Today's Devotional

October 3 , 2007

Subject: Training For The Same Fight

Genesis 14:14 - "And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan."

I was thinking yesterday about some of my American military friends who went to Iraq with me. I thought about the bond that we formed such a small amount of time and then I thought about my Marine friends and the bond that we formed over a much longer period of time. As I looked at these unions I thought, "what really makes them so strong?" The answer that I came up with was pretty basic. We had shared experiences, but I also now realize that the shared experiences were brought about in most cases because of the shared training. Everyone that goes through boot camp or Officer's Candidate School all have the same training and that's because they will all one day be involved in the same fight.

While in the Marine Corps I thought it coincidental to have friends like Ed Mays, Spencer Rutledge, Ron Johns Jr, Kenneth Hunter and many others. They all seemed to have my same struggles and I immediately formed a strong bond that has lasted many years with each of them. Now I realize in a deeper sense that we weren't similarly trained just for the military fight, but more specifically for the spiritual fight that we are in today.

The scriptural passage above may seem plain and ordinary, but when you look at the entire Genesis story of why Abraham was successful in warfare, I believe it had to do with his servants who were all trained for the same fight. They were all also born in his house. They had much time together and training in common, just as I've had with my spiritual brothers and sisters.

Today we, as believers, were all born in the same house and we've all been trained for the same fight. Look to your left and to your right. You've got warriors all around you. Full speed ahead. Let's take this world over in the name of Jesus.

Carlen