The Commissioned Warrior: Embracing Your Spiritual Battlefield

What happens when a warrior awakens but has no mission? They become dangerous not just to themselves, but to everyone around them. In this compelling second installment of our Warriorism series, Chaplain Justin Schalow reveals why commissioning is the critical next step after awakening.

The modern world has sold us a dangerous lie: that comfort should be our highest pursuit. But comfort is the enemy of productivity, and warriors must get comfortable being uncomfortable. Drawing from military land navigation principles, Justin explains how cultural and personal drift can take us hundreds of meters off course when we fail to regularly check our spiritual azimuth against God's commissioned purpose for our lives.

This episode cuts through cultural distortions of both masculinity and femininity. For men, culture reduces manhood to athletic prowess, sexual conquest, or financial achievement. For women, femininity becomes merely about appearance and consumption. Both miss the original Genesis blueprint where all believers are called to "cultivate and protect" as commissioned warriors in their sphere of influence.

The most compelling section explores how military creeds mirror spiritual truths. "I will always place the mission first" teaches purpose over comfort. "I will never accept defeat" instills faith over fear. These aren't just motivational phrases but battlefield convictions....the strength you fall back on when facing adversity. From King David to Joshua to Jesus himself, we see that true warriorism balances fierce courage with tender hearts.

Science confirms what scripture has always taught—our identity isn't formed in emotional mountaintop experiences but through consistent repetition. Our brains don't care what we intend to do; they fall back on what we've trained them to do.

Ready to move beyond just being awakened to being commissioned? Join us as we explore the cost and calling of the warrior's path...not for personal glory, but for kingdom impact that echoes through generations.

Transcript

Introduction to The Commissioned Warrior

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Theo Psych Project, the fight within. This is where theology isn't soft and psychology isn't secular. Here we're going to confront trauma, identity, and spiritual warfare with clinical clarity and ancient truth. No fluff, no filters, just real stories, real healing, and a God who's not afraid of your pain. So head over to ReviveWolko.com, click the Theo Psych Project, send us your questions, share your story, or pull up a chair.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Hey friends, welcome back to the Theo's Psych Project podcast. If you've been with us, you know that we've launched the eight part series through warriorism, the book written by my husband, Chaplain Justin Shalow, which is said to release in December. Episode one really introduced us to the unawakened warrior, the man or woman who's technically alive, but not living, right? Breathing, but not thriving, drifting, so to speak. But awakening is only the beginning. And so Justin is moving us into second phase. stage, which is the commissioned warrior, because a warrior who is awake without a mission becomes dangerous, not just to themselves, but to everyone around them. And so I am excited for Justin to lead us and tell us more about what it means to be a commissioned warrior.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, so that's a great question, Jen. You know, being awake means to be aware, but being commissioned means to be on mission, right? But see, here's the thing, the commissioned soldier, we don't get to choose our mission, right? We have to subscribe to the mission at hand, the mission we're called to. We just cowboy up. And you know the saying, everybody wants to be a cowboy until it's time to do cowboy stuff. And that's the thing. We have to embrace doing cowboy stuff on a daily basis. Because a man without a mission, like you said, is a danger not only to himself, but he's a liability to everybody around him. Meanwhile, the man under mission that subscribes to this mission that God has given him to cultivate and protect is dangerous in the right direction. He's dangerous to the enemy because he's in submission to authority He's filled with the Spirit, and he's intentional about assessing threats in both his physical life and his community and his spiritual life as well. A calling, a commission that will keep him sharp and keep him deadly, not just physically, but spiritually. You know, the gospel writer Luke, he records the words of Jesus saying, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. You see, there's a lot of implication in that passage that speaks to the death of comfort. And the place of intentionality in the life of the believer, the life of the warrior, right? Jesus is declaring the opposite of comfort and demanding in this demand of his disciples, right? Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me, leave what you know, get ready to bear hard things and learn. Like, wow. We definitely don't teach that in our culture, right? Commissioning is cross-bearing. It's not comfort chasing. Comfort is the enemy of productivity and we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable Because courage isn't the absence of fear. It's obedience in the face of it. Commissioning will cost you. So the question is, what are you willing to pay? Because Jesus won't ask you for anything, but he expects everything.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

