A SHARP THRESHING INSTRUMENT
The War of the flesh, the War of the spirit.
Isaiah 41:15 : " behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff."
Ephesians 6:12:" for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world , against spiritual wickedness in high places."
The material realm is quite the challenge, from birth to death. We have the flesh and also the spirit to balance and battle with.
I have long struggled with the material realm. As an empath and sensitive soul and one who deeply feels the emotions of others, I get too easily flattened by the demands of the physical world.
Holy Spirit recently gave me a verse to read and simmer on, Isaiah 41:15, about the "sharp threshing instrument" and the purpose of it. As it fits right in with my theme of spiritual warfare, I included that verse in my weekly Substack piece, this one on spiritual warfare. Sharp threshing instrument, indeed, and how appropriate!
Spiritual warfare has parked itself on my front porch ( I don't have a porch, but point of order anyway!) I would like it to go away...but does it obey my plaintive directive?? Nooo....
Instead, I am clearly told to " WRITE, WRITE, WRITE" and to PRAY!!
So, pray and write, I must. That verse in Ephesians 6 is profound, that our war is not with flesh and blood but with principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. This is not a person, this is a force of evil. As my Pastor says, the devil is an equal opportunity offender and can, uninvited, invade a space and use anything he wants to do his evil deeds. He must be resisted and fought. He brings only chaos and despair, but God, while He brings sometimes difficult change, brings order and blessings.
God works so differently.
The area of our greatest weakness can become the area of our greatest ministry gifts. For me, that includes discouragement, depression, financial lack, lack of self-worth. Only God could take our struggles and transform them into gems to help someone else as well as ourselves. That is part of the essence of spiritual warfare!
Yes, I know, "the battle is the Lord's" :
-Light versus dark
-Good versus evil
-System versus system
I know the strong pull to collapse in a heap and say " I give up, it's too hard." I have done this many times.
We cannot fight and win this battle in our own strength.
This is the essence of spiritual warfare. The invisible realm is different and yet transmits directly into our physical world. Our emotions and mental state are in a direct path to influence our lives. I know this so intimately and am so ragged so much of the time... and yet God still uses even someone as raw and struggling as me.
There is the realm of the physical and there is the realm of the spiritual. Which is more powerful or influential??
Based on my life, I would say the spiritual has greater power for two reasons: one is that many people discount what they cannot see and give it no quarter. They make little to no preparation for it and are nevertheless, deeply affected by it. Another is if they believe the spiritual realm exists, they have little knowledge of how it works. They seem to press "ignore" and do not realize the influence that spirit has on their life.
Spiritual warfare is an unmistakable presence in the world of 2025.
How do we fight against something we cannot see?? Day by day, step by step, listening for the counsel of God, following Him, the best we can, this is what we do.
I have long had a "split" boundary in my spirit. I have mentioned before, I am a small person with a sharp tongue who could in younger days, hurl arguments with vigor, especially during the Vietnam War and with the death of one of my brothers in that conflagration. Fast forward 50+ years and world is no better, wars still swirling, so much sorrow engulfing... spiritual warfare. The verses from Ephesians 6 are prescient, ones that tell us clearly that our battle is not with flesh and blood but with spiritual forces of wickedness. I concur.
Spiritual warfare is not a battle I want... but it landed on my doorstep. I can not ignore it. Prayer is one thing I love to do and can do with heart and force. I will also not ignore the actions of the thief (the devil). As a woman of God and a repentant and returned Prodigal and follower of Christ, I have to focus on this. It will not be ignored. I am also what is called an Intercessor, one who intercedes in prayer for people and situations.
I know well the signs of a broken heart. It is sorrow incarnate. I have a deep familiarity with it, from my youth. I have spoken often about it, grief and sorrow.
God, being the determined Papa He is, is strongly nudging me up and out of camping out in the valley of the shadow of death... a very bad habit. grief!
I am equipped. I have ballast and instruments of battle. This is a SPIRITUAL BATTLE, not physical. This is the full armor of God and the ( SPIRITUAL) sharp threshing instrument mentioned above.
