THE
CHRISTIAN WARRIOR'S ATTITUDE The
Christian warrior today lives in a complex society driven by wicked notions.
There
is a need to reduce our lives to only the necessities. Hebrews
12:1 (KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. I
have reduced what some would say should be a much longer list of issues. I believe
the Christian life is extremely simple if we live it the way Christ and the Apostles
lived life. So, you have only three things to think about.
1.
Attitude Toward God- Total Submission "I
am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul"-- William Ernest Henley OR: Acts
17:27 (KJV) That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him,
and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we
live, and move, and have our being.....
You
cannot have it both ways. If
you are captain of one part of your life, and Christ is captain of another part,
then you will live in a state of perpetual schizophrenia. You will never know
if Christ is pleased with your choices as co-captian with him. I
have seen hundreds of bumper stickers that say, "Christ is my copilot."
One day I finally saw one that said the same thing, but the "co" part
was X'ed out. It was a lady, or I would have gotten out and hugged her. With
ships, there is only one captain. He may hand over the piloting of the ship to
a subordinate, but the captain's orders are law, and he is ultimately responsible
for the safety of the ship and its arrival at the next port of call. When he is
entering a tricky harbor, he will allow a harbor pilot to come aboard and guide
the ship through dangerous channels, but the captain is still in total charge
of the ship and standing right next to the harbor pilot all the way in. There
cannot, by maritime law, be more than one final authority on a ship. Once the
ship is in international waters, the captain becomes the law of the ship and its
passengers. Many people are not aware of this when they go on cruise ships. They
may be Americans or Frenchman, but when they are in international waters, they
have lost ALL of their rights of nationality. When
you came to Christ and confessed him as your Lord and Savior, you came under the
Captain of your Salvation. Hebrews
2:10 (KJV) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified
are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,
12
Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again,
Behold I and the children which God hath given me. You
were chosen in Christ, by the sovereignty of God in eternity past, and predestined
to be one of the elect-- those who would believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
When, by your free will (as best you can understand it), you confessed your personal
faith in Jesus Christ, you came to understand that he wants 100% control of your
life. God's election became official by force of his authority long before you
existed. You were born into the Body of Christ by faith in Jesus Christ-- destined
to be the bond slave of Jesus Christ forever: 1
Corinthians 6:19 (KJV) What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For
ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God's. So,
as a warrior of Jesus Christ, you are never discharged temporarily to go back
into "civilian life" and play the fool or play captain of your body,
soul, or spirit. This is understood pretty well by most Christians theologically,
but, it is seldom practiced as a way of life. We instinctively love to take the
wheel away from God the Holy Spirit and say, like a punk teenager, "I can
drive the car alone now, Dad." Do
you know why we sometimes come into doubt of our salvation? I can assure you that,
every time, it is because we take the wheel and make fools of ourselves, get into
sin, get guilty, and we sense that God is very displeased with us. We then move
on to assume that maybe we were thrown away by God for bucking command and taking
control with self-will. General
MacArthur of WW II fame bucked the command of President Harry Truman, and Truman
sacked MacArthur. In human affairs, this is absolutely essential to make sure
that Military men never get the idea they are the final commander. But,
in the Christian life it is never so. The Son of God, by his own will, paid the
supreme price to buy you out of the slave market of Satan and sin, and, by his
sovereign will, he has determined that nobody, not even YOU, can find a way to
escape from his hand. You may be chastened, and he may even end your life for
some really wicked self-will venture, but he will never dump you back into the
market place and send you to hell. You
will NEVER be discharged from this war. John
10:27 (KJV) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. The
way to find out God is still hanging onto you is to reject his command over your
life, run amuck and make a fool of yourself, dishonor him openly, and, I promise
you, he will step in and chasten you soundly. It will be very unpleasant indeed.
