I Declare War: Week 4

FIGHT LIKE A WOLF

Welcome to the final week of “I Declare War”. We are looking at 4 keys to winning the battle with yourself. Realizing that you are in a battle and letting the wolf inside of you rise. Sometimes that is easier said than done. Sometimes we step up to the battlefield thinking we are ready, but Goliath stands in front of us, mocking. You are ready to climb this uphill battle, but when you step up it becomes an unclimbable mountain.

Larry and Chrissy Watters live in Nova Scotia.  One winter, they parked their truck by the lake and unloaded the four wheeler.  Larry could see that the lake was covered in snow and there were tire tracks across the lake in the snow.  All of that led him to believe the ice was safe to cross.

So he and his wife got on the four wheeler and took off across the ice.  As they were making their way across the lake, their worst fear became a reality.  The ice gave way, the four wheeler rolled over, and they went into those icy waters.  Larry tried to get out, clawing at the ice.  But he couldn’t get a grip.  He couldn’t get out.

He and his wife Chrissy were treading ice for about 10 minutes when they realized that this was it.  There was no way out of the water.  There was no one to help.  Larry moved over to his wife in the water and gave her a kiss.  They were saying their goodbyes.

This is often how our fears make us feel. Like we have no hope and we need to just give up. Gripped by fear, anxiety, worry, or doubt and left feeling trapped and helpless. Last week we talked about our identity as children of the light. When we allow ourselves to travel into the darkness, life can get even more scary. It feels horrible to become held captive by fears that attack us during the day, but it seems like they can get much worse at night. The thing under the bed or in the closet gets much bigger at night. Our problems get worse when we travel into spiritual darkness. We’ve been talking about being like wolves. We try to be like wolves of the day, but there always seems to be other wolves that are threatening us. The bible mentions wolves of the night, or dusk wolves. In Habakkuk, God describes Israel’s enemies, the Babylonians, as being a cruel and violent people who will march across the world to conquer other lands...

Habakkuk 1:7–8a (NLT)

7 They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like.

8 Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk...

I may not WANT to declare war, let the wolf rise in me and be like a wolf, but you and I have an enemy who IS ALREADY on the warpath and he IS ALREADY fighting like a dusk wolf and even more fierce. When wolves attack they try to cut off your source of life. Our enemy is trying to take you down by killing the source of your life. He is trying to separate you from God and make you do things that will in turn make you feel like God doesn’t love you. As the anger wells up inside you, he is behind you whispering, “Hit him. Make a post on Facebook and say something mean.” He wants you to sink inside of yourself and believe the lie that nobody loves you. He wants to trap you in the nightmare of depression so that you will separate yourself from the people who do love you.

I have some statistics that I want to share with you all. Some of these numbers may surprise you. According to the CDC, in the US about 1 in 20 people suffer from regular feelings of depression. Based on that stat, that means there are likely about 125 people here in Cordell who suffer from depression! We can’t even fit that many people in this room. That number doubles when you narrow the scope to people who have actually been to the doctor. About 1 in 10 people who visit the doctor have depression listed as a medical record.

Sadly, that is exactly what the enemy wants. He wants us to be paralyzed by our fears where we will do things we never would have done otherwise. Brace yourselves for the shocking numbers. When I read these they made my stomach knot up… We all know that car accidents are bad and they kill a lot of people. We see a lot of these deaths in the news papers. In 2019 in the US there were over 39,000 motor-vehicle fatalities. That translates to 1 person dying approximately every 13.5 seconds in a car accident.

In that same year in the US the number almost doubles when we start talking about drugs. Over 70,000 people died in 2019 from drug overdose. US, 2019, over 47,000 adults and kids took their own lives. Non-fatal attempts… 1.4 million adults alone! That translates to 1 attempt every 23 seconds.

There is a battle going on and it is time to declare war! The enemy wants us to totally abandon God’s will for our lives and decide that it is our will that matters most. I just want to pause here and say that if any of you ever get to a point in your life where you are that depressed and considering these things, promise me that you will talk to someone who loves you. Even if you are convinced that nobody loves you, find someone who does. Call the suicide hotline if you have to.

You may never feel that way, and that is very good news. But one thing is for sure, in this world we do have trouble and we will have more. And our troubles keep us from being our best. In the book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman said...

The number of worries that people report while taking a test directly predicts how poorly they will do on it.  Our worries become self-fulfilling prophecies, propelling us toward the very disaster they predict.

Hope has been discovered as a better predictor of first semester university grades than how well someone did on their SAT tests. From the perspective of emotional intelligence, having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks. -Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

Levi Lusko describes our worries as stealing cognitive horsepower. He says that your brain has an amount of cognitive horsepower dedicated to certain actions and you can’t have horsepower propelling you both forward and in reverse at the same time. Worry will steal cognitive horsepower by directing it away from other cognitive functions and processing information. In other words, you do worse while you worry. This is a battle. We are at war. That is why you must NOT just think, speak and even act like a wolf. You have to FIGHT like one too.

