Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
—Psalm 144:1
SUMMER 1986, Fort Dix, New Jersey, Chaplain Basic Course. We have just finished a night “ruck march”—a forced march carrying heavy backpacks—and are being harassed and attacked by drill sergeants using riot control gas. As we stop in place, which gave me time to remove my helmet and get a breather, one of their grenade canisters lands in my helmet lying upside down on the ground.
The drill sergeants are prepping us to get ready. They assure us that the live ammunition being fired out of the machine guns is at least twelve to fourteen feet above our heads, but we get a stern warning: “Do not, under any circumstances, stand up!” The live machine gun fire is nearly nonstop, which means to me that more than one weapon is firing rounds above us.
I stay low, crawling under concertina wire in the night infiltration course, while drill sergeants keep barking out commands for us to keep our heads down. At the same time, simulation artillery is exploding all around us. Dirt sprays upward as I crawl forward. I have seen war movies like this; now I am living it. One question keeps being repeated in my mind: Why did I volunteer to join the military?
It is not the last time I question my decision. It is at times like this, when things get tough, that we question our motives, our calling and our sanity.
I have discovered through a series of hard times in training and in live combat what it takes to be a warrior of God. Here is what it takes: the predetermined decision that you are not going to give up, no matter what.
Yes, there will be times you question your sanity and even your faith. But if you are going to be a warrior for Jesus Christ, you will need the courage to break through the obstacles that stand in your way.
Train as You Fight
In chapter 4 I mentioned the Army’s maxim “Train as you fight.” In other words, the conditions in basic training must be as close to combat reality as possible.
Basic training in the military is a regimented, multi-week ordeal that includes daily and sometimes hourly physical training, weapons qualifications, close-order marching, drills and ceremonies, military protocols, keeping a neat uniform, and similar disciplines. At the end of this chapter you will discover ten training principles to help prepare you for what is coming.
Just as the military puts soldiers through basic training to ready them for war, the end times requires spiritual warriors who are trained in the art of spiritual disciplines.
In biblical times (as we have seen), David learned many of the disciplines of training, such as protecting his sheep by fighting off bears and lions while shepherding flocks in the wilderness. He proved his mettle by killing Goliath with a stone in a sling, and learned many of his fighting skills in the army as King Saul’s armor bearer and bodyguard.
David had to be skilled in the use of weapons, fighting techniques, taking orders, and other military disciplines. This training not only prepared him for combat but also helped him get into the minds of his enemies so he could defeat them. My U.S. Army chaplain friend Colonel Peter Brzezinski explains:
If you understand the mindsets of those you are dealing with, whether in conflict or peace, you can go a long way to doing God’s work and ministry. We learn lessons from great leaders God has raised up, like David. Imperfect as he was, he was a person of great military savvy, and the principles he used are still studied today in many arms of the military. For example, when you go to the armory school, or the infantry school, they talk about some of the tactics he used in biblical times.1
We learn by repetition and implementation. What we practice every day behind closed doors comes out in the heat of the battle. One of the reasons there is such widespread falling away from the faith today is that many people do not practice their faith moment by moment each day.
As a child, you were taught to tie your shoes. At first it seemed hard and it took a while to get the hang of it. Now you don’t even think about it; it is automatic. It is the same with many things we do every day.
The reason we train as we fight is that when you are in the thick of combat, you react in the same way you have trained. Repetition conditions you to perform without thinking. Warriors do not have the luxury of thinking when engaging the enemy. That is when training comes into play.
David acknowledged that God “trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1). In fact, my friend U.S. Army Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) Scott Koeman says that success on the battlefield for David and other Bible heroes boiled down to one quality:
It’s humility before the Lord, because every battle won was won by a king who had a humble heart. King Josiah was also a godly man, but he was filled with pride and didn’t take wise advice—and in his own pride, he died in battle. So every time there is success in battle, it is because of humility before the Lord—every time without qualification. It is the Lord who wins the battle, and when we remain humble and let Him fight our fight, then we can be victorious.2
Just as God anointed David and other biblical heroes for victory in battle, He anoints and blesses His people throughout the week—not only preachers, but blue-collar workers, managers, CEOs, farmers and warriors to carry out divine assignments. Training begins when we acknowledge that we in ourselves can do nothing without Him (see John 15:5).
The apostle Paul wrote, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Joel Richardson says about this passage:
Paul uses the analogy of Olympic athletes and compares that to the Christian life and to his life as an apostle. There is no question that the discipline necessary to be a soldier carries a lot of lessons that most Christians today could learn from—prayer, devotion to the Lord, and more. All those things require discipline.3
Training in the End Times
Some Bible scholars believe that Ezekiel 38–39 speaks of the end-times battle before Armageddon, but we believe these chapters speak of Armageddon itself, the last battle in history:
“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.
Ezekiel 39:17–20
Notice the resemblance to this passage in Revelation that describes the final battle:
And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
Revelation 19:17–18
No, there are not two end-times battles; there is one. The Battle of Armageddon looms ever closer. Nation after nation is training its military for war.
Also notice that after the battle, God displays His glory, letting the world’s nations know who the Lord is and why He has come:
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
Ezekiel 39:25–29
The world around us trains for rewards that fade and applause that dissipates. Do you suppose Olympic athletes wait until a few weeks before the games to start training? Not on your life. They train for years—all for fading gold and money. Yet how many people remember the Olympic champions of just ten years ago?
So why are believers training? We are training for an eternal reward—that we may bring many into the Kingdom; reflect the glory of God to a lost and dying world; and receive, in the end, an eternal crown that will never tarnish.
