As believers in Christ, we serve the Lord as soldiers in the church as the Lord’s army, for our ministry is a warfare for Christ; we fight the good fight for the Lord’s interests on this earth, and we let the Lord subdue our will to make it strong against the enemy to fight against any death. Amen!
On one hand, we are a teacher and a shepherd, a shepherd-teacher, and on the other hand, we are a soldier in God’s army.
As a teacher, we need to be good ministers of Christ Jesus, those who are nourished with the words of the faith and who exercise their spirit to live Christ in our daily life for the church life.
A teacher in God’s economy is not someone who is trained in a Bible seminary and who knows the Bible so much that he can teach others.
Rather, we all are teachers, for we have the Teacher, Christ Himself as the Spirit, living within us, and we obey His inner teaching, His anointing.
He teaches us from within, He nourishes us, and we learn to follow Him and obey His leading.
As we enjoy the Lord in His word, as we dive deeper into the truth in God’s word and are constituted with the truth, we gain a good deposit of the Lord’s healthy words.
This good deposit needs to be guarded, increased, enriched and also ministered to others.
Thank the Lord that in the church life, we have the Lord’s speaking every day; we come to the Lord personally in His word and we come together corporately to prophesy, to speak for the Lord, and to let the Lord speak to us and through us.
What a secret we have found – our human spirit, which is a spirit of faith! And our spirit is subject to us, that is, we can exercise our spirit to contact the Lord and we can exercise our spirit to speak what we have heard of Him!
We have the same spirit of faith according to which we speak what we see, hear, enjoy, and believe!
When we speak to others, we don’t communicate doctrines to them nor do we try to teach them about the sound teachings in God’s word.
Rather, we learn to shepherd them in the Lord and teach them by ministering something of the riches of Christ into them.
The riches of Christ are constituted into us by our diligent seeking of the Lord, enjoying the Lord, prayerfully studying His word, and opening to the Lord in our daily living so that He may make all these things real to us in our experience.
Then, we minister something of the good deposit of the Lord’s healthy words into others by speaking to them concerning the Christ we have enjoyed. Hallelujah!
We Serve the Lord as Soldiers in the Lord’s Army, for our Ministry is a Warfare for Christ
In 2 Tim. 2:3-4 we see that the apostles served the Lord as soldiers; this indicates that they considered their ministry a warfare for Christ, just as the priestly service was considered a military service, a warfare (2 Tim. 2:3-4; Num. 4:23, 30, 35; 2 Tim. 4:7).
In the Old Testament, in Num. 4, we see that the priestly service is from 30 years old upward and up to 50 years old, to do the service in the tent of meeting.
The word in Hebrew for service is also military service. In God’s view, the priestly service was a warfare, a military service.
We believers in Christ serve the Lord as soldiers in the Lord’s army; every time we go to minister Christ, we are in a warfare.
On one hand, we serve God, and on the other hand, we fight against the enemy.
![This charge I commit to you, [my] child Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might war the good warfare 1 Tim. 1:18 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. 2 Tim. 4:7 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses. 1 Tim. 6:12](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/that-by-them-you-might-war-the-good-warfare-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "This charge I commit to you, [my] child Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might war the good warfare 1 Tim. 1:18 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. 2 Tim. 4:7 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses. 1 Tim. 6:12")
As the days grow darker around us, we find ourselves in a warfare.
The Lord’s ministry is the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go to war; to war the good warfare is to war against the different teachings of the dissenters and to carry out God’s economy according to the apostles’ ministry (1 Cor. 14:8; 1 Tim. 1:18; Num. 10:9; Judg. 7:18).
The dissenters are people who are negative, who speak different things, even teach different teachings.
May we remain on the line of God’s economy and emphasize or stress nothing else but the eternal economy of God.
We see this in 1 Cor. 14:8, where Paul was expounding on speaking in tongues, and suddenly he said, For also if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?
We may think that speaking in tongues is something small, but here Paul says that emphasizing speaking in tongues is like sounding the trumpet and giving an uncertain sound, so the saints cannot prepare for battle. Oh, Lord!
