Trained

 He trains my hands for battle; He strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow. Psalm 18:34

I was talking with a pastor friend recently who has been working with a number of people who are coming out of very dark and difficult places. Places where sin and its effects have had terrible impact on their lives and the lives of those around them. He is very glad to be used by Him to help them, but he shared how with all of them, there must come a time when they cease to rely upon him and come to rely upon God. More, instead of venting about the difficulties of their lives and seeking words of comfort and encouragement from him, they needed to learn to stand and fight for themselves but fight with the knowledge that their strength and skill in the battle come from Him. From the power of Christ and His indwelling Holy Spirit.

The author of the 18th Psalm is David, who knew much about being trained for battle. His training began with lesser enemies such as bears, wolves, and lions. His battle skills improved to the place of slaying the giant Goliath armed only with a sling and some smooth stones. They progressed to the point of conquering not only the Philistine people who'd been oppressing Israel, but to all the nations around them. From shepherd boy to warrior king, His God had been training him all along the way in victory. Our God will do the same for us.....but we must be willing to undergo the training.

In trouble and pain, it is human and natural to seek comfort. It isn't wrong to do so. We need friends and ministers around us who can do so, but we cannot become reliant upon them. We have to be alert to the danger of relying upon their strength and never developing any strength of our own. We are called to live an overcoming life, and we can never do so until we come to the place where we are willing to stand and fight for ourselves in the battle. He gives us all the weapons we need in order to do so. The book of Ephesians lists the "armor of God" and these weapons will enable us to prevail. However, no weapon is effective if we have no idea how to use it. We learn to trust in the shield of faith by exercising our trust in Him. We learn to wield the sword of the Spirit by growing ever deeper in our knowledge and experience of the truth of His Word and its infinite power. We learn of the invulnerable strength of the breastplate of righteousness by growing ever deeper into His holiness of life. We learn all of this and more by choosing to stop "running" to others and their weapons and learning to employ our own. We stand and fight....and when we do, we prevail. We overcome. We are victorious.

No true army ever recruits soldiers and then sends them into battle with no training in warfare. Yet I believe we have done so in too many ways in the church. There is nothing wrong with support groups, programs, or counseling. All can be very helpful, but too many have become dependent upon them and never learn to depend upon the infinite power of God in Jesus Christ. They seek to hide when the only real solution is to fight the good fight of faith. We need to make our people aware of who our true enemy really is, Satan, and the weapons he employs against us. We need to teach that he's a defeated enemy, but as a good friend has said, "he will never admit he's defeated." Therefore, he will relentlessly attack and seek to take back what he's lost. He cannot when we know how to fight him. When we know that He has given us every resource in Christ to put him to flight every time he comes around "roaring like a lion." Where is this toothless lion roaring at you today? Will you stand and fight....and prevail? All the power of the Kingdom of God is at our disposal. When David faced Goliath, he ran to the battle. When whatever "Goliath's" the enemy dredges up to try to overcome us, may we not run from the battle, but to it. Ultimately, we will win the field......every time. Run to the battle.

Blessings,

Pastor O