Do Not Enter The Battle Unprepared
Too many of My people are running to the front lines of spiritual
warfare before they have been prepared for the battle. Then they are
wounded, and they wonder why.
What commander or general sends his troops to the front lines before
they have been trained for battle? The recruits first go through basic
training, where they undergo rigorous physical and emotional
conditioning. They are trained and prepared for battle; they are
taught how to effectively use the weapons of their warfare.
What commander sends his troops to the front lines without . . .
Do Not Enter The Battle Unprepared
Too many of My people are running to the front lines of spiritual warfare before they have been prepared for the battle. Then they are wounded, and they wonder why.
What commander or general sends his troops to the front lines before they have been trained for battle? The recruits first go through basic training, where they undergo rigorous physical and emotional conditioning. They are trained and prepared for battle; they are taught how to effectively use the weapons of their warfare.
What commander sends his troops to the front lines without giving them both protective gear and offensive weapons? What good can a solder do in a battle if he has no weapons and no armor?
Dear child, do you really think I would send My troops into the thick of battle with no training, no armor and no weapons? Do you think that I am a foolish commander who has no idea of what it takes to win the war? That is not Who I am, dear one--I am the mighty conquering king Who cannot be defeated. I possess all power and all majesty and no force and prevail against Me. I understand the battle and I adequately prepare My troops before I dispatch them to the front lines.
Why is it, then, that so many of My own flee from their basic training and run headfirst into a battle that I have not prepared them for? It is because they don't like My preparation process, where I refine and purify their lives. They don't like it when I convict them of sin or wrong attitudes, or where I make them face hurts of the past in order to break it's power of them. Some feel the training that yields maturity is too difficult for them, or too uncomfortable. So they run away from My boot camp straight into the battle. They place themselves into a place of greater harm and greater danger because they don't want to submit to My preparation and my training manual, the Bible, and to My refiner's fire. The refiners fire does no good what so ever if the Word of God is not present, that makes a man fit for battle.
They don't realize that My refiner's fire is not designed to torment them or to damage them. It is designed to remove those impurities from their life, because those impurities prevent them from putting on the full armor that I give to each of My own.
My maturation process is designed to train and condition and equip you so that you will not fall prey to the whiles and traps and snares of your enemy. It is designed to protect you when you come under attack, so that you can be highly effective in battle. It is to keep you from being wounded in spiritual warfare; it is to mature you and make you victorious.
Dear child, do not fear My refining process in your life, and do not resist it. I am not doing this to heap coals of fire upon your head. I am at work in your life to remove the barriers and obstacles that keep you from walking in success and victory. I know it is uncomfortable at times, but it is necessary that you endure it in order that I might make you an overcoming one and a powerful warrior in Me.
My will, My plan and My desire for you is that you succeed, and that you are fully equipped for all that I call you to do. Then I can send you into the deepest recon mission behind enemy lines, and you will return unscratched. I can send you into the fiercest battle and you will not be harmed. The purity of My holiness will protect you from the fiery darts of the enemy. The power of My presence in your life will keep you from falling into the pit of condemnation, rejection and shame. I will make you so strong in Me that the enemy cannot shake you, and he will not be able to defeat you.
But you must cooperate with Me in your training. Do not run from My refiner's fire and do not resist My spirit as He works in you to convict you and to purify you. Welcome this preparation in your life, for it will carry you victorious through the fiercest of spiritual battles, and it will make you a mighty warrior in Me.
Trust Me, dear one, as you read and study my Word daily and come to Me in prayer, this will allow you to equip yourself for all that lays ahead.