If we stress something in the word of God that is minor, not in the central line of God’s economy, we are making an uncertain sound.
We need to stress what needs to be stressed.
There needs to be the trumpeting of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church.
Minor things are helpful in their proper place, in their place and at the proper time.
May we have discernment concerning these things so that we may serve the Lord as soldiers in the Lord’s army, realizing that our ministry is a warfare for Christ.
For us to fight the good fight for the Lord’s interests on this earth, we must clear away all earthly entanglements and lay hold on the eternal life, not trusting in our human life (2 Tim. 4:7; 1 Tim. 6:12; cf. 2 Cor. 5:4).
No soldier can serve in the army if he is still entangled with the things of this life.
The word for life in 2 Tim. 2:4 is “bios”, referring to the human, physical life.
We need to take care of so many things in our human life, but if we’re entangled with these things, we cannot serve as soldiers in the Lord’s army.
As we grow up in the church life and pick up so many responsibilities related to our human life, our family life, and our work life, we tend to be tied down, entangled, and not so burdened for the Lord and His interest on the earth.
We may get married and then have children, a demanding job, and a busy family life, and our availability for the Lord decreases.
We are slowed down by these practical things.
May we pray that the Lord would untangle us from the affairs of this life.
May we not allow the thorns to choke the word of God and hinder our growth in life.
May we deal with our heart to be free of hidden sins and pleasures, free from the anxieties of this life, and free from worldly traffic so that it may be soft for the Lord to grow in and for the seed of life to bear fruit in us.
May we pray for ourselves and for our spouses that the Lord would keep us faithful and diligent to be soldiers in the Lord’s army to the end.
The matters of our material, physical life should not entangle us as we are endeavouring to minister Christ to others.
May we realize that our ministry to the Lord and our service to Him is a spiritual warfare, and may we both enjoy the Lord and stand one with Him in the spiritual battle today.
The priests in the Old Testament were both bearing the Ark of the Testimony and were prepared to fight against those who would attack this testimony.
Similarly, we today as the church are God’s army, and we are soldiers in the Lord’s army, fighting the spiritual battle.
We today are fighting against God’s enemy, Satan.
The church is not only the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23) but also the army of God.
The church is not only the new man created in Christ on the cross (2:15-16) and the kingdom of God, the household of the very God (v. 19) and the wife of Christ, His counterpart (5:24-25) but even more, the church is a warrior to fight against God’s enemy.
This means that we believers in Christ are soldiers in the Lord’s army and together we are one corporate warrior, the Body of Christ.
All that Christ is and all that He has done should be used and applied as aspects of the armour of God.
As the Body, we need to wear Christ as our breastplate (6:14) and take Him as our shield (v. 16), and we need to have our loins girded with Christ (v. 14) and wear Christ as a pair of shoes for our standing to fight the battle (v. 15).
Amen, as the church we are an universal and divine army fighting for God in the universe against His enemy.
Lord Jesus, cause us to see that we are soldiers in the Lord’s army fighting the spiritual battle in the Lord. We want to put away any entanglements of this physical life and serve in the army one with the Lord and one with the Body! Amen, Lord, may the matters of our material life not entangle us as we are endeavouring to minister Christ to others! May we learn to minister Christ and fight the battle in the Lord, realizing that our service to the Lord is a spiritual warfare. Oh Lord, keep us faithful to You until the end. We want to deal with the soil of our heart so that it would be soft toward You to grow in us and make us Your expression and representation on the earth. We want to fight a good fight for the Lord’s interests on this earth by laying hold on the eternal life and not trusting in our human life. We war the good warfare against the different teachings of the dissenters and we carry out God’s economy according to the apostles’ ministry! Oh Lord, guard our heart. Direct our hearts in the love of God and in the endurance of Christ so that we may have this reality!
Being Vigilant to Fight the Battle against Death and have our Will Subdued and Resurrected by Christ for Spiritual Warfare
In Num. 6:6-7, 9 we see that the Nazarites had to stay away not only from worldly pleasures, wine, and other things like this, but even more stay away from any kind of death.
