I saw two images. The first image was of a spiritual military officer standing at attention in full uniform. The officer was neither male nor female, but rather a composite image of rank and function. A hand entered the image, and piece by piece all the markings on the officer’s uniform that designated rank and accomplishment were removed. This was not a demotion as it would be interpreted in the natural, but rather a preparation to return the officer to a boots-on-the-ground combat-ready status. Each accumulated rank gained over the years had progressively removed the officer from the reality of hand-to-hand spiritual combat.
Ministerial position, personal notoriety, and the fame of past accomplishments can remove a spiritual soldier from the life and death conflicts that are taking place. God is stripping away any crippling rank of assumption that puts distance between us and the realities of spiritual warfare. The Lord is taking His soldiers back to the spiritual equivalent of a young combat veteran.
The second image I saw resembled the photos I have seen where young soldiers sat together after a successful engagement with the enemy. They look tired but confident. All untested ideas about the reality of combat had dissolved in the conflict. Their uniforms carried the grit and blood of warfare. There was nothing fancy or ceremonial about the image.
There is a purpose in what the Lord is doing. He is stripping away anything that would create distance between His Church and the realities of spiritual warfare. The pomp and regalia of the religious parade grounds of the past will not work on the battlefield of this current conflict.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by maciekde from Pixabay
