People have asked me, “how are you still so strong in your Faith after all that has happend?” I first laugh or give a joke as a response because usually if I am put on the spot to talk about certain things I really wasn’t prepared for, I tend to cry, stammer, or just give a beat around the bush answer. I was actually asked this question about a week and a half ago and I laughed and said, “it builds character.”
Here is what I actually want to say, “Because I have seen my prayers both answered and unanswered, but yet either way I have still seen the promise that has been laid out for me. No matter what I have seen God does not change, but instead he has changed my heart to understand that things are not about me and what I have planned, but about Him and what He has planned. So, when you start praying for your heart to change instead of the circumstances thats when you start winning on the battlefield.
The past couple years have felt like a “proper warfare” battle. Proper warfare meaning like how wars use to be fought during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War (just for example). You would shoot at your enemy then take a step forward and load your gun during the enemies turn to shoot at you. You would also pray to God that those bullets would miss you because there is literally no physical shield around you, and if you are lucky enough, you will get another turn to fire.
This is how I visualize trying to win a war against life without God looks like. I think of myself in the middle of a battlefield with a weapon that shoots once and then takes 5 minutes to reload. (I am sure this is inaccurate, but if I was actually trying to reload a bayonet with someone shooting at me, I feel like my hands would be fumbling a lot.) To top it off those guns were highly inaccurate, so you could get hit by a bullet anywhere. So, time after time you are slowly getting hit and wounded while stepping one step at a time towards your enemy.
Think about this. Satan is going to try to take you down, he is going to shoot things at you like death, worry, guilt, confusion, etc. And he likes it when you keep moving slowly toward him continuing to wound you again and again. He wants you on the ground bleeding and forgetting that there is a way out. He wants you to think that you are all alone and nobody cares where you are on that battlefield.
But he is wrong…
God is with you. God is on your side. God is your weapon that Satan cannot touch. You want to know what it is like fighting with God? It is like a scene from Braveheart. You are charging your enemies head on in a full sprint with your sword high in the air and cutting down every single bad thing that comes into your life. And when you get wounded, God is right there beside you to reach out to and give you a lift when you need it.
When you fight for God and with God, you become more than just a soldier or a fighter. You become a warrior. Being a warrior of God lessens the pain and hurt. It gives you the drive you need to keep pushing forward. It heals the wounds you didn’t even know existed.
So, next time you feel the start of a battle coming, don’t go in just as a fighter, but as a Warrior of Christ.