That is so good. Yeah. You know, Justin, just listening to you say that, you know, I really want you to speak directly to Gen Z and even millennials right now. You know, there's so many young adults out there listening and, you know, know, maybe they're struggling because they find themselves already in a battlefield. And I wonder if you might speak to that. You know, mental health can feel like combat. Relationships can feel like combat. Discovering your purpose in life, right? That's so hard. So how does this idea of warriorism translate into those, you know, struggling today in real day life? You know, how do we connect the commissioning with our battles?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah. So, and this is really the crux of warriorism. You got to go to the blueprint. You got to go to the Word of God. And that's where you're going to take your daily operations order from, right? This is where you're going to find the archetype for warriorism, Jesus Christ, the example of how to live a godly life. And it was laid out for us in detail so that we might be able to sustain in the fight, right? Now, I talk about the importance of having a creed as well. Your creed has got to be rooted in the Word of God. Your creed has got to be rooted in the fact that it's calling you out as a child of God. Because at the end of the day, if you're fighting without a sword in your hand, that's what Paul says the word of God is, right? You're fighting without your sword in your hand, you can't win. The word of God puts a weapon in your hand, but in order to use that weapon, in order to be able to wield that sword, you got to train with it daily. We know these things in other terms, right? And in any other weapon system to be effective, for it to be effective, it requires an extensive training, right? So bringing it back to a man and his creed, listen, Effective warriors throughout history are forged through creeds because your creed is a declaration of who you are and what you'll fight for and where your strength is rooted. So build a creed that's rooted in God and in his word that declares your intent to effectively engage the enemy and live by it daily. And trust me, trust me, hell will take notice.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

I love the way you framed it like that. Ultimately, because Jesus himself was seeking the kingdom first Right. So, you know, culture, it constantly pulls us away. And it's and sometimes the noise is so loud and we can be pulled in every direction endlessly. Honestly, you know, I see arguments online. I see, you know, distractions that masquerade around. And and sometimes even, you know, I would think sometimes we think those things are noble pursuits that we're after, like justice and peace. And and they can even be, you know, detours if we're not anchored in God's word, if we're not anchored in seeking the kingdom, like you said. So with that being said, if we seek God's kingdom first, then we also know what battles God would call us to fight. And so when you exhaust yourself in this endless weariness and squirming through life trying to figure out which fight you're supposed to be fighting, that can be confusing and very exhausting.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Yeah. Because, you know, we're living in a culture that's adrift. And if you don't resolve to stand for something, then you're just going to fall for whatever the next trend is. Listen, the whole church is sent, Matthew 28, right? And here's the thing. Men aren't the only ones called to live on mission. And honestly, for far too long, the church culture has manifested this idea that women, they're not part of the fight. In fact, I would present that the call to warriorism is a call for the whole family. Women are commissioned in the same ways that men are, married or not, each living out a calling to advance the kingdom in their God-given circles, right? So with no mission, really you'll self-destruct. And without commissioning, we'll chase false missions, whether that's workaholism, substances, ego, porn, and a myriad of others. But as we embrace living on mission for Christ We fight for families. We fight for the kingdom. We fight for each other. You know, really, here's what's at stake. Legacy. Legacy is at stake. And living commissioned, we develop and leave behind creeds. Meanwhile, living uncommissioned, we leave behind nothing but chaos. So listen, hear me say this. You know, one day you're going to pass from this life into the next. And here's the thing. Like I said, you're going to either die a nobody or you're going to die a legend. But living legendary for Christ costs. So, you know, I'll use a recent example. Take Charlie Kirk, right? My brother lived a legendary life for our faith and God rest his soul, he was martyred for it. He understood the risk and he knew what he was confronting. He knew that he was confronting the enemy on his turf and yet he chose to live out the warrior ethos that God had called him to and discard his own comfort and his own safety. Rest in peace, Charlie Kirk.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, that really connects deeply with me and I'm sure with our audience because of what we're going through right now, right? It's just there is a deep spiritual warfare out there. So like you said earlier, you know, we're already in the battlefield. Whether you're a man or whether you're a woman, it doesn't matter. And so the reality is so that we're not chasing anything that comes before us, but we know what, you know, God is leading us to. You know, I love the way that you've described how to kind of live that commission life. life and what that looks like behind the scenes. If you can't see the spiritual battle, you're not looking. Just listen to what you say. We can, men or women, just fall to whatever battle is before us and totally be distracted from what God is calling us to fight, wherever that is in our lives. And so what you're talking about psychologically, though, really is cultivating resilience, the ability to resist shame, to stand up. firm in our faith, even in the presence of doubt or in the presence of spiritual warfare or in the presence of, you know, feeling like you're the only one, right? And God's word gives us that peace to just stand firm and to be resilient when suffering surrounds us.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah, you know, you really, you've got to tie it back to the blueprint, right? The original design, you know, Adam, number one, he was created with purpose, but he failed. Adam, number two, Jesus Christ, he came and he conquered and he did it in But we wouldn't say that Jesus wasn't the most warrioristic among us or that he wasn't the best leader that ever existed. We tend to fight out of the principles that he taught, right? We take the fight out of the principles that he taught. For example, we correlate meekness with weakness, right? Honestly, it's the culture we live in. And, you know, sometimes it's in the church culture as well. We've kind of sucked the violence toward evil out of the Word of God. But the blueprint, right, going back to the blueprint, we'll go back to Genesis 1, 26 to 28. And I'm just going to read it for you. It says, Then God... So check it out. Did you hear me say or read in that passage that God said to man or God said to woman? No, like this is sex immaterial. Like this was a job that was given to Adam and Eve as they, existed in the garden. But then he gave a commission. So he laid out a blueprint and I simply reduce it down to cultivating and protecting, right? So everything we just read, you know, it comes down to cultivating and protecting, right? Taking care of, providing for, and defending, right? That's the mission, cultivate and protect. And it's echoed throughout the Old and New Testament, right? So we saw Adam, he failed, but Adam failed because he wasn't Eve's best battle buddy in the moment that it counted. But that's still the original blueprint. You got to get the intruder out. It's very simple, right? We very simply read over these words, but we don't look at the implication. These are very simple terms, but somehow we've allowed culture to affect us with something that has broken the original blueprint in us. And now it's almost non-existent. Cultivate, right? Let's go back to like what that entails, what it means. Steward creation, build communities, meet needs, right? You want to produce fruit, godly fruit. Bring order to chaos and beauty from that chaos. And that happens both in the home and at work and even in church. And then to protect, right? Establish and hold boundaries, resist evil, defend God's order, stand in the gap for the oppressed and keep watch. We bear God's presence and we defend God's purposes.

