My appreciation is ever deepening for those who battle alongside me in spiritual warfare (which, by the way, is happening every day, all day -- see I Peter 5:8). Though many live in close proximity, I know a good handful who live hundreds of miles away, taking on my battle in their own living room, bedroom, backyard, or wherever they happen to be when the Holy Spirit prompts them. Some days the fighting is just plain hard. And it's during those days that I really cling to comments like, "I'll be praying for you", not because the sheer sentiment causes a warm breeze of comfort to perk up my emotions, but as if I was really, truly depending on their prayers that day, that moment, to think right and do right. To expound, this thought touches deeply on a truth that believers today so desperately need to embrace: we need each other. I wonder, though, if this "neediness" is being lost because we have forgotten about the war. It seems our war-awareness is only awakened on the occasional sermon out of I Peter 5 or Ephesians 6. Eventually, oblivion or apathy sets in and we ease back into being easy bait for the enemy, giving even less thought to the vulnerability of the soldiers beside us. Do we realize who we are up against? Do we realize what is at stake if we and our prayer warriors do not fervently, faithfully fight? For some, it may be a sudden fall. For most though, destruction looks like a slow crumble toward a life for which we were never created.
These thoughts bleed out in the song below, "Take Up This Battle With Me". I am so grateful for those who prove their faithfulness to me and the cause of our Captain through prayers on my behalf. I am privileged indeed to have brothers and sisters in Christ who regularly take up the fight with me, and for whom I hope to return the same faithful love. We are in this together!
Take Up This Battle With Me
Words & Music by Heather Schopf
Take Up This Battle With Me
Words & Music by Heather Schopf
Many
heavy heartaches are hid behind a smile;
I
have been the warrior who kept it all inside.
Sometimes
the noise of battle, though silent in a crowd,
Will
shake the world inside me – it clamors, oh, so loud!
(Chorus)
So I say,
“Take
up this battle with me, your fiercest weapon wave
And
help me fight the war with prayers in Jesus Name!
And
when I see you falter, when enemies pursue,
I'll
make your battle mine – I will pray, dear friend, for you.”
Doubts
will dance inside us, they're never far away.
Demons
dart around us, relentless in their play.
If
lurking in the shadows the hungry Lion roams,
How
could we be so foolish to face it all alone?
We
are one together – this the Church and I;
One
in Christ forever, we're marching side by side.
Only
then together dare I press along;
The
enemies I'm facing are far too strong!