In the church life we need to be vigilant to fight the battle against death, the last enemy of God, by being filled with life to reign in life (2 Cor. 5:4; Rom. 5:17; 8:6, 11).
We may not realize this, but death is God’s enemy, death is ugly, and death is everywhere.
We are not talking merely about human death or the death in the world with all the worldly things, entertainment, sports, etc.
Even in the church life, death seeks to come in.
We need to realize that death is ugly; spiritual death is hated by God, for it comes in and deadens the saints.
Sin still bothers us in the church life, but what hinders us even more is death.
In the Nazarite vow, we see that this one needed to stay away from death, even though one of his close relatives died.
He had to stay away from death that happened suddenly, unexpectedly.
Today in the church life we are with so many saints going on enjoying the Lord; however, suddenly, one of the saints that is so close to us dies, suffering spiritual death.
He pays more attention to the tree of knowledge than to the tree of life, and he suffers spiritual death.
When someone dies suddenly, without you being involved, you need to stay away from spiritual death.
Most times, however, spiritual death doesn’t happen in a sudden way but it comes in by loose talk, by gossip, and by being free in our speaking to one another.
We criticize and we utter our opinions.
There may be some concerns, even genuine concerns, and we can have fellowship about our concerns.
But when we have loose talk and criticise others, we speak death into the saints. Oh, Lord Jesus!
May the Lord save us from listening to deadening speaking and from speaking deadening words to others.
May we be vigilant to fight the battle against death by coming to the Lord and being filled with His life!
Sometimes in the church life or in our Christian life, we touch death; it is not our fault, we did not do anything to bring in death, but we speak to someone who imparts death to us or we simply touch something of death. And we don’t realize it.
We only feel that we don’t enjoy the Lord, the divine life in us is not so buoyant, and the Lord seems to be so far away.
We need to realize that, as soldiers in the Lord’s army, we should fight against any kind of death and be fully on the line of life.
Sometimes the Lord is faithful to expose us, through the saints, that we spread death by the way we speak and by the words we say, even by the attitude we have.
In His mercy, the Lord exposes death in us and in the situation around us, and we need to fight against death.
Whenever we sense death, we need to turn to our spirit and be filled with life and peace.
We need to set our mind on the things which are above, on the Lord Jesus Himself, so that we may be filled with His life and repel any death.
As soldiers in the Lord’s army, we need to have our will subdued and resurrected by Christ to be like the tower of David, the armoury for spiritual warfare (S. S. 4:4; cf. 1 Chron. 11:22).
So many times we are rebellious and stiffnecked, just as the children of Israel were in the Old Testament.
The Lord, however, works in our environment through so many things, situations, and people to subdue our will and make it strong in resurrection.
By being subdued by the Lord doesn’t mean that we’re soft and anything and anyone in the world can step over us.
Rather, we exercise our spirit of power and of love and of sobermindedness to stand with the Lord and reign in life.
We will be those who minister life and bring advantage to the current situation, reigning in the Lord and with Him.
Lord Jesus, we want to be vigilant to fight the battle against death. Amen, Lord, as soldiers in the Lord’s army we stand one with You against any attack of death upon the church. Praise the Lord, the gates of Hades will not prevail against the builded church! We exercise our spirit to be one with You, Lord, and to be filled with life. We want to remain on the line of life, one with the life-giving Spirit to receive life and minister life. We stand against any death. We exercise our spirit to remain in life. Amen, Lord, we choose to enjoy You as life, live You out, and minister life to others. Fill us with Your life until Your life reigns in us! Have Your way, dear Lord, to subdue and resurrect our will so that it may be an armoury for spiritual warfare! We open to You in our daily life to be dealt with in our will so that our will may be subdued and resurrected for spiritual warfare!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” ch. 7, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Being a Vessel unto Honor, a Fully Equipped Man of God, by being Empowered in the Grace which is in Christ Jesus to Fully Accomplish our Ministry in the Unique Ministry of God’s Economy (2024 April ITERO), week 3, Being Empowered in the Grace Which Is in Christ Jesus to Be Teachers, Soldiers, Contenders, Farmers, and Workmen.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– The knowledge of being joined to the Lord as one spirit, a portion from, Spiritual Man, The (3 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee.