Cultivate and Protect: Original Design

SPEAKER_00 12:27

You know, that is such an important distinction. Just listening to you, like cultivating doesn't just mean external labor, right? It also means internally, right? And I'm just sitting here listening to you and realizing how important it is, especially where we are in the world today, to lead in your homes in prayer, in scripture, in personal integrity, and so much more. And as I'm thinking about the psychological perspective here, because I know you always bring me in on the science factor, and I think about cultivation meeting building bonds, We're building sisterhoods. We're building brotherhoods. We're building communities. And the reality is no one grows in isolation. And, you know, if I think about the founder of attachment theory, John Bowlby, he really talks about the need that we have as humans to have this secure base, which is this safe place to kind of build that kind of community so we can fight and cultivate these kinds of things, right? We're cultivating what God is doing, these friendships, our community, our spiritual growth. and we are fighting against things that are not flesh and blood. As I think about this and as I kind of discern what you're saying with the psychological realm of things, it's really setting boundaries, right? We're setting boundaries in our lives and we're saying, okay, these are the things that we're going to do. And then with you talking about the creed, that's an excellent example of this. This is what you're saying that you're speaking over your life and over your family's life. And if we look at the scientific evidence evidence, we see that when we speak truth over ourselves, this is what we're going to live by. And we have this safe place to do that. Science shows us that lowers rates of depression, that lowers rates of anxiety, not just in ourselves, but in our families. Because if we live in a family where we know that it has this integrity, that it has this secure base, right, then science confirmed that when we have an environment like that, that we grow. Our children our spouses, the communities we're in. So when you're talking about putting on basically the full armor of God here, our families need that. We need spiritual leaders. You have to take on that full armor of God, right? So I love the way that you're talking about the importance of cultivating and protecting and building this kind of environment so that we are prepared for battle.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, it's so good. You know, and again, Ephesians 6, a sex immaterial passage, creed language that commissions us, all of us, men and women, to go to battle, right? He's not just calling the men in our homes or the men in our churches to go to battle. He's calling all of us to suit up with the armor of God, prepare for war, because let's be honest, that's where peace is found. Peace is made. It's not kept. We understand this on the battlefield. And honestly, it's why we emphasize training. The enemy doesn't mess with hard targets. Living in this way, hell's going to take notice because you're a threat You become a warrior that's ready to apply violence of action to evil contact. And that's how you sustain peace in your life. You stay ready for battle. So here's the thing. Adam was given a job and the work he was given, he did well with, right? Naming animals and maintaining order, you know, working to keep the garden. But then when Satan arose and came to his bride, there was no violence of action. He defaulted to what was comfortable rather than what was right. I said this last episode, like he's kind of side eye on his wife, waiting to see what happens rather than standing in the resolve, the creed that he had been given, right? What he had been called to do. But here's really the reason that I say that both of them should have been warriors because no one person is on their game in every moment of every day. As we pursue God together, we're deliberately reducing the space between us and we pursue that mountain peak. But see, here's the thing is we're all going to get to points where we have a weak moment, but we can help each other over those tough spots. Being in a cultivating strong warrioristic community is important because those are the people that you're going to lean on for, you know, to stand in the gap for you in prayer and in the spiritual encouragement. And honestly, that all starts with the people closest to you.

