Warrior: A man engaged or experienced in war, or in the military life; a soldier; a champion.
God has called men to be the protectors of their homes, churches, and communities. I also contend that if men are called to be protectors, then men are called to be warriors. Spiritual warriors yes, but physically as well. Unfortunately, in today’s mostly peaceful western society, it is often too easy for men to neglect this calling in our lives.
I believe that the first step in ceasing to neglect this calling is to develop a biblically based warrior’s mindset, rooted in the example of Scripture. With this in mind, I would like to spend some time sharing with you some Scriptures I believe are pertinent to developing a warrior's mindset.
God is a warrior.
Exodus 15: 3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
1 Samuel 17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
God is a warrior who fights for the good of His people (Pr. 15:25). God's warrior-kingship is part of His revealed nature and is implicit in His name of YAHWEH-SABAOTH (Lord of Armies).
God is a warrior who fights on our behalf. God has promised to never leave us or forsake us, and He has promised that He will defeat the enemies of His kingdom (Deut. 5:15; Heb. 13:5). Because our strength comes from him (Ps. 28:7), we are enabled to follow His warrior-example and to fight on the behalf of others. When we are weak, God intercedes on our behalf.
God has called you to be a warrior.
Judges 6:11-16 . . . Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” . . . Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”
Psalm 82:3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
God calls us to follow His example of interceding for the weak – regardless of how we feel about it. Men, in our natural state, are likely to shrink from this task – in the Judges account given above, Gideon asks the Angel of the Lord, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” God’s answer to Gideon is simply “I will be with you.” God has called us to warriorhood, and he excepts us to answer that call. However, in fulfilling the call to warriorhood, God has promised to be with us and give us the strength for it. If God calls us to something, He will be faithful to equip us for it (2 Cor. 9:8, Heb. 13:21)
It is your responsibility to accept the call.
Isaiah 6:8
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:
“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
It is your responsibility to accept this call on your life and to act on it, regardless of your frame.
We must not say, “I would go if I thought I should have success;” but, “I will go, and leave the success to God. Here am I; send me.” – Matthew Henry
Be a servant
Matthew 20:25-28 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
The call to warriorhood does not entitle you to empower or dominate others. It is a call to serve others with humility, placing the needs, and potentially the lives of others above your own.
Be prepared to give your life…
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Christ gave his life so that we may live. We too may be called to follow his example in this. You must be prepared to give your life in love. Men with families: it may be wise to discuss this with your wife, and with your children as age appropriate.
But resolve to fight and win.
1 Samuel 17:46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment./p>
Take heart in the fact that God has ordained all things in your life, including the exact time and circumstances of your death. So yes, Christ may indeed call you to give your life in defense of another but understand that it is NOT your job to seek martyrdom; it’s your job to fight and win with whatever strength God gives you. If you are in a fight for your life, it’s your job to take the life of the other guy. You fight and live, so that you can be there standing in the gap the next day, ready to take one the next bad guy, to God be the glory.
Be Vigilant
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Luke 21:36 "But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Matthew 24:43 But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into.
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
In the Marines we had a saying – “complacency kills.” And in the profession of war, we mean that literally. Your complacency can cause the death of another. As a warrior, you are called to stand guard. First, to STAND guard means that you are in an upright, alert, and ready posture. Sitting is passive, standing is active. Your mind is to remain active and focused on the task of guarding. Second, to guard means to actively keep and protect from danger; to secure and shield against surprise, attack, or injury. The first step in shielding against surprise is to be watchful.
Train Hard
1 Chronicles 5:18 The sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, consisting of valiant men, men who bore shield and sword and shot with bow and were skillful in battle, were 44,760, who went to war.
Song of Solomon 3:8
All of them are wielders of the sword,
Expert in war;
Each man has his sword at his side,
Guarding against the terrors of the night.
Psalm 144:1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
This principle simply states that in order to be an effective protector, we must be skillful in the use of the tools available to us. Scripture commends the skillfulness in war of David, the sons of Reuben, and Solomon’s guards. I would submit that these men put in quite a bit of training in order to gain said skill. If we are ever called upon to use a weapon in a fight, where people’s lives are a stake, then we had better know how to use that weapon well.
Mentally Rehearse
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Genesis 39:11-12 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside.
If you are ever placed in a situation of extreme stress and time pressure, where you only have a split second to make a decision and act, it is going to be very difficult to make the right decision unless you have thought about it calmly beforehand – unless you have practiced mental rehearsal.
I would like to make an analogy between mental rehearsal and meditation. Meditation is that spiritual discipline in which we think deeply on some truth we have heard or read in the Scriptures, in order to train and prepare our minds and hearts to think or act according to that truth. Charles Spurgeon writes that “When those old athletes went out to wrestle, they always took care before they went to oil themselves well to make their joints supple and fit for their task. Now, meditation makes the soul supple—makes it so that it can use things when they come into the mind.” Likewise, in order to make our minds supple and fit for the task of making decisions under extreme stress, we need to mentally rehearse being in those situations before they happen. Practicing in your mind primes the brain to take action.
Finally, consider the case of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Scripture does not state this plainly, but I highly doubt that Joseph had not mentally rehearsed beforehand what he would do if Potiphar’s wife continued to try and seduce him. I believe that he was alert, he was aware that he was alone in Potiphar’s house and was therefore on his guard, and that he had practiced mentally what he would do.
Learn Biblical Discernment
Ephesians 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.
Proverbs 24:5 A wise warrior is better than a strong one, and a man of knowledge that one of strength.
It is not enough to have strength or prowess: we must also have the discernment to know when to use it, and the wisdom to know how to use it well. Strength used unwisely can often cause more harm than good.
Don’t be a Hot head
Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin.
Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Related to the above, if you are ever in a confrontation, it is your responsibility to deescalate the situation. Sometimes you might need to deescalate the situation extremely quickly, like at 1300 fps; most of the time, however, you will simply be speaking with someone. It is usually better for everyone if you can talk someone down without resorting to physical force. You must be able to do so calmly yet firmly.
Get in Shape
1 Timothy 4:7-8 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Genesis 14:14-16 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
Being a physical protector is going to require physical exertion on your part. Take Abraham’s 318 men for example: they marched some 200 miles from Hebron to Dan, preformed a night attack, and then perused their enemy at least another 50 miles north of Dan, destroying their enemy and rescuing Lot.
Bodily training is “of some value,” and maintaining the ability to physically protect others is one of those values. Develop a mindset that values physical fitness.
Be a man of Prayer
Isaiah 62:6,7 On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.
Ezekiel 22:30 So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
Part of your calling as a warrior is to engage in spiritual warfare as well as physical warfare. Understand that “Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.” We should always be petitioning God both for the safety of His people and for the defeat of His enemies.
Have Courage
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong, and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting even in the face of fear. It is the Lord who gives us the strength to do so. So have courage, for the Lord of Armies is with us.
Trust God for the Victory
Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Finally, in order to be led well, and in order to be effective, a warrior must have a deep trust in his captain. Know that we serve THE Captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, and, even if we perish, we can trust in Him for the ultimate victory.
I will leave you with a verse from the pen of Martin Luther:
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth His Name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.