Unconditional Surrender

War occurs when two or more nations are at odds and neither party will compromise.  Generally, no nation is inclined to submit while they are strong and have high morale.  Only when war has taken its toll and one side cannot see any hope of victory will they consider surrender.

One of the hardest things in Christian living is to accept God’s plan instead of our own plan.  Until we do, we are at war with God which won’t be resolved until someone surrenders.  We Christians can be stubborn, but we must remember that God is immutable.  He can never change.  He doesn’t need to – He is perfect!   We are not!  Regardless, we still frequently feel we know what is best for ourselves and expect God to compromise His plans and bless ours.  But God will never compromise His perfect position – we must compromise ours. 
God is patient.  He allows adversities in life (often self induced) to shoot down our self dependence and blast away our arrogance.   Eventually, when our failed solutions have taken their toll, we will consider surrender and reluctantly come to God with our conditions.  However, even surrender cannot be on our terms – it must be on God’s terms and must be unconditional.  Only then can God finally work through us and His wonderful plan will be revealed to the eternal glory of Himself and OUR everlasting personal delight and happiness. 

Calling in Support

Soldiers on the ground can call air-support in times of need.  To do this, they simply get on their radio, make their request and give the coordinates.  If everything checks out at HQ, supplies will soon be parachuted in and bombs dropped to remove obstacles. 

Christian soldiers on Earth can call Heavenly support in times of need.  We simply get on our radio (prayer), make our request and give the coordinates (partition and intercession).  If everything checks out at HQ (God in Heaven sanctions the request) provision will soon be provided and obstacles will be removed. 

Spiritual Gifts

When soldiers are enlisted into the Army, they are tested to see into which service they are suited. The Army has four main fighting units: Infantry, Armoured, Artillery and Engineers.  However, these corps would be unable to fulfil their missions without support from other corps such as Medical, Transport, Ordnance, Intelligence, Signals, Aviation, etc.  Each corps needs soldiers to fulfil these roles, and all are necessary for function of the whole. Furthermore, no matter to which unit soldiers belong, they are expected to be combat ready at all times (able to march, handle a weapon and pass a basic level of fitness).

Since we are in the middle of spiritual warfare, we are called to enlist in God’s Army.  God has bestowed a special gift on each Christian soldier to overcome any problem arising in the Devil’s kingdom.  As with any army, there are many corps in God’s Army, each one essential for success of the whole.  We must remember that whatever our spiritual gift, it is no more important than another because each role is dependent on others to function.  Furthermore, no matter what our spiritual gift, it does not excuse us from being combat ready at all times.  God expects all His soldiers to give, help, study, evangelize and pray.

The Urgent Mission

A General sent for a soldier and gave him an urgent mission. ‘Take this message to the front line as quick as you can.’  The soldier saluted the General and ran in double-time to complete his mission.
After 5kms he came across an old man sitting exhausted by the road who yelled, ‘Hey Digger, these food packs need to get to the front and my weary bones are too tired.’  The helpful soldier loaded them in his pack and resumed his journey at a fast walk. 
It wasn’t long before he met a nurse aiding a wounded man.  ‘Soldier,’ she called. ‘I have medical supplies that are urgently required on the frontline. Can you take them?’  He again loaded up then continued at a slower pace. 
Many kilometres later the weary soldier came across a truck with a flat tyre.  The driver called out, ‘Lend us a hand, Dig - these rifles and ammunition are needed immediately at the front.’  Again the tired soldier added to his load and trudged on.  Just when the front line came into view the soldier fell to his knees and collapsed unconscious to the ground - the burden was too great. 
A day later, the General came by and revived him.  ‘Soldier, why didn’t you complete your mission?’  The soldier weakly replied, ‘I couldn’t - my load was too great.’  The General looked at all the supplies the soldiers was carrying and said, ‘I didn’t ask you to carry all these things.  Your mission was to get an important message to the front-line.  Everyone was to retreat immediately.  As honourable as your intentions were, soldier, you have failed your mission.  Lives that could have been saved are now lost.’

