October 9, 2021 WARRIORS
Jeremiah 51:20 “You are My war club, My weapon for battle-with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms.”
Joel 3:9 “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.”
Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
2 Corinthians 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strong holds.”
Psalm 144:1-2 “Praise be to the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”
“Rouse the warriors!”-that’s you and I. That’s a good word; I fear that many believers do not perceive of themselves as warriors. The scriptures contain many passages dealing with war. In the Old Testament, wars were physical-real sword and spears; in the New Covenant, we fight spiritual wars. (Sometimes there are physical wars we must fight.) Many have given up on the idea of being a warrior-of being conquerors-of winning battles; many are not actively engaged in warfare. Under the New Covenant, all are called to be warriors, no matter the age, race, gender, or physical health. We face battles every day; the battles we face are spiritual, but they often influence the natural. For example; if one is slothful in life, there are spiritual forces at work in that person that are defeating him; by overcoming or by winning this spiritual battle, he ceases to be slothful; he must engage the enemy. We are to be peace makers when we can, but we are not to be spiritual pacifist. God has made us warriors and conquerors; each of us have battles to fight. There are two battle grounds; internal and external. Internally, we must war against the flesh and all that it promotes; that includes out thought life, our self-talk, our attitude, our habits, and our words; the battle is about aliening all of these with the ways of God-of about having every aspect of our lives subjected to the Spirit of God who lives in us. (Someone has said that our mind is the battleground.) The external battle is about waging war on the behalf of others; many are in bondage of some sort-addictions, harmful behavior, anger, depression, the self-life, unfaithfulness, and etc. We fight these external battles by prayer, by giving godly council, and by encouragement; we must be about spiritual intervention. God does not ‘need’ us in order to win His battles, but He has chosen to enlist us in His army so that we may be a part of what He is doing; the good news is that we know who wins. Did you catch what is said in one of the verses above? You and I are His war clubs-wow! Let us take up our spiritual weapons of warfare and engage the enemy. Let us not be overcome and defeated by all that is wrong in the world and by the forces of this darkness; but rather be soldiers of Christ living in victory and being used of God to set others free from what has them bound. May we pull down all the strongholds.
Ephesians 6:16-18 “in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Blessings,
Buddy
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