Joel 3:9-10 (NLT2)
9 Say to the nations far and wide: “Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.
10 Hammer your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Train even your weaklings to be warriors.
Who is a soldier? This is an enlisted man or woman who serves in an army, a service person, trained and skilled in the art of weaponry and war, identified by regiment, or rank.
Every believer is a soldier of Christ and potentially, every other person who receives salvation is enlisted into the army of God with Christ as the captain of that army according to Joshua 5:13-15.
We are in a war! Both spiritually and physically, the hoards of hell are steadily marching against the standard of God but have little or no idea that the battle is with the Lord of host and His saints as soldiers.
Prepare for war! Yes, soldier attention! Wake up from your slumber and prepare for war, for battle and victory. Let all the enemies of God and His people join together; let every believer rise and enlist to become a soldier led by the captain of the Lord.
Soldiers of Christ, arise, and put your armour on!
The Lord gave instructions in Deuteronomy 20 concerning the battles the Israelites were to have with the Canaanites, to get possession of the promised land. We must remember verse 1 and realise that there is divine assistance available to us in every battle.
The Christian life is warfare and Hebrews 12:1 refers to the Christian walk as a race.
1 Timothy calls the Christian walk a good fight of faith we must do battle to lay hold on eternal life, where we will the prize of victory, laid hold of by the winner in the good fight.
Being a soldier is part of our identity in Christ that means we are engaged in spiritual warfare, and we must go out into the battle and be on the offensive by doing evangelism and preaching the Gospel to those who are lost, leading by example as a good soldier by sharing in Christ’s suffering according to 2 Timothy 2:3.
The Christian life is a warfare against a formidable enemy which you cannot fight unless there is an enemy to fight while horses and chariots are useful to an army, they are insufficient and powerless for the battle we are in because our enemies are not people, not flesh and blood according to Ephesians 6:12.
The enemy we battle against is set up in three great groups.
They are described as the world in John 17:14, the flesh, or sinful nature in Galatians 5:17, and the Devil in 1 Peter 5:8. Never underestimate the power of these enemies!
The enemy has been unleashed upon us, and the battlefields are where we are all suffering from spiritual decay and death.
You cannot defeat an enemy by sleeping, you must rise from your slumber, be stirred up for battle, gird yourself for the battle-the enemy is fast approaching.
Today, the battlefields are our homes, workplace, neighbourhoods, social media, churches and especially our minds. Sometimes, the battlefield is a literal one, as the persecution and martyrdom of fellow believers. We must be prepared for this – for all of it – we must be willing to enter the battles without fear, without reservation, and face the enemy head-on.
A soldier is always ready, trusting that our captain will lead well, under whom victory is assured. Soldier attention!
Shalom