Unity Brings Immunity

Greetings, my friend,

Welcome to The Arsenal, your weekly newsletter designed to train and equip you for a set-apart lifestyle. 

Here’s a foundational parable I wrote for today’s message that I want you to consider:

While my story may have had a bleak ending, there’s some important symbolism and themes to take notice of when you put this story in the context of believers today. Did you catch any of them? Let’s break it down and find out:

· You and your friend group in this story represent yourself and other fellow believers/followers of Yahweh, specifically, friends you’ve met in your church/fellowship group that you’ve come to enjoy being around and get along with quite well. And your interest in America’s political climate represents you and your group’s beliefs: While there may be some differing opinions on certain topics, for the most part you all agree on what the Word says and the lifestyle surrounding it, and you all are in harmony with one another, and you all consider yourselves “believers.”

· America itself and the politics happening within America represents the church/Body of Messiah, where believers discuss different opinions, testimonies, and hear sermons and teaching based on what the Body needs at the time. Washington, D.C. in particular is a representation of the core beliefs of the body that can be found in the Word, and the governing authority that it has within the Body.

· The nation that attacked Washington, D.C. is the Enemy, Satan himself, as well as all his minions, who wish to cause chaos and to kill the Body in the process. This can be brought about in multiple ways, whether it be persecution, false teaching, demonic forces that stir division among the Body, or many other ways that can cause some within the church to shy away from or reject the faith altogether, resulting in the death of their spirit man.

· The draft represents our call to action as believers, especially when the Body as a whole or members individually are under attack from the Enemy’s forces. It’s also important to how your friends in this story responded to this call: The first one who fled the draft are those who are afraid of what others may think of them as they try to assist the body, and they may also think they don’t have anything valuable to contribute in times of need anyway. So they don’t engage at all. The second one who fled are those who are puffed up within the Body and may feel like the spiritual attack on the individuals or church as a whole was self-inflicted, and that they’re just enduring the consequences of their actions and that prayer or the gifts of the Spirit they could provide to help them don’t matter. Lastly, the third and final friend represents those who actually wish to help provide for whoever needs it spiritually, financially, or otherwise, but are unable to because of struggles in their life outside their control that steal resources from them.

· The three squad members that take your friends’ places are other people who aren’t very strong in the faith or don’t believe at all that we may ask out of desperation to help assist with individual or congregational needs via prayer or otherwise. But because their heart or their desire to help Yahweh’s people isn’t fully there, they aren’t as helpful as they should be, and you end up back at square one with just yourself and maybe another friend who’s strong in the faith. While there’s still certainly power in prayer and in utilizing your gifts for the sake of Body, it’s often difficult to carry the spiritual, financial, and mental needs of the congregation or even just a few individuals as just a small group. As a result, you may not be able to succeed in some areas like you could have if more people were involved.

At the end of the day, there’s one principle that could’ve solved the entire problem those in this story had, and that’s unity. Spiritual warfare is a very real thing, and attacks from the Enemy can manifest themselves in this reality in ways and with a severity we may not even realize. But that means we have our first step to achieving unity in the Body laid out for us: 

Step #1: Remember what we’re up against – Paul and several others, including Yeshua Himself, revealed that to us thousands of years ago:

As an army, studying your enemy and knowing their previous tactics, capabilities, and ultimately what you’re up against is critical in developing a strategy for success. So as the Body of Messiah, we must be aware of how Satan operates and develop a response plan no matter which door he enters through.

Step #2: Understand your spiritual gifts, your calling, and how it can help the body – We’ve already talked a lot about understanding your spiritual gifts in previous issues of this newsletter, as a group trying to imitate our Messiah, I want us to focus on something crucial Yeshua said that can help in our wrestling against the Enemy on a large scale:

I think many often forget that spiritual gifts are just as useful for those already in the Body of Messiah as they are for witnessing to those outside of it. This is especially true with many gifts listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. While bringing others into the Body is extremely important, the Body itself also requires nourishment and a defense mechanism against outside forces to stay alive, just like our physical bodies.

