God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For this providence of Him to be achieved, a number of spiritual warriors are required (1 Timothy 2:4; Luke 10:2). Let's now delve into what it takes to be a spiritual warrior at this end time full of sin and evil.
point 01 You Must Have Confidence before God
As 1 John 3:21 reads, "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God," in order to have confidence before God, you must have no sin and nothing in your heart by which you can be condemned. If you come to know the attributes of sin, when you have sin, you will be too ashamed to lift up your face before God. You can do nothing but pray with tears before Him.
Therefore, you must destroy your wall of sin against God first. You should wake up from a spiritual slumber and receive strength from God through fervent prayer. By doing so, you can have confidence before God. If you have such confidence that God is always with you, you can boldly proclaim His name in any kind of situations. In addition, you should encourage and help others to have spiritual boldness. Suppose a person lost spiritual strength due to his sin. You must help him realize his sin and encourage him to realize the love and grace of God so that he can willingly turn back. Also, you should let him know that he can be forgiven if he relies on the blood of Jesus who took all the sufferings on the cross to redeem us from sin. Because it is His blood that cleanses from all sin, by turning back from sin again he can walk in the Light (Ephesians 3:12).
If you only teach them about sin, however, people with weak faith may lose heart and stumble rather than repent. So, you should pray together with heart so that they can receive God's mercy. You should take care of them with the heart of the Lord who does not break off a battered reed nor put out a smoldering wick. In this way, you can help others to have confidence before God and accomplish the kingdom of God in peace.
point 02 You Must Have Hope for Your God-given Duty
It means that you have hope for heavenly rewards that you will receive from God in Heaven after you fulfill your duty. In Heaven, you will be given a beautiful mansion as your residence. It is full of the very best things that cannot be compared to things on the earth. Each individual will be rewarded according to what he/she will have done on the earth (Revelation 22:12).
If you give up something to fulfill your God-given duty, the God of love will reward you for it. To the extent that you have greater hope for Heaven and get to know it better, you may feel that everything on the earth is vanity and useless. Then, you can get rid of greed for things of the world and distance yourself from worldly pleasure. Nothing on the earth may look good or enjoyable because you love God (1 John 2:15).
As Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:14, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," you can also press on toward the goal with hope for your duty.
God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He put eternal and true hope in your heart. Thus, cling on to the hope for heavenly rewards, rely on Him with a specific goal, and press on toward the goal. Then, you can become a spiritual warrior.
point 03 You Must Have Love with No Fear of Death
When you love God to the point of giving up even your life for Him without loving yourself at all, it is the love with no fear of death.
1 John 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love." Because Jesus loves God and loves sinners, He had no fear of the miserable crucifixion at all. He joyfully took the way of suffering because He had hope for saving countless souls through His sacrifice and crucifixion. If you have such perfect love and passion, you will have no fear of anything in the world.
If you realize you were destined to die but you have gained a new life by Jesus' death, you cannot but say, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). When you proclaim in the world with the heart, you will have no fear of anything that comes to you and march on in faith and with love for God. This is a mindset that spiritual warriors should have.
One who has the perfect love with no fear of death can say, "I can do whatever the Lord wants me to do because I love Him." That is, he/she can make such a confession as in Romans 14:8, "For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's."
We can hear the gospel today thanks to many patriarchs of faith. They did not fear death in perfect love for the Lord and did not spare even their lives. They kept their faith in the face of such severe persecutions of Roman Empire. They were burned to death and eaten by lions. Many preachers went wherever the Lord told them to go and spread the gospel.
Today, we also have experienced the powerful works of God and the fiery works of the Holy Spirit. Now it's time for us to receive power, spread the gospel and show signs at every corner of the world (Acts 1:8). Then, we, as spiritual warriors, will accomplish the providence of God for Manmin at this end time.
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