NEVER FORGET ABOUT WAR IN TIMES OF PEACE

NEVER FORGET ABOUT WAR IN TIMES OF PEACE

Scripture: 1Kings 20:22-26

Topic: Never Forget About War in Times of Peace

"And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, GO, STRENGTHEN THYSELF, AND MARK, AND SEE WHAT THOU DOEST: FOR AT THE RETURN OF THE YEAR THE KING OF SYRIA WILL COME UP AGAINST THEE. And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And do this thing, Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their rooms: And number thee an army, like the army that thou hast lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot: and we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened unto their voice, and did so. AND IT CAME TO PASS AT THE RETURN OF THE YEAR, THAT BENHADAD NUMBERED THE SYRIANS, AND WENT UP TO APHEK, TO FIGHT AGAINST ISRAEL."   

    1 Kings 20:22-26

   

Never forget about war in times of peace.  High combat readiness( preparedness) is very important for every serious-minded Christian.  The prophet warned the king of Israel to strengthen himself because he would be attacked the next year. To be successful in your fight for the kingdom, you need to be prepared.  Perhaps the key to preparedness is to believe that evil can happen to you.  It is to believe that someone may be planning evil against you.   

In the ministry, you must prepare for several different kinds of evil.  You must believe that they can actually happen.  When you do, you will begin to develop a high combat readiness in relation to those areas of evil.  In the story below, the Second World War was about to begin.  A mass murderer by the name of Adolf Hitler was gearing up to invade and senselessly kill fifty million people.  Adolf Hitler was successful in causing the deaths of millions of people because Europe simply did not believe that such evil could be planned and implemented by any human being.  

Poland shares a border with Germany.  Whilst Germany was developing a vastly technologically superior arsenal of weapons, Poland did not prepare itself to combat such an onslaught. Poland was completely unprepared for the war with Germany.  Germany marched into Poland on September 1, 1939 with the most modern tanks, guns and planes.  Can you believe that the Polish army sent out soldiers on horseback to fight the Germans?  But the horses and rifles were no match for the vastly superior armoured and mechanized German army.  Poland was quickly overpowered. The Polish armed forces did have some tanks and some aircrafts, but they were grossly inadequate.  The Polish Army and Air Force were simply not ready for the kind of war Hitler unleashed on them.  Millions of Polish people were murdered during the Second World War. 

I think that the principle of combat readiness – think about war even in times of peace - cannot be over-emphasized.  What evils have you prepared for?  Have certain things even crossed your mind before?  To be combat ready, you must allow your mind to run through certain possibilities.  Then you must prepare yourself as though it could happen.   You prepare yourself by asking questions and answering them realistically.

Below are some of the questions for "Combat-Readiness"

Have you thought of yourself dying suddenly?  What would be your response to that? How ready are you for that? 

Have you thought of the possibility of becoming terminally ill and having to die slowly? What would be your response to that?  

Have you thought of the possibility of never getting married?  

Have you thought of the possibility of never having children even though you are married?

Have you thought of the possibility of a sudden financial crisis and poverty?  What would be your response to that?  How ready are you for that? 

Have you thought of the possibility of being attacked by armed robbers?  Is your dwelling place secure and combat ready? 

Have you thought of the possibility of not being able to preach anymore?  How would you survive?  Do you have a successor?  Do you have a replacement?

Have you thought of the possibility of your car tyre bursting when you are driving at top speed?  What would be your response to that?  Would you not prefer to slow down now? 

Have you thought of the possibility of your house being burnt down?  Is everything you value in one place?

Have you thought of the possibility of floods, storms, typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones? What would be your response to that?  How ready are you for that?

Have you thought of the possibility of losing your child?  What would be your response to that?  How ready are you for that?  Do you want to have more children in case you lose one?

Have you thought through the possibility of you falling into sin or becoming a homosexual?  What measures have you taken to protect yourself from these?  Do you think it is impossible? Better people than you have fallen for these things!    

Have you thought of the possibility of the death of your spouse?  What would be your response to that?  Do you know how people’s lives are destroyed when their spouses die? Have you seen the way it affects them?  

Have you thought of the possibility of getting divorced?  Do you know that higher and greater ministers have gotten divorced to their own surprise?  Do you think they ever planned to be divorced?  Do you think they had divorce on their minds when they first got married?  

Have you thought of the possibility of the death of your good friends and workers?  What would be your response to that?  How ready are you for that?

Have you thought of the possibility of someone betraying you?  What would be your response to that?

 

Prepare yourself for war.  You are fighting an unimaginably wicked enemy who has ultimate wicked ideas for you.  One day I sat down reflecting on a prominent city in Europe that had several thriving churches.  I thought about each church and its pastor.  To my shock, I realized that two of them had been to prison, two more had become homosexuals.  Another of these prominent pastors has been displaced from his church and driven out of the city.  Yet another pastor was being hounded by the government for various crimes.  Satan had targeted the pastors of that city to destroy them.  

You must realize that the only plan that Satan has for you is wickedness to the highest degree.  You must therefore prepare yourself to battle the highest kinds of ultimate evil.  You must not rule things out of your mind and think that they cannot happen to you.   

Excerpt from:

A Good General

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills