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.”

In Fire Academy, we study the components that make up fire. This is commonly referred to as “The Fire Triangle.”  A good raging inferno requires 3 components – Heat, Oxygen, and Fuel. When these things are present, a chemical reaction takes place and the fuel combusts. It can do so slowly (smolder) or rapidly (explosion).

To stop a fire, eliminate one of the components.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

I’m being facetious of course to prove a point. When you see fire illustrated like this, all the sudden it ain’t so scary. To think that all you need to do is cool the flame, remove the oxygen, or segregate the fuel, now you have all sorts of options. Water cools and smothers. That’s a great option. A heavy flame retardant blanket can smother. Carbon dioxide is cheap and it removes oxygen quickly.  The chemical makeup of the powder in fire extinguishers is mostly baking soda because it smothers effectively. Wildland firefighters often use a rake to spread out the fuel. So many options.

That’s why fire composition is so important to understanding how to extinguish it.

In our lives, we spend so much effort and pain dealing with the emotions and consequences of the spiritual firefight rather than examining what caused it.  Temptation drags us into sin and we fixate on that horrible thing we did or keep doing. Fear or anxiety drags us into self-doubt or depression and we are paralyzed by its effect on us. Unbiblical ideas drag us into foolish beliefs and shallow philosophies, and we are left with a warped view of life.

As you think about the firefight inside your heart, the Enemies attacks are pretty easy to diagnose. Listen to the harsh words of James, one of Jesus’s brothers:

James 4:1-7 CSB

“What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions that wage war within you? You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?

But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”

So there you have it. The composition of the fiery darts that the Enemy hurls at you is pride, selfish desire, and worldly thinking.  Sure, the fire produces sinful behavior, doubt, worldly thinking, and fear. But that’s the smoke. Really, his main deception is to get us to take our eyes off the Chief and look only at ourselves. 

It’s time to throw a wet blanket on that.

If you see a fire, what do you do? You pull the fire alarm, you call 911, or you yell “Fire!” at the top of your lungs. If you don’t, the woowoo crew ain’t coming.

Likewise, you can’t fight the fire in your heart unless you call it out. The passage above says that the Chief gives grace, unmerited love and favor, to those who are humble and that starts by admitting there’s a problem. It starts by resisting the tactics of the Enemy, and James reminds us that when we do… the Enemy runs away.

So right now… call out the Enemy’s tactic against you. Is it pride? Is it lust? Is it some other selfish desire? Is it self-doubt and anxiety? Is it some attachment to worldly comfort?

What is it that Enemy keeps attacking you with? Say it out loud. Say it so someone can hear it. Drag it out of the dark. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Debrief:

1. How can you look at the pattern of your past behavior and realize that you’ve not addressed the cause out loud? How have you allowed the sources of the deception to remain concealed?
2. How does being honest about the sources of the spiritual fire help us to begin to fight it effectively?

Report to the Chief:

Ask the Lord today to forgive you for a lack of willingness to confront and call out the root of deception. Name it to Him and ask for His help to defeat it at the core.

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?