Soldiers

     God woke me up with a story.  I will use Pastor Dave and myself as the characters and though this may seem like fiction, is it?

    I showed up for boot camp on a rainy, miserable day and wondered if I had made the right choice to join the army.  I arrived early hoping to make an impression on the drill sargeant as I had heard he was a very disciplined man.  (Notice the similiarity between discipline and disciple)  When I met Dave, I was immediately intimidated by his height and a suspicious smirk.  After a quick introduction, he instructed me to follow him.
    "Where are we going?"
     "I want to show you the enemy's arsenal."
     "What?  We have access to his arsenal?"
     He stopped to look back at me and smirk.  "Of course we do."  He motioned for me to get into the passenger seat of his jeep and we drove a very short distance to the edge of a cliff.  As we stood side by side looking over that cliff I saw several buildings of different sizes.  Dave said, "Here are his weapons against you."
     "Against me?"
     "Oh yes, he has weapons for each of us, this just happens to be what he uses against you."  He pointed out the contents of each building.  "There are several rooms in that big blue building up front that contain weapons such as self-loathing, doubt, depression, and false comfort.  In the huge building toward the back, well, it's just packed full of lies and the one next to it is unforgiveness."  He turned to look at me, his smirk was replaced with a very concerned expression,  "Soldier, be ready before you open the the door on the building of unforgiveness.  You could be sucked in and that's not good. I don't want to have to come in after you."
    "Gotcha."
     "You can't see it from here, but over that next hill is the biggest building you will ever see, past mistakes, from little white lies to ... well... you know."
     I felt my face get hot, what did he know?  "Yes sir."
     "See, he's already using it against you."  Dave began walking away so I followed.  There was a small building on the edge of the hill and as we got closer he began speaking.  "Soldier, everything you need to take out the enemy's arsenal against you is in this building."
     I started to tremble, the building was just big enough to park a car in it.  "Everything is in here?  I sure hope it's one big bazooka."
     He laughed more than I thought he should.  What was wrong with this guy?  He opened the door to an almost empty room.  There was one window, a bench, and on the bench a set of fatigues.  "Where are the weapons?"
     "Lying on the bench."
     "I just see clothes."
     "I'm going to be right out here if you need help.  Get dressed so we can get to work."
     Totally confused I stepped through the door.  "Yes sir."
     "Oh, you will want to stand in the window when you get dressed."
     I closed the door behind me and walked to the bench.  As I picked up what I thought was a camouflage shirt I noticed it was actually covered in tiny words.  It was scripture.  The whole Bible was written out on the clothes.  I stood in the window and as I pulled the shirt over my head, I saw the building of unbelief collapse before my eyes.  I stood in amazement as discouragement and doubt fell to the ground.
     Dave hollared from outside, "Did your armor appear yet?"
     "I don't see it."
     "Get dressed."
     I pulled on the remaining items and watched more buildings fall to the ground.  When Dave walked in, he pointed out the armor of God that appeared on a table across the room.  "It never appears until you get into the word."
     "What do you mean, get in the word?"
     He seemed confused.  "Get in the word.  What are you wearing soldier?  The word.  Once you get in the word, the armor appears.  You have to get the word."
     I was still somewhat confused, but I scrambled to put on my armor and catch up to Dave as he walked toward the jeep.  "What are we doing first?"
     "Going to town for breakfast.  Hungry?"
     "What about the enemy?"
     "What about him?  You're in the word, you have your armor, don't give him too much more attention it makes him feel important."
     "Okay, you're saying we ignore the enemy?"
     "No.  Don't forget he's out there, just don't make him bigger than he is."  He leaned against the Jeep and flashed the now familiar smirk, "Look soldier, let me explain how this works.  First you get in the word and put on your armor every day.  Every day soldier.  Word, armor, word, armor, every day.  This takes the enemy's power so we can can focus on what we are suppose to focus on.  Maybe this afternoon we will dig up some hurt and heal it.  It's usually buried pretty deep, so we will need a good breakfast."
     "I thought soldiers focused on fighting?"
     "I guess you could call it that.  Our job is to bring the word to others.  But it's their choice whether they get into it."
     "I think I'm starting to understand."
     "It will become clearer the longer you are in the word.  Now, let's go eat and love some people."
     "Yes, sir."  
     "Jesus loves you soldier...and quit calling me sir."
     "Yes sir.  Jesus loves you too, sir."