Battle Ready: The Christian Warrior's Guide to an Unseen War
Battle Ready: The Christian Warrior's Guide to an Unseen War
Dr. Spencer R. Fusselman
There are some messages we’d rather not hear. In a culture saturated with self-help gospels and promises of an easy life, the raw, unfiltered truth of the Christian walk can be jarring. The truth is this: to be a follower of Christ is to be enlisted in a war. This isn't a comfortable or inviting message. It implies a gritty future, one that demands blood, sweat, and tears—a reality mirrored by the very cross our Savior bled upon.
Many churches in America have done a poor job of presenting this fact. The spiritual enemy is often minimized, dismissed as superstition, or reduced to a cartoonish caricature with a pitchfork and pointy tail. But the Word of God paints a far more serious picture. We are on a spiritual battleground every single day, and to ignore this is to walk onto the front lines without training, without armor, and without orders. The Apostle Paul gives us our standing orders, making it clear that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).
Know Your Enemy, Know the War
A good soldier studies his enemy. We must understand that our adversary, the devil, is not a bumbling fool. Scripture describes him as one who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NKJV). He is a counterfeit, an imposter who masquerades as an angel of light to subvert and deceive. His primary tactic is not overt, but covert; he manipulates the mind to control the flesh. He takes the perfect Word of God and whispers, “Did God really say…?” just as he did in the Garden of Eden.
The enemy is powerful, and we are foolish if we do not respect that power. But he is also a created, limited being. He is not omnipresent or omnipotent. He is nothing next to God. As C.S. Lewis wisely noted, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Our call is not to be obsessed with the devil, but to be aware of his schemes. We must recognize that this spiritual war manifests in the physical world through opposing ideologies and the constant effort to uproot truth.
The Warrior’s Foundation: Fighting From Victory
Here lies the most crucial truth for the Christian warrior. We are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from a victory that has already been won. Our Commander, Jesus Christ, declared the war’s outcome before His ascension, promising that while in the world we will have tribulation, we should “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33-34, NKJV). The battle is won. We do not fight out of a place of defeat or desperation, but with the confidence of those whose King has already conquered. We are more than overcomers because, as the apostle John writes, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NKJV).
As Pastor John MacArthur states, “The Christian is not in a desperate struggle to survive, but in a confident march to victory. The war has been won; the enemy is defeated. We are simply occupying enemy territory until the King returns to establish His kingdom.” This changes everything. Our confidence is not in our own strength or ability, but in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We can stand firm because our victory is already secured.
The Stance: Standing Firm on the Rock
How, then, do we fight this war? Scripture’s command is not to charge headfirst into a brawl with the devil, but to stand firm. A warrior’s stance is everything. If your foundation is weak, you will be easily toppled. Our foundation must be the unshakeable, absolute truth of God’s Word, which allows us to proclaim with the psalmist, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2, NKJV).
In a world of subjective chaos that claims, “What’s true for you isn’t true for me,” the Bible stands as our absolute truth. Jesus Himself prayed for our sanctification, telling the Father, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17, NKJV). We stand firm by renewing our minds with this truth, allowing it to transform us from the inside out.
Voddie Baucham powerfully reminds us of the Word’s authority: “We are not called to defend the Word of God. We are called to proclaim it. You don’t have to defend a lion. You just open the cage and let it out. It will defend itself.” Our offensive and defensive weapon is the same: the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We do not engage the enemy on his terms. Instead, the command is to “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, NKJV).
The B.L.U.E. Protocol: The Battle Drill for the Soul
How do we respond in the heat of a spiritual attack? When the enemy whispers lies of accusation and fear, we must have a trained, immediate response. Here is a practical battle drill for the soul, a protocol called B.L.U.E.
In any human army, weakness is a liability. In God’s army, it is a prerequisite. Our strength is not our own; it comes from our unity with Christ. The paradox of the Christian faith is that our power is perfected in our weakness. When the Apostle Paul begged God to remove the “thorn in the flesh,” the answer he received is the same for us today, for the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV).
God chooses the weak and foolish things of this world to shame the strong and the wise. Our task, then, is not to engage the devil in a test of our own strength, but to wrestle with
God. Like Jacob, we must cling to Him, wrestle with His Word, and submit to His will, even if it means walking away with a limp. That limp is a testimony that we have been changed by an encounter with the living God.
A Call to Arms
We face a spiritual war daily. This is not a call to fear, but a call to intentionality. We must live with the mindset of the ancient proverb: "Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war". Are you a gardener, content to sit idly by, or a warrior who comes to the fellowship to get armored up, refreshed, and sent back to the front line?
Stand up and show up. Know who you are fighting, but more importantly, know who you are in Christ: chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven. Stand firm on His Word. Lean on His power. And when you march out, do not march alone. We need each other on this mission. Go get battle ready, because we can give "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57, NKJV).
There are some messages we’d rather not hear. In a culture saturated with self-help gospels and promises of an easy life, the raw, unfiltered truth of the Christian walk can be jarring. The truth is this: to be a follower of Christ is to be enlisted in a war. This isn't a comfortable or inviting message. It implies a gritty future, one that demands blood, sweat, and tears—a reality mirrored by the very cross our Savior bled upon.
Many churches in America have done a poor job of presenting this fact. The spiritual enemy is often minimized, dismissed as superstition, or reduced to a cartoonish caricature with a pitchfork and pointy tail. But the Word of God paints a far more serious picture. We are on a spiritual battleground every single day, and to ignore this is to walk onto the front lines without training, without armor, and without orders. The Apostle Paul gives us our standing orders, making it clear that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NKJV).
