It has been said that one must be weak to be strong. Of course this is speaking about spiritual things, not carnal things. Some of the strongest men, physically, are very weak inwardly. Jesus, I assume, was a strong man physically, but we never ever hear anything in Scripture about that. What we do hear is that He grew spiritually. He was the original Soldier, indeed the “Original Pilgrim” in Pilgrim’s Progress. He took His disciplines seriously; therefore He was a man of inner strength, a HERO!!
But there were and are also cowards. Judas was rated first in this order. Peter was one, at first, but later proved to be a man of inner strength. The wisdom of Solomon was from God, but Solomon was very weak inwardly — lust for forbidden flesh tells us as much. But he did write, “for crooked thoughts separate from God.”
What we admire about heroes and disdain about cowards is evident in our view of millions of lives. Heroes carried that unshakable serenity of one who is calm yet vigilant, one who holds to what they believe in. Cowards have been those who let go and betray.
Life, for most of us, has been dangerous. The places I’ve been, the things I’ve done, testify to this fact. I do not consider myself to be any kind of hero, but some of life’s challenges are really harsh and unloving. Very few are spared the conflict within themselves. This inward “war” can turn into a kind of “killing field”; we learn to slay the coward and submit to the courageous. We must meet the inward enemies INSPIRATIONALLY. We must draw our inner strength from the Source — the spoken and written Word of God.
We WIN by surrender. This is not oxymoronic or a juxtaposition of contradictory words. NO! We surrender to the Holy Spirit’s working/war within, allowing Him to SLAY that coward in us. We win in the end! The Bible tells us to “be STRONG in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). Then we are instructed to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (v. 11 — Modern English Bible). Verse 12 lists the four enemies (“At WAR against the Big Four”): “principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places…” These enemies are captains of satanic armies. They plague the whole human race; they plague the Christian Ekklesia. This is why we’re told to put on the whole armor of God (the list is found in Ephesians 6:14-18).
The admonition is this:
“be strong” – v. 10
“put on armor” – v. 11
“stand against” – v. 11
“resist” – v. 13
“stand” – v. 13
“stand therefore” – v. 14
“pray always” – v. 18
We are soldiers in God’s army (see our dozens of booklets/publications/CDs/DVDs) – GO FORTH!!! Don’t be like Judas who betrayed his War Captain. Don”t be like Peter, who through fear denied his War Captain … who sat down and wept.
While it is true that our armor gets heavy, our shield also gets heavy, our sword slips from our hand – we keep soldiering on. Sure, fatigue is common enough in real combat. Yet we cannot GIVE UP. Sure, the enemies will attack and seek to wound, even kill. Yet we can TURN DEFEAT INTO VICTORY — turning every challenge into a HEROIC STAND!
We live in trying times. Nation against nation, individual against individual. We hear the cries of both heroes and cowards, we hear the cries of faith and fear. Often we are misled by both misinformation and disinformation. The cowards will try to lead us into the fearful cul de sacs; the heroes coach us into the arena of the “Heroes of Faith” (see Hebrews 11).
The Bible tells us in Revelation 21:8 that “the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable … shall have their portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…” If you’ve been a coward, it is time to shine your armor and sharpen your sword. It is time to deal with both the small things and big things that make you cowardly. Insist on keeping up your shield of faith, refusing unbelief and fear, and face them head on!
As an old soldier (of 1945) once wrote, as he betrayed his lord because of cowardice, “In the deserts of the heart let the healing fountains start.” It was in the desert place that our Lord faced His great opponent, the devil: “Then Jesus was led up into the desert by the (Holy) Spirit to be tempted by the devil.”
We’ve got to encourage each other in the dirty war. Another old seasoned soldier tells us to march bravely with the brave, demand joy … march into battle with the Son of righteousness — the One who overcame the world.
— Gen. Jim, POW