31 Faith-Building LessonsSample

LESSON 17

Wake Up the Mighty Men

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.

Joel 2:1

Whenever God wants to get His people’s attention, He sounds a trumpet. Many times in the Old Testament musicians were called to blow trumpets, and depending upon the notes sounded, several different messages were conveyed.

A Jubilee trumpet (Leviticus 25) was sounded in celebration, meaning freedom and redemption. Another note was sounded when the armies prepared to go to battle, and a third note, different from the former two, was a warning for the troops to retreat. The people of that day had to be sensitive to the sound of the trumpet.

God is blowing a trumpet today. We are living in a time when many of the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets are being fulfilled. God began fulfilling the book of Joel on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21), and today, we are right on the verge of all prophetic utterances being fulfilled before our eyes. In fact, you could take many of the headlines in today’s newspapers and point out the different prophecies spoken by Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, or Joel. I believe Joel has pinpointed our generation.

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joel 2:11

God compares His people to an army. We are soldiers in an army that must be dressed and prepared for battle at all times.

However, for many years, Christians didn’t know who the enemy was. Satan took territory and ground that should have belonged to Christians while the Christian army went to sleep. God is getting His army prepared for war; it is time to discipline ourselves as soldiers of His army and prepare for an attack on the enemy.

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Numbers 10:9

Christianity is a fight, and we cannot play games any longer. God is establishing forts and bases all over the world. He is stationing specialized troops in every nation. Some of His people are green berets, others are airborne rangers, but every soldier has a special position to fill, whether it be that of a jeep driver, bombardier, or cook.

It is time to find out what your position is in God’s army and work at it. Quit trying to be a bombardier if you have been trained to be an ammo bearer. If you are an usher or a church bus driver, then be the best usher or church bus driver on the staff. When you prove that you can do a job well, you will receive a promotion. A private doesn’t become a three-star general overnight. It takes years of experience and training to become a general.

One of the most vital segments of army training is boot camp. Those two months of strenuous training, repetitive drills, and difficult exercises have a definite purpose. They discipline and educate the men for military combat.

A new soldier may wonder why he has to perform such seemingly trivial tasks over and over again. When I was in boot camp, I remember how I was told to keep my rifle clean at all times. They wanted us to learn everything there was to know about a rifle. After we took the guns apart, cleaned and reassembled them, they would make us crawl on our bellies through the mud. We’d have to clean them all over again.

This seemed very repetitious to me until, one day, I realized that I could be sent out there on the front lines in a trench and would be forced to rely on the knowledge I’d learned in basic training to survive. I knew that even though the drills seemed to be difficult to me at the time, they were instructions that could keep me alive in the heat of a battle.

God is preparing His army for battle in much the same way. We have had months of training as the Word has been educating and disciplining us for front-line combat. There is purpose for everything that God has been telling the Church to do over the last several years. He realizes that the enemy is no pushover and that Satan has no regard for life on this planet whatsoever. Joel 3:9 says: Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.

It is time for the Church to wake up. We have heard more revelation knowledge than any other generation before us. The problem is that half of the Christians went to sleep because they got so full. Have you ever seen someone gorge at the dinner table? When he gets up, he’s so full he can’t do anything but yawn and take a nap. God didn’t say that the weak and feeble went to sleep. He said wake up the MIGHTY men.

God sees His Church as a MIGHTY army, and we need to see ourselves as God sees us. The Bible tells us that the steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD (Psalm 37:23). The word ordered in this passage is a Hebrew military term. We really have no right to order our own steps. God is our Commander-in-Chief. It is our responsibility to say, “Yes, Sir, I will do it,” and follow orders.

In the armed services, a man can be court-martialed for not following orders. His disregard for the chain of command could upset the entire plan of strategy. That kind of behavior is neither accepted nor tolerated in the Army, yet in God’s army, the soldiers balk at His commandments and dispute with each other over how a command is to be carried out. In times past, we have looked like a squadron of Gomer Pyles.

However, God does not look at our failures. He sees His soldiers as a great and powerful army marching in unity.

The characteristics and traits of David’s army are the same qualifications that God wants to see in His army today.

12Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish: and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. 2They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul’s brethren of Benjamin.

1 Chronicles 12:1-2

A mighty man is one who is strong in the Lord and the power of His might. He is strong in faith and love and quick to pray about all things. Could use both the right hand and the left means that he is well balanced and able to adjust to any situation.

And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains.

1 Chronicles 12:8

These mighty men were men of war fit for battle, meaning that they were prepared to fight. They were never caught off guard. A mighty man is well trained in spirit, soul, and body. He is knowledgeable of war tactics.

Whose faces were like the faces of lions, describe David’s men as being courageous and determined and swift as the roes. This proves that they were diligent and not slothful or lazy.

In the 25th verse of the same chapter, they are described as mighty men of valour for the war, meaning that they were faithful and trustworthy men loyal to their commander.

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

1 Chronicles 12:32

These men were full of wisdom. They knew what was happening around them and had respect for their fellow soldiers.

Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart.

1 Chronicles 12:33

We need to train ourselves to be as strong as David’s army. We can see from this passage that they were obedient to authority, and they moved in unity. There was no strife among them.

I believe the Body of Christ is awakening, but we are not quite as alert as we ought to be. We are not fully prepared to go into battle yet, but we are getting there. We are going to see into the spirit realm like we have never seen before, and when God sounds the trumpet for His army to attack, we are going to be ready to win.

You can be a MIGHTY soldier in God’s army. As you humble yourself before God and seek Him, turning from your wicked ways, you are going to hear from heaven and walk in the authority that God has given you. The world is not going to run over you any longer when you wake up and see the light. God’s army is victorious, and He has given us the power and authority to subdue the enemy and take the land for the Gospel.