Do you ever feel like your Christian life is more of a battle than anything else? Were you surprised to find out that becoming a Christian did not magically solve all of your problems?
If you answer yes to either one of these questions, well then you are not alone. You are right here in the boat with the rest of us.
I accepted Christ as a 10 year old girl. A decision I have never regretted, but somewhere along the way I got the idea in my head that because I was saved, because I was a good girl, because I had all the “Good Christian” boxes checked on the “Good Christian Evaluation List,” that I would be spared the problems that I saw other people experience.
This did not turn out to be the case. I still ran into problems. These were problems which God did not divinely deliver me from. Some of these were problems that even my non-Christian acquaintances were not dealing with.
This did not sit well with me, and I went through a period in which I became very distant and cold toward God and the things of God. During that time period, while I was far from God, I made terrible choices.
To be completely honest, I look back on those years and they seem like just a void. Nothing of substance was accomplished and many opportunities were lost.
The Christian life is truly a battle. The idea that it will all be rainbows and butterflies is a fiction that we have invented ourselves. It is not said in the Bible.
In fact, many verses in the Bible claim the exact opposite. John 16:33 plainly says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
This verse is so plain, and yet many Christians still cling to an idea that God should make everything easy for us. We cling to this idea despite the fact that 100% of the men and women of God written about in the Bible had huge problems. We cling to this idea despite the fact that God put His own son through the most challenging struggles known to man.
Letting go of this idea is key to true Christian victory. Once you let this idea go, then you are ready emotionally, spiritually and psychologically to learn how to live tactical Christianity.
Letting Go of the Lie
The first step to letting go of the lie is to understand the lie. Why do we keep thinking that God owes us an easy ride? Why do we keep insisting that the Christian life will not be a battle, will not be a struggle?
Well, the reason we do this is because of a fun little psychological trick that our minds play on us called cognitive dissonance. That is just a really fancy term for, “Waaa, I want my way!” Like a toddler raging at bedtime, even though it’s late, and they are tired, and they are obviously not enjoying themselves anymore, and the only thing that could possibly, truly make them better is rest, still they rage against it.
Internally, through our human nature, we are wired to try, and try hard, to make our lives and our experiences line up and sync up with what we believe deep down. So, if the inhabitants of a seaside town have always believed that their town is a safe place to be, and it is their home and they will always be safe there, it is very hard for some of them to evacuate when a hurricane is on the way.
They just cannot believe that they’d be safer anywhere but home. So, some of them stay despite the warnings.
The cognitive dissonance that comes into play when we think that God is going to give us an easy ride, is based on our messed up definition of, “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” Now there is nothing wrong with this phrase, and it can be really comforting if you understand that God’s idea of good and our idea of good are often very different from each other.
Remember Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.”
When some Christians use the God is good phrase what they really mean in their heart is, “All the time I get my way. I get my way all the time.” So, in order to let go of the lie that the Christian life is an easy, peasy problem-free streamline path to heaven, we need to get our thinking right.
We need to submit this human brain with its human ideas to the Divine Sovereignty of God. When we do this, we can really mean it when we say, “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” God is good when things are good. God is good when things are bad. God is good when I am happy. God is good when I am sad. God is good when my loved ones are fine. God is good when my loved ones die. God is good when we are healthy. God is good when we are sick. God is good when we are financially abounding. God is good when we are broke.
Beyond the Lie
Once we get beyond the lie, then we are ready to live tactical Christianity. I use the word tactical because the Christian life is really, truly a battle.
Tactical- relating to or constituting actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end.
That is such a perfect definition. Referring to our Christian life as a battle is very scriptural. In the New Testament military metaphors are used often.
- Philippians 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
- 2 Timothy 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
- Ephesians 6:11-17 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
If we are soldiers, which the scripture above plainly say we are, and our Christian life is a battle then living a tactical Christian life is our only option. We are to be living a life of “actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end.”
Understanding the Devil’s Tactics
The best way to understand the tactics which Satan uses on us, is to look to the scriptures and observe instances in which the devil directly interacted with people. We can find three clear examples of this in Genesis 3, Job 1, and Matthew 4.
- Genesis 3: 1-6 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- Job 1:6-11 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
- Matthew 4:1:9 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
If you read these passages carefully, you will see some very common patterns in Satan’s tactics. Learning to recognize these patterns or tactics will greatly benefit you in your own battle day to day.
Satan’s Tactic #1- Doubting Questions
If you’ll notice when Satan came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, when he approached God in Job and when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness on all three occasions he begins with questions.
“Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
“Doth Job fear God for nought?”
“If thou be the Son of God…”
Satan will not initially come at you with guns blazing. Don’t expect demonic attacks or anything obviously evil. No, Satan begins his tactics with doubting questions. Even when speaking to our Father in heaven he used this tactic. The devil actually tried to make God doubt. He tried to make Jesus doubt. You think you are above these tactics? So, how do we meet this attack? What steps can we take to combat this?