The enemy is not human, it is a spirit of darkness that has existed long before we did. It will continue until Christ returns.
Is it scary? You bet it is. I have had a sharp tongue all my life, especially in my youth. Shooting off my mouth was a tactic of survival back then, in steep grief over two deaths in my immediate family and finding yelling arguments to be one temporary solution to my sorrow.
Not the greatest of ideas and it did nothing to ease my sadness.
The words from Ephesians 6:12 are so STARK....raw, ragged, truthful. They are also a powerful reflection of how God works with all who will work with Him, day by slow day, in humility and a clear heart. God can do things we cannot and all He seeks is a humble and willing heart.
Yes, the times we live in are perilous and frightening...but while we are here and while it is still light, we can act, even in our own tiny corners, to bring a conduit of the light of God and His Son, to this sorrowful earth.
Spiritual warfare will continue until Christ has returned. In the meantime, we pray, we serve others, we use the gifts that God gave to each one of us, we listen as deeply as we can for the still, small voice of Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Teacher, Who guides us minute by minute along the narrow path.
Spiritual warfare may swirl around us but we also remain under the protective arms of God and His Son.
Wendy Elizabeth Williams, Friday, July 25, 2025
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Sister Wendy,another thought provoking and challenging piece. I want to comment on any number of points in it. First how I wish I had a cruel sharp tongue and was as master mistress?) of cutting put downs. I'm now 70 and I'm losing the control I used to have against reacting when I hear a person,it could be male or female,young or old say something derogatory about me in my hearing and unmistakeably aimed at me. I shout and rave and then challenge them to call the police and get me arrested. Which ain't gonna happen as there.could be a murder in progress and the cops won't show up till next week. And,lol,the young woman on the switchboard before you even get put through to the police and then you have at least half hours wait,will tell you not to worry,make yourself a nice cup of tea. So two days ago I had a super walk through my city of Bristol UK. The fact is this city is threaded through with green lanes,footpaths,tracks,you can walk across the whole city and feel like youre in the countryside. But no mud! Well in winter a bit maybe. But defo no cows! So I'd had a great 'alternative' walk,felt happy and 'succesful' As I walked up a narrow street of terraced houses to my bus stop suddenly a male voice started singing but the words were saying that I was sexually in attractive,dishonest and unacceptable. And I just lost it. I started raving but I know I just looked like a mad old woman mouthing inanities,while the guy calming continued dismantling scaffold. His mate brought a load of scaffold poles to load on the lorry and as he passed me he winked,not I hasten to add,in a dodgy or disrespectful way. It was his way of saying I get why you're angry and I agree with you. But of course he wasnt there to be a knight,he was there to do a job to earn money . I expect they both had homes with mortgages ,wide and kids. Do I have to be sexy at 70 just to be a 'member of society' of 'the community'. I know it reveals a lot to my detriment that people have that reaction to me. I just wish I could have shouted something so wittlity and devastatingly cruel he would have fallen off his high place. But by God's Mercy I can't. Channeling the Love of God through yourself to the other people only works if you are attractive. So it works for you. If you look like a villain you are one,or like me,after a lifetime of trying you give up and decide you might as well be one. That is why I'm not longer tending the beautiful garden I've been nurturing for 20 years here. It's drying up and dying. But the people who now live here like it better that way anyway. I thought creating and maintaining a lovely garden (at my own expense but I never spent too much) would be accepted as a "contribution to society" and it was by a few people but this place has become more transient,a moving population,people not rooted in the locality for whom nowhere and everywhere are the same thing. People who can live anywhere and thus belong nowhere. Roses and Flowers and Beauty is very low on their survival scale,and I understand that so as my efforts see me looked askance at im letting it die but they like it better that way.
Far too long as usual . I want to make one other comment,about that passage in Ephesians. Will do that later.
The battle is indeed the Lord’s. Knowing this can help keep our egos in check. For me, the devil’s primary grip on my thought process is through my ego, every unhealthy feeling or desire originates in the ego. Keeping it deflated is a full time job. Peter tells us to resist the devil and he will flee. Resist is an action word.