A particular theme that has been on my heart lately is the idea of the American Christian as a ‘Sleeping Soldier’. I journaled on this during my time in China almost a month ago, but the picture has still not left me.
The American Church seems to be chock full of lukewarm Christians, content and lazy, allowing valuable disciplines (such as prayer, fasting, meditation, and scripture memorization) to fall useless by the wayside. Why is this? I once heard a pastor dedicate an entire sermon to making the point that “Perhaps, maybe, God might be wanting you to spend 5 minutes a day with Him. Consider it.” Have we really come to the point that taking the focus off of ourselves for five little minutes is such a burden that it fits Jesus’ call to “Take up your cross and follow me”? Come on!!!
I believe that we’ve bought into the lie that these disciplines are tedious and boring, “good things” to do, but not really necessary. I know that in my own life, for a long time, I considered prayer and reading the Bible to be obligations that I should do (but in my heart, I didn’t really want to).
No one had ever taught me to listen during prayer, to be still and really listen for God’s voice. Prayer was a time of duty, during which I told God things that He already knew. I didn’t know that He would actually speak to me!
And reading my Bible – what a chore! By high school, I already knew how to be a good person (wasn’t drinking, smoking or having sex, and I at least tried not to swear!). By college I was bored with recycled sermons, and figured that if the church didn’t have anything else to teach me, I must not have anything else I needed to learn! So, what use did I have for further study? I didn’t yet know that God could reveal Himself through His word in such new, personal and specific ways.
So, what changed my heart on these issues? God did. He lovingly invited me to experience more of Himself, and I chose to accept that invitation. I had to remove the things of God from my to-do list, and instill them into my heart. And that’s when He opened my eyes to the reality of a living, loving, intimate relationship with Himself.
He also opened my eyes to the reality of a spiritual world, at war for the hearts and souls of man. All of a sudden, the armor of God went from cute illustration to real and necessary. I began to recognize the spiritual attacks on my own life, and the power of prayer to fight them. I’ve experienced God through dreams, through healing, and by Him speaking directly to me. But these didn’t just happen spontaneously, they came as specific answers to specific prayers.
As humans, so much of our behavior depends on what we believe to be true. Think about it. An athlete might train a little harder if he knew he was going to have to run for his life. A soldier wouldn’t take as good care of his weapons if thought he was never going into battle. In America, we are living as if we are not at war. We make believe we’re safe from attack, and don’t bother sharpening our weapons. But the Bible has a warning for us:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Ephesians 6:
12-13
The truth is, we are at war. A spiritual one. Are you going to stand by and allow the enemy to destroy your peace, your relationships, your faith? Are you going to choose to be distracted by the things of this world while your brothers and sisters are falling around you? Or will you shake off your slumber, take hold of your weapons, and fight the good fight? Wake up America, for battles are not won in five minutes a day.
“They are not idle words for you – they are your life.” Deuteronomy 32:47
