Cut the Apathy and Get with the Battle!

“Freedom!” I’ll just bet you know what that line’s from. Braveheart is a very popular movie here in Scotland, as well as in the States, as they call them here. Since one of our “clan” hadn’t yet seen it, we watched it at the Bell’s house, the family who is hosting a couple of us in their home during our missions trip. We gathered around the television to watch this movie which chronicles the life of one of Scotland’s heroes, William Wallace. This man was spurred to battle with the English by the murders of those closest to him and the persecution of his people. He fought many bloody battles, stirring the people to action by his cry of “Freedom,” exactly what he desired most for Scotland.

I guess I’m one of the few, the proud, the brave when it comes down to being a female watching an intensely gory war movie, but believe it or not, I actually got a lot out of it. Not only did I learn some historical face (and fiction…history books didn’t mention a love story, but they might be wrong), but God taught me about the work He’s given us as Christians to do.

I see each of us as kind of a William Wallace. God has given us the authority and the strength to speak His Word and fight for it. It is our duty to incite the troops, our fellow siblings in Christ, to fight with us against the enemy who is oppressing the people around us with a tyranny of lies, wanting to keep them in the dark, not knowing the freedom in Christ that we do. The Evil One is bearing down on us, intimidating us with troops too numerous to fathom. Our brothers and sisters in the faith are becoming disheartened by the probable outcome and start to turn back.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." – John 16:33

That is what has happened here is Scotland. The church is dying, but not because of persecution from the outside, but rather apathy and dissention from the inside. I have witnessed this in churches I used to be a part of until they fizzled or took up a false gospel which confused their ranks so the Enemy could march right in and take over. It seems hopeless, but we don’t have to sit back and make it easy for them. We can stand up against our common enemy who keeps trying to buy us off with promises of peace just like the English king tried to do with Wallace. Fortunately, Wallace realized that was merely a distraction that would take his eyes off of the main goal of bringing his people to complete freedom. We too need to realize that the comforts of this world will not last and are only a distraction from our real goal – to reach as many as we can with the Gospel of the freedom of peace which comes through Christ our Saviour.

Ephesians 6 talks about the battle we are actually fighting at this moment. “The battle we fight is not against flesh and blood, but against demons, against powers, against the Devil himself.” I’m glad the places I’ve been in haven’t been so hostile to the Gospel that they actually torture people, but there ARE still countries that do that today. A pastor in one such country is awaiting death for preaching about Jesus. Our team went on a Reformation tour in Edinburgh early this week and learned about the Scottish martyrs. These early Christians went by the thousands to their deaths, but literally singing praise songs because they were honored to die for the One they had lived for and proclaimed with their lives. We should have such passion! William Wallace did in his campaign for Scottish freedom. We should be so passionate in our campaign for freedom through Christ. Who knows how many people would come if only they saw that passion!

There were several scenes in the movie where Wallace came against extreme hardships. The first was when he lost his father and his wife on separate occasions. Those losses made the war personal to him and drove him to fight. Before they died, he knew there was a battle raging, but focused rather on his life and interests. It seems that, as Christians, we don’t get involved in the war being fought for the possession of souls until the Enemy has affected us personally by attacking someone we love. Honestly, we should wait for the battle to come to us to engage the Enemy.

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – 1 Timothy 6:12

We need to be out on the front lines in whatever capacity God has placed us, whether it be your neighbor who doesn’t yet know about Christ, or the man in your workplace who spend his lunch breaks alone, or the classmate at school who tried to commit suicide recently. They are in your life and have crossed your path for a reason. God doesn’t set those situations up for nothing. Don’t ignore that opportunity!

