FOLLOWING GOD'S ORDERS

“It was God's war they waged, and therefore only reasonable they should be under His command. They encamped and marched by His order.

The Christian soldier is bound to God's orders. Though the army is on earth, the council of war sits in heaven and issues directives: "Here are your orders these are your weapons." And those who do more or use other than God commands, though with some seeming success against sin, shall surely be called to account for their boldness.

The discipline of war among men is strict in this case. Some have been court-martialed and executed even though they have beaten the enemy, because they forgot their rank or acted without orders. The discipline of God is also very precise on this point. He will say to all who invent ways of their own to worship Him or who fabricate their own forms of penance, "Who has required this at your hands?" This is truly to be "righteous over-much," as Solomon says (Ecclesiastes 7:16), when we presume to correct God's law and add supplements of our own to His rules. God told Israel that the false prophets were wasting their time because they did not come on His errand (Jeremiah 23:32). You, too, are wasting your time if you are doing anything that is not by God's design.

God's thoughts are not like man's, nor His ways like ours. If Moses in his own wisdom had directed Israel's flight from Egypt, we would have expected him to plunder the Egyptians of their horses and arms. But God would have His people come out naked and on foot, and Moses kept close to His orders. It was God's war they waged, and therefore only reasonable they should be under His command. They encamped and marched by His order; they fought at His command. And the tactics and weapons they used were all prescribed by God. What are we to learn from their example? In our march to heaven, fighting with the cursed spirits and lusts that stand in our way, we too must go by God's rules, which are spelled out for us in His Word.”

If you would take time to read the book of Joshua you will see these principles made real. When the people of Israel did consult God for a strategy and obeyed Him they were successful and when they went their own way they failed.  Today it is the same for us. If you get to know God and his ways through His Word you will know His strategy for every battle.

The Christian in Complete Armour daily devotional by Gurnall and Bell. http://www.moodypublishers.com/