An Unfair Advantage: Victory in the Midst of BattleSample

An Unfair Advantage—Part 2

God recognizes that a world infected with wickedness and evil requires warriors to fight in order to preserve freedom, defend the weak, and free the oppressed. The Bible challenges us to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9).

When a warrior aligns his heart with God’s purpose, he is more cognizant of and sensitive to exactly what his unlimited duties are in combat. When warrior traditions lack this critical element, it results in otherwise well-intended warriors engaging in the same kind of brutality and savagery that are hallmarks of the enemy. There are surely spiritual consequences to becoming the enemy that you are fighting. Allowing hatred and fear to fuel you will lead to guilt, shame, and bitterness, but fighting with a pure heart results in a victorious spirit. This is not to say that it is unnatural or wrong to hate an evil enemy, but to submit to that hatred and act on its behalf becomes a recipe for disaster. God needs warriors to stand strong in the face of evil and act as a bulwark to defend what is right.

When warriors buy into the lie that we must allow fear, hate, rage, and vengeance to fuel and drive us, we submit ourselves to a false imprisonment and become someone God did not intend us to be. We miss out on the very nature of who we are and the full potential of what it is to be the warrior God created us to be. God has provided spiritual armor for every warrior (see Ephesians 6:10–18), and when we walk boldly onto the battlefield wearing the entire spiritual armor of God under our military armor, it gives us an unfair advantage. For we have the sure knowledge that no matter what fate befalls us, our eternal destiny is secure, so we can fight as true warriors, finding victory in the midst of battle.