The Revolution Brigade

When you’re a member of the military, “readiness” is a huge word.  It’s a word that’s used to describe that anywhere, anytime attitude that characterizes our military.  It means that you’re ready to go to the ends of the Earth at the drop of a dime to defend your cause.

Learning to embrace readiness is a process by which we transform ourselves from soft, docile people into rugged, violent, utterly prepared soldiers.  It’s more than just learning to fire a weapon or wear a uniform correctly.  It’s a lifestyle change.  There are several components to spiritual readiness for the prophetic army of God.  I’m going to discuss them in a series of blog posts here on the Revolution Brigade blog, beginning with a critical yet often overlooked aspect of readiness in God’s army:

Physical Readiness: Earlier today I asked the Lord to empower me to travel the Earth and teach the gospel.  I was surprised when He replied to me by saying, “What if I told you to hike up a mountain 50 kilometers to a remote village at an altitude of 10,000 feet?  Could you do it?”  I immediately felt the conviction of knowing that I wasn’t physically ready to carry the gospel in the way that the Lord had envisioned.

Prophetic warriors begin a program of physical discipline in order to gain the strength necessary to go anywhere at any time for the cause of the kingdom. This is not a youth retreat.  It’s a war.  War is tough.  War is physical.  Combat is stressful and tiring and we need to condition ourselves to be ready for any mission the Lord gives us.  We must lift weights, gain strength, and do regular cardio routines in order to be fully prepared for the fight that is ahead of us.  I joined a gym today, and I plan to chronicle the progress of my journey for fitness on this blog.  You can all hold me accountable.

Prophetic warriors can hike twenty miles in a day if necessary in order to reach people with the gospel. I’ve had the privilege of hiking twenty miles before, and I can tell you that you don’t just wake up one day with the ability to hike twenty miles.  You start with five miles, then ten, then twelve, then fifteen, and you eventually work your way up to twenty miles.  You gradually harden your feet over a period of time so that you become rugged and able to handle long marches.  You may find this hard to believe, but there are some countries where there is no gas to be had, and the only means of transportation is moe and joe (my nicknames for my left and right foot, respectively).  Do people in villages deep in the jungle hundreds of miles from the nearest road need the gospel any less than those living in cities with cars?

Prophetic warriors master the martial arts and are able to defend themselves against weapons. Here’s the part where the church gets up in arms.  “Jesus said turn the other cheek.”  Got it.  But, I’m a man of war.  I’m also a peacemaker.  I’ve learned that sometimes the best way to make peace is to place all of your enemies on their hind quarters.  Seriously, if we are to take the gospel into contested areas and evil regimes, we must be capable of defending ourselves on the most basic level.  Our prophetic intercessory warriors must know how to defend themselves open-hand-versus-knife and open-hand-versus-gun.  Can you disarm an attacker who has a knife?  What about a gun?  These simple skills might save your life or the lives of your flock one day.  It might be worth learning.

Physical readiness takes time.  You aren’t going to begin a program today and be ready to hike twenty miles tomorrow.  It takes dedication and a lifestyle of training.  This will be difficult for one of the most sedentary generations in history to embrace, but as always, I believe there is a remnant who will excel.