As we think about our life as being a war we have to understand the battle we fight.  Richard Phillips said,

“American military commanders follow a standard procedure for planning their operations that has proven effective over many years. The operations order consists of five paragraphs, the most important of which are the first two: the situation and the mission. Above all else, a successful battle plan requires a proper understanding of the situation and a grasp of the correct mission for the unit to perform.”

 I was talking about this with my brother-in-law who is a Major in the Army.  He said they seek to understand, visualize, describe, and direct.  Do you understand the battle in which you are engaged?  It is absolutely a requirement that we study our battle manual.  When we study the Bible we find the source of victory, Galatians 5:16, we are told of the scope of battle and of the means of battle, Ephesians 6:10-18, and we are told of the outcome, Revelation 20:7-10. 

 When you read about Spirit Warfare in much of  today’s literature you find an unholy fascination with the enemy.  Our focus isn’t on the enemy—our focus is on the King of kings and Lord of lords.  As long as we keep our eyes on Him and walk in His Spirit we cannot lose!  I’ll close with the words of Paul,

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ, always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere…” (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Yesterday we looked at Woodhouse’s quote on evangelism being seen as war.  That reminded me of one of my favorite books by John Piper, Let The Nations Be Glad!  In that great book on missions, Piper said,

“Life is war.  That’s not all it is.  But it is always that.  Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth.  Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief.  It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den.  God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie  so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world.  Prayer gives us the significance of front-line forces, and gives God the glory.  Thus prayer safe-guards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need.” (41)

John Woodhouse in his commentary on 1 Samuel said,

“As we engage in efforts to win our neighbors, friends, relatives, and everyone else for Christ, we must remember this lesson.  Never allow your longing for victory to tempt you into thinking that it may be won by worldly means, whether by human power, human cleverness, or human impressiveness.  No.  It must be won (to quote the apostle again) ‘by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.’ (2 Corinthians 6:6,7)

However it is also important to be reminded that the proclamation of the gospel is war.  As we take the word of Christ to an unbelieving world, we go to do battle.  It is right to feel apprehensive.  ‘Who is sufficient for these things?’ (2 C 2:16)  It is also right to sense the excitement of gospel work.  War is like that.”

Do you ever think of sharing the Gospel as doing battle?  Do you ever think of it as war?  Woodhouse gives several examples of how we have moved away from that language.  We often replace the wartime language of the Bible with terms from the business world.  We sell a product instead of fighting a battle, we have those who market the Gospel instead of soldiers, we have merchandise instead of weapons, we face potential customers instead of enemies of the Gospel, and “we are out to expand our market share and increase our customer base, not to capture, defeat, and destroy a foe.”  We form business plans instead of battle plans and we tend to advertise instead of fight.   (Woodhouse, 1 Samuel, 191-192)

My friend Ryan Whitley posted the following video on his blog. It’s a great reminder of what life really is.

Several years ago Bro. Dave Milligan gave me a diagram of the trinity that he had found in an old book.  When Bro. Dave gives you something he found in an old book–you know it’s old! (For those of you who are not members of FBC, Bro. Dave will be 103 this year!)  I found that same diagram on a blog the other day and wanted to share it with you. 

This will take about 8 minutes, but it is well worth the time.

I’ve been on a Jerry Bridges kick lately–Discipline of Grace, Transforming Grace, and Trusting God. His book Pursuit of Holiness had a huge impact on me years ago, but as I was reading Transforming Grace last night I was moved by a quote he gave from AW Pink.

“The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone.”

Bridges went on to talk about justification and santification.  He said,

Scripture speaks of both a holiness we already possess in Christ before God and a holiness in which we are to grow more and more.  The first is the result of the work of Christ for us; the second is the resut of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.  The first is perfect and complete and is ours the moment we trust Christ; the second is progressive and incomplete as long as we live in this life.

He went on to say,

But the truth I want to call attention to in the passage (1 Corinthians 1:30) is that Christ Jesus has become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.  That Christ is our righteousness is an accepted and well-understood truth and the basis for our justification.  But Christ is also our holiness.  This fact is not as well understood.  All Christians look to Christ alone for thier justificaiton, but not nearly as many also look to Him for their perfect holiness before God.  The blessed truth, though, is that all believers are sanctified in Christ, even as we are justified in Christ.”

Wow!  Everything we are or will be is centered in Christ. Rest in that today!

Did you see the following story? You can read it here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32950836/ns/today-today_health/,  or you can watch it here.

Wow!  Choosing life is not always easy, but it is always right!

You don’t have to be an Auburn fan to appreciate Trooper Taylor.  I watched him during the Auburn game last weekend and was amazed at his passion for the game. 

What’s your passion?  Sunday morning I spoke about the Immutability of God.  If God is unchanging then we should expect to have at least as intimate of a relationship with Him as did the men and women of the Bible.  I want to remind you of what I said, “Our lack of knowledge and intimacy with God comes down to priority, passion, and time.  It really comes down to passion.  If knowing God is your passion you will make it a priority and you will make the time.”

Have you set aside time to be with God today?  Is He your passion?  Trooper’s passion shows on the sidelines…does your passion for God show up in your life?