Do you like to fight?   It seems many of us were made such that fighting comes natural, while others were designed to desire to avoid fighting at all costs.   When it comes to fighting in the army of God, we should put aside our own bents and look only on the purpose of God for fighting.    Of course God made us the way we are and desires that we might be used for His glory and for the building of His kingdom.   However, since mankind fell in the garden, God is unable to make us entirely in the way in which He would prefer.  He must take the despicable and mold it into a disciple.  This process usually results in some portion remaining despicable and some portion becoming disciple and the percentages are usually subject to change.

 It seems that a persistent grasping (holding on to) who we are may frequently engender significant inertia to stay in the despicable state defined by the fallen fraction of our nature.   Of course for those of us who are believers, God is working to conform us into the image of His Son.   Could it be possible that our vision of the nature of the person of Jesus could be in some subtle way inhibiting our progress in the process of sanctification?  

When you think of Jesus do you envision a Joshua type leader leading a great army into battle?   The bible tells us that we cannot fully understand the ways of God, they are beyond finding out.  However Jesus is the most revealed person of the Godhead.   He is revealed in the scriptures, as a humble and gentle leader, and also responsible for the destruction of all evil at the end of the age.  He is pictured as both a lamb who was slain and a mighty and powerful ruler who is leading an army of destruction.

Revelation 19:11-16 (NASB77)
¹¹ And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.
¹² And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.
¹³ And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God.
¹⁴ And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.
¹⁵ And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.
¹⁶ And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." ( bold added)

When is the last time you worshiped our Savior singing the hymn  “ Onward Christian Soldiers … Marching on the War”?   Or perhaps a more relevant question: when have you last embraced, at an internal heart level, the reality that every one of us are to be soldiers engaged in a spiritual war?  Could it be from God’s perspective that if we are not fighting, as directed by our God, we are not fully fitted into His will and purpose? Is not most of what we in the Church call spiritual warfare actually taking back territory that is rightfully God’s and has been given over to our enemy Satan or one of his crowd?

From all that I can learn, the enemy of our souls in very clear about  and committed to his objectives to steal and to kill and to destroy and he seems to be taking no prisoners.   Meanwhile, we are similarly committed to striving for peace and pursuing prosperity and basking in the grace of our gentle Jesus.

 Though we are supposed to be fighting in a cataclysmic battle, most of us merely complain of the carnage and of the consistent defeat that is plaguing the Church.   It is rare to find many who are deadly serious about fighting for the Kingdom as a soldier of the cross. 

2 Timothy 2:3-4 (NASB77)
³ Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
⁴ No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

There is fighting and there is fighting.   That is, there is the fighting that flows from the flesh contrasted with the fighting that flows from the power and wisdom and victory of God.   Though we know how this big battle will ultimately turn out, the odds are that the number of individuals who will ultimately reside in the heavenly realm will be significantly influenced by our fighting, or lack of it, along the way.     The fact that we are among the privileged to be accurately informed of the ultimate victory of Christ, does not give us legitimate ground to opt out of our responsibility to do spiritual warfare at the present.

How then do we fight?   Dr. Charles Stanley in his Life Principles to Live By  states: “ Principle #8 -  Fight all your battles on your knees and you will win every time.”    Earlier today a pastor friend stated: “everything that matters in Kingdom work is preceded by prayer.”

Jesus also taught His disciples: John 15:7 (NASB95)
 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

There seems to be two principal parts to this passage.   First our responsibility is to abide in Him and then it will naturally follow that His words will abide in us.    Like a soldier we must first pay attention to our own training and develop discipline before we should be thrust into battle.   The second part is to pray, to fight on our knees, asking for God’s victory using His words that abide in us.   This is real warfare!  It is the warfare that Satan deathly fears.   From us, it is one of the few things he fears.

The Church in North America desperately needs revival.   Revival has always been preceded by persistent prayer.  Brian Edwards defines Revival in his book by the same title as “people saturated with God.”     Can we urge you to pray for revival, to furiously fight for people who are called by His name to be saturated with God?     Nothing has the potential to make a positive change in the spiritual life and culture of America measured up against revival.    Jesus Himself taught us to pray for revival when He instructed us to pray: “Thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  

Are you willing to fight on your knees?   Will you become a soldier in the battle for America?    The battle for America can be won …. If we will get on our knees as we are instructed in 2 Chronicles 7:14:  “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”     Are you willing for God to make you a soldier, a fighter for the freedom that results from the truth and power of the gospel?    The eternal destiny of many lives hang in the balance, how will you respond?