(Ep8) Warrior Tasks: Our Actions

With all the tools that God has equipped, we look to how each of us must be involved in the battles around us.  Every soldier is called to participate, and when looking at my experience in military, they can be summarized down to three actions: Shoot, move, and communicate.  These three simple actions translate to our ability to resist the enemy, our constant movement closer to God, and our open communication with Him to stay connected.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome back. As always, get comfortable, settle in as we continue with episode eight of Joining the Fight. A look at our individual warrior tasks as part of God's army. In this episode, we are focusing on the three actions that every soldier must do in a fight. I'm Kyle Clark from Standing Words Ministry, a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to equipping us with solid biblical truth and practical training. We create scripture-based resources like our workbook, Joining the Fight, so we can strengthen discipleship, deepen biblical understanding for believers everywhere, and help others live with real purpose to stand firm in the truth and carry Christ's message forward. If you want to explore more teachings or grab the workbook, head over to standingword.com. In every battle, no matter what your specific role, every soldier has to master the basic of being a soldier. In the army, we call these individual warrior tasks. So an individual warrior task every year, anyone that wears the uniform, active or reserve, has to prove that they can do these basic tasks like shoot, low crawl, throw a grenade, respond to a near and far ambush. Some of these are role specific, some of these are general for everyone in the army. And oftentimes all of these tasks can be summed up in this mantra or this saying of three things, that our basic actions as a soldier are the ability to shoot, move, and communicate. In spiritual warfare, these same tasks translate directly into our daily fight. Today we're going to look at each one of these straight from scripture so that we can build real muscle memory, the kind that holds up when pressure hits and the chaos feels loud. So let's lean in and get some practical training under our belts. These three things shoot, move, and communicate. What this boils down to spiritually is shooting is the ability to resist. Movement is what direction you're going. Are you drawing closer to God or are you leaning more on your own reliance? And communicating is how we communicate not just with God, but with the other soldiers around us. So let's begin with the action that directly confronts the enemy. Shoot. Now, when we talk about shooting, we're talking about resilience as the foundation of your defense and your offense. Just as Philippians 4.13 says, it says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Shooting in spiritual battle isn't about rage or retaliation. It's disciplined resilience. It's the ability to resist, to hold the line, to keep pressing forward, even when we take a hit. Ephesians 6 10 through 14 tells us to be strong in the Lord and his mighty power, putting on the full armor of God that so that we can take our stand against the devil's schemes. Standing firm isn't passive, it's active resistance. The righteous keep moving in their way, even when the blows come. Job 17 9 says that the righteous hold to their ways. Jesus reminded us in John 16 33, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world. But because he has already overcome the world, we can engage as peacemakers instead of agitators. Matthew 5 9 calls us blessed when we are peacemakers. Philippians 4 7 promises that God's peace will guard our hearts and our minds in Jesus Christ. That peace functions like a shield. It protects us from fear and discord so that we can resist the devil without becoming like him. Shooting is about resisting the devil, not playing his game. Picture it with us. Shoot isn't wild firing in any direction. It's discipline, truth, and love, fire, steady under pressure, creating space for the whole church to advance together. We have trained to use God's armor and to use God's weapons. And when we shoot, we're shooting with precision. We are resisting the devil's schemes, and our involvement in the battle is helping the church advance its cause, helping us advance Christ's cause. Now, when we look at how to train to shoot effectively this week, we want you to look at one trigger that usually knocks you off balance. Pair it with a resilience verse like the ones we've already talked about, and speak it out loud when that pressure or that trigger hits. Before any difficult discussion, take a moment to armor up your heart, your mind, your strength, read Ephesians 6, breathe, and then speak as a peacemaker like it's talked about in Matthew 5. We need to hold the line, and when the line holds, and when we can effectively resist, that's when we as a force can maneuver properly. And to win a fight, we must move. Movement is life, and movement for us on the battlefield is clarity through proximity with God, that we always go to the good ground, and the good ground is God. Pay close attention to what the words of Second Peter one says in sixteen through twenty one. The prophetic word is made more certain through the Holy Spirit and a closeness to God, and we do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place. Movement in spiritual warfare is all about clarity that comes from staying close to God. When we move towards His Word and His Spirit, the battle plan comes into focus and the world's noise starts to lose its grip. Moving to holy ground means deliberately stepping away from the distractions that dull our discernment. Joy is one of the highest pieces of ground we can take. Ephesians 15 sings of God's deliverance. The Lord is my strength and my defense. He has become my salvation. Nehemiah 8 10 declares the joy of the Lord is your strength. 