Women as Lionesses in Battle

SPEAKER_00 16:47

That is so good. You know, that sustained by readiness. I love that so much. I love, again, just going back to the creed and you mentioned Ephesians 6, you know, really makes that explicit. I mean, if you're married, You know, don't we do that anyways? Don't we in marriage, our vows become that creed over our marriage? And just, you know, using that language, that creed language, you know, is just that covering of this is what we know we're doing. This is where we know we're going. And, you know, just to speak to people that are not married, right? And maybe, you know, you don't have a spouse. That doesn't mean that we can't go ahead and start building that creed over our own lives. We all have a past. somewhere, right? We have some type of community and we can live by that and teach others to stand firm in our faith with that. Cultivating that creed over your marriage, over your family, over your packs and your communities, so to speak, like you're really building the blueprint that you're talking about, right? That we are walking out that courage and that armor of God over all of the people around us. You know, it is our responsibility to teach others this community Yeah. So let

SPEAKER_01 18:05

me let me ask you a question, Jen. In your opinion, like how do women carry the same creation mission, if you will, into like distinctly female ways in the home and in church and even in communities?

Fighting Cultural Drift and Comfort

SPEAKER_00 18:19

I think to recover the language that we as women have forgotten. I mean, we are the lioness. You talk about the lion and the lamb, you know, that men, that warrioristic men. But women, we are the lioness and we are called as well to that lion and the lamb. Women are not spectators in this war. And I think sometimes we confuse that. Married or single, you know, each daughter of Christ is a lioness. She is an ally. I think, you know, as speaking to women, like she's the tender builder, right? She's the guardian of the home too. And the only question is where is her pride? Where is her passion? Is it her immediate family? As I mentioned a minute ago, is it the church family? Is it other circles of influence? It doesn't matter. She's called to operate as the commissioned force as well. So I guess in speaking to women, I would say don't allow culture to flatten your femininity, okay? Don't allow culture to reduce you to consumption or some type of appearance. You know, we see it, Jess, you know, on Instagram, on all the other social media platforms, right? The message is unmistakable. Femininity is a filter. It's a brand. It's body. It's validation. It's consumption of the female part. Comfort here is really, for women, is passive affirmation, right? Endless likes, but there's zero legacy there, right? Nothing's really taking root. So if I'm speaking to women, I would say, cultivate your lives around the in Christ and walk out the lioness calling that God has for you. Build your creed. I mean, we can see in Proverbs 31, like she invests wisely. She plants vineyards. She instructs her households with wisdom. She strengthens her arms for the work ahead. I mean, you know, this is economic acuity, moral authority, and also it really is an embodied strength of her. But, you know, I have to move aside from Proverbs 31 because I know we hear about Proverbs 31 woman a lot. Let's look at other women. What about Deborah? You know, what about Mary Magdalene? What about Esther? You know, these messages are consistent and they show, you know, what a warrioristic woman would look like, right? What the ally would look like to her partner or, you know, if you're not married, just in your pack itself. We don't want to follow suit to flatten femininity. We're not chasing attention, okay? And if that's what we're chasing, then we know we're outside of God's will. We got to chase the authority of God in our lives and allow Him to shape us and allow Him to use us in this creed that we even build over our lives. You know, we're not sideliners. We're not just here to submit and be quiet. Scripture never erases the lioness. And I would say that women are fierce guardians and tender builders of their home. And they are also protectors of life. And they also have this covenant calling, you know, that the Lord has called and laid upon their lives and sometimes that includes confronting you know even our spouses or our friends in loving ways but interceding for clarity and and we can see that with abigail and the way that she you know prevented david from shedding blood i mean we are called as well to be able to shape future generations and to move in this commissioning pattern that you're talking about and and as i'm sitting here thinking about it justin you know the fog today like speaking directly to men you You know, we talked about, you know, flattened femininity, but the noise is so loud sometimes. What are the forces that you see that are doing the most damage to men and their identity?

