The Art of War

This past month, I visited my nephew in Newport, Virginia on the East Coast.  While there, we visited many historical sites and museums including Fort Monroe.  One of the museums afforded the opportunity to go aboard the decommissioned USS Wisconsin.   Nothing brings the reality of war to mind like boarding a battleship or viewing the Chesapeake Bay from a cannon's line of sight at Fort Monroe.

In the business and technology arena, the metaphor of war is often leveraged as a competitive mindset gain an edge against one's business competition.  The book, the "Art of War" is often recommended reading.   The Ironclad ships of the Civil War are great example of the "Art of War".  Both the Union and Confederate military built their own wooden battleship covered in iron.  The opposing battleships fought their first fight in the Chesapeake Bay witnessed from the moots of Fort Monroe. 

To someone who doesn't personally know someone serving in the military, our country's military conflicts throughout the world can seem distant, almost invisible.  And yet, the fact that the United States has  military men and women defending our country throughout the world affords each person living in the United States the choice to live aware or unaware of the conflicts.

Ironically, people also have a choice to live aware of or unaware of the spiritual world too.   I do not recall a time when I didn't believe in God or in the power of prayer.  However, it was only during the past ten years that I became aware of the invisible spiritual world.  I'd read many Bible stories in which angels would appear as God's messengers but always thought of them as visible.  It wasn't until I watched the movie, War Room and completed the Bible study, The Armor of God that I realized that I needed to learn how to "fight my battles" differently.

"Everything that occurs in the visible, physical world is directly connected to the wrestling match being waged in the invisible, spiritual world ... The effects of the war going on in the unseen world reveal themselves in our strained, damaged relationships, emotional instability, mental fatigue, physical exhaustion.  Many of us feel 'pinned down' by anger, unforgiveness, pride comparisons, insecurity, discord, fear ... the list goes on and on." - The Armor of God by Pricilla Shirer 

One of the turning points in the War Room movie was when the elderly women asked the woman struggling with her husband to list all of the things that really bothered her about her husband, and then the elderly woman told her to tear up the list up and forgive her husband for all of them.  She then directed the woman to pray for her husband.  It is in prayer that our most personal battles are won.

I have applied these same principles in my own life and seen God faithfully fight my battles for me.