Onward Christian soldiers, marching onto war, with the Cross of Jesus, going on before.
S. Baring Gould, 1865
The faithful Christian is a soldier in the Lord’s Army. Clothed in the full armour of God, he or she is to go forth under the Blood stained banner of Prince Immanuel, step by step and day by day, gaining the victory until the glorious Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Christian world today under-estimates the power of the enemy and as result they step foot onto the battle field of life unprepared and Satan makes a mockery of them, accusing them before the Lord “day & night”. But hear the words of the Apostle Paul as he writes these words under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God:
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 KJV
Satan despises the children of God. He was not able to defeat Christ at the Cross, for He, Christ, rose again on the third day in glory. Therefore, Satan turned his wrath from Christ, to those who faithfully follow Christ, that is, His Church, His Bride. Throughout the ages of the Christian Church, whether it be during the time of the Apostles and the Early Church, the Middle Aged Church or even today, Satan, working through his various agents, has sought to wipe out the Church of God from upon the face of the earth. Says the Apostle John in the Revelation:
And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12:17 KJV
‘The great dragon….that old serpent called the devil and satan’, Revelation 12:9 KJV, has been exceedingly wroth with the Woman or the Bride of Christ throughout all ages and as we near the closing of this earth’s history and the Second Coming of Christ, he seeks to make war with the faithful believers, called the Remnant, that he may destroy them and wipe them from the face of the earth.
The devil is called ‘the prince of this world’ by Christ in John 14:30 KJV. He usurped the dominion of this earth from Adam, who was first given dominion over it, Genesis 1:26 KJV. As a result, he takes this world to be his own and the inhabitants of it he numbers as his subjects; all prisoners and slaves to sin. However, God always has a faithful people upon the earth who refuse to give their authority unto Satan and it is those faithful individuals throughout all the ages of the Church and more so now at the end of time, that the dragon is wroth with and seeks to make war with them.
A faithful remnant of believers fix their eyes upon their Commander, the ‘Captain of the host of the Lord‘ is their leader. They are clothed in the full armour of God: their loins are girt about with truth, they have on the breastplate of righteousness, their feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. With the shield of faith equipped and the helmet of salvation furnished, they stand firm in the faith of Jesus, bearing arms with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and they follow the Lamb, withersoever He goeth. Ephesians 6:14-17; Revelation 14:4 KJV.
John tells us that “the devil is come down unto you , having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”, Revelation 12:12 KJV, therefore, it behooves us as professed Christians to be fully clad in the armour of God, that we “may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”, Ephesians 6:13 KJV.
Christ is our Commander, He “shall fight for us and” we “shall hold our peace” Exodus 14:14 KJV, but we need to be fully equipped in the armour of God that we may be able to stand upon the battlefield of life. No one can be victorious without this armour.
We see in the Christian Church today many professed believers who refuse to put on the armour of God. They neglect Bible study, they sit under ministers of the gospel who are not preaching the truth, they do not fix their eyes upon Christ, striving to live as He lived and walk as He walked, their lives do not align with the Biblical standard, rather they follow the worldly standard and they presumptuously run onto the battlefield claiming “we are not under the law but under grace”, as a result satan shoots his fiery darts at them and takes them as his captives. They have no root, their foundation is not built upon Christ, who is the Rock upon which we must stand, but rather they are likened unto the foolish man who built his house upon the sand.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Matthew 7:26-27 KJV
Friends, now is the time is to awake out of sleep, for now our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light as faithful soldiers in the Lord’s Army.
Loud Cry Compendium
Loud Cry Compendium 