Mighty Warriors

Luke 4:18-19 (NIV) “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV) “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

When Jesus read this scripture in the Nazareth synagogue 2,000 years ago, he declared that he was the fulfillment of prophecy which had been given through Isaiah hundreds of years before. His mission, instead of becoming the earthly king of Israel like so many people of his time thought, was to set the world free through his ministry and ultimately through his death and resurrection. Before he returned to heaven Jesus further revealed to the disciples that they were to carry on his mission in his absence. This great commission has been passed down from spiritual generation to spiritual generation to this very day. The anointing of the Spirit is available today for telling the good news of Jesus and for releasing those under spiritual oppression.

A person serving in the military receives a commission. They go through training and are assigned an area of specialty. They are given rules to follow, people to report to, and ways of doing things which are all for the grand purpose of the defense of their country. As followers of Christ, we have been given a commission also. Our citizenship is in heaven. We’ve been given the task of releasing spiritual prisoners and teaching others to follow Jesus. Our orders come from above. We need no earthly laws to give us permission to share the good news. We have been given our orders already. As we go about this task; however, we are not on our own. We work together with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We receive direction from the Holy Spirit, and we remember that Jesus promised us he would continue to be with us always.

It is an honor to serve in the defense of one’s country, yet it is the greatest honor to be in service to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It is wrong to think, however, that our service to the King will be without difficulty and danger. We are in a spiritual war and many times those who are shooting at us are the very ones we’ve been sent to free. If we don’t learn how to battle on a spiritual level, we will easily find ourselves reverting to the tactics of the world. If we are to be mighty warriors for the LORD God Almighty, we must learn to obey Jesus in everything. We must learn that love covers over a multitude of sin. We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. We must learn to give thanks in all circumstances and to rejoice always. We must learn to do this because the greatest battle is for the spiritual destiny of men and women, boys and girls. The need for mighty warriors is at an all time high. The devil knows his time is short and is releasing on earth increasing levels of evil. But the Lord Jesus is with us. We have a commission from our commander. He has called us to be mighty warriors so that we can join in his mission to set people free. This is the kind of call that is worthy of giving our lives for.

No one starts out as a mighty warrior. A mighty warrior is grown through learning how to pray and through saturation in the words of the God. This saturation process includes not only memorizing God’s word but also learning how to use it in real life, real time situations. It’s not just about speaking scripture but about living it out. It’s not enough to just tell someone about God’s great love and not be growing in love for people. This is because we are warriors of the Kingdom of God, and as Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21, NIV) We cannot fight for the Kingdom if the Kingdom is not reigning inside us.