This morning as I was reading Scripture, I saw the image of someone entering a field of battle. This person was carrying the wrong weapon for the conflict. There were no targets available for the weapon they carried leaving the person confused and uncertain. They had been trained on how to use their weapon and were provided with tactics that were of no value in the current conflict. This exposure was a shock since they were promised this was the right weapon and the right way to conduct spiritual warfare. 

The Lord is disarming the Church from our assumptions. He is not doing this to leave us vulnerable. He is removing weapons from our spiritual arsenal that are no more than a human opinion about God and how He conducts Kingdom warfare. We are being reissued with new weapons – weapons that will actually advance the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Paul instructed us about spiritual warfare. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (II Corinthians 10: 4). What makes the weapons of our warfare dangerous is not their natural appearance, but the divine power they wield. 

Paul had a complaint about how the Corinthians were conducting spiritual warfare, “You are judging by appearances” (vs.7). As a result of their misjudgment, they were aiming at the wrong targets. 

We need to make sure we are not carrying weapons of spiritual warfare loaded with human logic and reasoning.  Paul instructed us about the impact of God-issued weapons. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (vs. 5). Nothing of human wisdom and strength can accomplish such a feat.

Our weapon is the truth of God’s word spoken in love no matter how unpopular the truth has become or how uncomfortable it might be to fire its rounds into targets of deception. When the truth is aligned with specific targets in love and fired at strategic moments as directed by the Spirit significant Kingdom advancement will take place. This advancement could not take place if we continued to carry the wrong weapons onto the field of battle. This is why we are being disarmed. It is for a greater purpose and a greater impact that is only possible when we are armed with weapons that are not of this world.