Unconventional Weapons

I've been watching as the ranks begin to march in step. Officers arrange their troops, each soldier one by one stepping into their power and authority. The ranks are advancing, the Kingdom is advancing, and I feel the intensity beginning to build. Many things in life come full circle, and thousands of years later I believe the church is moving it's way back around to how it all began... raw, real, unpolished people banding together to relentlessly, wholeheartedly turn the world upside down to match Heaven.

One of the anointed and willing stepped to the front and spoke passionate words calling out what he called "unconventional weapons of love".

I have a few of those, and I'd love to share.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

That being said:

Shame is not as heavy as we think it is. Often shame feels sticky, constricting, an irremovable weight on our shoulders. But that is all lies.

Romans 8:1
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Take your hand, and brush the shame off your shoulders like dust. 

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If Jesus' victory over death can grant us a clean slate- the past, the present, the future, that same victory can reclaim anything the enemy has stolen. We are not just forgiven, we are redeemed.

re·deem:

*compensate for the bad faults or aspects of something

*gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment 

 

Often we settle for only the first definition of our redemption. We are amazed at how God works even through our imperfection, and we stop there. 

 

Start demanding things back from the enemy. Any wasted time, years of hurt, steps down the wrong path, people that have jumped-ship, bad seeds sewn, messes left to fester- demand it all back. I don't mean reclaim "yuck", I mean that Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid for what could have been, not just for what will be. Relentlessly, authoritatively pray for the redemption of all that belongs to God (and us through Him, since we are heirs!).  Our time, our relationships, the corners of our hearts- don't belong to the enemy. If we have allowed him to steal, we must demand those things back.

 

Stomp your foot, and utter however you see fit, "I want my stuff back."

 

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Joshua 5 & 6 tells the story of  Joshua and the Israelites in the epic "Battle of Jericho". What's amazing to me about this story is that they did absolutely nothing that sounds like our usual epic battle. There was no clashing of swords, no cannon fire... They (under God's instruction) marched around the city of Jericho and YELLED. And there were some trumpets. That sounds more like a worship service to me! But after marching around the city and yelling and blowing trumpets, any portion of the city that wasn't God's FELL. God saved one little portion for a very unlikely hero (which you should go read about, because there's so much more to this story!), but the rest of the city fell. 

 

Twofold:

Sometimes worship IS warfare. 

 

And silently, inconspicuously surround your family, the portion of His church that you meet with, your neighborhood, your city, and boldly pray that any portion that is not God's will fall. 

 

 Matthew 6:10

Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven!

 

What a mighty God we serve.