"Battle Tested and Battle Ready!"

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;

casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exhalteth itself against the knowledge of God,

and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"  (2nd Corinthians 10:3-5)
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I remember the first 4 months of my 1st grade experience... almost everyday at lunchtime I'd get beat-up and chased home by the same to boys in my class...

Not only did they beat me up, but they took my 25 cent bag of barbacue potato chips in the process.
Well, as life would have it, my mom was fed-up with me getting beat-up everyday and decided that it was time to put an end to this violence against her first born son...

A huge smile was on my face when I saw my mother's resolve to bring my suffering to an end; but to my amazement, upon our return to school that afternoon mom did something that I never suspected.

First: she made me point out the two boys who were terrorfying me daily and grabed them by the collar.

Second: she said to me; it's time for you to learn to fight back, and you're going to take on these two bullies one-at-a-time.

Third: she gave me that age old ultimatum - "if you don't beat them, I'm gonna beat you!"

That was the beginning of my fighting career. From that single ordeal I lost all fear of fighting, and with each looming battle I gained more experience while sharpening my pugilistic and survival skills.

Learning to parry left and right, how to duck, bob and weave. Knowing how and when to pop-out a stiff jab and how to throw a timely upper-cut or cross.

It wasn't too long before I became comfortable with taking on challenges and challengers alike...as we used to say in those day; "I had a lot of heart".

So it wasn't strange to many in my family when I made the decision to join the Marine Corps. The way I figured it, if I was going to fight for my country I needed to be apart of the best world renowned fighting unit. The Marines are known as;

"A Force In Readiness".

History tells of their wartime victories, exploits, and feirce fighting skills...

While I'm no longer in the Marines I do still face many challenges and challengers, only this time it's in a different arena.

In Ephesians 6:10 Paul writes: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places..."

How many times in our lives have we been caught off guard and caught up in situations that just seemed to occur from nowhere?

- Marital problems
- Financial woes
- Angry sons and daughters
- Disagreements with a supervisor
- Arguments with other saints

...and the list just goes on.

For the average human being, situations like those just mentioned would turn their worlds upside down... Average folk don't understand what it takes to get a prayer through, they can't fathom the real necessity for fasting or just laying before the Lord both day and night.

They become so taken by suprise and some never return mentally to the everyday process of just simply living.

The well prepared soldier in te Lord's army understands that there will be times when we all must suffer persecution, "but God" is more than able to deliver us out of them all.

We readily recognize the tricks and traits of the enemy, and our strategic responses to Satan's attacks are why Peter calls us "a peculiar people"...

What is it that drives our spirit-man to rejoice in the face of adversity?

First: We have the testimonies of the patriarchs.

In Psalm 271-2 David declared: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell..."

We understand all too well that eventhough we are caught in the midst of a battle, our battles belong to the Lord...scripture and even our own history has proven this fact time after time.

Second: Through-out our lives we've constantly heard others say; "prayer chenges things"...

Psalm 6:9 states: "The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer"...

Prayer has essentially been at the heart of every battle fought and victories won, which proves that God's eye is truly on the righteous and His ear attendeth to their cries...

Third: Our praise not only confuses the enemy, but it prompts God to take leave from His throne in Glory, and inhabit the praises of His people. Praise stirs up an unction in the Lord which cause Him to confound and destroy the enemy on our behalf.

In 2nd Chronicles 20:19-24 the children of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir set an ambush for the tribe of Judah; surrounding them with designed plans to destroy all. But Jehoshaphat led the assembly of Judah in prayer and sought instruction from the Lord..

As the entire tribe marched out to do battle, God instructed Jehoshaphat to order the fighting soldiers to the rear of the people, and bring the singers to the front. Once this was completed, they were ordered to sing praises unto the Lord in the beauty of holiness...what was their battle cry you ask?

"Praise The Lord; For His Mercy Endureth Forever!"

Then when their attackers witnessed their joy, and heard their expressions of praise unto the Lord; they forgot all about their initial purpose and began to attack and destroy each other....an do you know that all of Judah spent the next three days reaping the benefits of a battle that belonged to the Lord...

The moral of this message?

No matter how dark the night or how high the mountain we face in our daily walk, no matter the traps and snares the enemy sets in our way; "yea though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death" we walk not in fear, because our God is an awesome God who guides us over every mountain and through the valley low.

Our God equips us with weapons that no Devil in hell is able to overcome. We've been equiped with the "Whole Armor of God"....

Our experiences, and our super-natural weapons are what make us....

"Battle tested and Battle ready!"

Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power, (His Power) that worketh in us!