War Plans

While I was a school teacher, one of my students used to tell me "failing to prepare is preparing to fail." Sounded catchy, but as I press on in the fight of faith, I've come to realize how very true this statement is. If our fight is against the devil, the world and our own flesh (all of which I will refer to as the enemy), then it would make sense to make sure you understand the strategy of the enemy before going to war with them. What general leads his men to war without adequately preparing them for what they will encounter? Granted, no one can know exactly what the battle will hold, but one can gain a fair idea from the experience of previous battles.

The enemy attacks each Christian in specific ways, and a Christian would be a fool not to remember the last struggle and seek to plan how to fight better next time. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare oneself by formulating what I will call a war plan. This is simply named to refer to the way in which one plans to fight temptation. By understanding when the temptation comes, how it normally comes about, where one is most succeptible to it, and what feeling in normally associated with it, one can increase their ability to fight. For example, if you're tempted by internet pornography, understanding that the temptation normally comes at night, when you're alone, while you're at your home computer, and a feeling of lonliness or laziness is normally associated with it, then an appropriate war plan for that battle might look like this: 1. Create a schedule of how you will spend each of the evening hours 2. Refuse to be in the house alone after a certain time at night 3. Have a spare pair of shorts and shoes ready to go on a run, so as not to waste time waiting if no one's home 4. Subscribe to Covenant Eyes, or some other internet accountability program 5. Take the initiative to inform your roommate or another brother of the struggle so as to have encouragement and accountability 6. Write out a list of tasks that you would like to accomplish from very easy to very hard, and begin doing them if you find yourself with nothing to do 7. Think of things you can do to help or serve other people 8. Ask other brothers about some of the strategies they use to fight with 9. Get angry at the sin and refuse to yield like a little wimp 10. Watch movies that encourage you to be courageous and strong (Never before thought watching Braveheart could be a spiritual exercise, but it can) 11. Pray before the temptation, during the temptation and after the temptation for the overcoming power of the Spirit to fight through you 12. Memorize verses of Scripture like Matt. 6:22-23, Job 31:1, 1 Cor.10:1-14, Rom. 8:13, Rom.13:13-14, etc. And don't be lazy...........look up verses appropriate to the battle you're in and know them by heart! It's worth the time and effort! You have to find just the right bullets to fire! ( I know the word is normally referred to as the sword of the Spirit, but couldn't we also call it the gun of God.)

Now, I love the Rocky movies as much as anyone(yet am not sure about the one soon to be released)...........but the best part of each one is not when he actually is in the big fight, it's the time of training and preparation prior to it (in addition the sweet songs that usually accompany those scenes). After all, his name is the title, which almost assuredly guarantees that he will be successful. So it is with us. God has given us a name and a destiny that is sure, yet that doesn't eliminate the responsibility that we have to take advantage of the means of grace to see it come about. By the grace of God, become who you were predestined to be! So what are your struggles (battles)? How do you plan to fight the good fight of faith and to take hold of the eternal life to which you were called (1 Tim. 6:12)? You must prepare to fight or else prepare to fail and die.