Spiritual gifts are another reason why I believe community and fellowship with like-minded believers is so important. Because in those interactions with other people is where we often have the opportunity to use those gifts to uplift and support each other to build up our defenses against evil. And if you’ve built a ministry, company, or another large entity centered around the use of your spiritual gifts, that can be an extremely powerful asset to combating attacks on the Body from the Enemy through use or donation of resources to those who need it most.

At the end of the day, remember that the blessings and abilities you’ve been gifted with aren’t just for your own benefit or building your own empire with them, and that we’re supposed to be serving one another with them, as Messiah served us through His sacrifice for us.

#3: Pick up your cross and follow Him above all else – Let’s remind ourselves of the unnamed teenagers in our story and mention one last case of symbolism. All of you had big, exciting plans for your futures at that point, and you probably didn’t foresee any reason to expect disruption and chaos to ensue. But yet, before you knew it, your world was turned upside down, your nearly lifelong friend group was split and scattered, and then you were in the fight of your life, all within a very short time span.

How often does a similar scenario play out in our actual lives as believers, where we have a perfect plan in place for how our lives are going to look: How much money we’re going to save, how many events with friends and family we’re going to attend, where we’re going to vacation this year, etc. before all of sudden the Enemy comes around and makes a mess within our own lives, our communities, or perhaps even our country and world that completely throws everything into chaos? What’s our plan then? Are we willing to respond to the call to action we now have to help restore and rebuild stronger? Or are we going to let the Enemy devour the Body like a roaring lion?

We must be willing to do whatever it takes to maintain peace, order, and spiritual health within ourselves and our communities, even if that means we have to give up our personal plans and desires for our lives. But once again, if we’re striving to imitate Messiah and do His will here on Earth, we have this command:

Yet many will still choose themselves. Many will be afraid of the time and financial commitments that may come to resisting the Enemy. Others will become prideful and think those being attacked deserve it and keep themselves out of it. And some will wish they could help but don’t have the bandwidth to do so at that time, meaning they’re relying on others to fill in for them. 

You must choose what’s important to you in this scenario. Will you enlist in resisting the Enemy in your own life and in your community? Are you willing to do what it takes to make sure the Body of Messiah remains a shining city on a hill for all the world to see, even if it involves personal sacrifice?  

Only you can answer that call.

Behind the Screens: My Weekly Learning 

As part of my personal Bible study plan, I’ve found it extremely beneficial to read one chapter of the Book of Proverbs every day. Proverbs just so happens to contain 31 chapters, meaning you can line up each chapter with each day of any particular month and still read through most, if not all, of Proverbs every month. I find this incredibly neat and important since there’s so much wisdom to be gleaned from that particular text. 

A couple days ago, in chapter 25, I found myself intrigued with verses 6 and 7 in particular:

When I read that passage, I felt a check from the Spirit, and He brought to mind everything that I’ve been trying to do over the past year and put it in the lens of me trying to revolve my entire identity around the idea of becoming the best version of myself.

While that was never my intention, I realized I had begun to do that in some areas of my life, and because of the subconscious pride I had built up from the improvements I’ve seen over the past year, I would tend to not give myself enough grace in certain areas, especially if I had begun to slack off or fall back into old habits here and there. I would always think, “I have to be better than this, this is how my life has to be now if I want to be successful. So why am I still not hitting all my goals?”

The Spirit showed me through that Scripture passage in Proverbs that the true problem was that I was starting to have a slight identity crisis: I had begun to focus a little more on the identity I was trying to build as a self-improvement expert rather than the identity I already have in Messiah. Because the truth is, while all these habits, motivation, and self-discipline tactics I’ve been teaching are great, at the end of the day, they can only add on to the foundation of Yeshua, because He’s truly how we become the best version of ourselves through being in right-standing again with The Father.

It's an easy mistake to make as a Christian content creator, where a large focus is on growing your own kingdom per sé, and it’s easy to exalt yourself and act like you stand in the place of the great, when in reality, you haven’t earned it yet. Yeshua’s words line up so perfectly with the passage in Proverbs when He states:

If you desire to be exalted and put in a place of leadership and authority, brothers and sisters, it’s critical to consider how you compose yourself around others and especially before The Father. And even if you achieve a position of authority and honor, remember the Man you still report to and seek to exalt Him through the authority He’s given you on Earth.

Be blessed.