When I hear people use the phrases “I’m under attack” or “I’m in a battle,” I usually make an assumption about what they mean different from their viewpoint. I assume they mean that God has assigned them to fulfill a purpose and they’ve run into some of God’s enemies when what they usually mean is that they’ve are suffering difficulties in their own lives.
I don’t choose battles based upon getting my needs met or fighting against the enemies of my own life; I choose battles based upon my kingdom assignments knowing that as I positively pursue God’s purposes I will run into His enemies, the enemies that oppose His purposes.
Why? Because Jesus says that as I seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and all the stuff I need will be added to me.” That is, when I fight the enemies who oppose His purposes, He will provide for my basics and send hornets against those that attack me personally.
Sometimes we are “under attack” simply because we have our priorities wrong. Seeking to get the stuff that non-believers seek after, we put kingdom and righteousness deeper on the list of passion and pursuit. We find ourselves fighting battles for finance, family, fashion, physical health, and friendship that aren’t really on the list of spiritual battles at all. They are on God’s list of “stuff will be added to you.”
What I mean is that when I’m fighting a battle for physical health, I usually run into this battle because the enemy is trying to stop or distract me in my pursuit of purpose. The same is true for nearly every other area of my life.
I think this is the sense in which Paul says to Timothy that a good soldier doesn’t entangle himself in the affairs of this life. I certainly don’t think Paul meant that believers don’t work or struggle with domestic issues, or that a man doesn’t have responsibility to provide for his wife and family. I think Paul was saying that Timothy’s battle will be with opposition to God’s purposes, and Timothy won’t leave that battlefield to fight on a home front leaving an empty place, a gap in the wall, in the battle for God’s purposes.
One of the principles of warfare has been to fight the enemy on his own territory so the enemy won’t bring the fight to your home front. As a nation, America has sent troops all over the world to fight our enemies on their own turfs so we won’t need to fight them on our own soil. Valid strategy for our nation. Valid strategy for your life.
Consider that some of the dysfunction of your personal life may come because you left an empty in the battle line for God’s purposes to fight for your own stuff and brought the battle right into your own life. That is, failing to fight the opposition where God assigned you left you vulnerable to fight a battle in your own strategy. God had a strategy to deal with that enemy at home when you were in your place fighting God’s enemies at the point of pursuing His purposes.
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Amen, thank you, a tough lesson to learn but vital to remember.
Amen…it takes discipline to stay postured to learn where our part/place begins and where God’s place/part ends, so often the roles our switched and this causes confusion forming a weapon of distraction.