Building Your Warrior's Creed

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Yeah, it's a great question. And honestly, we see it all around us. Like our awareness is tapped into culture. But here's a few athletic ability, sexual conquest as a definition of manhood, material wealth as a definition of manhood. And obviously, like those are cultural confrontations that we have to overcome, mindsets that we have to overcome. But here's really the chief problem, right? It's comfort. Comfort is a slow death, but yet we're completely sold out for it. We're addicted to it. We pursue it relentlessly. And that's probably the thing that we pursue the most in life. And that comfort is really teaching us that we don't have to put in work. We go to work and we have jobs and we make money, but we don't put any more effort into life than that. any more effort into life than we need to, right? We're not looking for those opportunities to go above and beyond to be a servant leader or to love on someone that's broken or to serve someone in a capacity that just serves them and not us, right? We're addicted to that comfort. But then the second thing is this. it's drift, cultural drift, personal drift, spiritual drift. The reality is if you don't stand for something, you're going to fall into drift for the many things that the culture will throw into your life. So in the book, I talk about drift and I correlate it to land navigation, military land navigation. So, you know, land navigation is a very specific process. And if you don't do it exactly according to the steps that are laid out, then you're going to mess something up. You're going to end up on the wrong X somewhere. So you take a topographical map and you use your compass and you intentionally plot where you are and where you want to go. You get your azimuth or your direction and distance of travel, and then you take off. And logically, that sounds really simple, but here's the thing. As you encounter terrain or other obstacles on the journey, it's easy to drift off course. And frankly, drift is deadly, right? That drift, well, let's just say you're moving a thousand meters, right? That drift in a thousand meters could put you three or 400 meters off the X that you're trying to hit.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

So you'll never end up where you originally intended to go. And that has all of its own inherent dangers and puts you in, you know, it could put you in hostile territory that you never intended to be in. Like there's all kinds of complications that come with drift. But here's the thing that we've got to teach men to do. And it is counter drift, right? Here's how you do that. You got to recheck your asthma. You got to recheck your direction and you got to do it often. So how do you do that then? You got to stay tuned into what God's calling you to do, right? You train in his word. We talked about that earlier. You beg for immersion in the Holy Spirit and you remain planted in a cultivating community. You've got to stay tuned into the commissioning that God has put in your life. And I'm talking about the small things, right? Cultural drift. Like, you know, again, we talked about this. Your athletic ability could be adrift. You're time in the gym, that's fantastic, but it's not going to protect your home from evil. Sexual conquest is adrift, right? As an identifying form of masculinity, material wealth is an identifying form of masculinity, but it's great. You need to earn a paycheck. That's fantastic. Your family needs that, but it's not going to put your family in a better situation to fight the enemy. It's not going to disciple your kids. Yeah. So you have to intentionally prepare others to go toe-to-toe Toe with the enemy and win, right? That's the objective is to win. And that's exactly what warriorism is designed to help you do. To be dangerous to the enemy because he's in submission to authority. That warrior is in submission to authority. He's in submission to a calling, a commission that keeps him sharp and keeps him deadly. And Jesus, right here is where it starts, right? Deny yourself. This is the words of Jesus. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. He says that you have to do these things. you want to be my disciple. But culture teaches us almost exactly the opposite. Commissioning really, and that's what we're talking about today, it's really cross-bearing. This is a time, it's time to call out the warrior within us, right? To suit up with the armor of God and to allow God, to seek God, to train our hands for war and our fingers for battle, as David said. And then when we stand toe-to-toe with the enemy, we're capable of walking away with victories. How do I put this into action, right? You ride Mark 1, you train your body. 1 Corinthians 9, you lead your family with ferocity. Joshua 24, you build a brotherhood or you join a squad. Proverbs 27. You know, lastly, I would say you formulate a creed. And we talked about creeds a little bit already, but creeds forge ethos. And this is a principle that every soldier in the United States Army understands inherently because we're taught to live by creeds. I'll give you an example. The warrior ethos written into the soldier's creed, right? I'll always place the mission first. So we're taught purpose over comfort. I'll never accept defeat. We're taught faith over fear. I'll never quit. Endurance over comfort and over complacency. And finally, I'll never leave a fallen comrade. Brotherhood over isolation. America is not the only fighting force that understands the importance of subscribing to a creed. This is something that you could research and validate throughout armies and recorded history. They're really battlefield convictions. They're the strength you fall on when you're down and out. They define your character as a soldier, especially in the moments of adversity and fatigue and even fear. And they're forged in hardship and proven in battle. But here's the thing. Beneath the surface, these principles, they speak to something deeper, right? There's a spiritual DNA of a warrior. And these ethos that we just talked about, they echo biblical truth and resonate with the call to Christian manhood. So, you know, as you forge a creed, as you're developing this creed to live by in your own life, this could be a great place to start because throughout history, war Warriors have shaped the course of nations.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

