is more directly connected with our love for
people. I love my nation so I am warring in prayer on its behalf. Because of
love for my family, I war in prayer on their behalf. I love my church, my city
and, yes, even my own soul, so I war to protect what I love.
If there is a natural fight instinct, there is a spiritual fight mode as well.
It just needs to be awakened, submitted to Christ, and then unleashed against
the enemy. If you have a love mode, you also have a war mode. God has created
the war mode so we can protect the people we love.
by Francis Frangipane
Web: www.frangipane.org
Email: comments@frangipane.org