Spiritual Soldiers

Let's go back to these words from 2^nd Corinthians, Chapter 10, and have it underlined for us again. See that our weapons are spiritual weapons.  We have to put on the whole armour of GOD.  GOD provides that armour.  It is not something that we have to fabricate.  GOD supplies it.  When you enter an army, you don't have to bring your own kit bag, your own rifle, your own uniform.  They give it to you.  When you join the army, the army provides you with all that you need; gun and bayonet, and whatever else is needed.  It's given.  And it's the same in GOD's army; GOD provides. 

Remember how David spoke to Goliath in that famous Chapter, 1^st Samuel, Chapter 17, where he faced Goliath?  Goliath said, 'I curse you by my gods!  Come to me and I'll give your flesh to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the air to eat.'  What did David say?  1^st Samuel, Chapter 17, verse 45: 'Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin.  But I come to you in the Name of the LORD of Hosts, the GOD of the armies of Israel, Whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.  And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a GOD in Israel.  Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands.'

That's how we fight!  The battle is the LORD's!  We need to remember this.  GOD provides the armour; He has chosen us to be His soldiers, as the Bible tells us.  We are to please Him, Who has chosen us to be soldiers.  Soldiers have to wake up very early in the morning.  Once the call goes out; the trumpet, or whatever it is, they are out of their bunks.  They don't lie there.  If they do, they are put into what is called euphemistically 'the glass house'; into prison, military prison.  They've got to be up early, and out onto that drill field.  They've got to be drilling.  And here's another secret of a successful Believer in his walk with GOD: he is early at it.  And he is regularly at it.  He doesn't do things in fits and starts; but he applies himself.  He is diligent.

GOD said, 'You shall meditate on My Word day and night.  These Words of Mine shall not depart from your mouth.  Then you shall make your way prosperous.  Then you shall have good success.'  So we must be early at it.  And we mustn't leave any unguarded place.  'Leave no unguarded place,' says an old hymn, 'no weakness of the soul.' Remember how King Ahab died?  A certain man thought, 'Oh, there's a target for me.'  He didn't realize it was the king of Israel, because the king of Israel had disguised himself as a common soldier.  He shot him.  Where did he shoot him?  Between his joints and his harness.  'AH, there's a spot!'  He shot, and he got in between his armour; the king had not closed up the gaps in his armour; it went in and it was a mortal wound.  The man died that same day. So we must not leave any unguarded place. And the armour GOD has provided, covers everything that is vulnerable, as we will see.  And in this way, 'You may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.' In no other way can we do so.  David says, ''In GOD I have put my trust.'''In GOD's Word, I hope.'  And that's how we stand.

The word 'wiles' here; the 'wiles of the devil', is a Greek word from which we get the word 'method'; 'methodeias' in Greek.  The 'methods' of the devil.  How can we summarize the methods of the devil?  They are so varied.  We will be difficult listing them all.  And one great Bible teacher in England spent a year teaching his people about the wiles of the devil, and warning them against this and that and the other.  He took a year.  We were there; we heard that teaching.  How can we find a common denominator?  Here it is: questioning the truth of GOD's Word.  That's what underlines; that's the common denominator; that's the thread that runs through it all.  Questioning the truth of the Word of GOD.  The devil is active, not only in the cults, he is also active through people who call themselves theologians, who have never been born-again; and people pay respect to them because they may be great scholars.  But if they question the truth of GOD's Word; I question the value of reading their books.