Into the Battle Zone

The light of Christ resides in each of us, and together, we can follow Christ's instruction that we are the light of the world - because we are in Him and He is in us.  Romans 13 charges us to spread the
light:
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

We can gravitate to the light that radiates from our Savior, having become part of His Kingdom of light and charged to live in it.  We can rely on Him to illuminate our ways, so that we might know how and where we are to walk.  We can put on God's armor and use His resources in order to fulfill His will for our lives.  We can be strong in the Lord because of the presence of Christ in us, who fills us with His wisdom and power.

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Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 that we are engaged in spiritual warfare, and encourages us to be clothed with the full armor of God - he outlines the pieces of the armor and then begins to give
marching orders, as we can read here:
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--
19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Over the weekend, there were reports of violence throughout cities across America.  People being allowed to walk through city streets in support of a cause that seems to be less clearly defined, but certainly communicates a sense of dissatisfaction with the way things are in our country, or even in the concept of our nation itself.

And, in the wave of dissatisfaction, you are seeing a rise in crime in major cities throughout the land.  Chicago is a case in point.  And, one Chicagoland pastor has taken simple, yet potentially powerful, steps - literally, to combat the violence that he has seen.

His name is Edgar Rodriguez, about whom FoxNews.com stated:

Several weeks ago, in response to the violence that has seen children, including a 1-year-old, being gunned down, Pastor Edgar Rodriguez of New City Fellowship started organizing evening prayer walks around affected neighborhoods in Chicago.

The article goes on to say:

"The church has to rise up," Rodriguez told the Baptist Press. "This is the church's moment to stand up and lay down all other languages of networks and denominations and, as brothers and sisters adopted by the Father because of the good news we believe in, we have to come together and stand together."

On Facebook Live, Rodriguez said, "We just really want God to invade certain parts of the city," adding, "We have to be proactive. We can't just be reactive. We're not going to wait until someone else dies, then say, 'we'll go out there.'"

The response?  FoxNews.com reported on the pastor's recent appearance on Fox and Friends Weekend, where he said, "But just this idea of owning my community, owning my block, praying, getting to know the people, asking individuals if they need prayer ... especially those who may be involved in gang activity and other activity that is unlawful," adding, "And so we engage it. We pray for them. And, in my part of the community by God’s grace, we have seen results. We’ve seen individuals change. We’ve seen violence go down..."

In the Baptist Press article, Rodriguez is quoted as saying, "The atmosphere, not just in my community but in Chicago, because death is so prevalent and, in your face, now, people are just still kinda shook by it," and the article stated that:

Rodriguez said his goal is to capitalize on that collective sober attitude to point to Christ, and the hope of the Gospel. Sharing Christ has to be done with urgency, and with unity from the church, he said. Calling and reaching out to multiple congregations in the area, Rodriguez said he believes now is the time the church has to step together into these difficult moments.

Certainly, this Chicago pastor has chosen to recognize and enter the battle zone.  But, he is doing it in a Biblical way - with prayer.  We don't dare go into spiritual warfare without our armor or our spiritual weapons. And, we can ask for the Lord for direction in how we can effectively minister in our communities.  Prayer is a key element for seeing the places where we are called to live change. I am reminded of Steve Camp's song, Run to the Battle, in which he adapts the quote from C.T. Studd, who said: "Some wish to live within the sound of church and chapel bell. I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

We can ask the Lord to give us a heart for the people around us.  People are struggling; there is a sense of anxiety and dissatisfaction that has set in - and, wherever we are, we know that we are on mission for Christ: to live out His truth.

God is looking for participants.  Our faith is an active faith, not a passive one.  Certainly, we need to spend time alone with Him in prayer and Bible study.  Then, we can take what we've learned and practically and powerfully allow Him to show us how to use those principles for His work, so that His Kingdom is displayed, as Jesus prayed, "on earth as it is in heaven."