FIGHT LIKE A WOLF

A student shared that one day in their drama class the teacher was absent because she was sick, so they were given a video to watch during class. At one point they heard an alarm go off and they weren’t sure if it was the fire alarm or the intruder alarm so someone in the class stuck their head out the door to see if anyone was in the hallway. After noting that the hallway was completely empty they decided it must be the intruder alarm and proceeded to hide under their desks, as was the protocol. After almost 2 hours had passed their teacher came rushing in the door with a big sigh of relief because the school had been on fire and everyone was looking for them since they were the only class that was not accounted for.

That day, those students learned the importance of knowing how basic things such as alarms work. In the same way, we need to know how to fight. How do I fight like a wolf? When someone joins the Army, the first place they are sent is basic training where they learn how to fight. Any profession that someone attempts to do, they must first learn how to do it. We spend years learning basic skills like math and reading. Even knowing the basic function of any object that we are using is important.

Someone once shared how when he was a kid, his mother would use a pasta spoon to clean the cat’s litter box. He thought this was normal, since it was the only way he ever saw it used. One day, years after his cat had died, he was at a friend’s house when his mom served spaghetti with the same utensil. He freaked out and shouted, “Why are you serving food with a poop scoop?!” They were confused and he couldn’t eat because he was so disturbed.

Fortunately for us, God wants to give us all the tools we need and train us to fight in this war. Paul shares some important knowledge on this very subject in 2 Corinthians, so if you have your bibles go ahead and turn there. We’ve looked at this verse in this series, but today we are going to focus on a different part of it.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NIV

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

This brings us to our first thought for today. Two weeks ago we talked about taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ. That is just a part of what it takes to fight like a wolf. According to this verse, that is just a part of demolishing strongholds. So, how do we fight like wolves? If you are taking notes, the first thing we need to do is get control of the strongholds. In other words...

1. TO FIGHT LIKE A WOLF YOU NEED TO CONTROL THE HIGH GROUND.

In this portion of his letter, Paul may have been using imagery familiar to the Corinthians. In the hills nearby there would have been ruins from the hill-forts of Rough Cilicia. About 100 years earlier these forts were infested with pirates who swept the Levantine Seas, attacking along the different ports and coves along the coast and retiring to the inaccessible hill-forts to admire their plunder. They had the protection of their strongholds on the high ground. In order to get rid of these dusk wolves that were causing people to live in fear, Pompey the Great had to declare war. He organized the men and went on an expedition clearing out the nest of robbers, reducing 123 forts to ruins and capturing over 10,000 prisoners.

Paul calls up this imagery and says tells that even though we don’t fight people, that is how serious we should be about the lies that set up camp in our minds. That is how serious we should attack the disobedience in our hearts. We don’t blame other people for our actions and attack them. Our weapons have divine power to not only fight the lies and disobedience, but to demolish the strongholds they have in us. That means these weapons don’t have our power, they are mighty through God. The power is not ours, it’s God’s. We rely on God’s power to destroy the enemy strongholds in our lives. Wage war against the strongholds in your mind and in your heart. If you are going to fight like a wolf in this war, we can’t let the enemy have control of the high ground. Take out the enemy camps. Take every thought captive.

How is the pirate in your heart trying to smuggle darkness into your life? Cut off the supply line! Leave in ruins whatever stronghold the enemy has in your life. Starve the enemy and feed your faith. If it’s fear, starve your fear and feed your faith. If it is depression, starve your depression and feed your faith. Lock down the borders of your heart and make everything go through checkpoints. Set up routines. Gather an expedition and march through your heart with purpose. Open your bible with a mission and intent. Crumble strongholds by falling to your knees in prayer. To fight like a wolf we have to tear down our own strongholds and give God the high ground. Don’t try to do God’s work without God’s power.

2. TO FIGHT LIKE A WOLF YOU NEED TO RAISE YOUR VOICE.

Last week we talked about having a pre-game. This was a huge part of Jesus’ pre-game. Before Jesus was put on trial, brutally tortured where he suffered immensely, then killed, he took control of the atmosphere of his heart with his pre-game routine. He was about to face the greatest battle of his life, so he picked up the weapon of worship. Levi Lusko says, “Putting a song in his heart put steel in his spine.” Jesus actually does 2 things. He had just finished the last supper with the disciples and then according to Matthew 26:30...

Matthew 26:30 NLT

30 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Worship is how we fight our battles. Worship isn’t just singing. In fact, it is much more than singing. Worship doesn’t just win the war, worship is the war. We worship God with our voices. We worship with our lives, our actions. We worship with our thoughts. The challenging part of this series is to examine our lives and ask, “Who does my life say I worship? Does my tongue spread darkness or light?” The adversary wants YOU to be the lord of your life. He want you to hold every thought and decision up to the template of your desires. To say, “MY will be done.”

