The compassionate warrior - "his name is the LORD of Armies"
"Indeed, your husband is your Maker - his name is the LORD of Armies - and the
Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth. . . .
Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you
and my covenant of peace will not be shaken,' says your compassionate LORD."
Isaiah 52:5, 10
Looking for another passage in Isaiah this morning, I ran into this one. The bridegroom of the believer is a warrior who shares our suffering. That's what compassion means - to suffer with. Let that shake you. Let that break you. Let that quiet your soul.
He is a mighty commander - He has the charge of armies under Him! And yet, He is fiercely loyal to His bride! Hosea picks up this theme of loyal love in the second chapter of his prophecy:
"In that day - this is the LORD's declaration - you will call me, 'My husband,'
and no longer call me, 'My Ba'al,' [master] for I will remove the names of the Ba'als from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names.
On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely. I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD."
(vv. 16-20) (definition added)
The idea of peace in the midst of mountains being moved and hills shaking reminds me of Psalm 46.
"God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil. . . .'Stop your fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.' The LORD of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." (vv. 1-3, 10-11)
The compassionate warrior is our bridegroom. His strength is gentle but fierce.
What grabbed my attention in the first passage was the language of war. How often do we stop to ponder that our God is a commander of armies? How often do we stop to chew on the reality that He has and will ultimately defeat His foes? How often do we stop to ponder the reality that we are still engaged in war and we are doing battle from the side of the Victor?
I have been tasked by the Lord to write on spiritual warfare. He is opening my eyes more and more to the language of warfare found in the Scriptures. The Bible is our war manual. We are indeed at war! But we do not fight alone. We have the strength of the LORD of Armies and His armour at our disposal (Ephesians 6:10-20; Is. 52). We have His vast strength to resist an enemy who will flee from us (1 Pet. 5:9; James 4:7). We have supernatural weapons that tear down the devil's strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Those strongholds are found in the mind. They are arguments against the truth of God. We have, through the strength of the Spirit, the ability to take those thoughts captive and place them in submission to Jesus. Two of our greatest weapons are the Truth and prayer. John says that, 'no lie is of the truth.' (1 John 3:21). The devil uses deception to take captives. We must confront his lies with the truth and we must assault his strongholds both in our minds and in the minds of unbelievers with prayer (Ephesians 6:18).
There are so many more references to the reality of this warfare. What is truly sinking in and cannot be contained in my own spirit is that theses things are truly our reality as believers. The strongholds of the devil over the hearts and minds of the unbelievers, his demonic soldiers and their influence over the world system that the devil is said to be lord of, the reality that we are at war with these beings but that we need not fear them are all things that I am waking up to. We are not merely fighting to fight. We are fighting to win because we are on the Victor's side and He WILL overcome His foes.
We are going to battle on behalf of our brothers and sisters around the world and in our own cities (Ephesians 6:18) but we are also assaulting his strongholds in the minds and hearts of the unbelievers we know and care for. We serve a risen King and we have no cause to fear a defeated foe!
Let us pray and speak truth with fearlessness and boldness and ask that the Lord give these things also to our fellow soldiers, our brothers and sisters who are also at war. Let us pray for hearts of compassion that we may truly be reflections of our compassionate King.
Please pray for me as I write, as I ask the Lord to also open your eyes to these realities. May we assault the strongholds of the evil one and may we have much cause to rejoice at the destruction of those strongholds and at the freedom of those who formerly were in the enemy's kingdom.
Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth. . . .
Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you
and my covenant of peace will not be shaken,' says your compassionate LORD."
Isaiah 52:5, 10
Looking for another passage in Isaiah this morning, I ran into this one. The bridegroom of the believer is a warrior who shares our suffering. That's what compassion means - to suffer with. Let that shake you. Let that break you. Let that quiet your soul.
He is a mighty commander - He has the charge of armies under Him! And yet, He is fiercely loyal to His bride! Hosea picks up this theme of loyal love in the second chapter of his prophecy:
"In that day - this is the LORD's declaration - you will call me, 'My husband,'
and no longer call me, 'My Ba'al,' [master] for I will remove the names of the Ba'als from her mouth; they will no longer be remembered by their names.
On that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the creatures that crawl on the ground.
I will shatter bow, sword, and weapons of war in the land and will enable the people to rest securely. I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD."
(vv. 16-20) (definition added)
The idea of peace in the midst of mountains being moved and hills shaking reminds me of Psalm 46.
"God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.
Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roars and foams and the mountains quake with its turmoil. . . .'Stop your fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.' The LORD of Armies is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." (vv. 1-3, 10-11)
The compassionate warrior is our bridegroom. His strength is gentle but fierce.
What grabbed my attention in the first passage was the language of war. How often do we stop to ponder that our God is a commander of armies? How often do we stop to chew on the reality that He has and will ultimately defeat His foes? How often do we stop to ponder the reality that we are still engaged in war and we are doing battle from the side of the Victor?
I have been tasked by the Lord to write on spiritual warfare. He is opening my eyes more and more to the language of warfare found in the Scriptures. The Bible is our war manual. We are indeed at war! But we do not fight alone. We have the strength of the LORD of Armies and His armour at our disposal (Ephesians 6:10-20; Is. 52). We have His vast strength to resist an enemy who will flee from us (1 Pet. 5:9; James 4:7). We have supernatural weapons that tear down the devil's strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Those strongholds are found in the mind. They are arguments against the truth of God. We have, through the strength of the Spirit, the ability to take those thoughts captive and place them in submission to Jesus. Two of our greatest weapons are the Truth and prayer. John says that, 'no lie is of the truth.' (1 John 3:21). The devil uses deception to take captives. We must confront his lies with the truth and we must assault his strongholds both in our minds and in the minds of unbelievers with prayer (Ephesians 6:18).
There are so many more references to the reality of this warfare. What is truly sinking in and cannot be contained in my own spirit is that theses things are truly our reality as believers. The strongholds of the devil over the hearts and minds of the unbelievers, his demonic soldiers and their influence over the world system that the devil is said to be lord of, the reality that we are at war with these beings but that we need not fear them are all things that I am waking up to. We are not merely fighting to fight. We are fighting to win because we are on the Victor's side and He WILL overcome His foes.
We are going to battle on behalf of our brothers and sisters around the world and in our own cities (Ephesians 6:18) but we are also assaulting his strongholds in the minds and hearts of the unbelievers we know and care for. We serve a risen King and we have no cause to fear a defeated foe!
Let us pray and speak truth with fearlessness and boldness and ask that the Lord give these things also to our fellow soldiers, our brothers and sisters who are also at war. Let us pray for hearts of compassion that we may truly be reflections of our compassionate King.
Please pray for me as I write, as I ask the Lord to also open your eyes to these realities. May we assault the strongholds of the evil one and may we have much cause to rejoice at the destruction of those strongholds and at the freedom of those who formerly were in the enemy's kingdom.
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