Just the other night actually, our team went to a student talent show at the school here. We met many students and saw some we had befriended a couple of days ago. I was having a very interesting conversation about agnosticism with a guy there and, feeling I wasn’t getting anywhere, decided to pray for him and let the Lord work. After I finished praying for him, a girl who was getting to know our group asked what it was we had done and I told her we had prayed. She lit up like a firefly and asked, “Really?” I could feel the Lord nudging me to pray with her and when I offered, she jumped at the chance and gave me her life story and told me how empty she had felt. We went off to the side so we wouldn’t have to yell above the din inside the auditorium.
The Lord brought to my mind the idea of a donut having a hole in the middle and our trying to find other things to fill it. None of them would work and would eventually break the donut. We couldn’t fill that void with ourselves either because it was like turning that donut inside out. No matter how you rolled it, the hole could never be filled. But God, Who was the donut Maker (wink, wink), was the only One Who could fill us perfectly without ruining us. It encouraged her and when asked if she wanted to accept Jesus’ gift on the cross, she said yes! That very first prayer was simple and from her heart…the very best kind. Rejoice! For we now have a new sister in Christ!!!

Walking back to our host family’s home with us, she practically shook with excitement and so did all of us, I think. Please pray that God would send new Christian friends her way who would bolster her new faith and guide her as she seeks after God. God totally set up tat entire situation and the result was all to His glory. He used us to get his message across and is even now doing a remarkable work in a young life because someone took that opportunity to share. It’s our lives’ mission to point others to Him.

Now back to my original illustration if you haven’t already forgotten. Another hardship Wallace faced was betrayal by his friend, Robert the Bruce, who agreed to unite to clans against their common enemy so they would have more strength to fight against the opposing armies. At the key moment when reinforcements were so desperately needed and Wallace looked to them for help, they simply turned and rode away, leaving him and his men in the thick of a hopeless battle. To top it off, Wallace found out who ordered the abandonment – his trusted friend.

I feel there are two lessons to be learned here. First of all, too often we tell our brothers and sisters we have their backs in prayer or in helping to support them in some way, and during a key hardship in their lives, we welch on our promise, leaving them to fend for themselves. If anything, we need to follow through with our promises and prove that our word is good and love of Christ is in us, not just to win others to Christ by our example, but also to encourage those already in the faith to do the same. If the Lord can have our backs (Isaiah 58:8), we can most certainly stand in the gap for our siblings in Christ. Secondly, we need to understand and expect opposition to our message. Satan isn’t only plaguing the unsaved, with pushing them closer to the edge of the cliff. He’s also causing dissention within the ranks, turning brother against brother. Abraham Lincoln always gets the credit for stating the verse from Proverbs, “A kingdom divided against itself will fall.”

Paul knew this when he wrote his letter to the Corinthians. (1 Corinthians 6:1-10) He warned them not to take each other to court because people who didn’t know Christ would see in them just as much anger and bitterness in them as the rest of the world. Where would their witness be then? What hope of love and forgiveness would anyone see in that? I love the way Wallace reacted in the movie. He mourned over the betrayal, but did not stop fighting, and when Robert the Bruce finally determined to do right, Wallace came back to give him another chance, forgiving him for such a low blow that cost Scotland many men in that battle. We need to forgive our brothers and sisters in Christ because we are just as fallible as they were.

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” – Colossians 3:13

At the end of the movie, Wallace died a terrible torturous death, but in his last breath he screamed what his mission had been, almost handing it over to his men. Just like Wallace, our lives will come to an end, whether it be a quiet natural death or suffering in a similar way. We too need to hold on to our mission to the very last breath, passing the torch as it were to the next generation as the world continues to grow darker.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” - 1 Corinthians 15:58

Wallace may not have shown his fear, but no person can go into that hoard without at least some amount of fear. But the key is that Wallace didn’t allow his fear to keep him from doing what he knew he had to do. We in our Christian walk will face odds in the spiritual realm that would surpass that of any war that has ever occurred on this planet. We, if anybody, have a reason to fear, but we need to remember that the One Who is on our side is infinitely stronger than any foe we could face.

“That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return.” – 2 Timothy 1:12

He knows we fear, but He gives us everything we need to fight. We fight for freedom in Christ.

I can’t promise you I will paint my face blue, but I will scream the words of William Wallace,




“They can take our lives,
and they can take our land,
but they can’t take our freedom!”

“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” - 2 Corinthians 3:17

Cheers from Scotland!

~Vanessa ;) <><