God has individually and collectively given us private missions.  In today’s Christian climate it is easy to become overloaded with other people’s missions.  One of the hardest things to do is to say ‘no’ to various worthy opportunities of service - so our personal mission can be fulfilled.

Spiritual Parade

A military parade is a muster of troops brought together for inspection.  When the public witness a precise military parade where the soldiers move as one unit under the beat of single drum, the public feels confident in the military’s ability to protect them and new recruits are easy to find. 

As Christian soldiers in the Army of Christ (the Church), we muster before the world each day on life’s parade ground.  As the Body of Christ, we should be synchronized, have a coordinated purpose, be unified in our compassion and march gracefully in one direction - moving to the beat of the Holy Spirit’s drum.
However, when Christian soldiers are seen marching to the beat of their own drum (seeking personal glory), stepping out of rank (judging, abusing, hating), or fainting under pressure (complaining, depressed, filled with self pity), the world doesn’t see a strong spiritual army, they see a disorganized, divided rabble.  Understandably, the world will have no confidence in the army of Christ.  The Church will be the last place they will seek protection and the last organization in which they would enlist.

Prayer Sniper

A sniper is one of the most feared soldiers in warfare.  They are seldom seen and can cause complete disruption to the enemy’s plans.  Snipers are patient soldiers who excel in marksmanship and are experts at concealment.  They use long range rifles, usually equipped with silencers, so as not to draw attention to themselves.  A good sniper does not waste bullets – every shot must hit its target.

God desires His Christian soldiers trained up to be prayer-snipers – elite spiritual warriors, whose prayers always hit the mark and cause complete disruption to the enemy’s (Satan’s) plans.
We rarely know who the prayer-snipers are.  These Christians are experts at concealment and bring little attention to themselves.  They know the spiritual terrain and do not waste time on unnecessary prayers.  They know God’s will and pray accordingly.  They have the ability to focus on a prayer-target without being distracted and their every prayer hits the mark.
Though we may not know who the prayer-snipers are now, we will certainly know them in Heaven - they’ll be the ones with all the medals and awards.

Eyes Front

On parade, soldiers are told to keep eyes front.  They will be reprimanded if they look around at other soldiers not concentrating on the job at hand.  If a drill-instructor catches a soldier watching him, the ‘drilly’ will probably yell, ‘Don’t eyeball me, soldier - keep your eyes to the front.’

As Christian soldiers, we should never rest our eyes on people (venerating, imitating, judging, etc).  We should keep eyes front, looking directly at God and discipline ourselves to not be distracted by other Christian soldiers.  If we focus on what others are doing, it won’t be long before we get out of step in our spiritual life.  We should simply execute our orders to the best of our ability without worrying if the soldier next to us is doing the right thing.
Any drill-instructor (teachers of God’s Word) seeing one of their soldiers (in the congregation) resting their eyes on another or themselves should quickly remind that soldier to keep their eyes to the front and look squarely at God.

An Impenetrable Fortress

In the ancient world, a fortress was built to give soldiers the battle’s advantage by keeping them safely out of their enemy’s reach.  When attacked, it would be senseless for soldiers to have a fortress yet choose to fight outside its walls.

Whether we like it or not, a spiritual war is raging.  God has built us an impenetrable fortress. The walls are His impregnable promises.  He commands from within and offers a spiritual suit of armour for each of His Christian soldiers.  Yet often, when the enemy is not in sight, we don’t feel the need to remain vigilant.  We ignore God’s commands, take off our armour and walk naked from the fortress in search of personal gratification – usually, straight into an ambush.  
Armed only with our own resources, it isn’t long before we are completely subdued and sustain many injures of disillusionment, misery, doubt, depression, worry, jealousy, bitterness, fear and hatred.  We then typically run back to God’s fortress crying, ‘I was attacked, why didn’t You help me?’   God’s answer is always the same, ‘Soldier, you forsook My protection and left My fortress.  You chose to go alone into Life’s Battlefield.  It was you who deserted your post – I have remained at mine.’  The Gates of Grace will then open.  ‘Quickly, get back behind My walls, put on your armour and pick up your sword.’