James
4:7 (KJV) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands,
ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and
mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The
only way to be a happy warrior, and the only way to see the day of victory standing
at the right hand of your Lord, is to humble yourself, and put yourself 100% under
his command. I
group of American Air Force jet fighters were flying in the clouds off the coast
of Japan. They were in tight formation, and the wing commander, the lead pilot
in the lead fighter, was being watched like a hawk by all the other fighter pilots
in the formation. The wing commander called into flight control for coordinates
for landing. They were given, and the wing commander started descending down through
the clouds flying by instrument only. The other pilots could only see the wing
commander's plane, or the plane just ahead of them. The
wing commander came out of the cloud cover, and he realized they were almost in
the ocean. He jerked his stick back, and barely avoided crashing into the ocean.
Every other pilot saw the sudden jerk upward of the wing commander's plane, and
they did the same thing instantly. They had NO time to meditate on why the wing
commander was doing something so weird. They all came up from the event and missed
the water by feet. It turned out that the flight controller had given them erroneous
coordinates which were deadly. That
is how it works. Christ goes first, and you watch him. He died first, and you
die with him. He went outside the city and did not return, and YOU go outside
the city of self and sin and never go back. You
don't have to know why, you simply do exactly what he wants you to do. The results
are his responsibility, not yours. You may find out "why" in this life,
but some of the "whys" will only be answered in heaven in the future.
This is war, and there is no room for discussion on the battle field. The enemy
of our souls is watching like a "roaring lion" for strays. They are
the first ones he attacks. Get
right. Romans
8:27 (KJV) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
2.
Attitude Toward Life- Contentment (Patience) 1
Timothy 6:3 (KJV) If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words,
even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according
to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5
Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing
that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6 But godliness with contentment
is great gain. If
you wrote up a résumé up, and under the heading, "OBJECTIVES,"
you write, "I am content with my life the way it is and I have learned to
live with what I have," you would not get a job. The
world EXPECTS you to believe you are entitled to MORE-- you need to get ahead.
Long ago,
a man who stayed on the job for twenty years was highly honored. My first job
out of college was in a paper company. I was low management, and an older union
man was assigned to me. There were just two of us in a department that had just
been invented. No one, including my boss, had any idea what we were supposed to
be doing. Bert
was a great worker, and he saved me from all sorts of blunders. Why? He had run
a paper trimmer for the same company for 43 years, and he had worked in every
plant in the company. He knew every man in the company, how to get things fixed,
and how to get around red tape. My life was literally a lark when it could have
been terrifying. There were times when a machine broke, and a long form in triplicate,
and a three day wait, was required by union rules to get it fixed by union millwrights.
Bert would say, "Steve, why don't you disappear for about an hour."
I would head for a coffee shop, and when I returned, the machine was fixed. My
boss was beside himself to learn how I got things done so quickly. Today,
if you don't change jobs every nine months, and if you don't get a little more
cash per hour each time, you are considered a loser. This
is the attitude of many pastors also. They
talk about their objectives in growing the local church in terms of numbers--
numbers saved, Sunday School busses, numbers baptized, or attendance. There are
VERY few pastors in this world who are content to feed sheep faithfully and be
content with the results the Holy Spirit gives them. For one thing, they are never
exalted at pastor's conventions. They are unknown to the rest of the world. Hebrews
13:5 (KJV) Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with
such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. Covetousness
is now the way of life of the whole modern world. Recardo
Montalban, long ago, used to do Chrysler ads on TV. That was the first time it
really struck me the propaganda factor in the commercial world. He would lean
on a Chrysler Cordoba automobile with the perfect grace of a Spanish gentleman,
and he would say, with those sweet seductive Spanish Castillon accents, "You
deserve a Cordoba."
What
do YOU deserve? Answer:
Damnation. Paul
said, 1 Corinthians 15:10 (KJV) But by the grace of God
I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but
I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me. If you ever did anything right, it was not YOU, it was God
at work because you were NOT coveting anything. Philippians
4:11 (KJV) Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever
state I am, therewith to be content.