Counter Tactic: Remember Truth Is a Statement Not a Question
If Satan deals in doubting questions, then our Lord deals in the opposite. When Jesus was delivering information to people, he did not ask them questions to make them doubt. He would occasionally ask the Pharisees questions to help them see the foolishness of their ways, but when Jesus was going to lay some truth on someone, He spoke in strong, confident definitive statements, not questions.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
These are strong statements based confidently in the truth. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will communicate with you in strong, confident statements. If you are being bombarded with questions that breed doubt and confusion, this is a tactic of the devil.
A great tactic to use when the devil is coming to you with doubting questions, is to find definitive, confident statements of truth to match them with. Make a list of the doubting questions that are eating at you. What is shaking up your faith today? Write those out. Then for each doubt inducing question that is rolling around in your head, find a scripture to match it with.
Write that scripture down right beside the doubting question. Let the light of truth extinguish the darkness of doubt.
Satan’s Tactic #2: Reality Distortion
In each of the passages referenced above, Satan with Eve, Satan with God, and Satan with Jesus there comes a point in the conversation where Satan resorts to reality distortion in an effort to accomplish his goal.
“Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
“But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
In each of these instances, Satan tries to distort reality. He does this by using grains of truth. Satan is called a liar in the scriptures, and even the father of lies, but we all know that the most dangerous kind of lies are the ones that have just a hint of the truth around the edges. Satan will take a grain of truth and try to distort our perceptions of our life.
People lose jobs, marriages fall apart, kids go astray, sickness comes upon us. These are bad things to the human mind. Why would God allow bad things to happen? God is a god of love. You don’t do bad things to those you love. Maybe God doesn’t love me.
See the grains of truth mixed in with the lies? When this happens our perception of our reality begins to distort. This distortion will influence all of our actions and behaviors.
Counter Tactic: Bring All Things Into the Focus of Scripture
When we notice our perception beginning to shift, we must consciously, and aggressively take the reigns of our spirit, mind and emotions. We must consciously and aggressively shift ourselves back to a perception based on scriptural truth. Again, the best way to do this is by actually writing things out. Write out what you think your perception is shifting on, and then claim scriptural truth to counter attack with.
Satan’s Tactic # 3: Discontentment
In each of the encounters we are studying today, you will see how Satan has an ultimate goal. He begins with doubting questions, he pushes the point by distorting reality, and then we see his ultimate goal which is to breed discontentment. In each instance we have looked at you see how he tries to make a substitute offer for what God has already put in place.
All sin, every sin in the world, every sin ever known to man, no matter how big or small always, always, always begins with discontentment. So, if Satan can get discontentment brewing he always has a chance of gaining more ground.
To Eve he offered the knowledge of good and evil. God, though, had not offered this to Eve. God had a different plan in place for Eve originally. Once discontentment took hold, though, it was a short jump to full blown sin.
Satan wanted to entice God to be discontented with His sovereign power. Of course God would always win any challenge, but it didn’t stop Satan from still trying to tempt God into discontentment.
Even Jesus Christ was attacked with temptations to dissatisfaction. Satan even calls him the Son of God in the passage, but still he tried to entice him into discontentment. As if Jesus would be discontent to be the all powerful Son of God. As ridiculous as it seems, still the devil tried.
Try to come up with a sin that does not have its root in discontentment. You can’t. From a little child stealing a cookie, to the atrocities of the Holocaust and everything in between. Somewhere, someone decided they were not content with the way things were. They were not content with what God had already given them or blessed them with. They were not content with the plan God had in place.
Counter Tactic: Live a Life of Gratitude
It is impossible for discontentment and gratitude to dwell together. If you feel the sneaky, satanic twinges of discontentment slithering in, you can immediately dispel it with gratitude. Keeping a gratitude journal is one of the most powerful spiritual exercises you can practice outside of worship, prayer and Bible reading.
The scriptures are filled with passages discussing thankfulness and gratitude. Why do you think God uses so many scriptures on this one topic? Because God knows that all sin begins with discontentment and gratitude is the ammunition we use to destroy discontentment.
If you want to protect yourself from discontentment, claim several verses on thankfulness. Uses these verses to start a gratitude journal. Begin and end each day writing in this journal. Throughout the day, if you don’t have your journal with you, affirm gratitude out loud when you feel discontentment creeping in. You’re about to lose it on your mouthy teenager?
First, express gratitude that this teenager is here and not in a grave. Gas prices keep going up and up. Before you grumble, thank God you have a vehicle to put gas in. How many people are stressing over how to get to work or church or the store today because they have no way to go?
Every single thing that we could complain about can be flipped over to reveal a blessing on the other side. You must make a very conscious, mindful effort to flip over your problems, though, so that you can see that hidden blessing.
Conclusion
We are in a daily battle for our Christian victory. Our salvation in Christ is secure, but our daily victory depends on how we fight our battle. Do not think you will get by without a battle? If our Savior fought the battle, how can we think to get by easier?
The battle is fought by being aware of the tactics of the devil, and having counter tactics ready. Recognize those doubting questions and meet them head on with strong, confident truth.
Recognize when your perception of reality starts to distort. Keep your perception sharp and focused by viewing all things through the lens of scriptural truth. Recognize when discontentment begins to creep in. Obliterate that discontentment with the ammunition of gratitude.
Tactical Christianity means living a life of actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end. The end we are aiming for is a life of Christian victory.