Truth Streams – GrahamCooke.Com
This guest post comes to us from Graham Cooke at Graham Cooke Ministries.
Spiritual Warriors
Graham Cooke
In Hebrews 10:35-36, we receive a fascinating caution, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”
Too many of us cast away our confidence in the face of adversity. In fact, most Christians toss it overboard as soon as the waves and winds of life stir up.
Spiritual warriors, on the other hand, prize their confidence. They protect it. They let it develop by using it in every circumstance.
I am terrible for losing things – keys, wallet, passport, airline tickets. You name it, I’ve lost it. I have had to make it a habit to check and keep these things with me. It is a conscious, deliberate choice. In the same way, Christians need to make it a habit to check and keep their confidence with them. We have to hold on to our confidence as we would a passport or wallet. In a big city, what’s the first thing most men do? We move our wallet from our back pocket to a front one. We want it safe from pickpockets.
We cannot allow the enemy to pickpocket our confidence in Christ. We must not throw it away; we need to keep a firm grip on it at all times. The disciples, in the early days with Jesus, were notorious for abandoning their confidence at every turn. Peter took his eyes off Christ and sunk helplessly into the sea. The disciples wondered if a sleeping Jesus even cared that their boat was being battered by a storm. Peter’s denied even knowing the Lord. Thomas would not accept his best friends’ testimony of His resurrection. They constantly squabbled over who would be first in the Kingdom. But these men grew into apostles who led with confidence. Their faith became unshakable, even at the point of death.
The confidence a spiritual warrior carries cannot be pried out of their hands by anything, anytime, anywhere. We are called to hold out for our reward from God but confidence and endurance must live together within us in order to obtain that reward. Confidence must become our great ally. Endurance must be our best friend.
We are called to be patiently confident and confidently patient. We can hang on in the face of any storm, knowing Jesus is with us. Spiritual warriors are patient people who learn how to silence themselves before God and simply wait for Him to move or speak.
The glue that holds confidence and endurance together is praise. When we choose to praise God for His hand on our life, even when things are rough, we grow quickly. We become stronger than we ever imagined we could be.
A warrior can receive under pressure. This is what makes them a catalyst in a time of breakthrough, they can contend for the blessing God has promised. If we throw away our confidence, there is no breakthrough. The enemy knows this better than anyone which is why he constantly works to undermine the confidence of Christians. While most people just want to survive a war, spiritual warriors want to thrive. They want to win, to stand atop the enemy’s defeated carcass, and to celebrate. It isn’t about being rescued from a tough day. It is about breaking through it into what God has for us.
Warriors love pressure. They want to make the enemy pay for attacking them. They have a special equation: favor plus vengeance equals payback. This breed of warriors have strongly resolved to stand no matter what. They have the tenacity to hold on to the Lord even when everyone else runs away.
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