PREPARED FOR BATTLE
Deuteronomy 20:1-4
"When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. Now it shall come about that when you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you'"
Back when we started outfitting and guiding hunters in the west, each year we would instruct our hunters on what to have for gear and how best to prepare for their upcoming hunt. We did a lot of walking and climbing while bowhunting elk at that time and one of the things we stressed to each of them was to buy a good quality pair of light weight boots, make sure they fit well and to make sure to wear them as they walked and prepared for the upcoming hunt. We stressed that the boots should be prepared for the trip by being "broken in".
Every so often we would see someone carry a box into their cabin that looked like a new boot box. We hoped to see a qorn pair of boots inside... usually we did. One year we happened to be in the room when Bob opened such a box... and there was a brand new pair of very heavy soled, never been worn, hiking boots. Bob informed us that he had ordered them just before leaving to come out and hadn't had time to try them on, let alone wear them yet. The 5 day hunt started that very afternoon with a walk up the mountain and by the time we got back Bob's feet were sore. By the end of the next day of the hunt his feet were pretty much raw and his hunt was all but over. He went home defeated and unsuccessful, why? Because he hadn't prepared for the hunt as he should have his shoes were not ready to win the battle with the mountain.
Ephesians 6:14-15 tells us.
"Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;"
Every day Christians go into battle. We face a demonic army that is set on bringing us down. If we go into battle ill-prepared for the battles that we will face, we won't stand against the weapons of that army.
How do we prepare? It's like breaking in a new pair of boots... you wear them over and over again until they become like part of your body. The same is true about preparing to go into a spiritual battle... you stay in God's word until it becomes a part of who you are. You also pray until Christ's thoughts become your thoughts. It's then that we can enter the daily battle that satan and his army are bringing against us. We can stand against them and defeat them, when we prepared correctly.
When we've entered into the battle spiritually prepared, it's then that God gives us His peace to know that we will not only survive the battle... but also come out victorious.
If our feet are not protected through continuous training before going into battle, we will not stand. All of the other armor that we put on will be of no use if we can't stand and move forward into battle.
Prepare for battle every day.
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
Click the button to sign up for Dean’s Daily Devotional. FREE and delivered daily.