June 10

The True Battle

2 Kings 6:16-18 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, "Strike these people with blindness." So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

There is a battle going on. It is not a small battle; it is cosmic warfare and in the balance lies the lives of our loved ones, our friends, this city and this whole generation. For too long we have been thinking of the Christian life as a playground and not a battlefield. But the Bible teaches with absolute clarity that we are locked in a terrible fight for the hearts and minds of this generation. And I hate to say it, but it appears we are getting our butts kicked right now in the USA.
Secularism has championed the worldview that the only reality is the physical world we can see. Our concern even as Christ followers tends to be on the here and now. We forget in a world of Twitter and Ipods that there is an unseen world and that is more real than ours.
Elisha had the eyes to see this unseen world. He lived as if it were a reality, and in that lies his effectiveness. He believed this unseen world of spiritual beings had more of an influence on the physical world than kings and armies.
So what is your strategy to engage our true enemy? It is by prayer that we gain the victory over the unseen forces of evil. It is by prayer that we open the eyes of unbelievers. Our arguments and slick gospel presentations cannot compete with these forces of darkness.
It is time for us to wake up and get involved in the real battle.

Today, pray for the power of God to open your eyes to this conflict, and then ask God to open the eyes of your loved ones. There are so many blinded people surrounding us, only the Lord can open their eyes.