– A Harmonious Coordination between Generations to Advance God’s Move, via, Shepherding Words.
– 7 Steps to Build Up a Personal Prayer Life, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Crucified and resurrected, a portion from, Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
– I Am Not My Own, via, Living to Him.
– All spiritual work is a warfare, a portion from, The Experience of Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee.
– Blood for Redemption; Water for Regeneration, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– A soldier, a portion from, Life-Study of 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon, Chapter 15, by Witness Lee.
– World Wars and the Church, via, Having this ministry newsletter. - Hymns on this topic:
– Fight the battle in the Body, / Never fight it on your own; / With the Body to the Head joined, / Fight the battle on the throne. / Fight the battle in the Body! / By the virtue of the Head; / Standing firmly with the Body, / Into vict’ry you’ll be led. (Hymns #885 stanza 1 and chorus)
– Soldier, soldier, fighting in the world’s great strife, / On thyself relying, battling for thy life; / Trust thyself no longer, / Trust to Christ—He’s stronger; / I can all things, all things do / Through Christ, which strengtheneth me. (Hymns #648 stanza 1)
– Soldiers of Christ, arise, / And put your armor on, / Strong in the strength which God supplies, / Through His eternal Son; / Strong in the Lord of Hosts, / And in His mighty pow’r, / Who in the strength of Jesus trusts / Is more than conqueror. (Hymns #888 stanza 1)
About aGodMan
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(Spiritual Man, The (3 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee)
(The Experience of Life, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)
Dear brother, we serve the Lord as soldiers in the church as His army, for our ministry to the Lord is a warfare for Christ.
Just as the priestly service was considered a military service, a warfare, so our serving the Lord is a warfare, a battle.
We fight the good fight for the Lord’s interests on this earth by clearing away all earthly entanglements and laying hold on the eternal life.
Amen, Lord Jesus may we be soldiers of Christ, wearing you as our amour.
The church is a universal divine army fighting for God.
To fight the good fight we must clear away the earthly entanglements.
Aaaaameeen!
Wow brother, whenever we minister Christ to others we find ourselves in a battle!
Paul eventually tells us in Ephesians that the church, the Body of Christ is a warrior to fight against God’s enemy!!
Ameeen!!!
The Lord’s ministry is like the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go to war. The Lord’s ministry is a matter of battle.
Likewise, the apostles considered their ministry a warfare for Christ, just as the priestly service is considered a military service, a warfare.
Moreover, the church is a universal and divine army fighting for God in the universe against His enemy.
Praise the Lord we are his soldiers fighting for His testimony and against death. Today be a day of enjoying life!
We must fight for God’s interest. Our ministry & priestly service are a warfare.
To fight a good fight we must clear away all earthly entanglements.
Our priestly service is a ministry to God and a battle against God’s enemies.
We must fight against death and death is everywhere, even in the church.
There is the need for the consciousness of death so that we may fight against it.
May we put on the full armor of God and learn to wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Praise the Lord! 🙌😃🙋🏼
We need to see that ministry is a matter of warfare and the church is God’s army to fight the good fight of faith for God’s interests on earth.
To wage the good warfare we need Christ as our breastplate, shield and even our shoes so that we may stand for God’s economy in such a batttle against God’s enemies.
We must not be entangled with the physical affairs or earthly pleasures of this life but even in the church we must swallow up death with life.
08/07/24 Being Empowered in the Grace, which is in Christ Jesus, to Be Teachers, Soldiers, Contenders, Farmers, and Workmen (Week 3, Day 3)
2.) To Be Faithful Soldiers
In 2 Timothy 2:3, Paul says, “Suffer evil with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” In this verse, Paul speaks of suffering evil as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. The first aspect of being a good soldier of Christ is to share in suffering evil. To suffer evil means to suffer persecution. A minister of Christ is one who shares in the suffering of such evil.
The apostle Paul considered his ministry a warfare for Christ, just as the priestly service was considered a military service, a warfare, in Numbers 4:23, 30, and 35. Whenever we minister Christ to others, we find ourselves in a battle. Hence, we should not only be teachers committing the deposit to others, but we should also be soldiers fighting for God’s interests.
Any kind of spiritual work is a spiritual battle because God’s enemy, Satan, continually wants to hinder God’s work. Gospel preaching is also a kind of spiritual warfare. The proper preaching of the gospel will gain people and cause them to work and to serve together with us. Eventually, they too will learn to preach the gospel and become soldiers of Christ.
The apostle Paul was a gospel preacher who fought the good fight of the faith (2Tim 4:7). Timothy was his spiritual child (1Tim. 1:2, 18), and by helping Paul in preaching the gospel, he also became a good soldier of Christ Jesus (1Tim 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim. 2:3).
The Lord’s ministry is like the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go on to war (Num 10:9; Judg 7:18). The Lord’s ministry is a matter of a battle (2Tim 2:3), a warfare against the different teachings of the dissenters and to carry out God’s economy according tp the apostles’ ministry (1Cor 14:8; 1Tim 1:18; Num 10:9; Judg 7:18).
Second Timothy 2:4 says, “No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please the one who enlisted him.” The word for life here in Greek is bios, referring to our physical life in this age. To fight a good fight (2Tim 4:7) for the Lord’s interests on this earth, we must clear away all entanglements in our physical life.
On the one hand, the Lord’s ministry is the ministry of life; on the other hand, the Lord’s ministry is a fighting, a warfare against God’s enemies which requires us to be free from earthly entanglement. No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please the one who enlisted him.
Every contestant who runs on a racecourse does his best to dress as light as possible. He does not want to bear any excess weight that can become an entanglement to him during the race. This makes it easier for him to finish the race and receive the crown. Similarly, in order to win a battle, a soldier must not allow himself to be entangled with the affairs and burdens of this life.
To be entangled is to take too much concerns in the necessities of life, such as, our studies, our work, our business, our sports, etc., which becomes a heavy load that hinders us to run fast in our racecourse. This requires strict discipline.
Anyone who has ever served in the military knows that once a person joins the military, he loses all his freedom. All his exercises and activities are directed by a single word of command. He is thoroughly changed from head to toe so that he may be freshly equipped to receive strict military training. Without rigorous training, an army cannot fight a battle. No looseness is allowed because the improper conduct of one person during a battle could lead to the destruction of the whole army.
In the world, people can relax after completing their military service. However, as good soldiers serving the Lord in the church, we have been enlisted not merely for two years of preparatory service but for a lifetime of service. We all must endeavor be a good soldier for our entire life. From now on, we all must have such a spirit. We must make a determination before the Lord, saying, “Lord, I am joining Your army to be a good soldier for my whole life.”
First Peter 4:1 says that we should arm ourselves with a mind to suffer. Every soldier expects hardship. No one serving as a soldier expects a life of pleasure.When we allow the Lord to contrain us and to reign in us, eventually, we shall become the Bridal Army of Christ to fight against the antichrist and his army in the Lord’s second coming.
The Lord’s ministry is like the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go on to war (Num. 10:9; Judg. 7:18). The Lord’s ministry is a matter of battle. We are doing something more serious than any battle on this earth. We are fighting God’s enemy, Satan. The church is God’s army…
SCRIPTURE READING: 2 Tim. 2:3-4 💚
Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 1, “Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move,” ch. 6; Life-study of Num- bers, msgs. 9-10
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Amen. Thank You Lord for enlisting us! Lord, keep us from all earthly entanglements for Your interests here on earth!
Amen! The Lord’s ministry is like a trumpet for us to go to war.
We must fight against God’s enemy, Satan.
Thank the Lord for the church as a corporate warrior to defeat Your enemy.