Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of civilian life; he seeks to please the recruiter.    2 Timothy 2:3-4 HCSB

While I was preparing to write my blog this morning, I received a text message. Someone on social media said something offensive about my niece causing her to have some hurt feelings. I am happy to say that her mom asked if I had some scripture to share with them about this. I prayed and God gave me one pretty quickly. I happily shared the scripture and reminded them to pray for the person that had offended them as we are told to do in Matthew 5:44.

But, I have a confession to make. I really wanted to text her mom and find out who had done this. This would have been okay if I wanted to specifically pray for that person. But, that wasn’t it. I wanted to specifically be angry at that person. I wanted to check out their social media and I really wanted to ask them who they thought they were doing something like that. Then I remembered this morning’s scripture passage. I remembered that I am a soldier, not a civilian.

These civilians, with their jealousies and their strong desire to stir strife, are simply sent by the devil as distraction techniques. Anytime we decide to be a soldier for the Lord, the devil will send his minions to attack us. The devil can’t be everywhere at one time like God, so he uses people and demons to do his dirty work.

We can choose to be soldiers in the army of God. When we choose to do this, we focus on God and let Him take care of all other things (Matthew 6:33). We know that we must suit up and stand strong, but God will fight our battles (2 Chronicles 20:15). All we have to do is stand by and watch God deliver us from our enemies.

For many years I worked in law enforcement. Many times I went into potentially dangerous situations. As a probation and parole officer, we went into the homes of offenders. We never really knew what might await us in there and we were usually working alone. We had to be prepared. This means that I wasn’t going to be walking in the door of an offender’s house with something in my hand like a big gulp drink or something like that. I wasn’t going to walk into an offender’s house while I was texting or talking on my phone. I needed to be focused on what I was doing. I needed to be paying close attention to my surroundings. I needed to be observant not only for potential dangers, but we were also looking around for violations like drugs, drug paraphernalia, or weapons.

Think about it this way. If you had called the police because someone was in your house, would you want them to be taking personal calls while they are coming into your house? I know I wouldn’t. Would you want our soldiers fighting on the front line to be texting or checking their email while the enemy is trying to overtake us?

We must remember that when we accept Christ and are baptized into His family that we not only become His child, but we become His soldier. We are not to worry ourselves with the things going on here on planet earth. It’s God’s job to take care of all that. We are only to focus on God, Himself. We are to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind (Matthew 22:37). We are to show His love to others (Matthew 22:39).

If the devil can distract us, he can get us off track. Don’t let this happen. Just focus on God. He will fight your battles.

I am happy to say that I was quickly convicted, recovered and prayed for this person. I know that hurting people hurt people. I know that lost people like to cause strife and division among believers. I also know that they can never win. I pray that anyone who is setting out to hurt someone else will stop what they are doing and turn to God. Give all your hurt and your anger over to Him. Trust in Him and He will give us justice. He will deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13).

Remember that you are a soldier and you are marching out to war each and every day. Never neglect to use the armor that God provides (Ephesians 6:10-18). And always be quick to use your sword, the sword of the Spirit, God’s word. His Word will never lead us astray. Remember to pray continually, especially for your enemies. Keep yourself in good spiritual shape through Bible study and prayer. Stay strong in battle!

Have a great day!