Tuesday, October 19, 2010

You Are A Soldier, This is a Fight

2 Timothy 2:3
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

2 Tim 4:6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Corinthians 10:4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons ...

... (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

Make no mistake about it, we are at war, but we DO NOT war like the world does. I am always amazed at how many within todays babylonian form of christianity tell you to "get involved" with this world as though we were part of this world. Jesus tells us very plainly that our kingdom is NOT OF THIS WORLD, what's it going to take for people to "get it?"

We are in the world but we are not of this world. Those of us who are not of this world should act like it? Revolutionary thought, I know....

I don't know about you, but I know that I face daily battles to "fight the good fight." As I face these trials, the Lord has reminded me time and again not to be surprised that these trials face me.

1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful ...

... Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to
test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

The vast majority of todays 'teachers' and preachers in the wordly form of 'christianity' teach you a wordly way to think of everything. They give you wordly solutions for spiritual problems, they are defeated twice over before the fight ever begins!

Our Lord is the Captain of our battles. He tells us what we are facing, He shows us the way to win the battle. If we do not know His voice, how will we be instructed? If we do not go to Him for answers, how will we ever get His answers? We are not the General in this fight, that job is Jesus' alone. He gives us orders and we are to carry them out to the letter, like good soldiers. And, again, we are not soldiers according to this world's way of war. If we do not do what our General tells us to do, we are almost certain to be defeated. If you are wondering why you face so many problems that you cannot overcome, you should ask yourself, "am I heeding the Lord's counsel or am I doing things my way?"

I wouldn't trust myself to cross the street without the Lord holding my hand, that's where this writer is in his walk with the Lord. Not that this writer is special, I've just been blindsided by so many 'cars' in life/made so many mistakes that I'm unlearning my old ways. The Lord teaches, we should listen and obey. I'm not perfect, far from it, but I am learning that doing things my way is almost always the wrong way UNLESS I have my plan approved first by the Lord.

This life is a daily fight. At least that has been this writer's experience, and I see alot of evidence for that in the Word of God. This is just a reminder for all of us :-)

grace and peace

p.s. Some might ask who is to fight the worldly wars, if its not us? Answer? The people who are of this world, who BELONG to this world can fight the world's wars, not us. That's MOST people, more than enough to fight wars till the end of time without our help. Sure, there are soldiers who fight both as soldiers in Christ and soldiers in the world's armies at the same time, I used to be one of them. Let the Lord guide in these matters. Remember the centurian in the bible? Remember the Lord telling us that the centurian had greater faith than ANY of the people He had met in Israel up to that time? Soldiers tend to "get it" when it comes to Kingdom matters better than the religious people do. I do not encourage you to enlist any time soon, but I would encourage you to adopt the mind of a soldier if you haven't already.