home

You may freely copy and distribute this article in part or in full as long as you include the following:

from The Prayerline Newsletter by Darrell C. Porter

"God's Special Forces"

July - September, 2008

In the United States military only a hand full of the most promising soldiers are selected for the most rigorous, intensive training and testing of skill, stamina and the will to succeed. That elect group is called Special Operations Forces. Serving in the armed forces is an honor as well as a duty. Yet service in any Special Forces unit in the world is the highest honor.

Similarly the born again Christian is called into the general army of God, Who “doth judge and make war.”(Re 19:11b) The Christian soldier marches to a different drummer from that of the world from which he is being saved. His orders are from heaven. His struggle is with things beneath God’s glo- ry. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath cho- sen him to be a soldier.” (2Ti 2:4)

From the ranks of this general Christian army God selects His own Special Forces to go deep into the enemy’s terrain in both open and clandestine spiritual warfare.

Regular soldiers know little about what their brothers in Special Forces are up to. Though they are all on the same side and fighting the same enemy yet they are not fighting him the same way and with the same results. The tactics, weapons and skills of the general en- listed man, though effective, are not as broad and precise as those of Special Forces.

In the natural world there is an ocean of difference between the National Guard whose members show up once a month, on weekends, to receive minimal training, and the elite soldier who trains daily and is ready 24 hours a day to fight.

The mind of the elite soldier is focused. He is disciplined and perseveres through pain and hardships, hunger and isolation. Personal recognition is not his motivation. So too is the spiritual warrior. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2Ti 2:3)

The regular Christian soldier would soon buckle under these conditions or balk at entering any real, sustained, conflict for Christ. Yet the committed Christian warrior is sold out to God and will fight in the passion of faith.

Paul and the other apostles were such soldiers. They marched into places for Christ that most saved Christians would never go. They had been separated by God from out of His general army, into His own unit of Special Forces. God saying, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” (Ac 13:2)

The assignment included greater training, greater focus, greater trials, longer prayers, deeper prayers, more fiery afflictions, more acts of injustice against them as well as the joy of a more fulfilling relationship with Christ. (2Cor.12:1,7) Their special call by the Holy Spirit did not bring endless popularity but frequent isolation, as well as frequently being misunderstood and envied and scorned by their own Christian brethren.

Signs and wonders followed them through the Holy Spirit, confirming the approval of God on their deeds. (Jam.2:18) Advancing the Gospel in enemy territory also brought them fierce beatings and imprisonment. (Acts 5:18; 2Cor.11:22-30) So frequent were this that Paul wrote, “I find then a law, that, when I would do good,evil is present with me.” (Ro 7:21)

Special Forces around the world is always few, compared to the much larger general army. The general army slays thousands of the enemy. So also does the general Christian army, through the Gospel.(Ac. 11:7) Yet the elite, faith-focused, Christian warrior, alone or with only a handful of other serious Believers,
will slay ten times that many.

“And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (1Sa 18:7)

Special units often conduct their operations in small groups or alone to accomplish what a thousand regular soldiers cannot do, or are not trained to do or merely have no will to do. Likewise, a handful of determined prayer warriors, focused on the Word of God, fixed on advancing His perfect will, will accomplish what 10,000 regular Christians cannot.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20)

“For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you”. (De 20:4)

The elite soldier relies upon skill and knowledge and prowess and training, and the direction of their trusted commander. They are more than mere soldiers. They are machines, in every whit, fit and focused for war.

In like manner is the Christian warrior’s stance to “Fight the good fight of faith.” (1Ti 6:12) The eye of God is on the men of valor who stand ready to fight for His glory.

“So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.” (Josh 10:7)

“All these the sons of Jediael, by the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valour, were seventeen thousand and two hundred soldiers, fit to go out for war and battle.” (1Ch 7:11)

“And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valour, famous throughout the house of their fathers.” (1Ch 12:30)

These are experienced soldiers, unafraid and eager to engage the enemies of God. They know how to slay his wicked works. They do it with determination and resolve, out of obedience to God’s Word. The elite soldier of God is a fighting machine.

“Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” (Ps 144:1)

God’s Kingdom is comprised of warriors. Warriors take possession of things that belong to God’s people, as ordered by the Lord Himself.

“Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.” (De 1:8) Those who hold back and refuse to take dominion of things that belong to God’s people, when ordered by God to do so, stand guilty before the Lord their God.

