Military basic training ingrains three principles into it's recruits; physical strength and endurance, excellence in weaponry, and command structure. Once trained, a soldier is equipped with everything he or she needs; the ability to discern a threat, to listen and obey commands, to work with a team, and to conquer.
The Believer is called to rest in the tension between two positions; to live in peace, and to be a warrior.
1 Thessalonians 4:11 …and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Revelation 3: 21 He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
We weren't born in a Kingdom just to develop character and then be carried away into the sweet by and by, we were born into an Army of Grace. Jesus broke the power of death, but it is our job to retake the ground that Adam surrendered. Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. That prayer cannot be enacted in passivity. It has to be enacted in that tension; the tension between rest and battle.
Some of the day to day crap we go through is self inflicted, and some of it isn't. Make no mistake, whether self inflicted or not, the Enemy is set to sabotage you. And God's plan for you. The battlefield is in the mind. You may not see demons behind every rock, but discouragement is not a heavenly fruit.
Jesus was attacked in the wilderness at His weakest point. The Enemy questioned Who He was, and what He came to do. Jesus didn't get rocked, but I get rocked in this all the time.
Right now this is my biggest fight; Who I am, and What I am supposed to be doing.
God is hard at work in my life; teaching my Who and Whose I am, giving me a lion heart, preparing my hands for war.
Psalms 18:34 He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Ephesians 6:13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, stand firm.
Notice that standing firm is the last step. Fight, resist, then stand firm.
Faithfulness and forbearing are amazing fruit, but they make aren't the only weapon we are designed to wield. Is a soldier only trained in physical fitness and then sent into the Enemy's camp? Nope. He puts on camo, a kevlar helmet, bullet proof vest and carries a semi automatic weapon, grenades, a bayonet, a ka-bar knife, and possibly a handgun. He depends on his buddies for strength, and he does exactly what he's been told to do. If he gets overwhelmed by enemy fire, he retreats or hunkers down. But he doesn't go into battle with the purpose of hunkering down. He goes in to win.
I'm practicing the tension; learning peace and learning battle. I'm not going to let faithfulness become passivity. Fighting from a position of rest and identity. He makes me brave. :)
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