It is not a sin to be sick. On occasion the Lord's warriors have to keep on marching while they are sick. Sometimes we are to rest, or to seek medical help. The sickness may result in our death. But in our inward nature we keep on marching in Christ.

But it ordinarily is God's will that His saints be healthy, be perfect and complete in spirit, in soul, and in body. We never are to cease trusting God for total deliverance. God will often heal us as we march along provided we are living in righteousness, holiness, and strict obedience to Him.

God is our strength. How many years it takes us to learn this! Finally we come to the place where we understand anything we can do in our own strength is loss for Christ and loss for us. Christ desires to be All in all in our life. He wants us to trust Him for everything. To enter the rest of God is to come to the point of trusting God for every detail of life.

Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Perfect trust is the mark of the mature saint. Through faith we can move mountains. Through trust we learn to abide in Christ, to look to Him at every instant.

When the Father and the Son enter us in the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, we learn to live in total trust in God (Isaiah 12:2). The warrior trusts in the Lord, not in his own ability to fight.

The Lord is our shield. The enemy shoots fiery arrows at us all day long. If we are careless and let down our guard, these flaming arrows enter our spirit and set our personality on fire. Dread, fear, hatred, worry, bitterness burn in us. It is our own fault because we know the soldier of Christ is not to entangle himself with the world, becoming exposed to the enemy.

The diligent warrior is on the alert at all times. His shield is ready and anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. The fiery arrows strike the shield, are extinguished, and fall off without causing damage. It is not easy to walk in such total diligence, in such readiness for spiritual combat. To be always prepared for an attack requires prayer, experience, and knowledge of the Word.

All this is necessary if we are to be victorious in the fight of faith, particularly in these last days when the climax of the conflict of the ages is upon us.

What Christians may have been able to do at other times and in other places may be different from today. Presently we are being mobilized into a spiritual army. We are to come out of the world and live as warriors of Christ. If we do not, we will go down in defeat.

The Lord is the "horn" of our salvation. Many animals use their horns in order to fight. The horn is a formidable weapon.

The horn is both a defensive and an offensive weapon. The Lord is our horn. When the saint understands the will of God and through prayer "pushes" in that direction, the forces of Hell must give way.

Satan does not fear the activities of the Christian churches. Much of what is done by churches and denominations, projects costing many hundreds of thousands of dollars, is little more than an irritation to Satan. These programs can actually become an asset to the forces of Hell in that they take the energies and resources of Christians and direct them towards enterprises that are ambitious and man-centered, not being led by the Spirit of God.

There are three Persons Hell fears: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

To be continued.