In a War of Words

In warfare today, we do not use the weapons of yesteryear.  Swords, spears and bows are completely ineffective against machine guns, tanks, battle ships and aircraft.  If we rush into battle armed with outdated weapons we can expect to quickly be shot down.

Today, we are in the centre of a spiritual warfare and as Christian Soldiers our orders have been clearly defined, ‘Go out and save souls’.  In order to do this we need to communicate the Gospel.  To communicate we need words and these are our weapons. 
Satan is trying to make our weapons ineffective (an easy way to defeat an enemy is to disable their armaments).  Many powerful spiritual words that were so effective and full of meaning in times past have been rendered useless today.  Meanings change overtime.  Added to this, the misuse from cults and religious nit-wits has damaged the good certain spiritual word can do.
We should be careful selecting our weapons when presenting the ‘Great-News’ of salvation to the unsaved world.  This does not infer that we should ‘water down’ God’s word.  We should communicate in the language of today with concise words that our peers understand otherwise our message will quickly be shot down.

Missing the Boat

A naval ship’s purpose is to serve and bring glory to king and country.  In order to do this, every ship needs to be manned by a captain and a crew.  Each person has their own specific and individual duties that are necessary for the ship’s daily function.  The ship’s effectiveness will be determined by the captain’s focus, leadership and preparedness and the crew’s training, eagerness and dedication.  Ships fail to reach their objectives when captained by a man seeking personal glory, or occupied by a mutinous crew.  Every ship is given missions for the glory of king and country.  Some will be accomplished solo and some missions as part of the fleet.  The ships that successfully complete their missions, great rewards and decorations await them on their return home.

A church is like a ship of the navy.  Its purpose is to serve and bring glory to God in Heaven.
God has commanded us to board one of His ships and become a member of the crew (we are directed to find a church that is fulfilling its spiritual missions and use our spiritual gifts to help that ship reach its objectives).  There will come a day, when we are in Heaven, where everyone is applauding the successful missions of certain ships (churches).  Let’s make sure, that we aren’t one of the regretful people, saying, ‘I could have been aboard that ship and been part of their successful spiritual assignments.  But alas, I didn’t want to get my feet wet or risk leaving the comfort and safety of the harbour.’

Prisoners Of War

Captured soldiers confined in prison camps are called P.O.W. (Prisoners of War).  They undergo many terrible ordeals, trials and privations.  What keeps the P.O.W. going is the thought of returning home someday.  On the day they are finally freed it is a time of great celebration.  When the soldiers are paraded before their liberating general they honour him with a great cheer and a genuine, joyous salute. 

We are Christian soldiers imprisoned in the Devil’s kingdom.  While we live on earth we are a P.O.W.  We should expect to face various unpleasant trials and ordeals; however, we can comfort each other as liberation is at hand.  We will soon be freed from this earthly prison camp and pass on to our true home (Heaven) when our Lord returns.  On this glorious day we will be caught up in the clouds and paraded before our liberating General - Jesus Christ.    Instantly, we will be endowed with the knowledge of all He has done to set us free.  Our only response will be to salute (bend our knee to worship Him).  It will be the greatest salute in history - a genuine salute of respect without hypocrisy, simultaneously performed by billions of Christian soldiers in honour of their Commanding General.

Commanded to Sing

Why are soldiers commanded to sing?  Soldiers sing for timing, to get in step, to focus many minds on a single goal, to band together in brotherhood and to fortify their courage.  In times past, soldiers approached their enemy banging shield, blasting trumpets and singing loudly with absolute confidence of victory.   This had a psychological effect on their enemy.  It is very disconcerting to see a foe with high moral, working in unity and self assured.  Even more so, when an army has thrown everything they have at their enemy, it is very unsettling to see them still standing - singing with joy and contentment.

