Battlefields and Burial Grounds

Yesterday my wife, daughter, and I spent a good portion of our morning at Shiloh National Military Park, a place like several others in our country, where you can feel the history.  It was once a Civil War battleground, and is now a cemetery, and reminder of the dark days of our past.  Considering that it is a place shrouded in the chaos of war, it is now one of the most serene places I have ever visited.  It is hard to imagine the intensity of the fight as brother fought with brother during the Civil War, in beautiful locations such as this sprinkled across our vast and varied landscape. 

These memorial grounds where the dead of battle are buried and forever entombed have many lessons to teach us, if we are willing to seek them out.  Today I feel the need for us to consider the battles that surround us.

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness

in the heavenly places."

Ephesians 6:12

My question is what, or more importantly who, are we burying in today's battleground?  While there is most definitely a spiritual war taking place are we recognizing the walking wounded?  The battle call is real, and we must recognize that what we are seeing is on a far greater scale than the great conflict between the states.  

When we walk the paths of our daily lives it is easy to overlook those that may be struggling in their battles.  The signs may not be obvious, but they are present.  As soldiers in the Army of the Lord, Christians, we must train daily to understand the enemy's strengths, and weaknesses as well as our own.  By recognizing these we can construct a battle plan, and we can escape with Christ's victory in tact.

In the noisy, smoke-filled battlefields of war brave soldiers would risk their lives to charge onto the battlefield in an effort to recover or save their fellow fighters.  When is the last time we have done that on the spiritual battlefield?  The risks we are willing to take seem minuscule, partly due to the nature of the modern spiritual battlefield.  They are risks we must take.  The kingdom of God needs more brave souls who are willing to do more, fight harder, and risk it all for their brothers and sisters who are wounded and dying in the battle.

So what does this take?  Effort, plain and simple.  If we will dedicate ourselves to putting effort into our walk of faith, it will surely grow.  No one planted a garden and then failed to tend it and expected a bountiful harvest, the expectation included effort.  Such is the battlefield of life.  Unless we get our priorities aligned properly, our battlefields will grow darker, and the light of His Word will become a dim glimmer in the distance as we face the cold realities of the harsh battlefield. 

Get familiar with Ephesians 6:13-20.  This passage talks about the "whole armor of God", and is a wise starting point to understand how we fight in both the offensive and defensive postures of this spiritual warfare.  Take a look, be engaged in the battle, not just letting it happen around you.  Together with God, we know that in the end we have victory, but we can also win in these skirmishes and rescue others from the battlefield attending to their needs.

I ask you to consider these things, and Make Today GREAT!