Good Soldier

2 Tim 2:3 “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

Being a soldier is not a glamorous way to make a living. Soldiers make very little money, spend time away from family and friends, endure rigorous training, go to war in a moments notice, and risk their lives to preserve the freedom of others. Soldiers suffer hardship! Soldiers in the United States Army are expected to live by the 7 core Army values: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage or (LDRSHIP). To live by these values is to be a leader in the military and leaders set the example for others to follow. Jesus Christ not only lived these values, but also exemplified them and set the standard for the Christian Soldier to follow. Jesus Christ is the greatest soldier of all time. He endured hardship, not for personal gain, recognition, or accolades, but for us to have freedom from the bondage and penalty of sin. When you place your faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are enlisted into the Royal Army of God, (Joshua 5:13-15) and you are now a soldier for Christ. With an invisible warfare going on at all times, all around us, it becomes necessary to train and fight like a soldier. A soldier spends countless hours training for battle. Every scenario in a battle is rehearsed repeatedly until actions become methodical and reactions become involuntary. What we have to understand, as Christian soldiers, is that we will encounter numerous battles on a daily basis. Unless we train like a soldier and our actions become methodical and our reaction becomes involuntary, then we will lose and the enemy will win every battle. We have to take Spiritual Warfare serious and take our training serious if we are to “fight the good fight as a soldier for Christ.” Our training ground is the word of God. We have to become disciplined by consistent training from the study and application of God’s word in order to give ourselves an opportunity for victory in this “unseen warfare”. We must carry the “shield of faith” (Ephesians 6:16) in order to defend against enemy attack. In Romans the 10th chapter verse17, Paul tells us, “Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ”. The only defense that we have, as Christian soldiers in this Spiritual war, is the faith that comes from the continual hearing of the word of God. We must also “take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) The only offensive weapon that we can carry into Spiritual battle is the word of God. If you are a Christian that is not training in the Word daily, then you step into battle without a weapon and without a shield. To go into battle unarmed and defenseless is suicide, whether in physical warfare or Spiritual warfare. Listen to Paul’s words to Timothy and start training like a soldier that understands warfare is inevitable. Start your training regimen in the Word today in order to be a formidable combatant in this unseen war. The enemy is not going to wait until your ready before they press an attack, they are going to hit you while your sleeping. We must remain alert, endure the hardships of a soldier, and stand ready to defend the freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ. We are all soldiers in this war! It’s about time for us to act like soldiers!