Spiritual Warfare

In the mythic story of The Lion King, the lion cub Simba is separated in his youth from his father through a murder engineered by his uncle, Scar, the character symbolizing the evil one in our story. Scar arranges for the cub to be caught in a stampede of wildebeests, knowing that his father, Mufasa, will risk his life to save his son. He does, and Simba is saved, but Mufasa is killed. Scar then turns on Simba and accuses him, at such a vulnerable and desperate moment, of…

“You will be tested. Like Jesus’ desert trial, the enemy comes, probing the perimeter. He knows your story, knows where the weak spots are. But this is our training. This is the spiritual equivalent of, 'Take a high guard, like this. Strike from high. Like this. Do it. Blade straighter. Leg back. Bend your knees. Sword straighter. Defend yourself.' This is how we develop a resolute heart. We make no agreements with whatever the temptation or accusation.…

Almost every little boy loves playing “Cowboys and Indians.” However, kids pretending to fight in the Wild West is quite different from real warfare with real weapons. Take, for example, the frontier practice of staging surprise assaults using flaming arrows. This tactical strategy caught the other side off guard. Flaming arrows would start a fire on a canvas covered wagon, disrupting military lines and causing the occupants to focus on the blaze rather than the…

A Roman soldier “girded his loins” with something more akin to a girdle than a belt. (A manly one, I’m sure.) Most scholars agree that more than any other piece of the soldier’s clothing or equipment, this girdle—with its intricate decor and elaborate buckles—distinguished a soldier from a civilian. It wasn’t some optional, secondary accessory, like the kind you or I might add to an outfit. It was a strategic, primary focal point of…

Today I'm sharing an encouraging story sent to me by a long-time friend who's part of the ministry team at Jesus Film. Take the time to read it. You'll start the day with a much-needed smile seeing Gods amazing grace and mercy. _________________________________ Madagascar is an enormous island nation located off the coast of East Africa. Thousands of small villages dot the countryside, connected by foot trails, rugged roads and rivers. In one of these…

I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. (Ezekiel 28:16) So evil entered the Story. I am staggered by the level of naïveté that most people live with regarding evil. They don't take it seriously. They don't live as though the Story has a Villain. Not the devil prancing about in red tights, carrying a pitchfork, but the incarnation of the very worst of every enemy you've met…

What’s happening here? Is this a shakeup or just a blip in the natural order of things? From a deadly pandemic to a global movement for racial justice, the year 2020 has already experienced its fair share of world-shifting events — and it is still months from being over. Here is a list of some of those events taken from a recent New York Post article. The country faced one of its most devastating wildfire seasons as the blazes continued from December 2019…

Fear is not from God, and it’s not more powerful than God. Yet, he knew it would come to steal our peace, not once or twice, but constantly throughout our lifetime. So in his great mercy and faithfulness to us, God made a way for us to be more than equipped to overcome its effects and walk in faith. He gave us three offensive weapons to lean into when we’re attacked: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind;…

As one of my mentors put it, the interpretation you use to understand your reality and your role in it will be the single greatest force in shaping what becomes of your next decade. In the words of Dan Baker in What Happy People Know, “The stories we tell ourselves about our own lives eventually become our lives. ... The choice is ours.” Our life will be significant in proportion to the stories we choose to interpret our reality. What stories are you using…