Fellow soldier; if you’ve found yourself in sin, if you’ve grown weary in this fight, may the Lord bring you comfort and encouragement through this devotion from A.W. Tozer.

The enemy may have won a recent battle against you dear Christian but Jesus our Great Shepherd stands ready to forgive you if you’ll but come to Him today.

So repent, be of good cheer, and get back to the Truth War because Jesus our Great Commander has already secured our victory. Raise your Sword of the Spirit and shout: “Soli Deo Gloria!”

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)

Now I do not think that Satan much cares to destroy us Christians physically. The soldier dead in battle who died performing some deed of heroism is not a great loss to the army but may rather be an object of pride to his country. On the other hand the soldier who cannot or will not fight but runs away at the sound of the first enemy gun is a shame to his family and a disgrace to his nation. So a Christian who dies in the faith represents no irreparable loss to the forces of righteousness on earth and certainly no victory for the devil. But when whole regiments of professed believers are too timid to fight and too smug to be ashamed, surely it must bring an astringent smile to the face of the enemy; and it should bring a blush to the cheeks of the whole Church of Christ.

The devil’s master strategy for us Christians then is not to kill us physically (though there may be some special situations where physical death fits into his plan better), but to destroy our power to wage spiritual warfare. And how well he has succeeded. The average Christian these days is a harmless enough thing. God knows. He is a child wearing with considerable self-consciousness the harness of the warrior; he is a sick eaglet that can never mount up with wings; he is a spent pilgrim who has given up the journey and sits with a waxy smile trying to get what pleasure he can from sniffing the wilted flowers he has plucked by the way. TIC072.

“Oh, God, give me grace to fight valiently. Amen.”

(Tozer on Christian Leadership, November 3)