Why has God commanded us to sing?  There are many reasons.  In times of illiteracy, singing was a great way to remember God’s Word.  Singing is also a genuine way to worship and honour the King of Kings.  We are also Christian soldiers in the middle of a spiritual war.  Singing bonds us as a fighting unit.  It fortifies our courage and reminds us of our cause and the ultimate victory assured to us by God.  Furthermore, we should remember that our lives are being witnessed as we are constantly under attack by an invisible enemy (fallen angels).  When we approach our spiritual battles singing confidently and knowing God goes before us, our battle songs are like weapons - they pierce the enemy and make them tremble.  It must be unsettling for fallen angels when they have done their worst and we are still standing – singing joyfully and undiscouraged.

Queuing Up

A disaster hit a city causing food to be in short supply.  A desperate crowd gathered in the city centre.  Eventually a soldier with a loud speaker came forth and announced that relief was on the way and asked that an orderly queue be formed for food distribution.
Suddenly there was a great stampede to the front.  The slow, elderly and children were trampled.  Those who stopped to help were left behind or forced to the end of the queue.  Soon a great line was formed with the strongest, fastest and most cunning at the front.  The weak, sick, polite and charitable were at the back.  The soldier looked at the queue in disgust and got on his radio. 
When he finished talking to his superiors, he addressed the queue, ‘Relief trucks are coming in from the other side.  Everyone must now turn around.  Those at the end of the queue will now be served first.  Anyone who jumps the queue will miss out.’

If we place our needs above the needs of others and ambitiously take all we can without caring who is trampled, we may come first and achieve our personal desires on earth, but ultimately God is forced to put us last in ‘eternity’.  God has given us advance warning that He will reverse the queue - the first will be last and the last will be first. 
When Christ lived on earth, he placed himself at the very back of the queue.  He put his needs last and our needs first.  After Resurrection, he became forever first - the Alpha, the Number One, the Head.

The Spiritual War

A war is usually comprised of many battles.  These battles often decide the outcome of the war.  Nevertheless, a General may lose a battle but win the war – and visa versa - a General can win a battle but lose the war.

The spiritual-war raging between God and Satan breaks all the rules of warfare.  You see, the war has already been won and all that is left are the battles.  Christ won the war at the cross and his victory was complete, but still the battles continue.  As Christian soldiers, our personal battles are to bring further glory to God and His victorious Son.  Whether or not we win or lose our personal battles or how many times the devil seems victorious, we can rest assured - the war has been won and victory is ours.  How reassuring, encouraging and comforting is the knowledge that the outcome (on which our very souls depend) did not and does not depend on us.

The Happy Prisoner

A happy soldier was sent to military prison for insubordination.  As is usual, all his luxuries and privileges were taken away.  Then, to deter him from offending again, his days and nights were filled with meaningless tasks overseen by stern guards.  As a consequence, it’s normal for all imprisoned soldiers to walk around in perpetual gloom.  However, this happy soldier never stopped smiling - no matter what grubby task he was given.  He was always pleasant no matter what trial was put before him.
On the day he was released, the prison guards couldn’t hold their curiosity as they hadn’t seen a happy prisoner before.  They asked him how he stayed so content throughout his entire incarceration.  He replied, ‘Just before my imprisonment, I won lotto and my dad is now waiting to pick me up in my new Porsche.’ (True Story)

As Christians, we should go through life like the Happy Prisoner.  We are all incarcerated in the Devil’s kingdom, but when we believed in Christ, we won ‘ lotto’ and no matter what unpleasantness we encounter, we can happily reflect on the fact that God is waiting outside ‘life’ with our new car (resurrection body).  Then we will spend eternity basking in the riches of Heaven.   
One of the best ways to witness to the world is to be like the Happy Prisoner.  If we stay relaxed and content through life’s trials, people may start asking us, ‘What on earth are we smiling about?’ 

Resistance Fighters

In the main, resistance fighters are average citizens fighting for freedom in a territory over run by the enemy - often at great risks to themselves and their families.  Resistance takes many forms: gathering intelligence, producing underground newspapers; sabotaging enemy plans, assisting escaped POW’s and allied troops.   Resistance fighters rely heavily on outside help to provide them valuable information and supply needs crucial in continuing their opposition.