Know Your Enemy, Know the War
A good soldier studies his enemy. We must understand that our adversary, the devil, is not a bumbling fool. Scripture describes him as one who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NKJV). He is a counterfeit, an imposter who masquerades as an angel of light to subvert and deceive. His primary tactic is not overt, but covert; he manipulates the mind to control the flesh. He takes the perfect Word of God and whispers, “Did God really say…?” just as he did in the Garden of Eden.
The enemy is powerful, and we are foolish if we do not respect that power. But he is also a created, limited being. He is not omnipresent or omnipotent. He is nothing next to God. As C.S. Lewis wisely noted, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Our call is not to be obsessed with the devil, but to be aware of his schemes. We must recognize that this spiritual war manifests in the physical world through opposing ideologies and the constant effort to uproot truth.
The Warrior’s Foundation: Fighting From Victory
Here lies the most crucial truth for the Christian warrior. We are not fighting for victory; we are fighting from a victory that has already been won. Our Commander, Jesus Christ, declared the war’s outcome before His ascension, promising that while in the world we will have tribulation, we should “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33-34, NKJV). The battle is won. We do not fight out of a place of defeat or desperation, but with the confidence of those whose King has already conquered. We are more than overcomers because, as the apostle John writes, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NKJV).
As Pastor John MacArthur states, “The Christian is not in a desperate struggle to survive, but in a confident march to victory. The war has been won; the enemy is defeated. We are simply occupying enemy territory until the King returns to establish His kingdom.” This changes everything. Our confidence is not in our own strength or ability, but in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We can stand firm because our victory is already secured.
The Stance: Standing Firm on the Rock
How, then, do we fight this war? Scripture’s command is not to charge headfirst into a brawl with the devil, but to stand firm. A warrior’s stance is everything. If your foundation is weak, you will be easily toppled. Our foundation must be the unshakeable, absolute truth of God’s Word, which allows us to proclaim with the psalmist, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust” (Psalm 18:2, NKJV).
In a world of subjective chaos that claims, “What’s true for you isn’t true for me,” the Bible stands as our absolute truth. Jesus Himself prayed for our sanctification, telling the Father, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17, NKJV). We stand firm by renewing our minds with this truth, allowing it to transform us from the inside out.
Voddie Baucham powerfully reminds us of the Word’s authority: “We are not called to defend the Word of God. We are called to proclaim it. You don’t have to defend a lion. You just open the cage and let it out. It will defend itself.” Our offensive and defensive weapon is the same: the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We do not engage the enemy on his terms. Instead, the command is to “submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7, NKJV).
The B.L.U.E. Protocol: The Battle Drill for the Soul
How do we respond in the heat of a spiritual attack? When the enemy whispers lies of accusation and fear, we must have a trained, immediate response. Here is a practical battle drill for the soul, a protocol called B.L.U.E.
- BREATHE. The very first thing that happens under stress is your body hijacks your mind. The first step is to get your body back under the control of your mind. Take a slow, deep, diaphragmatic breath. Spiritually, it is a declaration: "My mind, led by the Spirit of God, tells my body what to do, not the other way around." You are choosing to be led by the Spirit, not the flesh.
- LISTEN. In the chaos of an attack, there are competing voices screaming for your attention. The voice of fear. The voice of accusation. They are all liars. Your job is to intentionally quiet the noise and listen for the one voice of truth: the voice of God. What does God's Word say about this situation? Jesus assures us, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27, NKJV).
- UNDERSTAND. Once you hear the voice of truth, seek to understand the difference between what God says and what the enemy is screaming. The enemy will tell you, "You are a failure." You must understand that this is a lie about your identity. God's truth says, "Your worth is not in your performance, but in my Son's." The enemy accuses to condemn you; the Spirit convicts to lead you to the cross for forgiveness.
- EXECUTE. Once you understand God's truth for the situation, you must act on it. Execute the next righteous task. Do not hesitate. If the Spirit convicts you of sin, confess it immediately. If you need to seek or grant forgiveness, do it without delay. The enemy uses time and hesitation as his greatest weapons. We are called to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22, NKJV).
In any human army, weakness is a liability. In God’s army, it is a prerequisite. Our strength is not our own; it comes from our unity with Christ. The paradox of the Christian faith is that our power is perfected in our weakness. When the Apostle Paul begged God to remove the “thorn in the flesh,” the answer he received is the same for us today, for the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV).
God chooses the weak and foolish things of this world to shame the strong and the wise. Our task, then, is not to engage the devil in a test of our own strength, but to wrestle with
God. Like Jacob, we must cling to Him, wrestle with His Word, and submit to His will, even if it means walking away with a limp. That limp is a testimony that we have been changed by an encounter with the living God.
A Call to Arms
We face a spiritual war daily. This is not a call to fear, but a call to intentionality. We must live with the mindset of the ancient proverb: "Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war". Are you a gardener, content to sit idly by, or a warrior who comes to the fellowship to get armored up, refreshed, and sent back to the front line?
Stand up and show up. Know who you are fighting, but more importantly, know who you are in Christ: chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven. Stand firm on His Word. Lean on His power. And when you march out, do not march alone. We need each other on this mission. Go get battle ready, because we can give "thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57, NKJV).
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