We must wear our cross on our chest. In other words, as a Christian, they need to see you coming a mile away (your reputation as a Christian must precede you). If you’re a ‘lukewarm’ Christian, then the cross you wear is inappropriately on your back. The reason I’m writing this post today, is because what is inappropriate for God is appropriate for The Enemy. If we think about the difference between boldness and audacity. The Spirit of God is Bold, but the adversary is audacious; they are not the same thing.

In fact they’re opposites. Though Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary possesses some favorable definitions of Audacity/Audaciousness, I will list the two that I will focus on. Definition 1b. of ‘Audacity‘ states “bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints” and definition 2. of ‘Audacious‘ states “contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : INSOLENT”.  I know many Christians have vaguely wondered why The Enemy would ever attack the children of God (beyond jealously and hatred) if he knows he will lose in the end; we do well to just understand that he is Evil. But if Matthew 8:29 [1] is any indication, The Spirit of God auspiciously tortures him on Earth.

This is the audacious aspect that I’m referring to, The Enemy taking aim at The Cross in the first place. But if anything from him is not from God and citing Revelation 21:8 as the indication that “the cowardly” will be consigned to The Lake of Fire, we can simply consider cowardice to be one of his defining attributes. Therefore, if we wear our cross on our chest (preaching and teaching at every earnest and ethically appropriate opportunity, being charitable, etc.) whereas our reputation precedes us (and even as two individuals first meet), then The Enemy will not be able to get spiritually and emotionally close enough to do any damage or to launch a sustainable attack.

But if we wear our cross on our back by basically forgetting we are Christian, being ‘lukewarm’ or disacknowledging of our call to service and action, then The Cross being a target for him, becomes a bullseye. He will eventually understand that the person is Christian but not acting like it, the demon having not known it before approaching. [2] Having gotten this close already, he will begin to take advantage (Hosea 4:6).

This is where the Boldness of The Spirit of God comes in for us. If Satan is the (little ‘g’) god of this world, then his rules say we cannot profess Christ, particularly in our actions. In other words, there may be some readers that felt a bit of hesitation when reading this when trying to picture themselves living a completely different life. And yet there are some who are already on their way to this since they are reading a Christian blog. The Truth is, we are blind-sided by spiritual warfare for a (this) reason; we are thrown off by his audacity to attack the children of God to the point we forget that we are to be bold. In other words, when another human being attacks us we can ‘handle it’ because we know their limits, but we don’t know Satan’s limits and he simply raises the bar where he can.

To use an example of what it means to run contra to the principles of this world, we all can say that it is so much harder to apologize to someone rather than it is to be angry with them for their rejection of our behavior (it behooves me to point this out to our youth who struggle with this in their daily interactions, which too often lead to violence). The prospect can be down-right scary. As I often say, the light is much scarier than the dark as we are to be examined in the light. As for an apology, this speaks to the vulnerable and intimate nature of doing the right thing.

But God strengthens us. It’s important to remember He always backs someone who is living by the Truth, or speaking the truth as long as the intent is not to cause harm. So we can expect raised eyebrows when we do things out of service, but generally speaking those brows are welcoming because these are not the ways of the world. There is no need to worry for seeming unusually helpful, pleasant and caring. It is this stance which allows your reputation as a Christian to develop.

I’m writing this for us to understand an extremely salient point. If any of my readers are currently oppressed or believe they are experiencing any kind of demonic assault, this is a great place to start and the next few sentences are why. If this is you, you may have a vague feeling of “why me, why this” because you are essentially just “minding your own business”. The Truth is no, we are absolutely not minding our own business; we are part of a full-fledged military campaign. Think of Jacob’s ladder. The Angels are not just messengers, they are God’s military. Think of “Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven”.

The Enemy is upset because his way of doing business is disrupted. In fact, it may be helpful to understand the difference between “The World” (Satan’s government) and “The Earth” (of which we are to subdue). This understanding renders “The World” as superfluous, and therefore you can expect there to be a type of spiritual conflict as you establish God’s presence through your actions. You can treat your house the same, being hostile towards the enemy in its everyday expression of peace and righteousness (a military outpost). And in your daily activities we should be ‘walking right through him’ (my prayer is that this last sentence makes sense to you who feel stymied).

If it sounds dramatic, it shouldn’t to a righteous mind and it should to an unrighteous mind; the unrighteous mind does not recognize God’s imperative, which is salvation. If we believe, then we know that God would rather not a single soul perish, but in his infinite wisdom He will not compromise free will. Therefore if we have been set free, we are to carry our cross with Joy and excitement; The Cross being a burden of Truth. Amen.

[1] The ESV will be referenced throughout this post unless otherwise noted.

[2] Let’s stop saying Satan/demons know us, Jerimiah 29:11 God knew us in the womb and not Satan; we can extrapolate that even our own Angel doesn’t know us like God does.