12 I know both how to be abased, and
I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be
full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13 I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me. There
are several questions which I find that, the blunter I make them, the better they
will tell me very quickly if I am content: 1.
Am I over weight? If yes, I KNOW I am coveting more food than God has supplied
me. Matthew 6:31 (KJV) Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
and, Proverbs 23:1 (KJV) When thou sittest to eat with a
ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat,
if thou be a man given to appetite. 2.
Am I anxious? If yes, I KNOW that I am not content with my circumstances-- I am
not letting tomorrow take care of itself. Matthew 6:34 (KJV)
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for
the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 3.
Am I taking a second look at young ladies who walk by? If yes, I KNOW I am not
content with the wife God gave me. Proverbs 5:19 (KJV) Let
her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all
times; and be thou ravished always with her love.
and,
Job 31:1 (KJV) I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon
a maid? 4.
Am I amusing myself by "profane" music and reading material more than
the Bible? I know that "profane," as used in King James English, means
everything from apples to rape, that is, anything other than what the Bible clearly
defines as set apart for God alone. In my liberty then, I often find I am listening
to the easy listening radio station when I could be listening to online
Christian music. I am relishing the riffs of Glenn
Miller instead of "Wohl
mir, dass ich Jesum habe" given to me by the servant of Christ, JS Bach.
I am reading about tough boy Texans when I could be reading Paul or David. Ezekiel
44:23 (KJV) And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and
profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.
and,
Psalms 19:8 (KJV) The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing
the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The
fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than
much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 5.
Am I making a "need list" which I could easily do without? If yes, I
am coveting, which is idol worship.
Colossians 3:5 (KJV) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth;
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry:
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the
children of disobedience: 6.
Am I able to rejoice when someone else gets the credit for something I did? If
yes, then I have a higher view of myself than God does.
Proverbs 27:2 (KJV) Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger,
and not thine own lips.
and,
Matthew 23:12 (KJV) And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he
that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Six
questions-- six is the number of man, and sin, in the Bible, so let's leave at
that. Nine
is the number of fruit in the Bible, which is present in abundance in my life
if I have my mind on Christ alone: Galatians
5:22 (KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Is
it time to go outside the city and have another crucifixion?
3.
Attitude Toward the Battle- Fierce I
have a video I want you to watch. It is short, but it gets the point across
graphically:
It
is important to either "flee youthful lusts" or head straight into the storm if
it is a battle God has sent. To skirt the storm would mean disaster-- what the
British call "turn turtle." We
were crossing the Atlantic in 1953 when I was 10 years old. My parents were on
their way from New York City to Tanzania to be missionaries, and we chose to go
by ship around the south tip of Africa and up the east coast to Mombassa and Dar
Es Salaam. We
were passengers on a freighter that took on 36 passengers, and they gave great
accommodations and top service to us passengers. The ship was named the Robin
Wentley. A tropical storm was moving toward Gulf of Mexico from east to west.
We were running parallel to the wave motion, and the ship was rolling side to
side violently. We were all terribly sea sick except my Dad. He had a cast iron
stomach. The
captain, a Latvian, had a D-9 Caterpillar tractor in the hold, and he told us
if it broke loose, it would go right through the side of the ship, and the ship
would sink at once. So, he turned westward, and he went head on into the waves.
The rolling became an elevator ride, like in the video you saw above. But the
peril was eliminated. We had to do this for three days until the storm passed
us by. Essentially, we could not escape the storm, we had to go straight into
it to be safe. Ironically,
we were no longer sea sick when we went straight into the waves and the storm.
The motion was much more tolerable, and it was a lot more exciting to stand on
the bridge and watch the bow of the ship dive under water. Our fears turned to
exhilaration. Don't lose this thought please.
