Battles are won with soldiers. Everyone wants peace in the land. Everyone puts their trust in the government to hold back insecurities. Everyone depends on the efforts of people they do not know; people who have made a choice — for whatever reason — to expose themselves to the very real risk of losing their lives. Soldiers could lose their lives any day. It is not fixed, it is not an appointed day. They could lose it whenever they are called upon. They live like dead men, their lives are not theirs.
Soldiers are found in every nation of the earth, and there are also spiritual soldiers.
Everyone wants peace spiritually, and knowing that the spiritual controls the physical, people want peace in their homes, their personal lives and generally, in their circumstances.
But who will ensure this? Who will hold back the enemies of pain, sickness, lack, torment and torture effected by the kingdom of darkness?
Soldiers!
Only soldiers can do this job.
So where are the soldiers meant to come from? What ranks? Who are the people most fit for war? Young or old people? Who has strength?
The older people have experience, they have skill, and they have wisdom garnered over years of battle, if they were warriors.
Younger people have strength and they usually make up the majority of soldiers in a war. They are more reckless; in a good kind of way, especially in this instance (spiritually). They are more daring, and they love adventure more.
In a sense, their ignorance — or better put, their simplicity — is more helpful.
Very little children can exercise the greatest amount of faith when they are taught. In the same way, young people can exercise the greatest amount of commitment to any cause. They do not pause to process every single detail; they process whatever is put in front of them. They are quick to come on board, they are quick to rouse themselves and charge the enemy if they will only have a leader.
But what happens when all the parents withhold their children from joining the army? Who, pray tell, is to advance the cause of the army of God?
The army of God is God’s construct to serve as the push back mechanism to the kingdom of darkness. God’s army is to push back the enemy forces from the places it has occupied through the millennia, and stop it from occupying the places it’s attempting to occupy.
The Kingdom of God is meant to spread till it fills the whole Earth as Daniel saw in his visions (Daniel 2:35). How will it spread if there are no soldiers? How has any kingdom ever been taken? All the things that are written in Scriptures are written as examples for us (1 Corinthians 10:11). Why do we have the stories of battles and wars throughout the Scriptures? They are meant to teach us how to fight, and tell us how the warfare goes. Effort — risky, life-endangering effort — is what is required at every stage.
Victory is not something that drops from heaven, the way people think. Victories come from God when people step out in obedience to His encouragement that ‘Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. I am with you, go! Be strong and courageous, go! Meditate upon my words day and night but there has to be a going. Wherever your foot steps within the area I have given you, you will find victory.’
There must be a stepping out, there must be a marching out, there has to be an army. Two people do not make up an army, and neither do 10 people.
The more the soldiers, the greater the chances of victory. Now, spiritually, victory is not in terms of numerical strength. In Judges 7, we see Gideon’s army, that three hundred men were enough for that mighty host. Three hundred people, not five people. That is like a squad of soldiers; a group of hundreds. This depends on the size of the battle, and the plan and strategy being effected by our Commander-in-Chief at the time. But typically, the more soldiers there are, the greater the chances of victory. More soldiers can carry out more skirmishes and more raids. If you have groups of a hundred in two hundred places, the chances of victory will blow through the sky.
How is it that we have so many gatherings called churches, Christian groups, fellowships, etc., and there is still so much defeat? Why is there so much defeat in the ranks?
Yes, successes are occuring, without a doubt. God is advancing; He is always doing something. But a major reason why the church is having nothing compared to what we can have is because people have given themselves to the concept of “Jesus has done it all”. This thinking has completely deceived many into thinking that all they have to do is dig in and wait it out until the trumpet sounds.
If you are like this, I can assure you, you will jot hear the trumpet sound.
If you ignored the lesser trumpet sounds, you will not hear the louder one. You can’t, because you disdained the sound of the trumpet when you heard it. Don’t plan to respond to the great trumpet call after you have ignored all the multiple smaller trumpet calls. You missed the drills and therefore you cannot know when it is time for the real occasion. In fact, you will think that it is one of those drills that you have been ignoring in the time past. We must respond to the sound of God’s trumpets.
Whenever the Lord gives a call for soldiers, you should be the first person to say, ‘I will join this cause, I will!’.
You must be willing to push your brother, your sister, your children and say, _Go out and join the army.’ Many parents are preserving their children so that their children can run after the things of this age and this time only — academics, jobs, money and marriage. At the same time, they (the parents) are hoping to hold the enemy at bay; hoping that the children will keep off homosexuality, drug use, immorality, satanism, atheism, and all the great evils that are continuing to arise and go through our land. They are also, at the same time, hoping that God will give them peace.
A nation’s safety only extends as far as God’s protection. And God’s protection is only available to the extent of our obedience. His command was that we “go”. He commands that we join the army, that we march with Joshua (Yeshua, Jesus) leading us. As we step out in obedience, the land will be at rest. As He told King Asa, ‘If you obey me, if you keep my commandments, then if you look for me, I will be found of you.’ (2 Chronicles 15:2).
The land has rest when people obey. Disobedience results in disdain from the Most High.
Let us join the army. Let us teach and spread the Good News of the importance of being part of the army of the Lord. Only then will our lives know the peace of God that passes understanding (Philippians 4:6-8). Join the army today!
– Pastor Ita Udoh
8th July, 2021