Why Are You a Soldier?

We need to be battle ready. We need to be willing to surrender our own desires for the greater good of others. We need to be willing to fight the good fight. We need to be willing to fight for someone else when they can’t fight for themselves. This one’s for you, Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp. 

The last three days of 2019 and the first 37 days of 2020, I wrote my first draft of my first book. I fought to get up at 3:30 a.m. to have my derrière in my chair ready to write from 4-6 a.m. Every. Single. Day. for 40 days.

I’m NOT a morning person. God did not make me an early bird. He made me a night owl, but He keeps directing me to get up early for Him. His will for me is to sacrifice my will for His. I desire to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Yet, His desire for me is to get my sleepy self up to spend time with Him and to serve Him.

And He expects me to write to glorify Him and to encourage you.

Have I mentioned my brain neurons are not firing in the morning? They start revving up around 9 a.m., even when I’ve been up for hours. I can honestly feel my brain warm up like a cold car battery in the middle of winter. Neither a cold car battery nor my brain can jump right into action on first ignition.

You get the best out of me later in the day, but that’s not what God has been asking of me for quite some time now.

This battle of the wills began five years ago. It began at 5 am, which I wrote about in my post “Be the Change: Yes You Can!” Now, 5 a.m. is better than 3:30 a.m., but for this night owl, it doesn’t matter. My body says these are sleeping hours. 

God doesn’t sleep, so it’s not hard for Him to rise before the sun because He never goes to bed. I’m the one who’s fighting this battle with the early bird. You’d think if God wanted me to rise and shine at crazy early hours, He’d adjust my biological clock. He hasn’t, and I suspect He won’t. That’s not His plan.

We’re in a Battle

Why does it matter what time I personally rise every day? I’m glad you asked. Because we’re in a battle, and we need to be battle ready. This includes intense training and surrender.

During my 40-day writing stint at the beginning of 2020, I interviewed a real-life soldier: Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp. My desire is to add his insightful information to a particular chapter of my book.

However, this week as I was praying about what to write to all of you, the Lord put on my heart that you need to hear something important, and He brought me back to this interview with Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp. It’s something we all need to hear and let sink into our souls.

I asked him:  Why are you a soldier? Why have you stayed an active soldier for almost 40 years?

He replied, “Someone has to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.”

Have you ever fought for someone else? Have you ever thought of yourself as a soldier? 

Friends, if you are a child of God, then you are also a soldier.

I often tell my sisters-in-Christ, that we are princess warriors. I like thinking of myself as a warrior. Personally, I’m both a fierce and fun warrior! I envision my fighting ensemble to include a fierce-looking shield, sword, and outfit. Did I just say outfit? Bahahaha! Yes, I did. I meant uniform.

No matter what my warrior uniform actually looks like, you better believe our Enemy sees it every single time I fight to get up early to read the Bible, pray Scripture over people, praise Jesus, and write for the Almighty God. It’s not a battle for nothing, friends. I’m fighting for you.

Deployment

Jesus is the Commander of Angel Armies (Joshua 5:13-15 and Revelation 19), and He’s the Commander of His soldiers. That’s us. As children of God we are not angels, but we are soldiers. 

Getting up early is just part of my personal training regimen. Surrendering our will to our Commander’s will is part of every soldiers’straining. We need to be battle ready.

Friends, we will and we do fight in fierce battles. We need to be battle ready. 

God’s training for battle isn’t easy. In fact, it’s hard. He’s not going to make it easy for us if we have to be strong, alert, and ready to fight.

God is training us up in the way He knows we should go and the way we should be so that we won’t depart from His ways when the going gets tough. His will is to prepare us so that we’re battle ready (Proverbs 22:6).

We will be deployed. Therefore, we have to be battle ready.

Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp is being deployed again. In fact, he’s leaving in a few days to go to another country for nearly a year. He’s been training his whole life for this and more intentionally this year.

This is his second tour of duty. He’s more ready this time than the first time. He admits He trained in different ways this time. He now knows what it takes to endure the good fight. He needs the Commander of Angel Armies to go ahead of him clearing the way. He needs His Word in his head and in his heart. 

Paul encouraged Timothy to do the same, to fight the good fight of faith. To take hold of the eternal life that he was called to when he made his commitment to Jesus (1 Timothy 6:12).

We need to do the same. When we made a commitment to Jesus, we joined the ranks of heavenly soldiers. We need to be trained up, equipped, and read for battle. 

Just like Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp is being called into active duty, we are going to be called up at some point to join God’s Angel armies to fight. I’m encouraging all of you, we need to be ready and willing to fight for others when they can’t fight for themselves.

We need to be battle ready. We need to fight the good fight of faith. 

For me, this means one battle I have to fight is getting up early to worship Jesus first and then write. It’s a daily battle, but one I’ve prepared for too. Every day God deploys me into battle to fight for others. This means me surrendering to listen to and obey my Commander Lord Jesus.

This daily battle is not against man, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Put on Your Uniform and Become a Fighting Soldier

Therefore, we need to put on our warrior uniforms, grab our swords, train, and fight the good fight.

This means, we need to strap on truth, buckle in righteousness, tie up peace securely on our feet, and put the Word of God, our sword, in our hands, minds, and hearts. Then we need to stand up and fight.

Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp is ready to do this. 

He shared with me another reason why he’s been a soldier for almost 40 years:

“Because I am proud to be an American fight man.”

Wow! I am so grateful he is a committed fight man. Are you? Are you a committed soldier of God’s? 

If you didn’t realize when you became a Christian, that you joined God’s army, well, it’s time you know. If you are having a difficult time surrendering your desires to be in alignment with the Lord’s desires, I understand. It is a battle, but remember, every time we don’t surrender our will to Jesus’ will, we lose. 

But when surrender to our Commander Jesus and we stand firm in our tests, our trials, our battles, we are blessed. We also know that we become stronger and steadfast when we fight the good fight (James 1:12).

Whatever battles God has you help Him fight for others, know that He will always be there with you. He will never leave you. He will protect and provide for you. His plan is not let you sleep in, but rather His plan is to strengthen you, equip you, and get you ready for the battles He knows you are meant to fight.

Master Sergeant Benjamin Lamp isn’t just another soldier. He’s my brother, real life biological brother and my brother in Christ. In fact, we held hands as we committed our lives to Jesus 50 years ago.

Ben, thank you for persevering as a soldier. Thank you for showing me (and others) how to stand firm, strong, and steadfast. Thank you for fighting the good fight. Be strong and courageous now as you deploy once again to fight the good fight for others.

You can be assured that your sister warrior will be fighting for you in prayer as you fight for freedom for others. 

Why am I a solider? Because I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I stand for what He stands for. I will fight for what Jesus fights for. He’s been training me up for a long time. I am battle ready. I am willing to fight for someone else when they can’t fight for themselves. I am proud to be a warrior princess of the Most High King Jesus. I am proud to be a fighter too.

Call to Action

Please pray for our soldiers who fight the good fight every day for others. Please talk to Jesus about where you are struggling to surrender your will to His will. Ask Him to strengthen you. Ask Him to clear the way for you to win the battle you are in. Share your battle with others. Let us support you in prayer and in deed. We are children God, soldiers of the Commander of Angel armies. We need to be ready for battle. Let’s train together.