"A Call To Arms"

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:8 

I woke up during the middle of the night and before I went back to sleep, just out of nowhere I heard very clearly in my spirit four words- "a call to arms". I didn't even know what it meant so I had to look it up. The dictionary defines the phrase as: a command to report for active military duty. 

 

In doing a little further study, I looked up some of the other words that were related to the phrase. Among them were such words as: enlist (sign up for responsibility); mobilize (ready for action); rally (reorganize, unite); recruit (gather resources); engage (involve, commit). 

 

The phrase "a call to arms" that I heard was not a physical call to a natural army, but a spiritual one. When we came to Christ and became saved/believers, we enlisted in the "Army of the Lord". "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3) We enlisted; it was a free choice that we made. And in doing so, we signed up for responsibility in the Kingdom of God, not just for fire-insurance from hell, or to receive blessings. 

 

Whether we realize it or not, we are in a spiritual warfare; there is a battle going on. "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:11,12)

 

The Bible says that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matthew 11:12) "A call to arms", is the Lord's trumpet sounding to awaken and rally His troops to engage in battle. It is time we recognize that we are in a war (a spiritual one) and that we have a very real enemy (the devil) who has an intense hatred for God, and us because we love and serve Him, and is out to steal, kill and destroy us. (John 10:10)

 

The Lord is calling us off of our soft couches, to lay down our bless me mentality, to stop worshipping the gods of entertainment, quit compromising, stop being lazy, remove our lack of concern, our disobedience, self-centered, half-hearted Sunday kind of Christianity, undisciplined and uncrucified lives. 

 

He is calling us to self-denial, zeal for His kingdom, to endure hardship as a soldier, to take us our cross and follow Him, to surrender our wills to His will, to love Him with all our hearts, souls, strength and minds, and to love not our lives unto death. 

 

He is calling us to mobilize- get ready for action (we can't as long as we are lazy in our Christian disciplines).

He is calling us to rally- reorganize, unite (we can't if we don't love one another, live with prejudice, or have aught in our hearts).

He is calling us to recruit- gather resources (pick up our spiritual weapons, clean them up, give the gospel to the lost, make disciples- others joining the army of God is the best resource).

He is calling us to engage-- involve, commit (we can't if we are lazy and won't surrender ourselves to the Lord whole-heartedly). 

 

Will you hear His call this morning? Will you engage in this spiritual war? You can't sit by and think you will avoid it-- you are already in it and just don't realize it. 

 

Have a great day. The Lord is calling His church to arms-- to get to "active" duty, and stop being "inactive".