Christ Our Captain # 3

Life on the Highest Plane

Conflict in the Heavenlies

satan works to cause distraction of heart. Many of God's consecrated children are being tortured by cruel and crushing suffering and sorrow which has its source in satan. He is sending his poisoned shaft into the home and alienating husband and wife through unfaithfulness. He is causing estrangements in family circles based on falsehood, misunderstanding and false interpretation of motives, words and acts. Through the shirking of the burden on the part of one member of the family he is placing an intolerable load upon another. Others who have made their business a real partnership with God he attempts to overwhelm with business perplexities and financial losses through the unscrupulousness of others. The evil one works to rob God's child of the peace of God.

satan schemes to cause deflection from God's plan and purpose in work. He will do anything to keep God's child from the direct work of saving souls. He directs the attention to secondary matters; he divides the energy over unnecessary tasks, and he darkens the mind over questions of guidance.

satan works to cause distress of body through weakening it by disease or crippling it by disaster (Job 2:7). Through his continued onslaughts upon every part of the believer's being the devil is trying to move him out of the will of God by getting him experimentally out of his position in Christ Jesus.

Some believers are ensnared by satan because they fail to realize his power and to recognize his tactics. But others make the equally fatal mistake of overestimating his power and of over-emphasis upon his activities. He is mighty, but there is One infinitely mightier. He is powerful, but there is One who is all-powerful. He can and does attack us from without, but there is an omnipotent, triumphant One who can and does strengthen, sustain and energize us from within. He is the One to whom all power has been given in Heaven and upon earth. He is the Captain of our salvation; the Leader of God's hosts.

1 John 4:4, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he this is in the world."

Matthew 28:18, "And James came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

Romans 8:37, "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us."

Hebrews 2:10, "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

The believer should always look upon satan as a defeated foe. He has already been overcome by the Captain of our host. Any power which he exercises today is only a permitted power that God may get greater glory to Himself through the victory gained by His child before a doubting world, and also that the Christian's life in Christ may be deepened and strengthened. satan was permitted through his human tools to stone Stephen to death but through Stephen's gloriously triumphant martyrdom God won the crown jewel from satan's diadem, Saul of Tarsus. He was allowed through human instruments to put to death the Lord of glory but in doing it he sent himself to the bottomless pit.

That wicked one has no claim whatever upon one who is born of God and he has no power to harm or hurt him. The believer who is hid with Christ in God and who is one with his ascended Lord has the right to claim the perfect protection which that position provides and to reckon himself as a conqueror in Christ Jesus.

1 John 5;18, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but that he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

Romans 16:20, "And the God of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly."

The Captain of the host never commanded the children of Israel to fight for a position of victory but to fight from a position of victory. In His reckoning the battle was won before it was begun. Even before entrance into a battle He invariably spoke in the past tense of the deliverance of the enemy into their hands.

Josh. 6: 2-3, "And the Lord said unto Joshua, See I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor. And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days."

Then why did they have to fight the battle at all? That through faith in their Captain and His Word they might come to share His assurance of complete conquest over the enemy. While the walls of Jericho were still standing and the children of Israel were shut outside the gates Joshua proclaimed to the people that their conquest of the city was an accomplished fact.

Josh. 6:16, "And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the lord hath given you the city."

The battle of the believer is that of faith from his position of accomplished victory over the evil one through his oneness with His ascended Lord.

The Conquest of the Enemy

In Ephesians 6:10-18 our Captain tells us that power to stand against the enemy depends upon our position and upon our protection.

Ephesians 6:10-11, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the full armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

In ourselves we have no power and we would have to succumb instantly to the attacks of the evil one. But "In Christ" oh! how different! Our Victor over satan envelops us for we are hid with Christ in God. As some one has truly said, "Before the devil can reach your life to touch it, he must get through God and through Christ." Our part then in the conquest is, calmly and confidently, to meet every onslaught of the enemy from our hidden position in Christ Jesus and to sing as we fight "The Lord HATH given me the victory." Then it will be ours in the conquering power of His might.

In ourselves we have no power to withstand the continuous attacks of the enemy against every part of our lives. But God has provided an armour that will protect at every point.

Ephesians 6:14-18, "Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness ... and having shed your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one ... And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: ... with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 4)