Fighting Fire

Ephesians 6:11-12  CSB

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 

Firetrucks carry 500-2500 gallons of water as well as the ability to pump water from a hydrant or directly out of a pool. Water is an excellent extinguishing agent for several reasons:

• It cools the heat
• It suffocates the oxidizer
• It dissipates and saturates the fuel.

On several levels, water applied effectively halts the chemical reaction.  We have to disrupt the chemical reaction in the most efficient way possible.

Here’s what’s funny – when salty old firefighters get exasperated at having to learn all this, they just yell “Just put the wet stuff on the red stuff!”

That’s actually bad advice. When you consider the anatomy of the fire… the smoke, the heat, the flames, and even that really scary flashover we saw last week are not really the problem…. The chemical reaction, combustion, is the problem. So if you’re directing your stream at the flame and smoke, you’re going to be chasing flare ups all day.  What’s worse, by adding water and airflow to upper layers, it pushes the heat and gasses down on you.

You have to direct the extinguishing agent at the base of the fire…. the fuel sources that’s combusting… to extinguish the fire. You do that, and the heat and flame and smoke turn into simple steam.

Everyday, there’s a thousand things that concern, scare, irritate, or even tempt us. We direct our energy at things that don’t matter in the end.

Sin, anxiety, fear, and depression are all a lot like fire because we are really prone to react to it in ways that are unhelpful. We become defensive. We justify. We hide. We isolate. We compare. We blame. We get angry. In the end, we’ve only been attacking ourselves and now we are wounded. Chasing smoke.

And we as Christians act like probies (probationary, rookie firefighters) whipping the hose in every direction and never understanding or attacking the source, seeing it for it really is. We issue a stark reminder to every new firefighter… you’re no good to a rescue if you allow yourself to become a victim.  Consider this verse from our main passage:

Ephesians 6:12

 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.“

Paul reminds us that it’s so easy to think that people or situations or culture or authorities are the enemy.  Remember, spiritual warfare is the Enemy’s attempt to deceive us. A straight lie is deception, but so is misdirection.  He’d love for us to blame and attack others for our sin (just like Adam blamed Eve in Genesis 3). He’d love for us to tear down our own God-given worth through anxiety. He wants us to follow empty feel-good philosophies rather than the truth of God’s Word because it robs us of an eternal perspective.  The Enemy attacks us with deception, and then misdirects us as we react. He wants us chasing smoke.

The great spiritual warfare is one of deception and misdirection, we are prone to believing the lies….

• Lies about others
• Lies about ourselves
• Lies about the Goodness of God

Every adverse situation threat to the Mission that we all face is because we have believed a lie about ourselves or others or about God Himself…

• Discouragement – A lie that the Enemy uses to convince you that you’re not capable.
• Frustration – A lie that the Enemy uses to convince you that you can’t accomplish the Mission.
• Anger – A lie that blames others.
• Confusion – A misdirection the shakes your confidence.
• Shame and Guilt – Lies that the Enemy uses to convince you that you’re broken and unable to rescue others.
• Doctrinal Error – The Enemy would love for us to believe unscriptural things about the good God we serve.

How do you fight a lie?  You aim the truth at it.  If we want to effectively fight fire effectively, we have to know the truth and apply it directly to our situations.

Hosea 4:6 CSB

“My people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge.”

The knowledge that the prophet Hosea speaks about is a fervent faith in God grounded in the truth of His Word.  How are you doing in learning and living the Word of God?

Spiritual warfare is the unseen battle of believers against Satan. It is not a physical battle against people, but a spiritual struggle against the dark forces of evil in the world and in the heavenly realms.

The battleground for spiritual warfare is in our hearts and minds. The apostle Paul urges us to resist being taken captive by worldly philosophies. Believers who fill their minds with God’s truth and remain alert through prayer will guard their hearts and minds against attack, resulting in a peaceful spirit.

2 Corinthians 10:3 CSB

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.”

Folks, when it comes to fighting the Enemy, he’s trying to Rope-A-Dope us into behaving like everyone else. Attack and blame others. Get angry and lash out. Become depressed and face despair. Accept defeat.

Rope-A-Dope   “a boxing tactic of pretending to be trapped against the ropes, goading an opponent to throw tiring ineffective punches.”

Winning this firefight means we see spiritual warfare for what it is… an attack of the Enemy. Since we know what he’s up to, we no longer have to shadow box others. Let’s commit to learning and living the Truth…. Even if that means confronting ugly lies about ourselves. Quit chasing smoke.

When the Enemy’s attacks with deception, let’s “hit it hard from the yard” with Truth.

Debrief:

1. Obviously, the Enemy would love for us to be distracted rather than attacking the source of the problem in our hearts, deception. In what ways have you been Rope-a-doped by the Enemy?
2. Are there some ways that you need to direct your efforts at combatting the deception?
3. Reading the Bible more is great way to defeat deception, but are there any things that you can be doing to make it more readily accessible? Are you good at memorization and need to work at memorizing Scripture? Are you techy and need to save some shortcuts to Bible tools? Are you visual and need to make some visible reminders of Scripture?

Report to the Chief:

Ask the Lord to reveal to you ways that you’ve directed your energy towards everything but the source of deception. Ask Him for a clear head and a heart that is fixated on victory in Jesus’ name.

Feedback

Please use the comments below to give me some feedback. What could have made this post more powerful in your life? Anything not make sense or flow well? Any comments to make it more faithful to Scripture?