“And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the LORD to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the LORD, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, And the land be subdued before the LORD: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the LORD, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the LORD. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Num. 32:20-23)

Christians are called to spiritual warfare. Salvation is more than escape from the judgment of this world which is to come. (Acts 17:31) It is more than entry into the eternal security of heaven in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jn. 14:6) It is a call into that personal fellowship with Christ, in which none can remain faithful without a fight. The called of God must wear the armor of God, as they go into the everyday world to live and preach Christ’s message and proclaim God’s Kingdom. The armor of God is required protection against the hostility and bitterness of the world against Christ, and those whom He has sent. Many are determined to destroy His Name and His message. But no weapon formed against you will prosper as long as you wear the armor of God. (Isa.54:17; Eph.6:10-17)

The Truth of God is like explosives in the enemy’s camp. To declare God’s Word against adultery, pornography, homosexuality, corruption in government, abortion, wrongful sex, senseless violence, foul language, etc., is to bring the scourge and bitterness of the world against you. When you stand up for God’s Truth in this sick and decaying world, the hordes of hell will storm against you. The timid and fearful cannot resist evil. Only the pure in heart, like David, who leaves the general Christian army on the sidelines to go out (alone if necessary) in the Name of the Lord to face off and fight against and utterly defeat the uncircumcised
giants that oppose them. (1Sam. 17:26)

Soldiering is a science. It is the pure science of faith. Read “Rees Howell’s, Intercessor”, about a man full of the Holy Ghost and power with God. Study the life of the unstoppable William Wilberforce, that great Christian liberator. Watch the works of hell being crushed by that great outspoken evangelist, Billy Sunday. Peer into the life of that fearless preacher, Smith’s Wigglesworth who grabbed the physical dead and brought them back to life in Jesus’ Name.

In the science of faith the answer is always obedience equals power.

God’s soldier looks for the mind of God in prayer, to follow Him. The Lord reveals all things to those who look to Him. (Joh.15:15) Though the enemy tries to hide, he knows where he is for the Lord exposes him. (Joh.4:29) In God’s might the soldier of the Lord knows how to fight and win. For, as like Gideon (Jud.7:7), the Lord reveals his Way for victory over his enemies. The weapons of the warrior of God are not carnal but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. (2Cor.10:4)

Natural men use bullets and planes. The soldier of God fights through the Spirit of God.

“Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zec 4:6)

No man can fight without God; and no one can fight against Him and win.

Pressures placed on saints by the wickedness of this world are often permitted by God so we may press more fully into Him. The elite soldier of the world does not wallow in tears when things go wrong. He thinks and uses every bit of knowledge and skill he has to persevere and succeed in his mission. So to, with the Christian soldier, he keeps his mind stayed on God and uses the knowledge of the Scriptures as the ground for his feet, and his comfort and guide.

The Bible records, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of themall.” (Ps.34:19) God’s Special Forces know that no matter how dark and scary the situation may appear, the Lord will faithfully deliver him as he keeps his eye on Him.

Heartfelt prayer is key to keeping your eye on the Lord. Prayer is also a way of war. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” (2Cor.10:4) Fervent prayer will destroy walls built up against you and others. God says go forward. The enemy throws up an obstacle. Faith will tear it down. Prayer is a mighty weapon in the hand of those who knows how to use it. Give God’s soldier an M4A1 Carbine rifle and he will probably look foolish because he doesn’t know how to use it. Give him time with God, and look out.

The worst thing a Christian can ever do is distance themselves from a Christian prayer warrior. It is the humble warrior who will fight the hardest and longest when there is trouble. Believers who know how to enter in and gain the ear of God ought to be established in every church. If not then they ought to be sought for by prayer. When God brings them they should be taken to heart as God’s warriors. Dismiss these spiritual watchmen and you expose your house to eventual ruin. No city of God’s people in the history of the Bible was ever secure without its watchmen on the walls and its warriors at the gates. (cf. Isa.62:6)

More than raising buildings churches need to raise up warriors. Ministries without military focus will perish. Christian institutions without a spiritual battle plan to take the land God has given them will not go unpunished.

Those who refuse to fight against wickedness will be swallowed up by that wickedness. They will leave nothing behind them worth remembering their name.

Where it is lacking, pray the passion of the Lord to be birthed in the leaders of your church. Pray the purposes of God be their highest priority. Pray that the fire of God will blaze in their hearts in holy outrage against the wickedness of this world.

Pray the Lord send, and multiply in strength, His Special Forces prayer warriors who are unafraid to stand up and fight in God’s might.

“This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare.” (1Ti 1:18)

###

The PRAYERLINE Newsletter is a quarterly publication of Darrell C. Porter Evangelistic Assoc., Inc.

www.oneaglewings.com

To be placed on our email list complete sign up form click Here.