Thoroughly Equipped (Part 2)
In the first article by this name I wrote about a Special Forces A-Team that found itself amazingly outnumbered and out-gunned by an Iraqi infantry force. Just more than 30 Americans in Humvees took on about 150 well trained Iraqis in armored personnel carriers and T-55 main battle tanks. Most ordinary light infantry units that found themselves outnumbered over five to one and outgunned by such a heavy armored force would have turned and run. But Green Berets don’t like to run. This team in particular, from the 3rd Special Forces Group, had decided before the war began that they would never run from a fight, and they didn’t run from this one – despite the apparent odds (Information taken from Roughneck Nine-One, by Sgt. 1st Class Frank Antenori and Hans Halberstadt).
The Green Berets in the story above decided they would never run from a fight. That decision influenced the way they trained and prepared for deployment. For the Special Forces team in Iraq being thoroughly equipped meant trusting their training and refusing to be intimated. It meant putting their weapons to perfect use based on the capabilities they’d learned during their preparation.
In the last article I wrote about the Christian’s need to be thoroughly equipped for life’s battles. In that article, I suggest that this “equipping” is actually a lot different than most of us have been conditioned to understand it. In terms of spiritual warfare, being ready for a fight doesn’t mean spending long, intense hours on your knees and straining your vocal chords by the ferocity of your rebuking, binding and loosing. Our life began with rest. Our strength is renewed through rest. Our burdens are relieved when we rest.
Do you believe me? Ask yourself this question… What was mankind’s first day of life? Adam was created on the sixth day. So his first full day of life was actually the seventh day, and on the seventh day, “God ended His work which He had done, and He rested” (see Genesis 2:2). Our life begins in rest. Isaiah chapter 40 goes to wonderfully descriptive lengths to illustrate the size and awesome power of God. The anchor and last verse of that chapter says that as we “wait” on the Lord, our own personal strength will be renewed. In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus urges his followers to come to him so that he can give them rest. He says that he’ll lift their heavy burdens – he’ll lighten their load.
We win spiritual fights when we refuse to fight them. I don’t mean pretending that problems don’t exist. “I’m not sick, I’m not sick, I’m not sick…” Those of you (like me) who’ve tried that know that it doesn’t work. By refusing to fight spiritual battles I mean abandoning the notion that we’re able or even supposed to be able to take care of ourselves. When terror strikes your life God is not expecting you to dig in your spiritual heals and clench your spiritual fists and grit your spiritual teeth. He simply says, “Come to me…” (see Matthew 11:28-30).
I think this is what Jesus was trying to teach his followers and best friends as he urged them to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. As you recall the story, he takes his 3 closest disciples with him and instructs them to pray. In verse 41 he says, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” If you’re like me, you’ve interpreted this verse to mean, “Pray or else you’ll be tempted to run away and abandon me! I know your spirit is willing but when you see the army coming your flesh will get scared and you’ll run for it.” Is that pretty close to what you’ve always thought? I’ve certainly heard this verse taught that way.
The story that follows completely contradicts that interpretation. Verse 47 says that Judas came with a “great multitude,” armed with swords and clubs. In fact, all 4 Gospels make special mention of the fact that Jesus was arrested by a multitude of men who were armed for a battle. Instead of the disciples being scared and running for their lives, what do they do? Verse 51 says that Peter pulls his sword and attacks! By reading this same account from the other Gospels, we understand that the followers of Jesus only had a total of 2 swords. Unless James or John had the other sword, Peter was the only one near Jesus with a weapon. Despite the odds, Peter pulls his sword. Didn’t Peter boldly confess that he would never leave Jesus and that he was prepared to die with him if necessary? It seems that Peter is making good on that promise. He looks at this armed mob and thinks, “Either God is going to get Old Testament on these guys or this is where we die, fighting for Jesus!” Peter isn’t afraid to fight. He surely must know that this is a suicide mission, but he’s willing to fight it.
I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ next words to Peter for several months now.
The amazing thing is that Jesus also says, “If you want to fight, God will even help you, but it won’t accomplish his will for your life.” The key word in verse 53 is, “Now.” Jesus says, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” Even after Jesus knows for certain that he must drink the cup set before him – after he’s been strengthened by angels – after he’s assured himself that it is God’s will for him to go to the cross – he says, “I can ask God to get me out of this and he’ll do it!”
I think that Jesus was trying to prepare his disciples not to fight. He knew that they were violently loyal to him and that in their flesh, they’d never allow him to be taken by an angry mob. Their weak flesh would want to fight the enemy no matter how long the odds. The temptation he wanted them to avoid was the temptation to break their rest and break their trust in the redemptive, capable hands of God.
I’m going to extend this series into an unprecedented 3rd Part in which I write about the voice of our rest – Praise and Worship. Stay tuned!
Peace.
SJB
The Green Berets in the story above decided they would never run from a fight. That decision influenced the way they trained and prepared for deployment. For the Special Forces team in Iraq being thoroughly equipped meant trusting their training and refusing to be intimated. It meant putting their weapons to perfect use based on the capabilities they’d learned during their preparation.
