A WARRIOR’S MINDSET

Victor M. Eskew

 

          The child of God is in a spiritual battle against his archenemy, Satan (1 Pet. 5:8).  The ultimate end in this battle can be set forth with one word, “Victory!”  If the Christian is going to gain victory over the evil one, he must develop “A Warrior’s Mindset.”  In this article, we want to discuss various components of this mindset.

          The warrior needs to first develop A MINDSET AGAINST THE ENEMY.  This mindset involves two major thoughts.  First, the enemy must not prevail.  If Satan is successful, the soul will be lost.  It will burn forever in a hell prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).  Some do not believe that a Christian can lose his soul in hell.  They believe that once a person is saved, he is saved forever.  Yet, the Bible constantly warns Christians about being removed from the Christ (Gal. 1:6-7), from falling from grace (Gal. 5:4), and from being entangled again in the world (2 Pet. 2:20).  Peter even notes that if this happens, the latter end is worse than the beginning.  He affirms that is would have been better “not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Pet. 2:21).  A faithful Christian understands and believes these teachings.  Thus, deep within his heart he tells himself:  “The enemy must not prevail.”

          There is a second thought that he holds as well.  It is this:  The enemy cannot prevail.  This is not the same as stating that falling from grace is impossible.  It is a mindset like that of Joshua in the long ago.  He stood before Israel as their leader and exhorted them to make a decision about following God or the false gods in the land of Canaan.  He ended his exhortation, stating:  “…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Josh. 24:15).  Paul commanded the saints at Corinth to be “steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).  Paul told the Colossian brethren that it is possible the be “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight” (Col. 1:22).  The secret to this end is found in the next verse:  “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hlope of the gospel..” (Col. 1:23).  The warrior makes up his mind that he is going to be grounded, settled, fervent, steadfast, and immoveable in his service to the Lord.  He constantly remains focused on remaining true to God just as Paul was.  “”But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:  lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27).

          In addition to a mindset toward the enemy, the spiritual warrior must possess A MINDSET REGARDING HIMSELF.  This mindset is manifested through three beliefs:  I want  victory, I can have victory, and I will obtain victory.”  Let’s look at each one of these beliefs.  First, he wants victory.  Victory is not just a faint wish he thinks about from time to time.  He longs for it.  He deeply desires it.  He yearns for it in his heart and soul.  Paul wanted it.  “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord:  for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil. 3:8, 11).

          Second, the Christians knows that he can have victory.  The means and the resources have been made available to him to overcome the devil.  Everything was made available through Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary.  “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject unto bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15).  The victory is contingent upon one thing, a heart of faith.  “For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world:  and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).  By himself, the Christian will never be perfect, but he can be perfected by the precious blood of Christ unto the very end.  “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 

          Third, the warrior tells himself:  “I will have victory.”  Just like the apostle Paul, he fights the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7).  He sets his mind to the race that is ahead of him and presses diligently to the mark of the prize.  “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).  The courageous soldier knows that he can come to the end of life with the same hope that Paul had some two thousand years ago.  He wrote:  “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day:  and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7-8).

          The third focus of the warrior involves A MINDSET ON VICTORY.  He can see beyond the battles of the present.  He looks beyond the struggles, the pain, and the suffering.  He sees the victory.  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:  for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.  For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor.4:17-5:1).  When we hear the words:  “Well done thou good and faithful servant,” (Matt. 25:21, 23), we will experience incomprehensible joy, and we will receive rewards that will never fade.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

          Do you have a warrior’s mindset?  Have you determined that the adversary must not and cannot prevail over you?  Do you constantly affirm that I want victory, I can have victory, and I will have victory on the last day?  Do you look forward to the victory that will yours to enjoy?  Do you see yourself wearing the victory crown with all enemies having been subdued?  If you have answered these questions in the affirmative, you have a warriors’ mindset.  “But thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).