Reluctant Warriors

Sometimes I get tired. Just plain tired, spiritually. I get tired of the constant battles. Just when you conquer on one front, it seems the enemy stirs up another front. Sometimes I’m even foolish enough to look back nostalgically at times far back in my life when I was spiritually more apathetic and I think how much easier it must have been back then to sit on the sidelines and not worry about fighting. (Of course, my “greener grass” hungry mind forgets that I wasn’t sitting on the sidelines, I was laid out and wounded on the sidelines!)

I have a couple of close friends whose children are in the military. They volunteered; no one coerced them or talked them into it. They went off to battle for our country of their own free will. How foolish it would be for them to then sit down and whine that they never realized that being in the military meant being in a war, meant fighting all day and often all night, meant having the potential of being wounded. No. All the brave men I know have met the challenge head on and, although it has been exceedingly difficult, they have been heroic in their strength against their enemy and in their defense of those they are called upon to protect.

Those of us who are believers are warriors in the army of God. We may not have known exactly what conditions would be like when we entered this army, but we are ordained to fight and we are well able to answer the call. God called you and you accepted the call; that is all you need to know to be assured of your ability to fight the battles that the enemy launches against you. This does not mean we go about whining that the enemy is attacking us all the time, but we stand up and (as Joyce Meyer puts it) get on the attack!

The greatest truth about our battle is that it is Jesus Christ Who is the Ultimate Conqueror! And we get to simply ride on His coattails – if we will but line ourselves up with Him! That is why Romans 8:37 tells us that we are more than conquerors. Why “more”? Because the battle is the Lord’s and He has already won it for us! Now this doesn’t mean that we don’t fight, otherwise, what on earth is our spiritual armor for? But we do fight differently and with confidence that doesn’t accompany the earthly warrior. We know we win. It’s just a matter of enforcing a law that has already been established.

We must put on our spiritual armor (see Ephesians 6:10-18) and remember that we do not fight with the same types of weapons that our earthly counterparts do (2 Corinthians 10:4). Our fight is largely over our soul (our mind, will, and emotions). We must fight by lining our soul up with what the Spirit says is truth and by casting down everything that tries to usurp God’s authority in our lives. Know the weapons in your arsenal. It is the well-trained, perpetually ready warrior that stands the greatest chance in battle. Know the Word of God and be adept at wielding it against the enemy and his lies. As we battle, it is also essential that we be tuned in to our Commanding Officer, able to hear His direction at every moment – it will save our lives.

Yes, it may be easier to just lay wounded on the sidelines. It may sound almost relaxing when you’re in the heat of battle. But no warrior is content to lay back and do nothing. You are of no benefit to yourself, others, or the advancement of the Kingdom of God when you choose to remove your armor and get taken out of the battle. A soldier fights, not just so that he won’t die, but so that those in his unit will be safer. It is those close to you who will suffer when you refuse to stand firm and fight. Soldiers also fight for those they don’t even know, those their Commanding Officer has charged them to protect. Likewise, there are many people who are dependent on you. Will they see Jesus in you or just another defeated Christian?

I know I must stop wishing that my battle will end. It won’t. Yes, there are ways that I can make each one shorter and be more decisively victorious, but as long as I am on this side of the ground, I must remember that I have an enemy and that it is my job everyday to exercise the authority over him that Jesus won for me.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:10-11

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