The Bootcamp of Life

Our trials and difficulties are hard. But so is bootcamp for soldiers. They are taken to the edge of their strength but become honed, ready for battle.

Athletes test the limits of their abilities and push through the pain to become even stronger. Personal Trainers target your weaknesses so that those areas of weakness and flab can be transformed into areas of strength.

You are in difficulty because your enemy wants you down. But God has allowed it because you are meant to be stronger, and the struggle in this difficulty will build in you more of what you are lacking. God is the best Personal Trainer. He will bring you to your limits but will not allow more than you are able to handle. And when the bad habits and wrong attitudes are broken and wrung out of you, He can build in you the qualities you need to be able to help others in their struggles.

So what are you doing wallowing in the mud of despair? Don't you know who you are? Don't you have a God you can trust? Don't you know Who you can call on? You have at your disposal the whole arsenal of Heaven! Arise, and take up that Sword of the Spirit, hold up the shield of Faith (Eph 6:11-18). Send to work the ministering angels who have ben assigned to serve you by praying and speaking the Word of God. Say to Satan, It's not over. 

Grit your teeth and dig deep down into your faith: God cannot fail you, simply because He cannot fail. He will keep His promise to you because He is faithful. Why wouldn't He come through for you? He gave up His glory as the Son of God to be shamed, spat on, whipped to a pulp and nailed, heaving in pain and anguish so that He could overcome the power of Satan on your behalf. If He did that for you, why wouldn't He keep His promise to you (Rom 8:32)? He is all-knowing so He will do things differently from what you would do - but He'll get it done. 

No one who hires a Personal Trainer slaps them for putting them through gruelling, painful exercises. You trust them that the level of pain they are forcing you through is necessary, and ultimately good for you. Can you trust God for the same?

There is nothing more powerful than a person secure in their identity as a Child of God, submitted and obedient to Him. When you humble yourself in trust before God, you will find a reservoir of strength that is deep and unfathomable. When you choose to praise God despite everything, you will find the power of Praise and Worship. When you obey His Word in the area of your weakness, you will find that it is a dynamic force to give you the power to do what you could not do before. Your key to victory is unreserved trust in the Lord, and obedience to His word. 

You were born to be a valiant warrior who will bring deliverance to many. Your struggles are the training ground for this calling. Bow your knee to the One who died for you, and let Him show you the path out of your difficulty, mighty Warrior!