You know, it's really interesting as I hear you talking about this. And, you know, just for the listeners, can you share, like, historically, you know, biblical warriors or modern day warriors, you know, and what that creed looked like?

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Yeah, of course. And, you know, I'll talk about a few examples of folks that weren't only warriors. They were really men of conviction. So first and foremost, I'll give you the example of King David, right? The shepherd boy turned warrior king described in scripture as a man after God's own heart in 1 Samuel. But listen, he slew giants and he led armies, but still had a sensitive enough heart to pen psalms of repentance and worship, right? This is incredible because you see David, in David, you see the conviction of a lion, the ferocity of a lion, but also the heart of a lion. of a lamb that is sensitive to God's command, right? And his presence. His life teaches us that a warrior must be both fierce in battle and tender in relationship with God. And then from there, you know, I present Joshua to you, Moses' successor, right? He led Israel into the promised land with courage and faith. And his charge to the people, listen to this, choose this day whom you will serve. But for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. It's a verse we know. Matter of fact, a lot of us probably have it hanging somewhere in our house. And it's a cry of a warrior who understands that leadership begins with personal devotion. And what we see in Joshua is really like he's a great example because he was given a set of orders, not a pep talk. And that's important to understand because Moses is dead, right? Leadership and the covenant, the continuity of these things, they're at stake. And God is charging Joshua to lead Israel into inheritance.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

And he built Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

But the refrain, you know, be strong and courageous, really, there's really two imperatives I see within that that we should really take a look at. Be strong, right? What's that mean? To seize, to take firm hold of, to prevail, carrying the idea of grasping and holding on under pressure, right? And then to be courageous, right? Resolute, volitional firmness, to act despite fear. And they come together to form a legal military command. missioning, receive the covenant, seize the mission, hold firmly to the Torah, you know, act with resolve. And then, you know, a more modern day example that I would give you is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While not a soldier in the traditional sense, was nonetheless a warrior of faith who resisted the Nazi regime and paid with his life ultimately. You know, his writings on costly grace and discipleship remind us that true warriors are willing to suffer even to death for righteousness sake. And he's a great example because he shows us the call to warriorism isn't just reserved for soldiers. And the last example I would give you is Jesus Christ. The ultimate warrior, right? The archetype. He conquered sin and death, but he didn't do it with a sword. He did it with a cross. He's the epitome of the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. Dangerous to the powers of darkness, yet gentle to the brokenhearted. His life is the model for warriorism. In the Gospel of John, it says, You know, it's a scripture that's echoed within the ranks of the military. Because it's essentially what warriors are called to do. Lay down your life for those whom you serve. And Jesus led us in that charge. So then where do we go from here? How do we obtain this commissioning? And this is in part what I teach in the book. It's through the development of a personal creed. And so the divine pattern of creed and conduct is illustrated in the commissioning of Joshua. And we already saw that. As Moses prepares to pass the mantle of leadership, we saw that God doesn't simply give Joshua tactical orders. He gives him a spiritual creed. Listen, Joshua 1.6-8 says, You will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. So God is using creed language to commission Joshua. It's a declaration of identity and a call to unwavering conduct, right? Joshua was not merely told what to do. God could have done that. He could have just reached down and told him exactly what he wanted him to do and how he wanted him to do it. Instead, he reminds Joshua of who he is. He's a servant of the Lord, a leader of God's people and a keeper of the covenant. And his success will come not strictly from military might alone, but from fidelity to the word of God. His strength must be rooted in obedience and his courage must be anchored in the truth, right? And that's exactly what is being echoed here in Joshua's commissioning. It mirrors the way the military leaders are shaped today. Before they're given command, they're given a creed. They're reminded that their leadership is not about power. It's about responsibility and that authority is not about control.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

