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The Servant Warrior – Fortitude – The Steel Our Armor is Made From

November 5, 2013

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We are living in an age where many pastors today teach only about “Your best life now” or “Your Purpose Driven Life”

Churches today use the ways of the world thinking that is how to attract more Christians into church.

It is like using Halloween to spread the gospel, it just doesn’t work.

Scripture says

Matthew 7:17-18 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

So with all this feel good, emotionally driven, cheap grace teaching we are being fed, is it any wonder that we as Christians lack any real fortitude?

We live in a “me” society and it has become a cancer in the church.

I am reminded of the following scripture.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

I hate to say it, but we have become a bunch of weak willed, softies that have compromised ourselves to the point that if we are called to stand in the fight, we don’t know how.

What It Means To Stand

Ephesians 6:13 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.

This is one of my favorite verses. It tells us clearly what we are to do in the battle, and like it or not, if you are a true bible believing Christian, you are in the battle. It does not matter how old or young you are, rich or poor, male or female. All of us are servant – warriors in the service of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father Jehovah God.

Let me ask you the following question.

When faced with the battle, do you buckle under the pressure and turn and run. Or do you truly stand your ground and maintain what is truly right in the eyes of God?

Compromise and complacency is the cancer that has invaded the church today. These two things have done more to destroy us from within than just about anything else that the world can throw at us.

Just about every negative thing that is taking place in the church today, can be pointed back to some form of compromise, complacency, or both. Compromise and complacency is the instigator in one form or another.

This is why I say that we as Christians have basically lost our fortitude.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines fortitude this way.

Fortitude

That strength or firmness of mind or soul which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression or despondency. Fortitude is the basis or source of genuine courage or intrepidity in danger, of patience in suffering, of forbearance under injuries, and of magnanimity in all conditions of life. We sometimes confound the effect with the cause, and use fortitude as synonymous with courage or patience; but courage is an active virtue or vice, and patience is the effect of fortitude.

Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

In the days of the Samurai they had what was called the “Bushido Code (The Way of The Warrior).” The Medieval Knight had what was called “The Code of Conduct.”

As Christians, we are called to be both servants and warriors for Jesus Christ. But it seems in today’s world we have done away with our own “Bushido Code / Code of Conduct.”

We no longer walk as the warrior. We no longer have that preverbal “line in the sand” that we will not cross. It seems that there is no black and white, but instead we compromise living in hundred shades of grey.

The Bushido Code / Code of Conduct was that line in the sand for the great warriors of the past.

The Bushido Code / Code of Conduct is what helped equip the warrior’s fortitude. It shored up his resolve to always do what was right.

We need to return to the Bushido Code / Code of Conduct so that when that evil day comes, and it will, we will stand and do what is right not in our own eyes, but in the eyes of the one God that we serve, Jehovah God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Why The Need For The Bushido Code / Code of Conduct

As we have seen of recent times, most churches today are teaching sugar coated psychobabble that creates dependency, victimization, and spinelessness.

Because we have forgotten that we are servant warriors, we have slipped into a “Sheeple” attitude. Instead of being leaders for our Lord and following God’s Word (“Bushido Code / Code of Conduct.”), we have allowed compromise and complacency be our guides.

We as true bible believing Christians need to learn to grow a backbone again and start standing for what is right, just and true in the eyes of the Lord, no matter how much the world hates us.

We have negated our duty to the Lord of Lords & King of Kings that we serve.

We need to start standing again as we are called to do in Ephesians 6:13 so that when that evil day does fall upon us we do what is right vs. caving to the compromise and complacency.

It is for this reason that Fortitude is so important.

Fortitude is The Steel Our Armor is Made From

During the Prophezine bible study we talked about the armor of God. One of the things that we learned is that the Breastplate was the part of armor that other pieces of armor wear attached to or hung off of.

It literally helped distribute the weight of the other pieces and helped the warrior to actually be able to stand.

In fact if a breastplate was poorly made, made from cheap steel, steel is to thin, then the breastplate was not effective.

For the Christian servant-warrior the Breastplate of Righteousness does the same thing, it helps the warrior to stand and bear up under all the weight of the armor that he is wearing as well as protect his heart, spirit and soul.

So to help fully understand the role the breastplate plays, righteousness is what the breastplate is, but it is fortitude which is the steel that the breastplate is made from.

So, If you have weak fortitude, then you have a weak breastplate.

Like a real world breastplates, if the steel is to weak, to thin, poorly made, then at the time when the warrior really needs the breastplate’s protecting capabilities, it would fold in, get pierced, bend, warp, etc and the life of the warrior was in danger.

If our fortitude which is the steel that our armor is made from is to weak, we too will fold, compromise, bend, warp and in the end our armor is not effective.

So what sort of steel is your armor made up of?

How strong is your fortitude?

By Ray Gano