Starting the Warrior’s Journal study

It’s 2:00 a.m. as I write this – just back from Seattle and I wanted to kick off the discipling experiment we’re starting. I’ll be excerpting 9 weeks of curriculum on a daily basis and emailing it to a group of disciplers who in turn will use it to disciple others. It’s an experiment in intentionality – a key principle in disciple making. Here is what the first day looks like:

Dear
readers,

I’ve written this spiritual guidebook to help you take on an enemy who has you squarely in his sights. I hope you find it helpful.

Early church history shows us that in a little more than 300 years, Christianity went from a small band of desperate men and women to the official religion of the Roman
world.

How did this happen? It happened because of the absolute conviction of Jesus’ disciples. They were warriors for the faith, and they passed on this conviction to their disciples. They moved out boldly against enemies who thought nothing of stoning them to death because they were absolutely convinced God was on their side.

That warrior spirit that Jesus gave his disciples is our inheritance. How in the world did we ever get on the defensive? Hey folks, I’ve got news for you: our side wins! We have been given spiritual armor. We have been given all authority. And we have been given the task of bringing hope to a world that is numb with pain.

A Warrior’s Journal

Meditations for the fight of your life

Introduction: You’re in the fight of your life!

Ephesians 6:12 “Our fight is not against flesh and blood…”

With Adam’s fall, God gave the devil permission to move in and claim this world as his own. Call it squatter’s rights. Jesus’ arrival signaled something new. The battle turned and Satan was bound by the power of the Son of God. Jesus proclaimed that it was time for Satan to pack his bags, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31). He enforced this proclamation by driving out demons and binding the prince of darkness, the “strong man” of this world. Jesus said,

“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?” (Matt 12:28-29).

Jesus stretched out to reclaim the heart of every sinner from the clutches of the strong man most decisively in His death and resurrection. He said, “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). And today His voice still thunders across the globe: “I am not willing that any should perish!” (2 Peter 3:9).

He has blessed us with the privilege to continue this expansion of His Kingdom. As His disciples we are called to destroy strongholds of evil and reclaim the world for Him. The history of the Lord’s people is an account of a steady push deeper into enemy territory, reclaiming what is rightfully his, one life at a time.

Around the world today the battle is raging. It is a spiritual battle not observable to the human eye. A story is unfolding and God is the protagonist of it – He will show Himself strong and drive all squatters from His lands. Those of us who have given our lives to Jesus as Lord are His warriors – the very instruments through which He wages warfare. If God used a pagan Assyrian king as His battle-axe, how much more will he use us, His servants, to fight the enemy? As Paul says, God has blessed us with divine power to destroy the strongholds of the enemy! (2 Cor 10:4-5)

God gave the pioneer missionary, Amy Carmichael, a vision of great masses of humanity, walking zombie-like toward a cliff. Terrified, she ran from person to person, trying to get them to see what lay ahead. When she awoke from this vision, she realized that she had seen the world from God’s perspective.

With each passing minute, thousands more stumble over eternity’s cliff. Do we have Carmichael’s sense of urgency when we hear Christ’s call to seek and save the lost? (Luke 19:10)

This battle of ours looks unlike any other. Jesus tells us to despise godlessness and sin, but to love our enemies, rather like the hippies did to the national guard troops during the 60s, putting flowers in the muzzles of their guns. It’s a paradox that we are called to fight, but not against flesh-and-blood non-believers, only against the spiritual forces that oppress them: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). Christians often wrongly treat non-believers as if they are our enemy instead of having mercy on them. But rather than struggle with them we, are called to the sacred task of rescuing them from the power of darkness by which they’re enslaved.

(continued here – if you’re interested in signing up, please email me and I’ll add you to my list)