Last week we also talked about posture. Have you ever noticed that the “victory posture” is very similar to a “surrender posture”? That is because the only way to be victorious is to surrender to YAHWEH because He is victory. Our victory is in Jesus. He has already won! We know how this story will end and that is why our enemy is doing everything he can to separate you from God. In The Joyful Christian, C. S. Lewis, speaking from the viewpoint of one of Satan’s demons, said: “War is entertaining… But what permanent good does it do us unless we make use of it for bringing souls to Our Father Below?” That is where the real war is happening.

Jesus raised his voice in worship. Celebrating victory and surrendering to God’s will. Then he went to the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives is where Jesus bowed his face to the ground in humility and surrender to God. He asked not to have to suffer, BUT I want your will, God, not mine to be done. We fight raising our voice and falling to our knees.

Third, don’t just raise your voice to God. Talk to friends. Last week we talked about needing a PACK. If we are going to fight like a wolf, we need to take that a step further and have a strategy with our pack.

3. TO FIGHT LIKE A WOLF YOU NEED TO HAVE A PACK STRATEGY.

The devil wants to keep you alone with your fear so you can be strangled in the dark. Jesus said, “Where 2 or 3 gather in my name, I am there among them.” Have someone you talk to and you worship with. Ask your friend how they are doing. Everyone is going through a tough battle, ask them how they are doing. Tell your friend about your battle. Get together and raise your voices to God. Don’t try to fight your battles alone.

When wolves travel, they have a very specific strategy for travel. They have the alphas and older, slower wolves up front setting pace. Then a group of strong wolves. In the back they have another set of strong wolves to protect the pack. In the middle are the remaining members. We need a strategy for our walk with Christ so we will be ready when we get attacked from any direction. We need someone we are close to who we can pray for and someone praying for us. Helping us fight when we are attacked. We need someone to help us find direction when we feel lost or surrounded by darkness. And we always need our Alpha and Omega going in front of us guiding us and behind us protecting us.

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He guided them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

Exodus 13:21–22 NLT

21 The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. 22 And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people.

When the enemy closed in behind them, God protected them from the rear...

Exodus 14:19–20 NLT

19 Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them. 20 The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. As darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night. But the Egyptians and Israelites did not approach each other all night.

He does the same thing for us. We just need to choose to keep following his light when we are in the darkness.

Declare war on your struggles. Fight by destroying the enemy’s strongholds in your life and giving God the high ground. Raise your voices in worship and fall to your knees in submission and humility. Talk to someone and fight the battle together. And when you jump in this fight, never ever give up...

4. TO FIGHT LIKE A WOLF YOU NEED TO KEEP SHOWING UP.

When wolves go on hunts and chase down dinner, their success rate is between 3%-14%. They fail far more than they succeed. Winston Churchill once said...

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill

Paul shares some of the hardships that he faced, but he never gave up. In fact, he saw no reason to give up. With God’s power working in him he was alive! He always had joy! He had EVERYTHING!

2 Corinthians 6:3–10 NLT

3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. 7 We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us. We use the weapons of righteousness in the right hand for attack and the left hand for defense. 8 We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. 9 We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. 10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Never give up. I want to close with a story about a man named Tim Leatherman. Many if not all of you have probably heard of Leatherman multi-tools. In 1975 Tim Leatherman and his wife went on a budget trip to Europe after finishing college. They planned to hitch hike, but ended up buying a Fiat 600 in the Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, the Fiat was not reliable and had to be worked on often. Tim had his pocket knife an a pair of pliers that he would use for repairs and he thought that it would be handy to have the two put together so he wrote the idea down for the future. When they returned home he decided to make a prototype of this idea so for 3 years he worked in his brother’s garage trying to create this multi-tool.

Tim said that he remembers being alone on his 30th birthday working on the tool and just began weeping. But he worked through it and after 3 years he finished the tool and got his first patent. He called the tool “Mr. Crunch”. After that, every company he went to trying to sell this product rejected it. For 5 long years all he heard was “no” after “no”. He was ready to give up, but a long time friend started helping him and told him there may be some things you haven’t tried. After 8 long years of working on the project, Tim received a letter in the mail from Cabela’s with an order for 500 tools and a check for $12,000.

Now, after 35 years, the Leatherman Tool Company has made over 30 models and employs over 400 people in Portland making these tools. He never gave up. He had to change a few things, and thankfully for us, one of those things was the name of the tool.

Never give up. You may have to change some things, but don’t give up. If Tim had have given up, for one thing he wouldn’t have been successful, but it also would have affected many other people’s lives. We began by talking about Larry and Chrissy Watters. As they float in the icey cold water realizing they were going to die, Larry’s hand brushed across his hip and he felt something...

It was his Leatherman.  He had forgotten about it.  He had forgotten that this little multi tool was on his belt.

He pulled it out, opened it up, got a good grip, and then jabbed it into the ice.  Using his Leatherman as an anchor in the ice, he was able to pull himself out of the water. Then, he pulled his wife out.  They both survived! Chrissy tells people, “Obviously there was a little divine intervention. But without the Leatherman we certainly would never have gotten out of that.”

Keep fighting. It might not just be your life that you are saving.