In these last days, all the children of God are in a battle for our lives. Our arch enemy, Satan is doing all he can do kill, steal, and destroy everything in our lives. We must be on our guard at all times and recognize him when he comes sniffing around. He is subtle, a deceiver, sneaky, and very cunning. Every day we must put on the "Whole armor of God", from the crown of our heads to the souls of our feet, to the tips of our fingers and toes; leaving nothing unprotected or unguarded. Read Ephesians 6:10-20). God has given us power over all the powers of the enemy and we don't have to be afraid of him, but know that he can sneak in and overtake us if we leave a door open for him to get in. Get rid of everything in your life that is not pleasing to God: every relationship, every attitude, every habit, every hidden sin and secret fault that we think no one knows about.
In order to be effective on the battle field of life we must go through boot camp training. Every branch of the military sends its recruits to boot camp. In boot camp they learn discipline, how to follow rules and regulations; they learn how to be humble and to submit to those in authority over them; how to fight with the weapons they are given, and how to know which weapons will be most effective in a given situation. In our Christian walk our boot camp training comes from the Holy Spirit and our training manual is the written Word of God. We must do all that it requires of us in order to be strong in battle, enabling us to withstand every test. The Word of God teaches us how to use our weapons of warfare. Every instruction is vital to us winning in every fight. The Holy Ghost is our Drill Instructor and we must humbly submit totally to Him. Listen and do whatever He tells us. Our Commander-in-Chief, Almighty God, tells the Holy Ghost how to direct and guide us in every situation. God gives Him the plans and strategies to give to us. All we have to do is follow His direction and we will not fail.
Now some recruits do fail in boot camp. They resist the training, the discipline, and submission, and they become dropouts. Remember I said the enemy can get in if we leave a door open for him to enter. That door can be pride of life, feeling we don't need anyone to tell us anything, we know it all, we want it all, we can do it all. Pride is what got our enemy, Satan, thrown out of heaven. He wanted to take God's position in heaven. We must be submissive to the will of God, and He will give us the victory in every battle; but without Him we can do nothing. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" II Corinthians 10:3-5.
