A Word Within My Spirit: Becoming Battle Ready

These are thoughts that rose up within my spirit this morning. I believe I am to share them with you. As with everything, test them against the Word of God, which is the ultimate authority, and take it before the Lord to see how, or if, it may apply. For full transparency, words in brackets [ ] are those I added after I wrote out what initially came to mind.

The days of singing Kum-Ba-Yah, [swaying to the strums of a guitar around a campfire,] and playing with a Jesus doll are over. For too long, we’ve created an image of God and His Son in our own image. This is idolatry. It’s time to repent.

Believers must stand up and put on their armor, even if it’s rusty, disheveled, or incomplete. Put it on. [Ask the Holy Spirit to instruct you on how to use the armor.] But you are not battle-ready yet. To go into battle with zeal at this point will only bring destruction for you and those you encounter, for your mind is not yet set on the Lord.

First, you must humbly approach the throne of our Lord, the throne of grace, and allow yourself to be taken through the fire and the waters. Test yourself to see if you are in the faith and to purify your heart. Allow God to correct and minister to you. It’s a time of restoration and repentance that will polish and strengthen your armor. Keep submitting yourself to this process until the Holy Spirit has pinned the cloak of humility on your shoulders.

When we enter the battle, it’s not to destroy, it’s to rescue. The enemy has already been defeated-he is not our focus. Rescuing those who are wounded and lost is the reason we enter into battle. Our time before the throne of judgment gives us the opportunity to experience God’s grace for our own weaknesses, building up the love of God and compassion in our hearts to go out and use the sword of the Spirit to release those who are captive. We are not chopping down those we find in enemy territory, we are attacking the chains that bind them—and it can only be done with the sword of the Spirit.

But take care that you know how to use your sword. Some think the sword of the Spirit is shouting verses, but the sword of the Spirit is not the LOGOS of God; it is the RHEMA of God: the REVELATION of the Word of God…which is obtained as we walk through the fires and waters of the Father’s discipline and grace.

This is why a believer must not enter into a battle until they have approached the throne, the holy fire of our God, to be cleansed and purified. And we must approach this throne daily so that we may not become deceived, finding ourselves not as soldiers in the army of God, but a captive of the enemy.

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