Regarding
the battle before the Christian warrior, there is a time to flee, and a time to
attack, but NO time to procrastinate. Choice
One- Flee- 2
Timothy 2:22 (KJV) Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith,
charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. "Flee"
means to "escape of vanish" according to Strong's Concordance. It
is the prisoner of war's DUTY to escape, and the Geneva Convention recognizes
that a prisoner is not a criminal because he tried to escape captivity. It is
the Bible believer's DUTY to vanish, leave the scene, of any situation that could
result in his being taken captive by the world, the flesh, or the devil. During
the Dark Ages, when the Roman Catholic Church was at its most black state, there
were monks and nuns who would go to bed together to sleep all night. They were
trying to build up their resolve to resist sin and lust be testing themselves
to the extreme. This is madness of course. They should have fled even the thought
of such activity if they had taken a vow of chastity. Of course, the poor things
needed to simply get married as Paul suggests in 1 Corinthians. But, old Mother
Whore claimed that marriage was a cut below the highest form of holiness. If
you are in a holiness monastery, whether in a legalistic Fundamental Baptist church,
or a Holiness Church trying to become sinless, GET OUT OF YOUR STUPID MONASTERY
PLEASE. Get into the real battle, the battle to win souls. It is virtually impossible
to talk about Jesus Christ, with a motive of winning them to salvation, and be
sinning grossly. You cannot stare at a women's cleavage and tell her she needs
to be born again. I am sorry, fellow, but I tend to get a bit blunt-- it works
best for me. I
trust you get the point. It is pointless to hang around the scene of wickedness
and pray for help to resist sin. You should FLEE NOW, and do your praying later. Choice
Two- Attack- 1
Timothy 1:18 (KJV) This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the
prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning
faith have made shipwreck: 1
Corinthians 16:13 (KJV) Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men,
be strong. "Quit"
in these verses does NOT mean to quit the battle. This is 1611 English, and it
means to "get you butt going soldier." Quit, or abandon the spot, where
you are NOW, and get into the battle. Hundreds of thousands of Christians around
the world are camping on the spot where they got saved. They are billeted in Status
Quo. They need to roll out of the bunk, and get to the front line on the double.
That is where the battle is. Will
someone get mad if you go into action? YES! I can promise you that every other
simpleton who is sitting on his back side, waiting and watching for the next great
experience from the show called "church" today, will be enraged with
you. They may even become terrified of you. War is rough stuff. That
is why war movies never look like the real thing. People sitting in a theater
or watching a video in their living room cannot stand watching the real thing.
Until they invent a movie theater that can spray blood all over the audience,
war movies will never by like the real thing. War has to be experienced. Go find
a Vietnam Veteran, and ask him what war is like. So, Hollywood makes war tolerable.
War is
not tolerable-- it is vicious, and someone will be destroyed, and everyone may
get bloodied. You,
warrior of Christ, will win. Romans
8:37 (KJV) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When
the battle is over, the "Captain of our Salvation," Jesus Christ, will
be victorious, and you will be standing there on his right hand sharing the moment
of victory. IF..................
you were in the battle.
If
you are in idle mode, trying to make up your mind what to do, trying to slip by
the storm, you are in great peril. You will be shipwrecked. Your present relationship
with Jesus Christ will result in the Holy Spirit telling you what to do without
the need for procrastination. Are
you trying to skirt the storm before you-- some issue of spiritual evil in your
local church, in yourself, in your family, or at work? The longer you wait to
respond, by either fleeing or attacking head on, the more horrendous will be the
end of the battle. You or your loved ones may well become casualties.
QUESTION: May
I ask you a question as your brother in Christ-- where you changed by reading
this article? If not, why not? I
must confess that, as I write articles like this one, they are somewhat autobiographical--
they are the REAL "inconvenient truth." I find that I cannot go to my
FTP program, and upload them to the web to get in YOUR face, without making changes
in ME. It
is a way of life, it is not a shame. It is part of the war we are in until we
go to be with Christ. After every battle a good soldier cleans his weapon, and
he listens to the experiences of his buddies-- he is preoccupied with being ready
for the next battle.
May
you have enough.
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