It’s Not Your Imagination… The Battle Is Real!

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

Sword

“Our fight is not against people on earth but against… the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world” (Eph. 6:12, NCV).

Whether we realize it or not, we are living out our lives in the middle of a fierce combat zone. Many of us have not yet learned to discern the spiritual origins of much of the turbulence that comes into our lives. However, the spiritual battle that rages around us is incredibly real.

When the Scripture refers to us as soldiers, Holy Spirit is not merely speaking metaphorically. We truly, legitimately ARE operating on a violent battle field. The sound of clashing armies resounds all around us.

So much of our Christian life is a training ground for growing in effectiveness as warriors. One of the most vital aspects of this training is learning to ascend. In order to operate from the place of victory that Jesus purchased for us with His blood, it’s absolutely essential that we learn to go up higher in the heavenly realms.

Ascending means locking our focus on the One who is invisible. As we connect into the reality of His matchless, glorious, untouchable rule over everything that exists, we will find ourselves immersed in the atmosphere of heaven.

Fear will have no place in our hearts if our gaze is fixed on the Lord of Angel Armies! He is God Almighty, and the demons tremble at the mere mention of His name on the lips of one who walks closely with Him. With a mere blast of breath from His nostrils, He could slay every last one of His enemies in the blink of any eye.

About three years ago, I was in the midst of some exceptionally intense warfare. It was one of those seasons where nearly every day was a painful struggle. In the middle of everything that was going on, Holy Spirit spoke gently to my heart. “You don’t have to stay down there,” He said. “Come up here with Me.” He was inviting me to ascend.

The battle is real. We are in it. Yet, in Him, we are powerfully elevated above the skirmish even as our bodies are in it. Even as our boots are on the ground, our spirits are united with Christ high above any demonic name that can be named on the earth.

Today, ask Holy Spirit to open your eyes to your breathtaking position seated with Jesus in heavenly realms. When you learn to operate from the place of victory that is yours, it will make all the difference!

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Have you had one of those days where you suddenly realize all of a sudden that the explanation for everything going wrong in that moment… must be spiritual? If so, how do you handle that?

13 thoughts on “It’s Not Your Imagination… The Battle Is Real!”

  1. Hmmm. All morning I have had this Scripture rising in me:

    Isaiah 54:16-17
    Behold, I have created the smith
        who blows the fire of coals
        and produces a weapon for its purpose.
    I have also created the ravager to destroy;
         no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
        and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
    This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
        and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”

    Now I know why. Part of sitting up in the heavenly places with Jesus is realizing that the weapons forged against us are in fact carrying God’s blessings and that “you” in this verse in fact means the Body of Christ. Just like when Satan tried to get Stephen to curse Saul by attacking him and killing him through Saul. But Stephen’s response was to look up and in that looking up, He could see Saul in the light of Christ’s blood shed for all and instead of cursing him, he blessed him – and in doing so, us all with the Gospel of peace that Paul penned under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

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  2. It’s funny because I had also written this in my journal this morning:

    Difficult people have been given us unto our salvation.
    The enemy’s bad news has been given unto us that we might walk by faith into the Good News.
    No pain given that will not birth something new.

    I had these thoughts coming to me as I recalled a friend who is sharing her story of her adopted son and his return to Jesus, right before Jesus took him home (he fell off a roof he had just finished fixing). While I see other people focusing on her son, what has continually struck me is God’s moulding and shaping of her – the Mom’s – own heart and how God was in fact sanctifying her through her son’s Prodigal journey home, as God filled her with His compassion for her adopted son and all the pain and trauma he had walked through in his childhood. She saw his sin, but God invited her to see His covenant of love and victory for her son – and for her.

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  3. It reminds me of how I sat at this little bench through months of intense spiritual battle – returning there again and again to seek Jesus. I would start in lament – pouring out the ugliness in my own heart, and my desire to hate those hurting me – but every time I did so I felt God take ahold of my heart and pour out His love for His Church into me. As He did so, I wept – no longer for myself but those who were hurting me and as I did so I was again reminded of His unfathomable mercy for me in my own sin and running away.

    Thank you for these precious Holy Spirit promptings to remember Jesus and HIS sacrifice for us all.

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  4. This is absolute truth. Our most powerful tool remains the WORD but KNOWING that CHRIST Is in us and through us is our visible weapon. KNOWING also that AT THE CROSS Satan was defeated. He is tail swishing in our day because he won’t accept that JESUS is lord!. in his fallen soul he knows the KINGDO0M of Christ is coming. All of Christ’s Redeemed blood bought children must STAND. (unshakeable in the middle of often chaos around.) HE IS LORD!

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  6. I have been hearing that same invitation lately, amidst some intense assault… “Come up here with me!” When I take him up on it, I have been blown away by the resurrected vision and experience I have amidst the very same circumstances. What an astounding reality!

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  7. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
    Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
    And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6:1-3 Jennifer, “come up here!”, is a good word for a soldier…

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