1 Thessalonians 5 16 simply says, rejoice always. And Proverbs 17 22 reminds us that a cheerful heart is good medicine. When we root our joy in God's deliverance, instead of our circumstances, we gain a tactical advantage, morale that holds even when terrain gets rough. But as we move towards God, we take the high ground against the enemy. When we're closer to God, we make it so that the enemy is fighting an uphill battle. Picture it like this movement wins the fight. When you look back on any historical battle, the side that had the best mobility that could respond the fastest to issues was the side that usually won even if they were outnumbered. Movement wins a fight. We bound from low, noisy ground to that higher, holy ground that God offers us, scripture in hand, the Spirit as our guide, and joy as our altitude. And the way we can practice this week is this. Schedule a daily ten minute block, a move block. Read a few verses from Second Peter one, pray, and obey one small step the Lord highlights in his direction. During the week, sing a song of deliverance like the one in Exodus 15. Notice one simple joy practice that you can keep when the day gets hot and heavy and drags you down. Now that we can resist, now that we are maneuvering closer to God, we can maintain our contact with the commander through communication. Now we've talked about prayer as a weapon, but when we say communicate, we're asking you to use that weapon through prayer, through proclamation, and through praise. Paul gives us one of the shortest but most powerful commands in Scripture. In 1 Thessalonians 5 17, he says, pray continually. This is our lifeline. That radio next to you should never go quiet or get turned off. In episode six, we saw prayer as one of the greatest weapons in our arsenal. It is our direct access to God, our way of calling in reinforcements the moment the fight gets too hot. No communication and we have no clarity. Continuous prayer keeps guidance, strength, and real-time course corrections flowing from headquarters straight to us. And not only that, headquarters is constantly aware of what we need and what's going on. In the Army, we have a report that we send up after every engagement. It basically gives them a breakdown of how our animal's doing, what our casualties are like, and if we've lost any equipment. And so continuous prayer helps us stay aligned with them and helps them maintain their awareness of us. We don't just pray when things are calm. Ephesians 6 18 tells us to pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, we are called to be alert and always keep praying for all of the Lord's people. Prayer is also something that we engage others in. We don't just say, I'll pray for you when we hear about problems. We grab hold of that person and we pray right there on the spot for them. And we continue to pray with them, and we continue to encourage them praying because that is also a way that we maintain communication with each other. Colossians 4, 2 through 4 urges us to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and to pray for open doors for the gospel. That's a push to talk radio under fire. It is alert, it is specific, it is mission focused. And remember what we learn in episode 7. Worship is our battle rhythm. When we proclaim God's goodness out loud, we aren't just singing nice songs, we are wielding a weapon that shifts the atmosphere, that shifts the momentum of the fight we're in. Psalms 34.3 invites us, glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together. When we magnify the Lord side by side, our faith gets stronger, lies get countered, and the whole line stays unified. Worship and proclamation become the clear calms that cut through the enemy's static and remind everyone who is really in command. Look at it this way, we have three calm modes working together. Just like a radio in the army can switch between frequencies, we have this at our disposal. We have the morning to always check in with God before things get started. A steady prayer that keeps our hearts aligned. We have a push to talk under contact, constantly reaching out to Him, praying in the spirit, proclaiming truth when pressure spikes, and then our nightly debrief. We can worship and thank Him. We can seal the day off with God's presence. Prayer plus proclamation keeps that formation tight and keeps the whole unit in unison and keeps us aligned with our commander as he keeps feeding us what to do. Now during this week, a simple training plan for these things. Set three deliberate calm checks with God. Now you can do more than this, but three deliberate calm checks a morning prayer, a midday check, and an evening thanksgiving with Him. The Jews of Christ's time period prayed three times a day. I think that is done deliberately because of the way our human nature so often gets distracted. We must constantly be talking with God every day, and that daily communication needs to be at times where it reminds us and resets our focus. On top of that, share one sentence of gospel hope with someone this week and invite them to magnify the Lord with you, just as Psalms 34 3 says. Let worship and prayer flow together the way we learned in our arsenal episodes earlier, and let us pray to close out. Father, thank you for training us as your soldiers. Train our hands for war and our hearts for love. Teach us to shoot with resilience, standing firm in Christ, guarded by your unshakable peace. Lead us to move towards holy ground, drawing nearer to your word and your spirit with joy as our high ground. Keep us in communication, praying continually like the powerful weapon that you have given us, proclaiming your truth and exalting your name together in worship the way you taught us. Root us in your strength, align us with your will, and make us faithful under pressure. We fight under the command of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit for your glory. Amen. Here's our simple daily rhythm. Shoot, move, communicate. Practice these three actions in all kinds of scenarios. Be flexible in the field. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, and those of your brothers and sisters in Christ around you, and as a whole unit, fight as one. Do your part in the battle. Remember this old saying that was taught to us in the Marine Corps. Slow is steady, steady is smooth, smooth is fast. Next time we're going to be talking about more individual tasks, but these are going to be related to a soldier's uniform, his color, his pattern, and his labeling. These are all going to be associated with the fruit of the spirit in a way that talks about what these three different elements represent for us as soldiers to those people that we take part with in the battle? They are characters that mark us as soldiers. So before we sign off, take a quiet moment with us this week to reflect each challenge. When it comes to shoot, what pressure will you answer with resilience this week? And which verse will you pair it with? When it comes to move, what distraction will you leave behind? And what small step towards holy ground will you take? When it comes to communicate, when will your three calm checks happen? And who will you invite to magnify the Lord with you this week? Letting prayer and worship work together. Thank you for training with us today. Keep pressing forward. Keep those basic tasks sharp. And remember, we are in this fight together. See you next time on joining the fight.