Advent 4 War Along the Trail

[HKHaugan]

Advent 4 War Along the Trail

 We are still talking about the trail between hearts being the longest trail. It is a spiritual trail filled with obstacles to faith in God. Along that trail guerrilla warfare is the devil’s order of the day. It’s not open warfare but one fought defensively on the perimeter of the heart. The devil sends his spirits of fear, lust, greed, envy, jealousy and anger, to name a few, so that defensive walls are built around the heart. His goal is to keep us separated from God and each other. Division is his game and he uses our self-centeredness, our fear and pride, to keep us judgmental and critical and therefore isolated and alone. Remember he is the prince of darkness who keeps himself hidden so that people deny his existence, think he’s just a myth or used as a way to keep people frightened.

 He thrives on denial of his existence, on our egotism, conceit and quietly exploits our weaknesses as we hide them from each other. Sin is not only his force, he uses it like a CEO ruling a corporate structure, to isolate and alienate human beings from God and one another. If you think he doesn’t exist then explain the myriad wars from one year to the next, the hate that motivates group demonstrations, the relational conflict we all experience that seems to have neither reason nor remedy only unresolved resentment. Explain anger and rage and lawlessness, theft, the constancy of conflict. And this: all of it is personal and relational. It all reeks of a mind rooted in hostility and corruption, diabolical scheming to reek personal havoc and division. No one is free from his ability to cause conflict, to be a victim of it. It is a deeply personal attack on us all. There is no other conclusion but what the Bible teaches. From his tempting Jesus to his hidden conspiracy to have Jesus killed we see his hand in the mix.

 The devil is the one who put spiritual distance between hearts. The devil is the culprit and Jesus has exposed him, the Word of God has named him and, if we are honest, we have felt the pressure of his spirits, his work, his anger and manipulation through our sin.

 The distance between hearts was overcome when Jesus came. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work (1John 3:8).” It is our relationship with Jesus that overcomes him. When a heart realizes its immaturity and that Jesus is the only spiritually mature One, we can begin to be open, honest and loving. Relational distance disappears the moment we step out in His name and show we want to be friends with those we meet. You see, relational distance is the devil’s plan. He’s waging a war for the individual heart

 It is a war waged by the devil for the individual heart. It is a war played out on the trail to the heart. While this is the greatest and largest war in history it does not take place on a visible battlefield where large armies fight. It is a war fought on the edge of the heart.

 Just watch the news on TV or read any newspaper and try to explain the world in any other way. The ‘world’ is secular society, a spiritually fallen superstructure, and its leadership thinking and acting apart from God. But Jesus tells us “The world is guilty as far as judgment is concerned,” after which He follows with good news, “That is because the devil, the prince of this world, has already been judged (Jn.16:11).” Then He gives everyone living in this chaotic spiritual environment personal assurance when He says, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (Jn.16:33).”

 God’s plan of recovery has a personal strategy. He uses sinners who believe in Jesus to reach sinners who don’t believe. It takes one to know one. Your see, the disciple of Jesus who tries to reach the heart of someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus has two issues. He has obstacles in his heart that are the result of sin just as an unbeliever has issues in his. The believer and the unbeliever both have defensive blocks from their past. Here the believer knows the tension and turns to the Lord in repentance for forgiveness so that healing and removal of the block occurs. As he grows in God’s grace and love his blocks become part of his sharing with others. This is ongoing.

 The deeper the relationship with Jesus, the less defensive the heart becomes in any encounter. It’s the erosion of defensiveness, the decreasing need to hide feelings and the increasing awareness of the hearts of others that marks spiritual growth.   This is how the war is won.   This is how God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Actually, Jesus has already won the war. We are the ones called to mop up the mess. In Him there is no relational distance when we make the decision to accept him in our hearts.

 “Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you (2Cor.5:16-20 Message Bible).”