Matthew 24:6 — “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled.”
I have a nightmare that comes back to me again and again. In it, I’m caught in the middle of a firefight — but I have no armor and no weapon. Just me, exposed, in the crossfire. Some nights it’s so vivid I wake up shouting and startle poor Winnie awake beside me. I’ve had it for years. And I’ve slowly come to believe it’s God’s way of teaching me something I badly need to know: there is a real war going on, and I am not meant to face it unarmed.
Jesus told us plainly that we would “hear of wars and rumours of wars” — and then, in the very same breath, He said something I cling to: “see that ye be not troubled” (Matthew 24:6). He wasn’t really warning us about the headlines. He was preparing our hearts for the end of the age. The turmoil, the conflict, the hard news — these are just signs, the way the first Christmas decorations in a store window tell you the season is nearly here. So I’ll gently say what I have to keep telling myself: turn down the endless anxious noise. Fixating on it only steals a peace God never meant for you to lose.
Because the truest war isn’t the one on the news at all. It’s the one being waged between our own ears, in our own souls. Even the great apostle Paul admitted it: “For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Romans 7:15). I know that fight intimately. I start the morning fully determined to live a perfect, Christlike day — and it never takes long before my halo slips. Every hour, something comes along to pull me off track. That inner tug-of-war is the real battlefield, and none of us gets to sit it out.
That’s why Paul tells us to get dressed for it: “Put on the full armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:11–12). Notice — our real enemy was never the person across the table, and never the child in the street. It is the darkness that wants that child to go hungry, forgotten, and unloved. That is who we’re actually at war with. And Satan does not play fair: he goes after our finances, our friendships, our reputations, anything to make us quit.
Ephesians 6:10–11 — “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God.”
1 Corinthians 16:13 — “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith… be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.”
Here’s something I’ve noticed about that armor: God gives us a shield for the front and a sword for the fight — but nothing to cover our backs. I don’t think that’s an oversight. I think it means we were never meant to turn and run. The best defense is a good offense. I can tell you from experience: when I’m worshiping God, praising Him, learning about Him, telling someone about Him, I don’t have a care in the world. It’s the moment I stop that the attacks come rushing back in.
The belt of truth. Reject the lies of the enemy the moment they whisper. Truth is what holds everything else in place.
The shield of faith. Faith is what catches and quenches the fiery arrows of doubt and fear before they ever reach your heart.
The sword of the Spirit. The Word of God is our one offensive weapon — the same one Jesus used to answer the enemy in the desert. Keep it close.
I won’t pretend the front line is easy. Some days I set out simply to feed a family with nothing in the cupboard, and I still catch criticism for it from unexpected corners. Early on, that used to knock the wind out of me. Now I understand it for what it is — the enemy trying to sow discouragement and turn us against each other. So I do my best to answer it the only way that ever works: keep loving anyway, and let God sort out the rest.
This is why I refuse to lay down and quit, no matter how thin the support gets. Every child we reach in Managua is a soul the darkness wanted to keep — and every meal, every Bible story, every act of love is a piece of ground taken back from the enemy.
So here is the good news I want to leave you with — the best news there is. We do not fight to win. Jesus already won this war, once and for all, at the cross. Our job now is much simpler than victory: “stand fast in the faith… be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13–14). Just stand firm. Just keep loving.