Child or Warrior of Both?

Child or warrior? Who even asks that question? Well, I guess I do. Sometimes, as I am contemplating who I am in Christ, I find interesting paradoxes.
 
Child
 
A child is innocent, meaning they are a clean slate, waiting for life to write on them. Babies and small children are defenseless on their own. God designed a child to grow a family that protects and nourishes the little one to adulthood. The community of family brings the stability of safety and belonging. The goal is to become a mature adult, one who maintains healthy relationships with people while depending on God.
 
In the loving environment God intended, the little one feels safe. This allows learning to happen as each explores their environment with loving parental guidance and protection. At any age, we all learn a lot through relationships, both loving and unloving. Faith grows best through love and trust, as opposed to fear. 
 
Fear comes, in large part, from inconsistent boundaries and expectations from those around us that keep us off balance. This sense of being off balance also has other results. Finding ways to protect ourselves, often by working hard to control what happens to us, are natural responses to fear. For many, inside or outside of the faith family, finding and living in the love of God is a process. After all no family is perfect, so we all are learning, and relearning, to live how Creator intends.
 
The Good News is that God and His Word are consistent. When we base our understanding on God’s love for us, and His protection of us, we gain confidence. Over time we can all be increasingly reformed by God’s love and His Word. 
 
Think about it for a few moments. Consider that the Creator of all things, including you, loves you and chose you before time began. Let it sink in. How does that feel? Don’t worry if it is too much to grasp right now. Just Ask God to show you how it is true and to help you understand it. 
 
Warrior
 
Enter the warrior. Those who permit themselves to be trained by loving relationships and adversity grow to do the will of God. In days where doing the will of God is increasingly counter cultural, we call them warriors. The warrior’s weapons are not human weapons but with faith and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. “Coincidentally,” in the days when Jesus walked the earth, He was clearly counter cultural. 
 
These mature warriors are in alignment with, and live, in willing submission to our Creator. This obedience is safe, because of the character of God. Warriors are not blindly following rules they do not understand. They are living in relationship.
 
They are students of the Word. This is how they learn God’s ways and instructions. Psalm 119. They use the Sword of the Spirit correctly, because they hear God, recognizing His voice. Wisdom also flows from here, including the counsel from many others who are following the Way.
 
Courage grows on the foundation of love, and conviction that what they learn is true and ultimately unshakeable. Worship maintains proper alignment with our Creator by lifting us above the fray and grounding us on His unshakeable rock. 
 
Both!
 
All of God’s children are called to be warriors who stand in the face of adversity. Ephesians 6:10-18. The best warriors know they are always children of God first. All of us Children of God are chosen and cherished. It is this intimate relationship that sustains us.
 
Faith, grows through relationships and experiences of Creator’s faithfulness. These strengthen child and warrior alike.
 
Adults can become children in the kingdom of God. That is part of the idea of being born again. Also, the kingdom foundation can replace the faulty foundation that most receive in the beginning. The truth can always displace the lies, because the truth originates from the Creator but, lies come from a created being, the father of lies.
 
I have come to appreciate these principles because many times over the years I feel like I have been thrown into the deep end of a pool of water without any visible means to float. Each time I have chosen to trust Jesus over my fear, I have experienced the power of God to bring me through and make me stronger. These occasions have helped to wash more of my fears away as I land safely in the arms of our Creator.
 
Do you want to be a child or warrior, or both? Try some of the things above and enter in to the joy of the Lord!