VB098 Disciplined Soldier
Disciplined Soldier
[2Tim 2:3; 2Tim 2:4; 2Cor 10:3; 2Cor 10:4-5; 2Cor 2:14-15]
There are disciplines involved in good soldiering. Military discipline God’s way, comes by knowing the Word of God and being faithful to what He says.
We fight with seven pieces of armor; truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer. (Eph 6:13-18) The whole armor of God is a great Bible study. However, here I want to focus on the soldier’s qualifications and character.
The Apostle Paul understood military language.
2Tim 2:3 (ESV) –Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
In our Lord’s service, we will have our share of afflictions to sustain, or endure.1 We are to take the idea of spiritual warfare seriously. Our call to service includes doing battle using our weapons, enduring hardship while advancing against the enemy. This is not peacetime soldiering!
Christian life is not a playground, it is a battlefield. We must be militarized in our thinking. There are many “Christians” who are so tangled up in worldliness that they are Christian in name only. They do not understand that they are loosing the battle, they are only disciplined in what I call Christian folklore. Only a remnant, the Ekklesia, realize that life here is lived on a battlefield.
2Tim 2:4 (ESV) –No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
We are called to be courageous in the face of satanic attacks. Those who truly love God will know what it means to face the adversary (1Pet 1:7; 3:14; 5:8,9). You get this kind of courage from the Spirit of God, who produces what it takes to do battle for the Lord.
Paul told the Corinthians,
2Cor 10:3 (ESV) –For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
We live in natural bodies, but we wage war in the supernatural realm! It is only reasonable that we use supernatural weapons on a spiritual battlefield.
2Cor 10:4-5 (ESV) –For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. [5] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
Any soldier will tell you that your rifle is your best friend in battle! His life depends upon his weapon, he must have total confidence in it. In Paul’s day they didn’t have rifles, but it doesn’t matter. Spiritual weapons never change, are never out of date, and are always at the ready.
We really need to know and have complete confidence in our powerful weapon – the Word of God. We need range-time experience in order to qualify with our weapon. Accurately praying the Word of God releases angels to strike! Our decrees will activate angels to strike like lightning, destroying thrones of all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named (Eph 1:21). And the angels never miss their targets!
When Paul came into town in his natural body, he knew he was walking into a supernatural field of battle. He didn’t argue in the flesh, he pulled his trusty sword, the Word of God. That sharp two-edged sword was loaded with the gospel. Paul was not ashamed to declare the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes…. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed (Rom 1:16,17). Confidence in the Word is our number-one spiritual weapon.
When we recognize our weakness in the flesh and rely on the strength of Holy Spirit to guide us with spiritual strategies of warfare, we come out on top!
Using God’s Word in prayer with declarations and decrees, can make Islamic nations ready for harvest. Though we live in times of iniquity, our answers are raining from heaven because of our prayers.
2Cor 2:14-15 (NET) –But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. [15] For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
Our battle for lost souls sends a sweet aroma of Christ to God.
It is getting very late on the prophetic calendar. End-time events are being accelerated now, and there is a great shaking going on. The world is an agitated place. Darkness is getting darker, and evil proudly parades around us. The sheep and goats are getting nervous.
But the church is going to win on every front! We are going to take territory back from the enemy! In order to accomplish that, we must deploy an offensive military campaign. It is time for the church to be offensive in battle against the devil. Offensive, in the context of this topic, means; “the act of attacking; assault.” Jesus prophesied that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Ekklesia, the church (Mt 16:18). The devil hates the church, but the church wins!
Look around and see the devil’s hatred in people, he wants to eliminate you! Other religions want to kill you. The church must become more militarized in order to realize the final harvest.
We must have our minds renewed! Carnal thinking in battle is costly! The devil hates you because of your position of authority in Christ (Eph 1:19–2:6). Don’t take the battle personally, or you’ll be tempted to use carnal weapons. The enemy is against God, and we are on God’s side – if we take it personally we loose our perspective of victory. We (the most powerful of all armed-forces) fight in Christ – for God – from victory! We must think militantly.
Whether it’s your church, business, or your home you cannot win with a defensive strategy of spiritual warfare. You have to fight the devil every day, every inch of the way. The enemy cannot beat you unless you let him.
We must be offensive. Being passive is what got us in this mess. Become aggressive, it’s time to fight back! It is time to know the next move of the enemy, so we can beat him there and keep him out, instead of playing catch up all the time.2
The word aggressive can be either positive or negative. The dictionary says it to be “marked by combative readiness.” It implies militancy.
Christians have every reason to be aggressively militant as we live in devotion to the cause of Christ. We are God’s winners, not losers. We are to be the head and not the tail (Dt 28:13). This happens when we obey God’s commandments.
Besides thinking militantly, we must study God’s strategies for warfare. God will give us His initiative, and Holy Spirit will give us the details of the battle plan. Jesus is our victor, and we wage war with Him, in His name against the devil, demons, and principalities in heavenly places. Then we are battle-ready disciplined soldiers, when our Commander-in-Chief is ready to strike.
Whatever stands between you and your Bible is your enemy!
God bless you my friend,
1Zodhiates, Spiros. Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible–NASB (Chattanooga: AMG, 1984; rev. ed. 1990), #2553.
2Sumrall, Lester. The Militant Church (Whitaker House, 1995), 30.
