Who in your life would you consider a warrior? What qualities/characteristics gives you that impression? What if I told you that every one of us could be a warrior?
The definition of a warrior is a “brave or experienced soldier or fighter”. When I think of warriors, I think of people like Julius Caesar, Spartacus, or Richard the Lionheart. I think of a person who protects, has courage, strength, discipline, and bravery. A person so dedicated that they are willing to risk everything and die for a purpose. Does God not do all of these things? God is our warrior. He protects and fights for us even when we continue to fail him. He will leave the 99 to find YOU.
Isaiah 42:13 – “The Lord goes out to battle like a hero and stirs up his passion and zeal like a mighty warrior. Yes, his God-shout is a mighty battle cry; he will triumph heroically over all his foes.”
If you believe in God, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. This means that you have the warrior inside of you as well! All of us have the capabilities of being a warrior. A good warrior is trained and prepared. God has given us specific scripture passages in Ephesians and Romans on how to put on the armor of God, become a warrior, and fight our battles. Ephesians 6:12-13 says, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against 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.”
God instructs us to use 6 pieces of armor:
- Shield of Faith: This is used to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. These arrows look like fear, doubts, words, and confusion.
- Breastplate of righteousness: This covers the front and back of a soldier from neck to thigh and is used to protect our most vital organs, especially our hearts.
- Sword of the Spirit: This is used for offense and is the Bible itself. The best defense is a good offense. We have to be ready to fight lies with the truth and in order to do that we have to know what the truth is.
- Feet fitted with readiness: This is also used for offense. Readiness suggests mobility and action. We have to be ready to listen to the Holy Spirit and physically go to where we are being called.
- Helmet of salvation: This protects our minds from being attacked by the enemy who gives us a divided, deceitful, doubtful, and discouraged mind.
- Belt of truth: This is used to pull everything together. The belt represents a life and mind that are pulled together and ready to serve for the glory of God.
Although we have this armor, God doesn’t send us to the front lines immediately. We have to be trusted with the little things first. The Holy Spirit will train us by teaching us how to listen to him. He may tell us to talk to someone on the street, buy the homeless man a bottle of water, or play a hand game with a small child on the bus. When God sees our heart and willingness to listen, He will entrust us with the big things such as sharing the Gospel with an atheist and leading him to Christ. This trust can also come in the form of suffering and pain. This is seen in the story of Job. Job had a “perfect” life because God blessed him and therefore Job loved God. Satan then put this to the test and challenged God by flooding Job’s life with pain and suffering. During this Job’s friends failed at comforting him through his suffering, but one essentially says that Job now understood and felt the pain that he always tried to make better in other people’s lives. What if this is the whole point of pain and suffering? For others to see God through us. For us to have a testimony to show others that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that pain isn’t the end.
Just like a warrior works hard every day and listens to his commander for instruction, we have to listen to God. Once the warrior has learned and listened, only then is he prepared to step into battle. God will never lead us into something He hasn’t prepared us for. He has promised us victory when we have faith. Only then can we overcome the world.
Every morning I have quiet time with God. This looks different every morning, but I always sit and listen to what He has to tell me. Last month, I heard His voice quickly every morning whereas this month I haven’t heard much from Him during my quiet time. Instead, He has been “speaking” to me by showing me things.
This month a few of my teammates experienced uneasy feelings while being apart of events lead by one woman we worked with (lets call her Ruth). They felt something not of the Lord present while being around Ruth or while participating in things that she led. I felt the complete opposite. I always saw a bright and cheerful woman who was eager to help and the events she lead ended up being some of my favorite moments in Peru. If I had become closer to God, why was I not feeling these uneasy feelings everyone else was? If I was more in tune with the Holy Spirit, why couldn’t I sense the evil around me? I realized that it was because I was “putting on” the armor of God every day. This armor was protecting my head, heart, and soul.
God then used me to lead a Bible study for Ruth and the other women we worked with about freedom. Freedom from our sin and the hurt from sin done to us. After I was finished, Ruth came up to me, gave me a big hug, and said “thank you”. Since that Bible study, none of my teammates have felt those uneasy feelings around Ruth. When we listen to and trust God, He will use us in miraculous ways every single day.
Many people want to serve like Jesus, love like God, or listen like Holy Spirit. I want to be a warrior like God. I want to be someone who fights for what is true and just. Someone who loves deeply and who fights for people not because that is the right thing to do but because that is what every person deserves. When we become a warrior for God, we step into the role He created us for.
How are you going to use the warrior inside of you to wage war with the enemy?
