New Year, New Training

This week has been a week of new year’s resolutions and goals for many. As I move around, I hear some speaking of this year as a time of newness and a fresh start. Others view it as an opportunity to start over or to attempt some things again. For me, this new year – this start of a new decade – is another opportunity to become more skillful in warfare; the kind of warfare which, at its roots, is about listening to and obeying God’s commands. With this year comes new training for battles for which I lack experience.

On New Year’s Day, on our way back from a 3-night revival service in Florida, I came across a passage of scripture that grabbed my attention. I later returned to the passage and dug deeper into it, so I could understand what the Holy Spirit wanted to disclose to me. The passage reads as follows:

Judges 3: 1-4 (NIV) These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan  (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):  the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.  They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

This passage indicates a few things that called for my consideration:

1. Warfare is taught.
2. The teaching of or training in warfare is initiated and facilitated by God.
3. Battle experience is necessary to develop skill in warfare.
4. It is imperative that those who have not had previous battle experience be taught warfare.

Upon consideration, I began to ask myself a few questions, in light of the upcoming year:

1. What battle experience(s) am I lacking?
2. What has God allowed to remain in my life from the previous year(s) that would give me the necessary training and experience so that I can become more fit for and skilled in warfare?
3. What “enemy” has been left in my life for testing and proving; to know whether I would listen and obey the commands of the Lord?

I concluded that, although I may have entered a new year, there will still be some old, remaining, or leftover things that I will have to deal with for my betterment. The Holy Spirit was impressing upon me to be careful not to offer wasted prayers, rebuking and cancelling the very things that the Lord has ordained for my growth and development. He cautioned me that, no matter how many people I hear declaring all newness, remember that all things will not be made new just because it is a new year. However, I must be mindful that those things which are not assigned to be made new, are essential for the perfection of my warfare.

Consequently, I look forward in anticipation to the upcoming new training that God has designed for me. I do not fool myself into thinking that it will be a walk in the park. I know that I will have some challenging moments and may even fail some of the lessons and accompanying tests. Nevertheless, I surrender to the training God has chosen for me and expect that, if I tarry, by the end of this year, I will be more skillful and experienced in warfare.  I would have gained more ground for the kingdom.

Therefore, I go forth this year joining with the psalmist David, declaring, “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle” – Psalms 144:1 (NKJV). Will you join me in God’s School of Warfare?

DIG DEEPER:
Bible Study – The Greatest Teacher of Warfare