The Warrior is a Child

How timely … tonight I will preach a message “Victorious in Battle” and this morning, the Lord reminds me of this old 1984 favourite by Twila Paris, “The Warrior is a Child”.  The lyrics are beautiful, meaningful and so relevant to what Serene and I go through every day.

Whether attending to the demands of ministry or catering to the needs of the family, we face battles over and over again.  There is little time to think and we just do the next thing, going on and on, relying only on the One who has called us for sustenance, empowerment and enablement.  There is no time even to feel tired although we struggle to keep our eyes open, ignoring the pains and aches in our bodies.  At the end of each day, we cry on each other’s shoulders as we share a good laugh, wondering if we are stupid, crazy or both.  Did we do the right thing to put our trust in God in our decisions of a large family and homeschooling?  Then again, is it ever a wrong thing to put our trust in Him?  And so we keep on trusting Him and standing upon His Word.  We keep our ears tuned to His Voice so that the other voices of the world (and of our own sefish natures) will be tuned out.

People look at us and wonder how we do it, how we manage, and how we keep it all together.  We have been called Super-Dad and Super-Mom countless times.  I know they mean well, but they don’t understand how these break our hearts because only we know how much we struggle, how helpless we feel and how weak we are.  Yet, they see us as strong and faithful, but they don’t see the fears and doubts within.  They see us as having all the answers, but they don’t realise we have even more questions that we wrestle with.

Meanwhile, the battle rages on … on the outside and also on the inside.  I am reminded of the words in 2 Tim 2:3-4, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engages in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”  Yes, we want to please our Lord and Master, our Commander-in-Chief.  Yes, we want to be mighty warriors for Him.  We are just so thankful that God is also our Heavenly Father and we are His children.  When the going gets tough (and it often does), we can run into His arms, into His love, into His grace.  What honour we have to be His warriors!  How wonderful too that we are His children.

I’ve opted for this version by Gary Valenciano.  May you be blessed and encouraged too.  Enjoy …