God has called all Christians to be resistance fighters in a territory (the Devil’s kingdom) over run by the enemy.  We are citizens of humanity, fighting for the spiritual freedom of our fellow man.  Outside help is crucial to our resistance.  We rely on God to supply our needs.  He has supplied our essential information (the Bible), and equipped us with weapons (not physical - but spiritual). 
As Christians, we can do many things to aid the resistance: (1.) Gather intelligence (learn Biblical truths). (2.) Spread that information (the Gospel) any way possible.  (3.) Arrange Christian meetings in safe locations (church).  (4.) Sabotage the enemy’s (Satan’s) plans - through prayer.  (5.) Refuse to participate in things (sin) that aid and advance the enemy’s cause.  (6.) Aid fellow resistance fighters (teachers of God’s Word, missionaries, etc) in any way possible.   
As with all resistance, the risk can be great, but there will come a day when the occupying enemy is cast out and all sacrifices (great and small) will be remembered and rewarded.

Written Instructions

A soldier was all a fluster – she didn’t know what to do.  She ran to her Commanding Officer and pleaded, ‘Sir, help me?  I don’t know where I should be or what I should be doing.’
The Commanding Officer was not pleased, but could sense she meant well and so he patiently said, ‘Private, all that you ask has been clearly written in Routine-Orders.  Every soldier has been commanded to become familiar with those orders.  Read them and follow the instructions.  In future do not bother me with questions that you should already know the answer.’

Often, we Christian soldiers are very flippant with our prayers to our Commanding Officer (God).  He will always be patient with us, but we must remember God has written our Routine Orders in the Bible – it has all the answers to life’s problems.  Good Christian soldiers should become familiar with their orders.  When we continuously ask God for answers to things already answered in the Bible, we will not be reprimanded but it may indicate we are a sloppy ‘Christian’ soldier.  Furthermore, God will never compromise His written Word no matter how long or often we pray He may concede for our particular circumstance. 

Tests

Tests are good indicators to show our readiness for certain undertakings.  Tests are usually given in controlled environments so should we fail the damage will be minimal.  For example, if we can not pass a basic driving test, this indicates we are accidents just waiting to happen and shouldn’t drive unchaperoned.  In the military, if we can not pass basic weapon handling it would be a grave mistake to send us into combat.

Why does God test us when He already knows our capabilities?  We undergo testing for confidence and to demonstrate to ourselves and others that we can handle certain situations.  If we were to venture untested into certain ministries, we may be accidents waiting to happen.  We could shoot our mouths off at the wrong time or do things without thinking and cause immeasurable damage. 
If we remain faithful to God’s plan for our lives, we will eventually face testing.  He will engineer many controlled circumstances as to practice our spiritual skills.  But not to worry - God doesn’t test us beyond what we can handle.  If we happen to fail, God in grace will allow us to try again.  When we finally pass one of life’s tests, new prospects will suddenly present themselves.  Remember our Lord was tested in the desert before he started His ministry.

Spiritual-War-Memorial

A War Memorial is a monumental structure that commemorates the sacrifice of men and women in times of war.  Nations build these structures so citizens will always remember the names of gallant heroes and heroines that have served their country faithfully, bravely and at great personal cost.

As Christian soldiers, we are presently in the middle of a spiritual warfare that has been raging for thousands of years.  When the war is over in the eternal future and we are all safe in Heaven, there will doubtlessly be a Spiritual-War-Memorial built by God to commemorate certain people that have served faithfully, bravely and at great personal cost.   Christ’s ultimate sacrifice will be the central exhibit.  The lives of Apostles and other biblical heroes will be well documented.  The martyrs will probably have their own ‘Hall of Valour’.  Teachers and missionaries will not be forgotten and those Christians who faithfully served but never received any recognition on Earth will be duly recognised.   Various medals and crowns will be on display and stories of the recipients will be written in stone to stand as an everlasting testament to the glory of God, Christ and Christian patriotism.
We should immediately ask ourselves the question: How will I be remembered in the Spiritual-War-Memorial and does my life bring glory to God?  One thing is for certain - if we neglected to don the armour of God and serve our Heavenly Nation we will not be remembered and our name will not be listed amongst the honoured.