In the last article I wrote about the Christian’s need to be thoroughly equipped for life’s battles. In that article, I suggest that this “equipping” is actually a lot different than most of us have been conditioned to understand it. In terms of spiritual warfare, being ready for a fight doesn’t mean spending long, intense hours on your knees and straining your vocal chords by the ferocity of your rebuking, binding and loosing. Our life began with rest. Our strength is renewed through rest. Our burdens are relieved when we rest.
Do you believe me? Ask yourself this question… What was mankind’s first day of life? Adam was created on the sixth day. So his first full day of life was actually the seventh day, and on the seventh day, “God ended His work which He had done, and He rested” (see Genesis 2:2). Our life begins in rest. Isaiah chapter 40 goes to wonderfully descriptive lengths to illustrate the size and awesome power of God. The anchor and last verse of that chapter says that as we “wait” on the Lord, our own personal strength will be renewed. In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus urges his followers to come to him so that he can give them rest. He says that he’ll lift their heavy burdens – he’ll lighten their load.
We win spiritual fights when we refuse to fight them. I don’t mean pretending that problems don’t exist. “I’m not sick, I’m not sick, I’m not sick…” Those of you (like me) who’ve tried that know that it doesn’t work. By refusing to fight spiritual battles I mean abandoning the notion that we’re able or even supposed to be able to take care of ourselves. When terror strikes your life God is not expecting you to dig in your spiritual heals and clench your spiritual fists and grit your spiritual teeth. He simply says, “Come to me…” (see Matthew 11:28-30).
I think this is what Jesus was trying to teach his followers and best friends as he urged them to pray with him in the Garden of Gethsemane. As you recall the story, he takes his 3 closest disciples with him and instructs them to pray. In verse 41 he says, “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” If you’re like me, you’ve interpreted this verse to mean, “Pray or else you’ll be tempted to run away and abandon me! I know your spirit is willing but when you see the army coming your flesh will get scared and you’ll run for it.” Is that pretty close to what you’ve always thought? I’ve certainly heard this verse taught that way.
The story that follows completely contradicts that interpretation. Verse 47 says that Judas came with a “great multitude,” armed with swords and clubs. In fact, all 4 Gospels make special mention of the fact that Jesus was arrested by a multitude of men who were armed for a battle. Instead of the disciples being scared and running for their lives, what do they do? Verse 51 says that Peter pulls his sword and attacks! By reading this same account from the other Gospels, we understand that the followers of Jesus only had a total of 2 swords. Unless James or John had the other sword, Peter was the only one near Jesus with a weapon. Despite the odds, Peter pulls his sword. Didn’t Peter boldly confess that he would never leave Jesus and that he was prepared to die with him if necessary? It seems that Peter is making good on that promise. He looks at this armed mob and thinks, “Either God is going to get Old Testament on these guys or this is where we die, fighting for Jesus!” Peter isn’t afraid to fight. He surely must know that this is a suicide mission, but he’s willing to fight it.
I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ next words to Peter for several months now.
Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:52-53 NKJV).If you pull the sword, you’ll die by the sword. I think that Jesus is saying, “If you want to fight, you’ll be in a fight for the rest of your life.” I’ve tried the angry-at-the-devil prayers, and I’ve done all the rebuking, confessing, declaring, binding and claiming I can handle. You know what…? Jesus is right. There’s no end to that process. The moment you think you’ve won some sort of victory you’ll be drawn into something else. Your Christian experience will be a constant drain – always bouncing from one fight to the next.
The amazing thing is that Jesus also says, “If you want to fight, God will even help you, but it won’t accomplish his will for your life.” The key word in verse 53 is, “Now.” Jesus says, “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” Even after Jesus knows for certain that he must drink the cup set before him – after he’s been strengthened by angels – after he’s assured himself that it is God’s will for him to go to the cross – he says, “I can ask God to get me out of this and he’ll do it!”
I think that Jesus was trying to prepare his disciples not to fight. He knew that they were violently loyal to him and that in their flesh, they’d never allow him to be taken by an angry mob. Their weak flesh would want to fight the enemy no matter how long the odds. The temptation he wanted them to avoid was the temptation to break their rest and break their trust in the redemptive, capable hands of God.
I’m going to extend this series into an unprecedented 3rd Part in which I write about the voice of our rest – Praise and Worship. Stay tuned!
Peace.
SJB
Scott Bane
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I have had an experience with this recently. My daughter has been having problems with her ears. Too much swimming this summer, I think. So, as a parent I prayed a simple prayer for her to be healed of this infection. Weeks later, she is still in pain. I started to feel condemnation that "I didn't pray long enough, hard enough, etc." But, in all that I had a peace that it's going to be fine and I don't need to "do" anything. I had no plans to take her to a doctor for this, but when her back-to-school physical rolled around, she still had the ear problem. The doctor prescribed drops. I am going to give them to her to help ease her discomfort, but I know that with or without the drops, God is her healer.
I have been feeling very "rested" in Christ lately, and the attack that comes against my mind is that I am not doing enough for God. How stupid is that? The enemy wants me to believe that unless I am actively stressing or worrying or trying to make things happen, I am not doing what I should for God. I thank my heavenly Father who loves me for the revelation that He has it all taken care of, and all I have to do is rest in that!