“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Below is part two of the thought I started yesterday – to win battles we must know the enemy, and we must know ourselves. Quickly recapping what I talked about in yesterday’s thought, we know that we have a real enemy to our Christian faith, and that enemy has a real and organized plan to: 1) To Defend his own Kingdom, 2) To Distress the people of God, and 3) To Dishonor the Name of Jesus. When the enemy attacks Christians, he consistently uses the following three tactics to keep us off our guard: 1) Temptation, 2) Guilt, and 3) Spiritual Immaturity/Ignorance. For us to be successful as Christians, we must counter the tactics of the enemy by: 1) Avoiding Idleness, 2) Resisting Temptation, and 3) Knowing Our Place in Christ. It is here that we begin with today’s thought.
So, let me begin by asking you a question, “Have you ever lost your Military or DoD CAC card? All of us have them, and all of know how important they are. All of us shudder at even the thought of forgetting our ID cards at home or work. If we are retired or still in the Military, we need them to gain access (without pain that is) to Military Installations, Commissaries or Post/Base Exchanges. For all of us within USACE, we need them to get into our respective Federal buildings (again, without pain). And all of us need them to log onto our government computers. No ID, No Access!! Our ID cards officially mark our place inside the Department of Defense.
In many respects, the same is true within God’s Kingdom. Who we are, our Christian identity, marks our place in God’s Kingdom. Understanding our Christian identity is paramount to either success or disappointment within God’s Kingdom. And it is absolutely 100% important in the fight against our enemy.
Today, I want to draw our attention to Exodus 3. Contained within this chapter is the familiar story of Moses and the burning bush. Here we also find a very important biblical principle at work. This is what I like to refer to as the “I am” because “He is” principle. In this chapter, we know that God miraculously appears to Moses at the burning bush. At the burning bush, God calls Moses, now a simple shepherd, to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. God says to Moses, “I have seen the oppression of my people, I have heard their cries, and I have chosen you to deliver My people” (vs. 7). It is also here that a significant problem arises.
The problem was that Moses was having an identity crisis! In response to this miraculous encounter, Moses says to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Moses immediately begins making excuses in verse 13, where he says, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name’ what shall I say to them?” Moses, like we too often do ourselves, made a declaration of doubt. To which God responds by saying, “‘I AM WHO I AM,’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has
sent me to you!’” In short, God was saying, “It does not matter who YOU ARE, it matters who I AM!” This is powerful and paramount in understanding our place in His Kingdom!
USACE, please hear me today when I say that as long as the great “I AM” is here for us, there is nothing that can come against us. The Apostle Paul wrote, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Paul neither wrote these words, nor the following, because of the levels he had reached. No, these are the words of someone who understood his place in God’s Kingdom, and he had given his live over to the Great I AM: “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31; 37-39). Paul knew that he was nothing without the Great I AM!!
Our identity does not rest in the external power and position that we have gained here on this earth. Our identity rests in the internal power that exists within us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There is tremendous eternal security in knowing the Great I AM!!
Jesus said in:
- John 6:35: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”
- John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
- John 8:23: “I am from above… I am not of this world.”
- John 8:58: “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
- John 10:9: “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
- John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
- John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
- John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
- Revelation 1:8: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” And because He is:
• I am fed by the bread of life.
• I am led by the light of the world.
• I am waiting for my mansion, which is not of this world. • I am guided by the good shepherd.
• I am going to receive a new body at the resurrection.
• I am following the way, the truth, and the life.
• I am “more than a conqueror!”
• I am “saved by the blood of Jesus!”
• I am awaiting His return for me.
In conclusion, yes, we have an enemy. That enemy would like nothing more than to tempt you to doubt God’s power during this pandemic. Our enemy would love to grip your heart with fear that something bad is going to happen to your family or you. Our enemy’s primary goal is to steal, kill, and destroy the joy and success of your Christian life. He wants to see your Christian life dormant, constantly struggling with temptations, and ignorant of your place in God’s Kingdom. That is not God’s plan for your life. USACE, God wants us to hear the message that He is in control, and this present battle belongs to him!
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Blessings,
Chaplain Brad Baumann