Sermon Central
-
I'm On The Battlefield/Getting Ready For War
Contributed by Ronnie Mcneill on Jan 16, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: Before we go into battle, we must be equipped for battle. A soldier in battle with his/her weapons, is like a lamb in a field with the wolves. Get yourselves armed and prepare yourselves for battle!
As I was listening to the news about the Middle East conflict dealing with Sadaam Hussein, I began to look at how the United States was getting their forces ready and in place to go to war. But before a soldier can be allowed to be an active member of the armed forces, he or she must under go training. They must under go physical training and mental training to prepare them to defend this country. In other words, they must be physically and mentally fit for war.
They must know the chain of command and how to follow orders without question. They must be taught obedience. This is something that’s hard for all of us. They must learn the rules and procedures for daily activities and special occasions. The new recruits are disciplined to get up at different times in the early part of the morning, go without food and water during certain times of training, and even go through survival endurance training.
They are taught how to use the weapons of war such as the M-16, explosives, grenades, and other sophisticated devices. They are also trained in map reading and using a compass to find their way out of unknown territory. All of this is necessary for getting the new recruits ready for war.
But when we look at the spiritual realm of war….we’re dealing with totally different weapons, strategies, and beliefs. But one thing is definitely the same, we must prepare ourselves to deal with the enemy. How can we fight when we don’t know who it is we’re fighting, or we don’t know what weapons are at our disposal and how to use them.
First of all the enemy is the devil, in the Hebrew language they call him Satan, in the Greek language he is called Diabolos, and he is also called Lucifer, which means light bearing.
Over at the Morgan State University they have the Army ROTC program which stands for the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps. It prepares young cadets that qualify to be officers in the United States Army. Once they graduate from Morgan they will receive two degrees. One degree which will be a B.S. (Bachelors of Science) or a B.A. (Bachelors of Arts) plus they will get their commission from the United States Army to be a Second Lieutenant in the army.
But we as Christians have a military program that will accept any man, woman, boy, or girl that is willing to learn the Word of God and be obedient to Him. No one is turned away if they truly want to be trained. There’s no application to be completed, there’s no fee to be paid, and there is not a waiting list. That program is called the GBTC (God’s Basic Training Camp).
In this training camp, we first must know whom we serve, and that’s Jesus Christ. He is the Commander in Chief. He is the one who prepares us for battle. He is the one who wins the battles through us. Not us winning the battles on our own.
Jesus has given us an arsenal of weapons. I’m talking about spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” Carnal in this sense means physical weapons like guns, knives, and bombs. Satan and his demons would be quite easy to wipe out if a bomb could be used to kill them.
It is so sad that Christians fail to realize this principle in 2 Corinthians 10:4. Christians waste so much time and effort trying to solve spiritual problems and conflicts through “fleshy means.”
Instead of seeking the spiritual way, we resort to our own human ideas from television talk shows like Rikki Lake, Opray, Morten Downey Show, and the Jerry Springer Show. Now if you really want to become a fool watch the Jerry Springer Show and take his advice. You and Jerry Springer will be the main ones to burst hell wide open.
There are many weapons that God has provided for us to fight the devil and his demons with but I am only going to talk about 4 of them briefly. There’s:
1. The Word Of God
2. Effective Prayer
3. The Armor Of God
4. Praise Of God
Our first and most important weapon is the Word Of God. It’s better known as the “Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17)”. A person may buy and use a Smith and Wesson revolver, a Colt firearm, or any other make of weapon. But the Smith and Wesson Company is best qualified to tell you about the proper use and care of the gun that they make. The Colt company ( they make the colt 44 caliber pistol ) is the best qualified to also tell you how to use and care for the gun that they manufacture.