You know, as I sat here listening to you, and I'm sure the listeners can pick up on creed first, conduct second, right? Receiving that covenant that you're talking about, seizing that mission, holding fast to God's word. You know, it's striking how this pattern literally mirrors, and I know I already said this, but the marriage vows, you know, we speak that creed, but also all the other things in our lives. I mean, I If you really look at what we hold fast to, we kind of have probably some worldly creeds that our identity is kind of combined with. So really declaring our identity and intention in Christ with what you're talking about, it really shows who we will become and how we will live. His creed is public now, and we do have it in our homes. But I think that's the thing is that we need our creed to be public and lived out in our context. in our heart and our behavior. And I think about science here and how it really corroborates the path of the creed to character like you're talking about. There are many, many different researchers out there that have looked at these things on how long it takes to make something automatic in your life, right? And so they found that in around 60 days, the average span, that's what it took to really make something become habitual in your life through daily repetition and really showed how repetition, as they continued this research, repeating behavior sculpts neural pathways in the brain. And we've all heard, I'm sure, of neuroplasticity, which just means that you develop ruts in your brain by your habits, right? Your brain adapts to a repetition in your life. And so as I'm sitting here and realizing what God was doing and what you're talking about, it's insane. Science really confirms God's word. Alright, identity shifts from what I feel in the moment to what I have trained myself to do. And I know Justin, you know, he always shares, we do not rise to the level of our intentions, right? We fall in our last level of training is something that you constantly have spoken over our kids and in our life and in our marriage. And man, it really beats to that same rhythm of truth, where really what I feel in the moment is what I'm going to land on if I have not trained myself for something more. And so, you know, as I think about Scripture, I'm thinking about Israel. Like, they prayed daily. They meditated on God's Word daily. They remembered the Sabbath weekly, right? They really bound God's Word upon themselves. And formation is not forged by that intensity alone, but the fact that they kept that holy cadence out, right? They made it a habit that really shaped who they were. And so, you know, if we look at the science, it really confirms everything you're saying, our brain is indifferent to your intentions, to your aspirations in life. You know, it's not going to take orders from that. It's going to follow, it's going to be loyal to the repetitions in your life. So, you know, choose those repetitions carefully and make sure that they agree with what your values are, with what your creed is. And I think this is, you know, an astounding way to help all of us live out the way that we want to live, that we want to see our ourselves by making sure that we ingrained this in ourselves. So I love that so much.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

I've said several times in this podcast alone, you know, live legendary. And the reality is, is that, you know, the principle is, is it's not possessions. It's not presence alone. It's not a paycheck, right? It's leaving a legacy for others. You know, two, two greatest commands, love God, love people, right? Love for God and an obedience to the scripture. So the binary really is forgettable versus faith, disciplined and dangerous to darkness, just like Christ. And we have to walk in that love and truth, wielding both compassion and courage. You see, the days of evil and the time for passive faith, they're well beyond us, right? It's time to get to work and it's time to rise and stop retreating. I've talked about Joshua a lot. And you see, he was committed to cross the Jordan, a flood stage, a seemingly impossible task. But here's the thing. Here's Here's the cost. Courage, obedience, risk, sacrifice, commissioning costs you your comfort. And sometimes it might even cost you your life. Walking out that obedience, teaching your family to walk out that obedience will echo through the generations. What I'm talking about when I say live legendary, die a legend, not a nobody. The choice is yours. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And so if this resonates with you, the book is going to take you step-by-step on how to employ warrioristic faith in your life. You can see in the world today the need for this type of warrior and the need for a call to action. So no matter your marital status or your standing in church, it's time to stop being silent about your faith. Stop retreating because you're either moving backward or you're moving forward. There's no such thing as maintaining. So speak truth and speak it loud. Enjoying the content? Don't just listen, lean in. Subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who needs hope today. Every click helps us to reach You're not alone and neither are they. Let's keep fighting the good fight together.