Kill 'Em part 4
The battle is already won. Jesus did that when He went to the cross, died (taking the last enemy, death's best shot), and then rose again. So we don't need to fight anymore. Even the good fight of faith is not AGAINST anybody or anything. It is simply (notice I said "simply" not "easily") laying hold of the gift of God that we've been given. That's what faith is; not believing that something WILL happen, but believing that something HAS happened. Not trying to get God to move, but knowing and believing that He has already moved. You don't get things by "putting faith in them." Faith is understanding that you have already been given everything you need, and then sharing what you have with others. Giving what you've got. That's what love is--giving everything you have and everything you are without expecting anything in return. Because if you're giving in order to GET, that's not love. Love is never about GETTING. Because love IS giving. And you can't give what you don't have. That's why 1 John 4:19 is so important. It shows us the Divine Order of things. "We love him, because he first loved us." God loved us, and that's why we CAN love Him, by loving each other. It comes from the source. You don't love in order to be loved. You love because you ARE loved. It flows FROM God, INTO and THROUGH us, and then out into the world we live in. We are kings and priests who rule and reign on this earth. Kings and priests in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. Ruling and reigning IN love, and THROUGH love, and WITH love. So this idea of winning is a done deal. Remember the revelation about the ministry, or word, of reconciliation? That's what God was doing in Christ on the cross. He was reconciling us to Himself. That's not something that needs to happen. That's something that has already happened. So, in the same way, we don't need to reconcile anybody to God. He already did. All we need to do is let people know the glorious truth of what He has already done. We need to let people know that they HAVE been reconciled. Its not, "Come and get reconciled." And its CERTAINLY not, "Come and get reconciled, or else." Its, "We have BEEN reconciled. The work is finished. The gift that you were trying to earn cannot be earned. It must be received, so that it can be released." And the coolest part is that we receive it BY releasing it. We get to experience it even as we give it away. So its not lost. Never lost. We are connected to the unlimited supply. The God who is love is the vine and we are the branches. He produces the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, and we simply make it available to whosoever hungers or thirsts. That's our entire part, being a witness. Saying, "I have something amazing. And its the exact thing your heart desires. So come and get it!" We fight "fire" with "fire" by overcoming evil with good. By turning the other cheek. By heaping firey coals on people's heads. Not in order to burn them to the ground, or to hurt them, but to melt their hearts. To destroy our enemies... by making them our friends. That's how you "win" the war that is already won. You don't have to finish the work. Jesus did that for us and as us. But when you KNOW that the work is finished you can then SHARE how wonderful it is now that we've come out of the Old and into the New. We don't have to fight each other. We can simply kill each other with kindness. And in that way SHOW people who God is!