Followers of Christ must train in the spiritual disciplines that are present in the Word of God. We need to stay focused on what Scripture tells us to do. The Bible is our training manual. Paul summarizes it in 1 Timothy 4:7–10:
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
Do you want to be a warrior for the Kingdom of God? Do you desire to be used in these final days to overcome evil and fight the good fight? Train yourself to be godly. Hear the passion in the apostle Paul’s message to Timothy (above): “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.”
This is not legalism. It is seeking after God with everything you have. If you do not train for godliness, you will not reap the benefits.
How do we train? The list below reveals just a few spiritual disciplines, and how to approach each one. Start slowly with the right attitude of training for godliness, reaping the fruit and intensity of the Spirit, and preparing for the last days.
Reading the Word of God Daily
Start your day with opening your Bible. If you are not already doing so, you will find many Bible reading apps for smartphones and plans on the internet that will help you. Find one that works for you. Don’t worry how many chapters you read each day; focus on a few Scriptures and then apply them to your life, asking the Holy Spirit to lead you. Ask questions continually about what you have just read. Ask God to open “the eyes of your heart” (Ephesians 1:18). My wife and I read God’s Word together every morning, then discuss its meaning and pray together. Powerful.
Using Scripture as a Weapon
Just as Jesus in His temptation in the wilderness used Scripture as a weapon against Satan (see Matthew 4:1–11), so can you. The Bible contains thousands of promises, many of which we can use to arm ourselves for spiritual warfare. Paul explains: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). If obstacles, walls, closed doors and hindrances are blocking you, you will have to discern if it is a God thing or an attack or ambush from the enemy.
Worship
The basic definition of worship is to attribute unto God His worthiness, and to bow down and pay reverence. Glorifying God and giving Him “a sacrifice of praise” (Hebrews 13:15) is not something to be done just on Sunday mornings; it is an attitude of the heart all week long, whether we feel like it or not. Learn to praise God during the day and in varying situations. Praise Him out loud and in your heart. Praise Him with uplifting music and in the quietness of silence. Use Scriptures, such as Psalm 145 (a psalm of David), to worship and praise Him. Pray, sing praises, magnify His name, raise holy hands, clap, dance before Him, and more. A choir went ahead of the army of Jehoshaphat, kind of Judah, to sing the praises of God and win the battle against a vast and mighty enemy army (see 2 Chronicles 20:21–24). Praise disperses and confuses our enemies and brings the power of God into dire situations. It unleashes God’s power and brings into focus what is important—in the words of the Westminster Catechism, “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
Prayer
Kings of old inquired of the Lord before they went into battle. 1 Samuel 23:4 says King David often did this: “Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, ‘Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.’” We must adopt this mentality. Praying in the morning, praying the Scriptures, praying for others and praying for your needs are all good things. But we must be in touch with the Lord throughout the day, especially before big meetings, transitions, decisions, battles and other important events. To “inquire of the Lord” means to ask Him questions. God says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (NKJV). He invites you to converse and commune with Him throughout the day. He invites you to talk to Him about helping others (interceding). You can even ask God about what you should pray about and how you should pray. Find a special place to get alone with Him and use that as your hiding place. The Pharisees had a habit of praying for public display so people would see them as pious and religious. That is the opposite of what Jesus told us to do: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
Foundational principles are the building blocks in becoming a warrior for God.
An example went viral that was given by retired U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven, the former four-star commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. The former Navy SEAL credited with organizing Operation Neptune Spear, the special ops raid that led to the elimination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, gave one of the best commencement speeches ever at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, in 2014. “If you want to change the world,” McRaven told the graduates, “start off by making your bed. . . . If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”4
What the admiral had learned in the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) school, and what every soldier learns in basic training, is how to make your bed, and make it right, or you will pay the consequences and do push-ups. Why do you suppose the military puts such emphasis on making your bed? Order and discipline. Drill sergeants know that if soldiers can make their beds correctly, they will pay better attention to the details that might save their lives one day. Little things can turn into big things in a hurry.
So get the foundations of your life right. Start with your relationship with Christ. Is it real? Have you given your life over to the One who can save you from yourself and your sins? Start there. Then, if you start your day with God in prayer and reading His Word, you will receive inspiration, power and your orders for the day from your Creator.
Then get up and fix your bed!
Do little things like that matter to God? You bet they do. Look no farther than God’s creation: “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). God designed the universe and you in exquisite and excruciating detail, out of nothing—in the Latin, ex nihilo. Scientists are still trying to figure out how the universe runs and how it was designed.
Yet we have the mistaken belief that God is not about precision or accuracy, and that any old thing will do. Yes, God is a God of mercy, patience, love and understanding, but He is also a God of holiness and of order.
When we leave this planet and stand before the Creator of the universe, we will gaze upon the beauty, power, might and majesty of God for eons just to drink in the enormity of the scene. No wonder Isaiah cried out and fell before the Lord. Isaiah 6:1–5 gives us a glimpse:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”
How do we approach the unapproachable God? The writer of the book of Hebrews explained, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
The Greek word for earnestly in this verse is ekzētousin, which means to seek out, demand and inquire. Passion and intensity define this word. The true warrior is one who goes hard after God, passionately and diligently. The word bestselling author John Bevere uses is relentless—a continuous and passionate pursuit of God.
Of all the characters in the Bible, King David epitomizes this the best. He was a pursuer after God, a man after God’s own heart. Read his passion in Psalm 63:1–5:
You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
MILITARY BASIC TRAINING PRINCIPLES5
The following are the Army’s principles of basic training that will serve as a guide in your quest to become a noble and disciplined warrior of God:
BELIEVER’S BASIC TRAINING PRINCIPLES
Here are some practical takeaways from basic training to help you mature in your walk with the Lord: