It’s been a couple of days since I returned home from the Wild At Heart Boot Camp.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a powerful experience while in Colorado  The challenge faced, however is what next.  It can be very easy in this world to go back to life as normal and not put a thought again to the experience.  I could put aside all that God showed me and move back to my work life and not do anything further.  I didn’t get a chance to meet everybody, and I would hate it, but I am certain this happens for guys.  You get back to the world and everything begins to revert.  I pray that this is not the case, but this world and the enemy are vicious.

When we are back to our normal lives it can be very easy to make agreements with what the enemy and the world tells us.  Most men are taken out because they make agreements with the enemy.  These agreements can be very simple or more complex.  You may think you just don’t have it in you to pursue what you feel called to.  You may just think you’re not good enough or don’t have the strength.  These are agreements the the enemy may throw at you and if you agree it can take you out. Once you make those agreements, everything begins to filter through them and the enemy will setup shop right there.

We are constantly at war in this world.  Coming back from an event as powerful as the Wild At Heart Boot Camp, the enemy is going to throw whatever he can at you to pull you back down.  I can hear him trying to pull me back.  I know it’s only been a couple of days, but the battle begins now with even more relentlessness.  I have to arm myself each day in prayer and the Word in order keep myself from falling back to the old man or my false self.

1 Peter 5 says that we must stand firm against the enemy and be strong.  He prowls around like a like looking for someone to devour.  In John 10:10, Jesus tells us that “the thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.”  Jesus had to encounter this battle everyday.  Spiritual warfare is very real and we have to be armed and ready to deal with anything the enemy will throw at us.  Jesus did not mean for us to come along and stand by and take it like good little Christians.  No…Jesus came not to bring peace, but a sword (Matthew 10:34).  He came to do battle.  God is a warrior. Exodus 15:3, “The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.”  Man is a warrior; Man is his name.  We are made to fight and fight we must.

As John told us at Boot Camp, denial of the heart is the heart of human struggle.  Many in this world, even in churches are like the Hobbits in The Lord of The Rings.  Naive, clueless, or in flat out denial of how ugly the battle actually is.  Look at our brothers and sisters in the faith getting martyred around the world because they refuse to renounce their faith.  The enemy is out to destroy our faith.  When Satan was cast out of Heaven, he decided to go after God’s heart by destroying the thing He really loved.  That’s His image bearers…us.

For me, this is a time for resolve.  To stand firm in my faith and where God has taken me.  To arm myself everyday and everything under my authority in Christ.  I know I am trouble for the enemy now as is anyone who will stand strong in their faith.  We cannot skate along singing kumbaya pretending nothing is happening.  Call evil for what it is.  Just like the Islamic evil that is faced everyday in the Middle East.  It is the enemy at work.  We have to stop sitting in our little small world and stand firm.

So arm yourself.  Don’t sit back waiting for things to happen.  Don’t let the enemy sink his claws into you.  Don’t walk through life alone and let the enemy push you deeper or back into your wounds and agreements.  Stand firm in your faith in Christ.  Ephesians 6 says be strong in the Lord…put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be ready to resist the enemy.  I’m no longer going to be partially in.  I am all in now for good.